WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre Township is now in new hands. A property group in Florida has just acquired the property.
Sports Fever sits amid a hallway full of vacant storefronts.
"I think it all started from the pandemic," said Sharon Argo, a worker at Sports Fever. "People didn't want to shop in stores, and they started doing a lot of online things. And that hurt a lot of businesses—ours and everyone else's."
A place once filled with shoppers is now mostly empty, except for the occasional mall walker.
"The only thing you see is Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. They need something else to attract you to come here," said Frank Gromel of Wilkes-Barre.
A new ownership group is trying to do just that. The mall was acquired by 4th Dimension Properties in Florida. Owner Felix Reznick had been a non-managing partner in the mall for a few years before solely taking over the property.
"We had a brokerage firm that was looking into a big supermarket and big sporting goods players to put into Sears or the Bon Ton space. And that's what we need—catalyst that's going to bring in the foot traffic and change it," Reznick said.
Food is also a missing factor, but it is still top of mind for shoppers.
"The food court, yeah, definitely the food court has to be fixed," Zariah Bristol said.
"Bubble tea shops or new food places in here," Hibba Mahran said.
It's also at the top of the list for the new ownership.
A Korean hot pot restaurant has its sights on the old David's Bridal location.
Reznick says that's just the beginning of some groundbreaking changes.
"I think that clothes and shoes, 40 percent of it. The other part should be food and entertainment for the customer, so that's what I think we're missing here."
Reznick says there will also be a sports training and event space filling a large vacancy.
Sports Fever employees say that's a welcome addition.
"You only need one good store, and that'll pull everyone else in," Argo said.
The beginning changes to the Wyoming Valley Mall are expected to be up and running by mid-2024 in Wilkes-Barre Township.