The Gallery Is Covered in Dust and Debris

Photo | Dan McQuade

The escalators to the second floor of The Gallery don’t work anymore, but they’re still functional as stairs. “Thank you for the convenience,” I thought, quoting the late comedian Mitch Hedberg, as I walked up the stairs to stop at Villa.

The Villa is the last remaining sneaker shop in The Gallery, a mall that once had so many sneaker shops I was able to submit a mini-ranking of them in my ranking of Philadelphia-area malls in 2011. I went up to Villa — on the second floor of the gallery, which is actually the third level of shopping — to browse the racks of sparse, heavily discounted merchandise.

The Gallery’s remaining sneaker store is moving to the old Bare Fee/Showtime Shoes location on the 1200 block of Chestnut Street, and I picked up some cheap Stance socks before it moves at the end of the month. (If you think buying a pair of socks for $5 is silly, imagine paying $16 for a pair.)

Photo | Dan McQuade

There are only a few remaining stores in The Gallery, all in the newer part of the mall near Jefferson Station. The original part of The Gallery — “Gallery I,” which opened in 1977 — has already been closed. Since the fall it’s been under renovations, and despite dire predictions of commuters forced outdoors it seems to have gone pretty seamlessly.

But I miss The Gallery. That’s probably not surprising coming from a guy who wrote thousands of words about his love for the mall about a year ago, but no matter: The mall had been a part of the fabric of downtown Philadelphia for more than 30 years, and now it’s going away.

Photo | Dan McQuade

Of course, there are plenty of other places downtown to buy sneakers and video games and discounted sportswear and fast food. I knew that even while writing my ode to the Gallery last year. But I’m surprised how much I miss walking through those corridors of the mall a few blocks from my house. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived a few blocks away for the last decade and spent time there as a kid, or maybe I’m addicted to shopping and I like malls and it’s the closest one. No matter the reason, I miss going there.

Photo | Dan McQuade

The upside is that it’s not going away: It’s just being updated. Villa’s trip to Chestnut Street will be brief: The store is likely to return to the new Fashion Outlets of Philadelphia upon the mall’s renovation and reopening, a manager told me. It will be a long wait, but the mall will return.

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