Watching the slow decline of Big Lots in Frackville has been surprisingly emotional. Not tearful.. but just .. empty.
Depending on where you’re reading this from, you might have a Big Lots in your town, too—maybe you’re witnessing a demise just like we are ..
The store is fading away, little by little. Sure, the big “Everything Must Go” sales are happening, but let’s be honest—10 to 20 percent off doesn’t scream “must go.” Seventy percent off? Now that would feel like the final blow. But this? This just feels like watching something slowly slip away.
For a lot of people, Big Lots was never just a store. After the Schuylkill Mall shut down, it became the last thread of a relationship people kept trying to hold onto—despite knowing it was already over. The romance was lost.
Before Big Lots, that place in my routine was held by Weis Markets—or “Wises,” as the locals call it. And before that? It was the mall itself. That mall was more than just a shopping center; it was a place where life happened.
For a while, there was a glimmer of hope—maybe someone would swoop in and save Big Lots. But that never happened. There was a second glimmer of hope—maybe the Frackville location would survive. But that was false, too. When I asked employees if there was any future for the store, they confirmed what I already suspected: There are no plans to keep it open. And so, the “Store Closing” sign remains.
And with it, I’m reminded of how much I miss the mall.
I miss the smells—yes, even the faint trace of cigars from the 1980s. I miss the stores, even the ones that weren’t great. More than anything, I miss the atmosphere. That mall had something special. I can’t quite explain it, but walking through those halls felt safe, like everything was okay—even when the world outside was full of chaos, political turmoil, or torrential downpours.
And the movie theater—the Pearl Theater. That place was a home away from home. I wish it still existed today.
But things change. Retail dies. We’ve been watching it happen for years. At this point, any retail business still clinging to life feels like it’s just waiting for the inevitable pull of the plug.
It makes me wonder—will anything ever come back?
Generationally, we’ve watched it all fade. Generation X saw the decline of small-town America. Millennials watched the malls die. Generation Y is now watching the last remnants of retail and normalcy disappear. Each generation had a connection to what came before, but now? It feels like we’re losing it all.
And when these stores close, it’s not just about nostalgia—it’s about real people. Every small store that shuts its doors puts 30 to 50 people out of work. When the mall closed, over 1,000 jobs vanished. At its peak, nearly 4,000 people worked there on any given day. That’s not just an economic shift—that’s thousands of families navigating uncertainty, decades of change shaking up livelihoods.
And it’s still happening, with no sign of stopping.
Take a drive — and each time you see a vacant storefront just picture that empty building also having about 25 or so people that would work there.. the bigger locations the bigger the workforce.
Big Lots will be next. And when it finally closes, it’ll feel like the final break-up with something we’ve been trying to hold onto since the mall left us behind.
And then what? Unless we’re looking to rekindle something with McDonald’s or Cracker Barrel, that once-bright shopping spot on the hill will fade into darkness—just another piece of the past slipping away.