Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com

The Phillipsburg Mall opened on a Sunday. Seven thousand people were waiting.

The crowd was almost too much for it to handle on Sept. 24, 1989, the grand opening of the $40 million project. A ribbon was cut on the mall as a whole, but individual stores had to abandon their own ceremonies as shoppers waited to get inside.

"It's a little too crowded to shop," Marilyn Rogers, of Bethlehem Township, remarked that day to The Express-Times.

Now, as ownership prepares to evict locally owned businesses by month's end, the Phillipsburg Mall is mostly empty. Two-thirds of the storefronts are vacant. Two of the anchors have been demolished. A representative of owner Namdar Realty Group, based in Long Island, said the plan is to "re-purpose the property," though it's not clear exactly what that means.

The mall may be a shell of its former self, but its seemingly imminent demise prompts reflection of the promise it once held. For 30 years, this was a place where holiday shoppers bustled for last-minute gifts, where children met Santa, played with toys or had story time. This is where the circus came to town, where fledgling businesses and large chains each staked a claim, where young employees made their first buck, where lovers went to rent prom tuxes or even propose marriage.

As Regis salon manager Angela M. Hardison recently told lehighvalleylive.com:

“I feel like it’s the end of an era.”

Don't Edit

Express-Times microfilm via Easton Area Public Library

In a front-page story on Monday, Sept. 25, 1989, The Express-Times reported the Phillipsburg Mall was swarmed by 7,000 people during its grand opening the day before. New shoppers said they preferred it to the Palmer Park Mall -- which had the same owners -- and the Lehigh Valley Mall.

"We now don't have to go across the river to where America doesn't really start," Pohatcong Township Mayor James Redd III told The Express-Times, jabbing at Pennsylvania's new slogan at the time: "America starts here."

Don't Edit

Express-Times microfilm via Easton Area Public Library

Don't Edit

lehighvalleylive.com file photo

K-Mart was one of the first stores in the Phillipsburg Mall.

Don't Edit

lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Don't Edit

Steve Klaver | nj.com file photo

Sally Walz, a customer service supervisor, is hidden among the halloween masks on display in a Phillipsburg Mall costume shop in 1997.

Don't Edit

Steve Klaver | nj.com file photo

Meghan Carroll, 4, of Lopatcong Township, plays with wooden trains at a Phillipsburg Mall toy store while her mom does last-minute shopping on Christmas Eve in 1997.

Don't Edit

Steve Klaver | nj.com file photo

Alyssa Fischbach and her friend Erin Ally, both of Lopatcong, ride the carousel in the Phillipsburg Mall in September 1998.

Don't Edit

Bruce Winter | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Circuses stopped at the Phillipsburg Mall many times over the years but were not welcomed by all. Kathy Aquinato, a Palmer Township and member of the Lehigh Valley Animal Rights Coalition, protests a circus show in May 2000.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Bill Adams | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Aeropostale opened at the Phillipsburg Mall in May 2002. The store was reported to be the chain's 300th location.

Don't Edit

Lisa Massey | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Sears, one of the Phillipsburg Mall's original anchors, expanded in 2003. Cashier Tiffany Ford, left, of Easton, and assistant store manager Sue Swisher, of Phillipsburg, stand inside the new addition.

Don't Edit

Lisa Massey | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Members of Showcase Studios' kickline class perform in November 2003 as part of the celebration welcoming Santa Claus to the Phillipsburg Mall for the holiday season.

Don't Edit

Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Easton Catholic choirs perform at the opening in of Kohl's in the Phillipsburg Mall in April 2004.

Don't Edit

Ben Hasty | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Professor Kno-Y (Roy Dietrich) prepares for a show at the Bon-Ton Court in June 2004. As an advance clown, he arrived ahead of the Cole Brothers Circus to build interest. The circus made many stops at the Phillipsburg Mall over the years.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Back-to-school shopping in 2004: Sarah Kolonia, 10, shops outside JC Penny with her grandmother Joan Kolonia, both of Holland Township. It was their annual tradition before the new school year. On this day, they had their nails done and got lunch together.

Don't Edit

Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Michael Guttermann, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, and Zane Pysher, of Easton, look through cards at the Sports Card & Collectable Show at the Phillipsburg Mall in October 2004.

Don't Edit

Bill Adams | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

3-year-old Monica Ferguson, of Easton, rides a "plasma car" in front of the Learning Express toy store in April 2005 as part of TV Turnoff week.

Don't Edit

Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Tricia Telmosse reads to kids during the weekly story time at the Phillipsburg Mall in July 2005.

Don't Edit

Matthew Villano | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Brian Ilg, of Clark, New Jersey, proposes to his girlfriend Cathie Pereira during a performance by Tickles the Clown at the Phillipsburg Mall in August 2005. Ilg spent three weeks planning the proposal. Unsuspecting, Pereira stopped to watch the show with Ilg as they walked through the mall. The clown called the couple out of the audience to help with the next trick. It turned into a re-enactment of the Cinderella story with the proposal at the conclusion. Pereira accepted.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Steve Klaver | nj.com file photo

Alexis Ziarkoski and her boyfriend Jake Martinez wait to see what the cost will be after Jake was fitted for a prom tuxedo at After Hours in 2006.

Don't Edit

Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Shoppers make their way through the Phillipsburg Mall during the 2006 holiday season.

Don't Edit

Joe Gill | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Santa, accompanied by the Phillipsburg Middle School band and choir, stops to high-five 5-year-old David Cromin, of Phillipsburg, in December 2006.

Don't Edit

Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Stores open, stores close. A big sign on the Big K in March 2007 announced the K-Mart, one of the Phillipsburg Mall's first stores, would soon be gone.

Don't Edit

Joe Gill | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Employee Ashley Brown, of Alpha, arranges Phillies merchandise at Schuylkill Valley Sports at the Phillipsburg Mall following the team's 2008 World Series win.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Bill Adams | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Santa and Mrs. Claus walk greyhounds from Pocono Greyhound Rescue through the Phillipsburg Mall during the 2009 Christmas in July parade.

Don't Edit

Matt Smith | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Musti Senca, an employee at a kiosk that sells remote-controlled vehicles at the Phillipsburg Mall, demonstrates a car that can drive on walls in November 2009.

Don't Edit

Bruce Winter | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Flowers and mulch are added to the patio garden constructed inside the Phillipsburg Mall by Timber Rock Landscape and RC & Sons of Easton in March 2010.

Don't Edit

Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Misty and JoAnne Sokolowski, of Pohatcong Township, go shopping in November 2010.

Don't Edit

Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Santa arrives at the Phillipsburg Mall in November 2011 and greets Brielle Walker, 4, of Easton.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Sarah Peters | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Spin Me Round manager Jody Barboza picked out a unique album cover at the record store, which opened at the Phillipsburg Mall in 2015.

Don't Edit

Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo

A tiger jumps through a ring of fire during a Cole Bros. Circus performance at the Phillipsburg Mall in June 2015. The following year, the mall, under pressure from animal rights groups, banned animal shows including circuses.

Don't Edit

Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com

The Sears store in the Phillipsburg Mall, one of the mall's original anchors, was among 18 nationwide to close in late January 2018.

Don't Edit

Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com

Two Rivers Roller Derby needed a home and the struggling Phillipsburg Mall needed a tenant. The former Old Navy storefront provides a lot of room as the team runs drills, in their new, rented practice space in May 2019.

Don't Edit

Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com

Empty stores outnumbered occupied ones in the Phillipsburg Mall nearly 2-to-1 as of August 2019.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com

A major vacancy at the Phillipsburg Mall is inadvertently advertised on one of its entryways in August 2019.

Don't Edit

Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com

The entrance to the former Sears inside the Phillipsburg Mall is blocked off as the one-time anchor is demolished in August 2019.

Don't Edit

Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com

The Bon-Ton at the Phillipsburg Mall is torn down Oct. 23, 2019, the second vacant anchor at the struggling mall to be torn down in a year. The demolition inside was visible through the doors that once welcomed customers.

Don't Edit

Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com

Don't Edit

Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

Santa Claus greets fans at the Phillipsburg Mall upon his arrival for the 2019 holiday season -- which was not a cheerful one for mall merchants. Just before Christmas, the mall's remaining locally owned stores were given notice they would be evicted by the end of January 2020.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveNovakLVL and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.