North Hills Flashback: Remembering the Ross Park Mall Sears

It’s the end of the week, which can mean only one thing: it’s time for another North Hills Flashback!

Ross Park Mall celebrated its 32nd anniversary on Wednesday, August 15. It did so with a large open space at its southern end, vacated by Sears in April. Due to the state of Sears Holdings as a corporation, the eventual closure seemed almost inevitable. Most other Sears stores in the region have either liquidated or are in the process of doing so. However, many malls, including Ross Park, had the forethought to plan for a post-Sears world, whether locally or globally.

Rumors are swirling about what will become of the Sears end of the mall. The current space is likely to be demolished, much as the original Horne’s building was when Nordstrom came to Ross Park. Another department store is very unlikely; mixed use between retail, dining, and possibly entertainment is the most likely possibility. A persistent rumor is that the food court will relocate to this end. There is also word on the street that a bowling alley or similar venue could be considered, as well as several new sit-down restaurant options. By next month, there will probably be an entirely new set of rumors to circulate as to which tenants could expand, relocate, or come to the North Hills.

As we speculate on the future of the space, why not look back at the store that had been there for over thirty years?

Sears was a store without a presence in the North Hills. Anyone could order from the catalog, but the closest store was at Allegheny Center Mall, where it was one of the primary anchors. Looking to move to a newer, more modern space, not to mention finally gain a presence in the northern suburbs, Sears jumped at the chance to join Ross Park’s roster early in the planning stages. However, the store was not ready in time for the mall’s first day and opened several months later. While it didn’t open to the same fanfare as the mall itself, it was a welcome addition for the region.

Like all Sears stores, it was a favorite for those looking for Craftsman tools, Kenmore appliances, and Die Hard automobile batteries. It had an optical, a portrait studio, and an auto service center. There was an extensive electronics selection; many North Hills residents purchased their first home computer or projection television there. Of course, shoppers could also, as the commercials from the 1990s said, “come see the softer side of Sears.”

Despite seeming like a normal Sears store, similar to any other Sears in the United States, this particular Sears held an interesting place in both the company’s history and the history of retail in general. Nestled in the rear of the lower level near the lawn mowers was a McDonald’s restaurant.

Restaurants inside department stores were not a new concept. Various Kaufmann’s, Horne’s, and even JC Penney stores had restaurants of some sort, even in their suburban branch stores. This concept had largely died out by the late 1980s, although Nordstrom has operated two restaurants at its Ross Park store since opening nearly ten years ago. Lunch counters were also popular fixtures at Woolworth and other discount retailers and drug stores.

These restaurants were or are operated directly by the company. Nordstrom’s two restaurants, the Marketplace Cafe and eBar, are part of a division of Nordstrom itself. Likewise, Tic Toc and the Tea Room were simply parts of Kaufmann’s and Horne’s, respectively, at their original downtown stores. None of these restaurants were national chains coming from completely different corporations.

In November 1987, the Sears inside McDonald’s represented an entirely new idea: why not put a familiar restaurant inside a department store? Why not grab a hamburger and fries while waiting for a car repair? Why not treat the kids to a Happy Meal in the middle of shopping for back to school clothes? Sears and McDonald’s seemed a perfect fit; both were household names, both were headquartered in Chicagoland suburbs, and future business partnerships could develop as a result, such as the McKids clothing line sold at Sears.

Several more McDonald’s opened inside Sears stores across the country, but the experiment proved to be short-lived. In 1991, the McDonald’s restaurant ceased operations. For the next year, a replacement eatery owned and operated by Sears called Two at Sears took its place, but quickly folded despite generally positive reviews.

Placing McDonald’s in the back of the store likely was detrimental to its success. The concept was also a novelty at the time, with some shoppers wondering why McDonald’s could be in the food court alongside its rival Wendy’s. It also was a long hike for someone who was at the Kaufmann’s end of the mall, a cautionary tale for those considering moving the food court to the former Sears space in the future.

Despite the failure of the McDonald’s experiment, it helped to pave the way for national fast food chains to find their way into retail stores. Shortly thereafter, Little Caesars began to appear inside discount retailer Kmart, a concept which had only been tried once before when Burger King and Woolworth partnered shortly before Sears attempted their experiment. Many Walmarts, while not traditional department stores, currently have a McDonald’s or Subway inside. Starbucks and Pizza Hut have worked their way inside Target. Barnes and Noble sells products from both Starbucks and The Cheesecake Factory at its cafés. A key difference: all of these stores have their eateries at the front of the store, not jammed in the back alongside lawn and garden equipment. While all but Barnes and Noble are actually discounters, not true department stores, seeing McDonald's make this leap of faith did prompt others to attempt the concept.

Sears continued to operate successfully after the closure of Two at Sears. Lands End was featured prominently as a brand over the store’s final decade following Sears’s acquisition of the longtime catalog retailer, even making its way onto the outside façade of the store. Foot traffic declined somewhat in the 2010s, especially as the store began to pare away at its offerings, especially electronics. In early 2018, the store liquidated, shuttering in April.

It’s always tough to watch a reputable retailer go out of business, especially one which made its way into so many homes. I still have lots of Craftsman tools and a Kenmore fan, not to mention memories of shopping at Sears. As a child, I had a few Happy Meals there and enjoyed playing around on the Macintosh Performa computers on display. As I got older, I appreciated the tool department more, making it my go-to for reliable, warranted tools of any sort, from a basic screwdriver to a torque wrench. I appreciated the no-nonsense layout of the store but did have to laugh at the store’s biggest quirk: the elevator indicator. Sears had two floors. On the lower level was an indicator which lit when the elevator arrived. The indicator had both an up and a down arrow, which would illumine simultaneously despite the fact the elevator couldn’t go down from the first floor!

While the store may seem like just another closure of a failing chain in a difficult retail environment, it should always be remembered for what it was: a pioneer in the teaming of national retailers and prominent fast food chains. This concept continues, albeit much more successfully, in other stores across the country—and it all started here at Ross Park Mall.

What are your memories of Sears? Did you ever eat at the tiny McDonald’s? Feel free to comment!