Hills Plaza East

Hills Plaza East was a power center 3.1 miles (5.0 km) northwest of downtown Erie, Pennsylvania, between East 26th Street, East 28th Street and Elm Street in the city of Erie. It had two anchor stores which were Quality Markets and Ames.
== History ==
Hills Plaza East was open in 1972, along with Hills Plaza West located in Millcreek Township. Hills Plaza East contained two anchor stores which were Super Duper and Hills. The shopping center also contained a small plaza with five tenants which were Revco, Appletree Gifts, Rent A Center, State Liquor Store and Beer & Pop Warehouse. There was also two outparcels which contained a McDonald's on the northwest corner of the complex and a Marine Bank on the southwest corner. The plaza did fairly well and brought a lot of traffic to the neighborhood the shopping center is in which is known as Southeast Erie. In 1991, Super Duper was renamed into Festival Foods, it was then renamed once again in 1995 to Quality Markets, after Penn Traffic purchased the Festival Foods name. Quality Markets would only last a few months before closing in September 1995, the store would then remain vacant. In 1991, Marine Bank was renamed into PNC Bank. In 1991, after Beer & Pop Warehouse closed, the space was converted into Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant. In 1996, Appletree Gifts was renamed into Hallmark, Hallmark would then relocate in 1999 to Kmart Plaza East in Harborcreek, along with Rent A Center. In 1997, Revco closed and was left vacant. In December 1999, Hills was renamed into Ames. However in September 2002, Ames would close due to the companies demise, and would also remain vacant.
== Decline ==
Decline occurred rather quickly in 2002 after both Quality Markets and Ames were vacant. Around this time, most of the shopping center was vacant except for Hong Kong Chinese in the plaza and the McDonald's/PNC Bank on the outparcels. In 2003, Dollar General opened in the former Revco space as an attempt to bring the plaza back to life, this however didn't work. In 2003, Walmart purchased the entire shopping center from Glimcher Realty Trust, except for the two outparcels, there was then plans to build a brand new Walmart store on the land and tear down the vacant Ames, vacant Quality Markets and the half vacant plaza in the middle, the two remaining tenants were then sent eviction notices. Dollar General relocated to Eastway Plaza in Harborcreek, and Hong Kong Chinese relocated to Kmart Plaza West in Millcreek.
== Demolition ==
In 2003, the entire shopping center was demolished for construction of a brand new Walmart Supercenter store. Walmart would then open in late 2003 and the plaza was left in history.
Category:Malls in the United States
Category:Erie County, Pennsylvania
Category:Malls that opened in 1972
Category:Malls in Pennsylvania
Category:Former Festival Foods-anchored Properties
Category:Former Quality Markets-anchored Properties
Category:Former Hills-anchored Properties
Category:Former Super Duper-anchored Properties
Category:Former Ames-anchored Properties
Category:Erie Area Malls