"We are grateful to our dedicated associates and the loyal customers who have shopped at this … location through the years," JCPenney said in a statement after its Ross Park Mall store closed on Sunday, September 20, 2026. The company told TribLive it couldn't continue under its current lease terms and couldn't find another suitable location in the market.
That closing ended the last tie to the mall that opened in 1986. What's coming into that end of the building isn't another department store. The space is being cut up and handed to brands that run smaller stores, and the stated goal of the rework includes more home decor. A Wayfair planned for McKnight Road points the same way.
Four Original Anchors, and None of Them Left
When Ross Park opened in 1986, its anchors were Sears, Kaufmann's, Horne's and JCPenney. JCPenney outlasted the other three, though it had already shrunk from two floors to one in 2019.
| 1986 opening | October 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Anchor stores | Sears, Kaufmann's, Horne's, JCPenney | Nordstrom, Macy's, DICK'S House of Sport |
| Former JCPenney space | Two-floor department store | Closed Sept. 20; Vuori and part of Zara planned for the upper level |
| East end | Built around a department store | Being reworked around Zara, opening 2028 |
The anchors now are Nordstrom, Macy's and DICK'S House of Sport. None of them is new news to anyone who shops here. What's new is that nobody announced a fourth department store to take the empty space. The space is being split up.
The JCPenney Box Is Being Split, Not Refilled
The first new name is Vuori, an American contemporary clothing brand. A display inside the mall says Vuori is coming to the second-floor area that JCPenney gave up years ago.
The second is Zara. In August, the Spanish fashion retailer confirmed its first Pittsburgh-area store will open at Ross Park Mall. It will combine the former Levi's, Vera Bradley and Banana Republic spaces with part of JCPenney's upper level, spokesperson Francesca Callahan told Axios. Zara is scheduled to open sometime in 2028.
So the Zara store takes up four former storefronts: three mall-corridor shops plus a slice of the anchor. Simon, which runs the mall, presents it as the start of something bigger than one lease.
"The arrival of ZARA — a globally recognized, in-demand brand — represents a major milestone in that strategy," said Tom Zervas, leasing director of Simon.
According to Simon, "that strategy" means "reimagining the east end" of the property and improving the mall's retail mix, home decor offerings and overall customer experience. No public timeline or construction plan for the wider east-end work has come out yet. Local coverage also hasn't said what will go into the rest of the old JCPenney space beyond Vuori and Zara. Until something is filed or announced, that part of the floor plan is an open question.
What Already Changed in 2026
You can see the turnover in the dates. In order, this is what happened inside the mall this year:
- May 23. The country's first Disney Store Limited Time opened on the second level near J.Crew. It sells apparel, plush toys, collectibles and pins tied to Disney, Pixar, Marvel and "Star Wars" characters, and it's run by Go! Retail Group, the company behind the revived Toys "R" Us name. As the name says, the concept is built to be temporary, so check before you make a special trip.
- August 20. Zara's 2028 store was announced.
- September 20. JCPenney closed, and its listing disappeared from the mall's website.
- October 3. JD Sports opens today. The mall is running a "Welcome JD Sports!" event through October 31.
Food is changing too. Shake Shack is open in the upper-level food court, per the mall's directory. Popeyes Chicken is still listed as "Coming Soon," with no opening date posted.
The closing didn't come out of nowhere. The Post-Gazette reported the September 20 date back in May, which gave the mall four months to line up what came next. In that stretch, a first-of-its-kind Disney concept opened, Zara signed on, and JD Sports took a storefront. Every one of them is a single brand running its own store. None is a department store.
The Home-Goods Thread Running Down McKnight Road
Simon's mention of "home decor offerings" makes more sense when you read it next to a Post-Gazette story from two weeks earlier. On August 3, Wayfair said it would open its first brick-and-mortar store in Pennsylvania in 2027 at North Hills Village on McKnight Road in Ross Township.
The store is planned at about 95,000 square feet. Wayfair's Liza Lefkowski, vice president of merchandising and stores, said shoppers will be able to "touch, feel and visualize products across the whole home category." North Hills Village has been owned by J.J. Gumberg Co. since 1985, according to county deed records cited by the Post-Gazette.
Put the two announcements side by side. One owner says it wants more home decor in its east end. A different owner, a short drive away on the same road, landed the first Pennsylvania store for an online furniture and home-goods marketplace. The two projects aren't connected, and neither company has mentioned the other. But if both go as planned, by the end of 2028 a Ross Township resident shopping for a sofa, a rug or a lamp will have more to look at in person without leaving the township than they do this fall.
Getting there is changing too. Ross Township won an $899,950 state grant to upgrade traffic signals at nine McKnight Road intersections. The work includes signal retiming, LED technology and better traffic monitoring and detection. Those are the intersections that connect North Hills Village, the mall and everything in between.
Where the Errands Go in the Meantime
There's a gap of a year or more between the empty JCPenney space and the stores replacing it. For the things you used to pick up at JCPenney, the nearest remaining stores TribLive listed are at Robinson Town Center, Monroeville Mall and Westmoreland Mall. Monroeville may not last. That mall is expected to be demolished after Walmart bought the property in February 2025. JCPenney also still has stores at the Uniontown and Indiana malls.
Inside Ross Park, the new arrivals are on the same upper level where the changes are happening. Shake Shack is in the upper-level food court, Disney Store Limited Time is on the second level near J.Crew, and Vuori is slated for the former JCPenney upper floor. JD Sports opens today. Nordstrom, Macy's and DICK'S House of Sport are where they've always been. The next dates on the calendar are Wayfair at North Hills Village in 2027 and Zara in the east end in 2028.
If you own a home near McKnight Road and wonder how retail changes like these show up in what buyers ask about, I'm glad to talk it through. No pressure and no pitch, just a conversation about your street. You can schedule a free consultation with Robin Taylor whenever the timing feels right.
