FRANKLIN COUNTY, Pa. — In less than two months since it permanently closed, Chambersburg Mall is already getting overgrown.
The constant commotion that once filled the 127-acre lot is gone. The benches outside the mall entrance are now only visited by weeds and crickets.
Locals say they miss it.
"Anything you needed was down there at one time and now it’s all gone," said Terry Miller of Fayetteville. "You didn’t realize how much you enjoyed having that there."
"It was too far out of the way, but I did like Penny’s store and Sears and some of those other stores," said Evie Gipe of Chambersburg.
The mall first opened in 1982. With movies and merchandise, it enjoyed sustained success into the mid-1990s, but by the turn of the century, things were starting to change.
Mike Ross, President of Franklin County Area Development Corporation, said changing buying habits and pandemic pressures proved to be too much.
"When it finally closed, we were at a point where it was essentially, there were very few tenants," he said.
The final tenant, Black Rose Antiques and Collectibles, shut down at the end of June.
Since then, the building has been mostly empty.
Despite the mall’s deterioration, it may soon have a new purpose.
Ross said he’s working closely with the property owner, Namdar Realty Group, on the lot’s future.
There are plans for a mixed-use development of retail, housing and medical facilities.
"We have the opportunity to develop not only the mall site but some of the surrounding areas. Hopefully, we can repurpose it in the near future," Ross added.
Ross said the lot will not be used as an industrial area, as Greene Township officials don’t want to rezone the property.
No matter what it becomes, residents hope the place that was once at the center of the community can still have a role in the new one.
"They need to use it for something," Miller said. "It’d be a total waste if they didn’t."