A new Republic Bank has finally started construction in the Deptford Mall parking lot, at the corner of Almonesson And Deptford Center Roads, across from Outback/Bonefish Restaurants.
A Krispy Kreme retail location and bakery is also planned for this area, but next to the bank directly across from Long Horn Steakhouse. The Traffic light entrance to the mall would be the other side of the donut bakery. The Krispy Kreme project has not started construction yet.
42Freeway first broke the story on the Republic Bank plans back in April 2018. It’s been a long three years, but this required County approval, and also State banking regulator approval.
Well for 42Freeway readers it always feels like these projects take too long since we let you know about things MUCH sooner than you would’ve known previously!
Republic Bank
Republic Bank was founded by Vernon Hill, a famous South Jersey resident who developed the popular Commerce Bank decades ago, which he later sold to TD Bank.
Mr Hill started many customer friendly features such as extended hours and coin counters. After several years out of area banking, Vernon came back to start Republic Bank.
Republic Banks retail buildings have a very distinctive glass wall appearance which lets a lot of natural light in.
For this new location, the glass entrance will face the intersection and the drive-thru lanes will be on the mall side.
There will be a new entrance added to the mall in this area. A right turn only lane in off of Almonesson, and positioned across from Mavis/NTW Tire and enter the mall parking area somewhat between where the bank is being developed, and the new Krispy Kreme.
Bank officials originally wanted an exit here also, primarily for the drive-thru traffic to exit back to 42Freeway, but what we see from documents this has been changed to entrance only.
Krispy Kreme
So no… the construction that is taking place now is not the new Krispy Kreme. But it’s still coming!
In September of 2020 a new Krispy Kreme retail and bakery was also approved for the Deptford Mall parking lot perimeter.
This location will be a retail store and regional bakery, where they will be baking donuts fresh every morning, and with 2 onsite delivery vans they will delivery donuts to other area stores to sell.
People are very excited about Krispy Kreme and honestly it was one of my most popular posts last year. People seeing construction starting this week at the mall had the Facebook Deptford Talk group participants immediately getting excited that it was the new donut shop. Not yet folks!
Krispy Kreme also required County approval as Almonesson Rd is County Road, and I believe I saw that the County has already approved. Krispy Kreme is not making any changes to the Almonesson Road access, so I am sure this made it an easier approval
Location
So the Republic Bank is in the corner.
There is a new turn in entrance above that (across from Mavis / NTB Tires)
And then above that is the Krispy Kreme location. As mentioned it will be positioned across from Long Horn Steakhouse.
We don’t have an exact timing on the Krispy Kreme constructions start, but online construction sites are indicating bids were already sent out to construction firms
This parking area is where Krispy Kreme will be developed. Republic Bank is in the distance, at the corner.
Deptford Mall Upgrades
This continues an impressive series of improvements at the Deptford Mall, in what is obviously a challenging retail climate!
- Dick’s Sporting Goods moved into lower level Sears
- Round 1 Bowling and Arcade moved into the upper level of Sears
- An xFinity Store opened on the outside corner of Sears
- Cotton On Opened in the Mall
- Lovisa opened inside the mall
- Tesla Chargers opened over by Boscov’s
- Crunch Fitness is planned for the old Sears Auto Center Building.
And of course there have been some sad closings, such as Modell’s Sporting Goods, and Ruby Tuesday Restaurant.
Overall Macerich and Mall management have done a great job keeping the Deptford Mall a very viable shopping destination for the region!
Macy’s Wants to Build Small Stores Too!
Incidentally… the Macy’s parking lot corner across from the Wells Fargo Bank has also been advertising for stand-alone “pad” store development, also.
But from what we can see, there is no activity with the Macy’s corner property.
Most would find this strange, but the Deptford Mall property has a very unique property setup with the original three Department stores owning their buildings, and a carved out section of the associated parking lots! The original mall developers only owned the center small store mall sections!
I believe with the closure of Sears and its redevelopment, mall owner Macerich took over the ownership of the Sears building, autocenter, and the connected corner parking area where Krispy Kreme and Republic Bank are going in.
In a way, I wonder if this ownership plan helps Deptford keep those larger stores open, as a closure would mean also having to float the buildings themselves, instead of just exiting a lease (which isn’t necessarily easy)