I was in this mall back on opening day when it was called Franklin Mills, with all the different…read morecolored entrances carrying the theme of Philadelphia inside and out, with Ben's kite depicted everywhere. It was new; a long, single story mall with gleaming hardwood floors, which, back in those days, were rare in a typical mall. The mall opened with a bowling alley, ice skating rink, movie theater, and a huge arcade...the biggest of it's time. Many of these were still under construction when the mall opened, and many attractions never opened. There was also a Carrefour Hypermarket across the way from the mall, which, at the time, was very much like a Walmart Super Center, but on steroids. I now live in Florida, recalling all those memories of the early 90's walking the mall to beat the heat in the summer, and staying warm walking around in the winter months. My last visit in July of 2025 was a bitter sweet when I pulled in the parking lot. The outside was rundown, with scattered trees, and the iconic colored entrances with the big kites, and the huge Franklin Mills signs were gone...replaced by an ugly, modern "Philadelphia Mills" sign in square, almost ghost letters that blended in with the background Facade. Philadelphia Mills? Really??? Why did the owners change the name and appearance of the once iconic entrances? was it really necessary??? Besides the ill willed garbage standing around the entrances, which now took on a more corporate center look, rather than that of the once colorful entrances that surrounded the mall. Inside, the mall took on it's original opening day look. The gleaming hardwood floors and the mixture of artificial and natural light still adorning the gleaming floors, which zig zagged off as far as the eye could see. What caught me the most was the stark memory that came to me Immediately as I walked the mall. The appearance of the of the newly opened mall in 1989 was frighteningly similar to the appearance of the present day mall; that of the vacant stores, and the lack of mall shoppers. Its amazing that a mall with such a promising years ahead of it, succumbed to the end of the mall era, at least for most, giving up its status to the super powers of King of Prussia, and Christiana.
I am constantly reminded to this day, at the site where Franklin Mills presently stands at Knights and Woodhaven, of yester year when i was a young kid riding in the back seat of my Daddy's Impala coming home from Phillies, 76ers, Flyers, and Eagles games, and seeing the lights off to the left of the legendary Liberty Bell Race track, and remembering the days of "the lights, and the trumpets." Hopefully, the memories don't die on that site...the days of simpler, happier times.
