Northern Lights Shopping Center
The site of the former J. C. Penney in 2014, now a road connecting to Walmart. Note the Walmart sign in the background.
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| Location | Ohio River Boulevard (PA 65) Economy, Pennsylvania |
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| Opening date | 1962 |
| Owner | Zamias Services, Inc. |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 (two vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 450,000 square feet (42,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Parking | 974 spaces |
Northern Lights Shopping Center is a strip mall located in Economy, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. While it continues to serve as a traditional community-style strip mall for the immediate area, it was a major power center-style strip mall from its opening until the early 2000s. Due to the high vacancy rate at the plaza, it is today largely considered a dead mall. A Walmart that opened next door to Northern Lights in 2014 is expected to help revitalize the plaza as well as help dilapidated southern Beaver County.
The plaza opened in the late 1950s along Pennsylvania Route 65, serving as the major shopping center for the Beaver Valley. For decades, J. C. Penney was the main anchor store for the plaza, having a three-story store at the plaza. Other anchor tenants included Sears, local supermarket chain Giant Eagle, and discount department store chain Hills. The plaza was divided into three buildings: the main eastern portion of the plaza facing the Ohio River housed J. C. Penney and Hills. The northern portion of the plaza housed Giant Eagle, while the southern portion housed Sears; all three buildings also housed many smaller shops. Despite the opening of the Beaver Valley Mall in 1970 in nearby Center Township, Northern Lights continued to attract shoppers, although Sears did move to the Beaver Valley Mall at this time where it remained until its closure in 2016.
However, the collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s, combined with the Beaver Valley Mall's easy access off of the Beaver Valley Expressway and the rapid development of Center Township, Cranberry Township, and Robinson Township, eventually saw a gradual decline for Northern Lights. In 1998, J. C. Penney moved to the Beaver Valley Mall to become its new fourth anchor store. Around the same time, Hills was acquired by Ames, however Ames itself experienced its own problems related to the Hills acquisition.
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