Raw & Real Reflections: Retail, Roadtripping, & Ramblings: CLOVER SQUARE

We drove out to NJ a couple weeks back to check out a place I'd been interested in seeing since awhile back, when I discovered the companion property to it in Blue Bell, PA. I refer to the second of the "Clover Squares" that were built during the 70s as a collaboration between the developer, The Rouse Company, and the Strawbridge & Clothier department store chain. This second location is in Cinnaminson, NJ, on Rt. 130.

Both malls featured Clover stores on one end, and a main mall court on the other, joined by a small concourse of local & national shops. I guess you could classify these properties as "mini-malls". In the case of the Blue Bell store, a McCaffrey's supermarket now takes up the former main court, and now, much of the concourse. Before that, it had been a SuperFresh, and, going even farther back, a Clemens supermarket.

As a refresher, here's a brief quote from Wikipedia:
"In 1978, Strawbridge & Clothier partnered with the Rouse Company developing two mini-malls next to their Cinnaminson and Center Square stores, that were called Clover Square. These had a mixture of national and regional chains and independent stores. The malls opened with a food court in one corner of the square-shaped corridor. These malls later became Outlet Square. Now, they are both supermarkets."

In the case of the place we visited in Cinnaminson, NJ, there had at one time been an ACME supermarket, which has been closed now for quite some time. The Blue Bell Clover Mall is in great condition, as it is still very much a viable strip mall, having been demalled quite a long time ago. The Cinnaminson mall... well, it hasn't aged well at all. It legitimately is the closest to urbex you will ever see from us! Boarded up entrances, graffiti, and a general sense of having been given up on, despite a Chinese restaurant, an Axe Throwing business, as well as a go-cart track inside the former Clover space. The other half of the mall had a distinctly nearly abandoned feel.

It was a pleasure to visit the other "bookend" in this interesting story of bygone retail. I share a few of the pictures here for your enjoyment and education of a place you might drive by and write off as a mostly abandoned strip mall, that on the surface does not reveal itself as having been a former mall at all. Looking for the clues, however, it's as plain as day what you are seeing!

The story of the two Clover Malls is one that captured my imagination upon discovering the Blue Bell location several weeks back, and I couldn't wait for the opportunity to get to check out the Cinnaminson location. I wasn't prepared for how dead and lifeless Blue Bell's twin sibling was. It's a bittersweet tale... one mall lives on, albeit changed considerably, the other... lost likely to an area that was over-retailed from the get-go.