Category:Almart, Allentown, Pennsylvania

The Almart department store opened at 1015 Club Ave, attached the Lehigh Shopping Center in November 1962. It was on the eastern boundary of Allentown with Bethlehem, and Union Boulevard. Almart was a division of the New York City-based Allied Department Stores. It was a large, two-story building of about 120,000 square feet. Offering discount prices on department store products, the store was very popular with shoppers and the store was successful for many years. Almart was on the west side of the shopping center, while on the east side, several small stores and a supermarket drew customers. Technically, the entire complex was in the city of Bethlehem.

In 1979, Almart was acquired by the Montgomery Ward chain of national department stores, and it became a division of Wards. Almart lost its independent identity in April 1980, the store re branding itself as Jefferson Ward. It was then bought by the Bradlee Department Store chain in June 1985. Plans fell through to convert the store to a Bradlees, in part because Bradlee preferred one-floor operations. Bradlee instead opened a new store in Whitehall Township and closed the former Almart store in a mass liquidation sale in March, 1986.

It was vacant for a few years until Caldor, a discount chain opened in 1993, however it only operated on the main floor, leaving the basement unused except for storage. A Marshalls Store opened in the basement in February 1999. Caldor also closed in February 1999, the main floor becoming vacant until Ames Department Store re-opened it in February 2000. Ames also went bankrupt, closing in August 2002.

Today, the main floor of the former Almart is used as Wells Fargo insurance offices as well as a part of it being a "Big Lots" store, Marshalls remains in the lower level, accessed via what is still referred to as the "Almart Shopping Center".