A shopping center in North Coventry Township’s makeover has seen major success. Pennmark’s Coventry Mall was seeing a dearth in business and foot traffic due to the pandemic, so Chief Financial Officer Bob Sichelstiel decided it needed a major overhaul, writes Paul Schwedelson for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Its rebranding to The Shoppes at Coventry focused on exterior storefronts. The nearly 700,000 square foot property was remodeled to outward-facing stores, which freed up over 180,000 square feet in space.

The remaining space will be used as self-storage facilities. The shopping center makes up of 13 retail tenants and there is still room for two more outward-facing retail tenants. The property is 97 percent occupied, compared to when Pennmark bought the property in 2016 when half the space was vacant.  

After introducing a diverse array of tenants, occupancy went up 90 percent but then dropped down to 60 percent due to the pandemic. This spurred Pennmark into action, and it meant changing the entire retail layout.  

“The word ‘mall’ is the kiss of death,” said Pennmark’s Justin Bartholomew. “Just from speaking to national tenants, I call and say, ‘Hey, I want to show you this mall,’ that’s the end of the conversation. It doesn’t get any farther.” 

While residents say goodbye to what they’ve known as a mall, they can welcome the new center with open arms.

Read more about the North Coventry shopping center in the Philadelphia Business Journal.