Ever heard of the saying, “out with the old, in with the new?” This can be related to older businesses beginning to leave and newer businesses starting to move in. These changes impact our community, positively and negatively. Just recently, there have been several businesses moving in and out of Monaca.

One of the many stores that will soon be exiting the area is Toys R Us. The Monaca location is one of the 180 stores of the franchise closing after the company filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in September 2017. According to a CBS Pittsburgh Article, current workers of Monaca’s Toys R Us will be relocated and most will be granted a severance package.

Back in October 2015, Best Buy in Monaca closed its doors. Although a few jobs were lost, a Freight Harbor moved into the building. The business sells different kinds of hardware products.

The Beaver Valley Mall is becoming increasingly vacant, starting off with two of its top retailers—Macy’s and Sears—closing in the early months of 2017. Macy’s, which was opened in 1987, closed on March 26, 2017, and Sears followed suit in June 2016. Both stores, commonly known as being two out of the four “anchor stores” of the Beaver Valley Mall, lost over one hundred jobs combined.

On the brightside, a company called Rural King will be joining the mall. Rural King currently has over one hundred stores in 12 different states. According to Rural King’s website, the store is known as “America’s farm and home department store,” and will be moving into the old Sears building, occupying both floors.

Another company called U-Haul bought Macy’s old building out for $1.53 million. U-Haul is planning on opening a “state-of-the-art” showroom and self-storage facility. Although it has not been confirmed how many job openings Rural King will bring, U-Haul is expected to employ around a dozen people locally.

Though the closing of many businesses caused the loss of many jobs, these new businesses moving in bring a light of new improvement to Monaca.

“I think new companies moving into a small town like ours will bring more opportunities for growth within the community,” junior Robin Kaufman said.

Larger stores aren’t the only ones affected by the threat of closing with smaller stores following closely behind. Just recently in January 2018, PacSun closed its doors after having a blowout sale attempting to sell the remaining products. Kid’s, Women’s and Men’s Footlockers are also currently closing in the mall.

“Most of the stores are closed, or in the process of closing, with the highest retailers like Sears, PacSun and Kids, Women’s and Men’s Footlockers shutting down, moving out of the mall. It’s making it so in the next few years or so, the closest mall we’re going to have from where we are located is going to be Robinson or Ross Park,” junior Jenna Engel said.

Although new businesses are coming in, attempting to revive the Beaver Valley Mall, more and more businesses are tending to vacating the premises.

“I think it’s sad that so many business come and go. I know my mom was very sad when she had to close her store. It was her dream to have a children’s clothing store, but she wasn’t making enough profit to sustain the business. The mall in Monaca these days is just depressing, too. Every store used to be open, but now when you walk through, half of the businesses are closed. It would be nice to see the mall brought back to life,” Spanish teacher Ruthanne Gudzan said.

Back in 1986 to 1988, Gudzan’s mother owned a store in Monaca. It was called “Cynthia’s Infant to Teen Shoppe.”

“I remember spending a lot of time there with my mom. I went to preschool in Monaca, and afterward, I’d go to the store with my mom. I remember her dressing mannequins, and I can remember playing in the racks of clothing,” Gudzan said.

Throughout the years, businesses come and businesses go. After all this change and movement, what will Monaca look like in the future after most of the businesses and stores are gone?