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| Harvest Days Sale ad Daily Times October 3, 1956 |
Before there was a Northern Lights Shoppers City in Baden, years before the Beaver Valley Mall was built, Ambridge businesses were busy, and not just thriving, they were booming. Sidewalks were crowded with shoppers, and the lack of enough parking spaces was a frequent complaint.
But Northern Lights, the biggest shopping center then built in Pennsylvania, was under construction. Its first stores were about to open on November 1, 1956. So it was no surprise that the Ambridge business community was concerned, very concerned, about the impact Northern Lights would have. And they were right to be concerned. The opening of Northern Lights was the beginning of the downturn of the Ambridge business district.
Then the mall started luring businesses from Northern Lights.
And now, online shopping is killing off businesses in the mall.
Businesses couldn't have predicted in 1956 that "shop at home" would mean something very different in 2018 than "shop in your hometown."
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteYour terrific posts on the history of Northern Lights was super helpful in a story we wrote on the present state of the shopping center for Pittsburgh Orbit:
https://pittsburghorbit.com/2019/03/10/lights-out-the-slow-death-of-pennsylvanias-largest-shopping-center/
Thank you for all of the terrific work you do in Ambridge Memories.