Harbor Freight sets opening date at Westgate Mall in Bethlehem

A well known retail chain is readying to open its most recent Lehigh Valley area in a portion of the previous Weis Marketplaces room at the Westgate shopping middle, previously recognised as the Westgate Mall, in Bethlehem.

Harbor Freight Applications, a California-centered chain carrying a extensive array of equipment, hardware and other goods for the household, backyard and vehicle, will maintain a smooth opening of it new Bethlehem shop on Wednesday, in accordance to Craig Hoffman, Harbor Freight’s director of company communications and content material. The store’s grand opening will be held 8 a.m. July 16.

“We generally have what we get in touch with a soft opening prior to [the grand opening] — in this case, Wednesday June 29th — when the keep is open up for enterprise, to give our associates time to familiarize them selves with the store so they can most correctly support our clients,” Hoffman said.

Harbor Freight, launched by Eric Schmidt and his father in 1977, has a lot more than 1,300 merchants nationwide, like four regional destinations in South Whitehall Township, Richland Township, Wilson and Stroudsburg.

The corporation has been wanting to open up a Bethlehem location for a although, Hoffman explained, as inhabitants in the Bethlehem area at the moment have to journey about eight miles to the Easton place keep, 10 miles to the Allentown spot retail outlet and 12 miles to the Quakertown area store.

Harbor Freight waited right up until it observed a spot that achieved its requirements and the needs of customers: “good visibility, simple entry, enough parking and the proper sq. footage,” Hoffman extra.

“We’re psyched about this new locale since it will be much additional easy for our customer in the Bethlehem neighborhood,” Hoffman stated.

Customers will locate a complete variety of “quality tools and accessories … at least expensive prices” in types this sort of as automotive, air and energy tools, storage, outside ability gear, turbines, welding provides, store machines and hand instruments, Hoffman said.

“This specific spot in the Westgate Mall (2305 Schoenersville Road) will be 15,580 sq. toes which is more compact than the so-called ‘big box’ stores in our classification, and which we sense is a aggressive gain,” Hoffman explained. “Many of our prospects are experienced trades personnel who want to end in, uncover what they want and then head out quickly to their work web site or workshop. For other customers, this size makes it much easier to browse and uncover our excellent specials.”

The new Harbor Freight shop, bringing 25-30 new work opportunities to the neighborhood, will occupy a about 16,000-square-foot house that is getting redeveloped with a new facade.

An further 16,000 sq. feet of the former Weis space remains available, in accordance to Matt Flath, vice president of asset management for Onyx Equities, a New Jersey-based authentic estate expenditure and residence providers firm that owns and manages Westgate.

Harbor Freight’s arrival at Westgate is additional welcome information for the Schoenersville Highway procuring centre, which opened in 1973 with dozens of suppliers but has been beleaguered by various vacancies in new decades.

A good improvement arrived in Could 2021, when Weis relocated from a very long-standing, 32,000-square-foot area at the center of the elaborate to a freshly transformed, 63,000-sq.-foot keep — within just a 108,000 sq.-foot-building that was earlier home to The Bon-Ton office retail outlet — at the north finish of the intricate.

Westgate’s revitalization is set to proceed with the new announcement that a few brief-assistance restaurant chains, a bank and a retailer will occupy recently constructed structures adhering to the razing of a big part of the Bethlehem purchasing center’s inside.

Onyx Equities’ 3rd phase of redevelopment strategies, which have been authorized by the Bethlehem Organizing Commission on March 10, consist of the demolition of approximately 50,000 sq. ft of the latest procuring center’s inside to allow for for the development of about 8,000 sq. ft of new making space.

Two new buildings will consist of a freestanding lender with a generate-thru, up coming to the relocated Weis Markets grocery shop, and an adjacent strip mall that will property Jersey Mike’s Subs, QDOBA Mexican Eats and Starbucks eateries, the latter of which will element a travel-through. The strip mall also will feature a but-to-be-announced retailer.

The redevelopment of component of the mall’s infill area will open the web page and allow for a relationship involving the entrance and back of the center, some thing that “it never ever had,” Ryan Whitmore, experienced engineer with Landcore Engineering Consultants, claimed at the March 10 meeting.

It also will permit for the development of 55 parking areas.

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“With the reduction in GLA, gross leasable place, and the building of the new parking, it actually swings that parking ratio into a surplus,” Whitmore additional.

Tiffany Wells, website traffic superintendent for the metropolis, expressed problem above targeted traffic again-ups that could come up from Starbucks’ drive-through, and fee associates, like Chairperson Robert Melosky, instructed the probability of eliminating at minimum a dozen parking areas and amending targeted visitors styles to help stop congestion.

On the other hand, Flath famous that speedy-company dining places have a a lot bigger turnover of buyers, who like to get their food stuff and go, and parking is “sensitive in that spot.”

“If you lower 12 spaces, you’re speaking about perhaps a catastrophic reduction right in entrance of all individuals dining places,” Flath claimed.

Other forthcoming variations at Westgate consist of 10,000 square ft of area at the south finish of the searching heart — which previously housed Ceremony Support — getting leased to Oak Avenue Health and fitness most important care professional medical facility (no tentative opening date has been announced) an global fast-service hamburger chain, which has signed a lease to develop a totally free-standing, 4,500-sq.-foot retail pad at the northern corner of the heart, in front of Weis and a money institution, which has signed a lease to establish a absolutely free-standing, 3,500-square-foot making on the former Dempsey’s cafe pad.

The latter two jobs are pending web site system approval by the metropolis, and Onyx hopes to commence development on them in the vicinity of the end of the calendar year, Flath reported.

Constructed in 1973 at Schoenersville and Catasauqua roads, Westgate proceeds to home more than a dozen tenants, which include Westgate Jewelers, Getaway Hair, Subway, Hawk Tunes, Newbie Athlete, Westgate Pizza, Grand China Buffet & Grill, Johnny’s Bagels & Deli, GNC, Sky Zone Trampoline Park, Fantastic Wine & Good Spirits, Tantastic, Outlooks for Hair, Nation Rose Florist, The Barber Store, Panda Cleaners and New Seem Hearing Center.