GameStop hopping across Market Street as Gallery revamp progresses

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) is moving the Gallery at Market East's GameStop store to a property it owns across Market Street as work to redevelop the shopping mall into an outlet center progresses.

A permit for GameStop signage has been issued for 1018 Market St., according to Karen Guss, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Department of Licenses & Inspections.

The space "is a temporary location designed to accommodate GameStop and its customers in the best possible way in the short term," PREIT said in an emailed statement.The company declined to comment on when GameStop's move to 1018 Market would occur or whether the video-game and electronics store would return to the Gallery following the mall's redevelopment into what is to be called Fashion Outlets of Philadelphia.

GameStop spokeswoman Jackie Smith did not immediately respond to phone messages seeking comment.

The 1018 Market St. property is one of three contiguous buildings PREIT and its partner in the Gallery's redevelopment, Macerich of Santa Monica, Calif., acquired last year. Another is the former Robinson department store building at 1020 Market St., which was listed this year on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, granting it some protection from demolition or alteration.

PREIT is challenging the historic-register listing in court, with chief executive Joseph Coradino saying the company wants to maintain the flexibility to redevelop the three properties together for a retailer seeking a large "flagship" location.