South, an early satellite location of the Hess's downtown Allentown department store, opened at the site of the mall in 1971. Hess's built a modest enclosed mall on the north side of the department store in 1975, adding a Weis Market and several specialty shops. In 1979, the Hess's department store chain, which developed and owned the mall and operated its largest tenant, was bought by Johnstown-based mall developing firm, Crown American. This sale caused Crown American to inherit the South Mall - it would be one of only two malls that Crown American would own that was built by a different firm. Crown American doubled the size of the South Mall in a 1986-1987 expansion that added a new section of enclosed mall on the southern side of Hess's South. Discount retailer Jamesway opened its 100th store at the South Mall to anchor the new expansion, and celebrated the milestone with skydivers landing on the parking lot. The mall expanded yet again in 1991 to add a third major anchor in the newer portion of the mall: discount drugstore Phar-Mor. The older portion of the mall on the north side of Hess's was de-malled sometime following the 1991 closure of the Rea & Derick drugstore due to its acquisition by CVS. The former mall space in this area was replaced by Staples and Petco by 1996. Jamesway closed in late 1995 as the whole chain folded during its second bankruptcy filing. A year later, a majority of the Jamesway space was occupied by Stein Mart, marking Stein Mart's first Pennsylvania location. The remainder of the former Jamesway was subdivided between Gold's Gym and Home & Gifts, before later becoming a Ross - Dress For Less. Weis closed its South Mall food market amid poor sales in 1999. The former grocery store has since been subdivided into a strip of several stores. Phar-Mor closed its anchor store at the South Mall in 2002 along with the remainder of the chain. This was replaced by Steve & Barry's, a casualwear chain. In 2003, mall owner Crown American was purchased by the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust. Steve & Barry's went bankrupt and closed all stores in 2008. The anchor space it had occupied at South Mall was leased the following year to Black Rose Antiques and Collectibles, an antiques mall that featured over 100 individual dealers selling various curios. In June 2014, PREIT sold the mall for $23.6 million to Nicholas Park Mall LLC, a company formed by 7 New York area investors led by former Macy's executive Richard Krantz. This was one of more than a dozen underperforming malls that PREIT has sold since 2012 in order to focus on its most successful properties. Black Rose Antiques left the South Mall in favor of the former JCPenney anchor at the Phillipsburg Mall, with the new location opening on January 1, 2017. The anchor space it previously occupied in the South Mall was thereafter subdivided, with Limerick Furniture occupying the larger share of the space in early 2017. The remainder of the space was revamped to accommodate the Full Circle Training gym, which opened in early 2018. Meanwhile, The Bon-Ton, the oldest and largest anchor of the South Mall closed in 2018 along with all other remaining Bon-Ton stores. In 2019, Limerick Furniture closed as well, leaving the mall with just Stein Mart as a major anchor tenant. In recent years, the South Mall has shifted focus towards engaging community events including periodic flea markets and weekly summer food truck events. Nontraditional tenants, such as Cave Brewing Co. - a full-service bar with live entertainment - and the South Mall Mercantile antiques dealer, have been brought in to fill the voids left by typical mall retailers.
