The mall originally opened in 1971. The shape of the mall resembles a snowflake, with its stores occupying 8 corridors extending from the center. The roof in the center of the mall is a large white tent, and encloses the octagonal Center Court. The mall underwent a major renovation in 2008, which took 18 months and included updates to every part of the mall. During its early years Park City was also called "Mall of Four Seasons" because of the seasonal names given to the original four corridors leading to each anchor. Going clockwise from west to east was JCPenney in the two-story Winter quadrant, Sears in Spring, Gimbel's (later Pomeroy's then Boscov's) in Summer, and Watt & Shand (later Bon-Ton) in Autumn. The state of the art mall located in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country was one of the first to have its own closed-circuit television.[4] Studios for Park City Communications and Lancaster/York/Harrisburg CBS affiliate WLYH-TV 15 were located on the first floor in the Winter wing alongside an ice skating rink.
The mall is a major shopping destination for shoppers in the south-central Pennsylvania area due to its assortment of over 170 stores, all of which are newly renovated and most of which are not offered at the nearby Berkshire Mall and York Galleria.
The mall had only the second location of Lancaster department store Watt & Shand. The lifestyle center portion of the mall, Fountain Shoppes, is accessible from the main level. The mall's only fountain can be found here. The mall has had no indoor fountains for over 25 years. The mall is located approximately 35 miles (56 km) east of Harrisburg and 85 miles (137 km) west of Philadelphia.
In April 2018, The Bon-Ton announced it would shutter after it wasn't able to establish any new conditions to satisfy its established long-term debt. In 2019, the mall announced plans to transform the previous The Bon-Ton outpost into an open air entryway with two freestanding restaurants, a courtyard, and a new enclosed mall entrance.[5] Plans were initially on hold due to the onset of COVID-19, however Brookfield, the mall development firm, has since resumed early development discussions.[6]
In December 2018, Sears announced that it would close as part of a corporate effort to phase out of its traditional brick-and-mortar format.[7] In August 2019, it was announced that Round One Entertainment would reconstruct the previous Sears outpost and opened in 2020.[8]
