Inside Neshaminy Mall during its final days: Eerie, empty, and full of memories

On a crisp fall Tuesday, people walked the vacant halls of Neshaminy Mall, chatting and laughing as sunglass-wearing mannequins looked on from an empty storefront.

Days before Halloween, the mall looked like the set of a horror movie. But not because of spooky decorations or actors jumping out to scare passersby.

Nearly every shop was shuttered at the once-bustling destination in Bensalem. Only four businesses — Boscov’s, AMC, Barnes & Noble, and Jean Madeline Institute — will remain open after the interior mall closes for good on Oct. 31.

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Large portions of the 1-million-square-foot complex were already inaccessible. Other hallways were broken up by makeshift, cardboard-like walls with small doors in the center.

The hum of conversations and clatter of footsteps echoed amid the emptiness.

“We should be outside right now, but it’s the last hurrah,” said Linda Trobman, 67, of Bensalem, as she walked through a walled-off section of vacant stores between Barnes & Noble and AMC. “We’ve got to walk inside.”

She was one of many longtime customers who paid their last visits to the mall. Some shared tributes and memories in long Facebook posts, expressing sadness and joy and an anxious anticipation of what would fill the center’s space.

The mall’s owner, Paramount Realty, has declined to provide details about the redevelopment, with a spokesperson saying this week that they intend to submit plans to the township by the end of November. Bensalem Township Mayor Joe DiGirolamo has said Paramount plans to knock down the interior mall and build something new. The developers had previously discussed plans for a mixed-use complex.

These days, the closure of a mid-level mall is not rare, due to the rise in online shopping and broader economic pressures.

While higher-end malls like King of Prussia and Cherry Hill appear to be thriving, other Philly-area consumers have had to say goodbye to their neighborhood malls.

Chester County lost its only enclosed mall, Exton Square, in June, and a legal battle over its future is ongoing. On a recent day, its vast parking lot was empty and, in spots, overgrown. White papers taped to the doors put it simply: “The mall is closed.”

In Delaware County, the Granite Run Mall in Media was demolished a decade ago and turned into a town center with luxury apartments, restaurants, new retail, and medical offices.

The end of the Neshaminy Mall, which opened in 1968, has been a long time coming: Folks have been mourning the mall’s heyday on TikTok and other social media platforms for a while.

In recent years, only a portion of the mall has remained open to the public, allowing people to walk between the few remaining businesses.

Still, people who grew up going to the mall were sad.

“It’s very bleak and a little unsettling to see a place that was so full of life be reduced to a skeleton,” said Forrest Filiano, 28, who is channeling this “strange grief” into a documentary about the closure of his childhood stomping grounds.

In recent days, Filiano has been visiting the mall and posting on social media, asking people to call 267-317-8094 and leave a voicemail with their Neshaminy Mall memories. Those anonymous recordings may be used in the documentary, which Filiano said he expects to release this spring.

As of Thursday, the Langhorne native said he had received 75 messages. Some of the stories have been punctuated by laughter, he said, while others have been told through tears.

“I don’t want it to stop,” said Filiano, who plans to keep the “Neshaminy Mall memory mailbox” open at least through the weekend. “It’s this really kind of overwhelming emotional capsule.”

For Filiano, who now lives in Brooklyn, hearing others’ memories brought to mind his own joyous ones: Getting pictures taken with Santa as a kid. Being dropped off on Friday nights as a teen with $20 to spend at Hot Topic and FYE. Eating countless meals at the popular Italian spot Cafe Riviera, which closed a decade ago.

As a kid, “you don’t realize a place is going to not exist” someday, Filiano said. “You’re just so excited to have such hilarious experiences and so much freedom.”

Earlier this week, Trobman and her sister-in-law Alex Solarz, 56, of Richboro, reminisced about their mall memories during their last weekly stroll.

They remembered their grandparents taking the bus from Philly to visit the Bucks County landmark. When they were kids, they recall having lunch at Strawbridge’s, where they could reach into a jar to grab a handful of pennies on their birthdays. They later brought their own children to the mall.

The walkers will need to find a new place indoors for cold weather. Likely, they said, they’ll end up at the surviving Oxford Valley Mall, about 8 miles away in Langhorne.

So will friends Nancy Wilkinson, 73, of Feasterville, and Grace McCaffrey, 71, of Bensalem. The pair met decades ago when they were students at Philadelphia’s St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls and have been walking together at Neshaminy Mall each winter since they retired a couple years ago.

“She’s sad,” McCaffrey said, laughing as she gestured to Wilkinson. “I’m less sentimental.”

Others felt similarly resigned to the mall’s long-expected fate.

Standing by an empty fountain, Donna Heffner, 52, of Levittown, snapped photos of the desolate interior, which she said didn’t look much different than it had last Christmas.

“It’s a shame,” Heffner said as she looked around. “I like in-person [shopping] better than online.”

“But it is what it is,” she added with a shrug.

Nearby, Pete Kruvczuk, 79, was doing his near-daily mall walk. The retired Bensalem police officer recalled the mall’s opening in 1968 and rattled off the names of original stores, including Strawbridge’s, Germantown Savings, and Thrift Drug.

“It was a thriving mall,” Kruvczuk said. “There are a lot of memories here.”

When it comes to the redevelopment, he hopes it includes homes, not all rental apartments, to encourage people to put down roots in the community. And he hopes the developers build something residents will enjoy: “I hope they do right by the people.”