The Johnstown Galleria — Local services in Richland Township

I'll be honest I hate malls.

The over commercialized nature of them, the same chain stores in every one of them, the seeming encouragement to disconnect from others due to way too many people competing for space and attention.

This Mall is... Different.

It does have some stock stores that every Mall is expected to have. It also has a bunch of unique places where people act like people and are welcoming to all who enter their doors.

The place has a weird solid nostalgia of past times when malls were the big deal, yet modern enough to be relevant. It still feels alive unlike most other failing malls or those that have turned into automations trying to be the same as every other Mall.

The food court is full of real restaurants with far better quality food than any mall I've been to, none of them chains outside of the obligatory Aunt Annie's which only sits on the edge as an outlier in a kiosk.

Their holiday attractions are what you expect from a mall, photos with Santa and a fun train ride for kids. The draw is that the people that run these are engaged with their work and highly entertaining. The driver of the train has an amazing energy and good will playing the character all day long while happily belting out well sung holiday songs.

The owner of this Mall is highly engaged in growing the mall, what he posts on social media he can be observed in following up on daily. He's present in the mall and is active and friendly with the tenants and staff.

The bathrooms are clean and well kept, the cleaning and maintenance staff are professional and polite.

Evenings in the mall feel unique in that it's not the glaringly bright commercial feel, instead the lights are dimmer, leaving a warm evening stroll in a comfortable indoor neighborhood feeling.

Definitely can't wait to see where this Mall will go over the...

As someone who grew up with this mall and has worked here as young adult and managed a place I have loved, it is a shame to see that they want to raise the rent on stores who are now trying to make the money. Johnstown is not a rich place. It is a distressed area due to the steel mills being out of business. I know we don’t want to talk about the past, but instead of you know “raising the rent” for stores how about we focus on the rest of the parking lot that was going to be fully fixed by the spring of 2023? That clearly didn’t happen. Only thing was the entrances to the mall were paved and recently the massive pot holes. Secondly, this mall needs updated so bad. This place is falling apart. The bathrooms are gross, the air conditioning doesn’t work in the mall. It’s sad. It looks like a distressed mall. Also, why stores are leaving is due to higher prices of rent and I get it “people do not shop at malls anymore” but there are people that still do. So, if you want to take more stuff away from Johnstown then by all means go ahead. There is not much to do for kids around here anyway besides 814 Lanes & Games. So, something really needs to change here soon or the people of Johnstown won’t have ANYTHING. One last thing, no one wants to go to malls an hour away or more. Some people can’t even afford the gas to go out that way. Hopefully we have some change here soon. I just do not want to lose a part of my childhood, but again lots of people have lost parts of...

Only gave it three stars because of the nice mom and pop stores and the remaining 2 retailers (Boscov's and JCP). Over the last few years, there has been a mass exodus from the mall--Sears and Bon Ton left. Most recently Subway left. SUBWAY. If they can't survive there I don't know who can. The Galleria property owners, Zamias, published an article in the Tribune Democrat saying that the mall is not closing and their rent is not too high. Contrary to their article, I've heard from a business that is leaving the mall that their (maybe 20' by 20') store was charged $1000 a month, plus a percentage of their sales goes to Zamias. I don't remember if utilities are included in rent, but that's still steep for a tiny store. It's no mystery why stores can't survive there. Also, the parking lot is SEVERLY neglected. Being on top of a mountain, the parking lot would need a lot of maintenance, but instead it is a skating rink. I've heard from mall employees that they've struggled to walk to their cars because the parking lot is so dangerous. I don't go there during any bad conditions, not worth the risk. The building is just an empty, cavernous...