The Mall at Greece Ridge

The Mall at Greece Ridge is located in Greece, a suburb of Rochester, New York, and managed by Wilmorite Management Group LLC. It contains 132 stores and restaurants in the main complex, with big box retailers including Dick's Sporting Goods, Bed Bath & Beyond, Barnes & Noble, Michaels, Burlington, Old Navy, J. C. Penney, Macy's, Macy's Home, and a free-standing Target which opened in 1999.

The Mall at Greece Ridge
LocationGreece, New York
Coordinates43.207287°N 77.692051°W / 43.207287; -77.692051
Opening date1967
DeveloperWilmorite Properties
ManagementWilmorite Properties
OwnerWilmorite Properties
No. of stores and services132
No. of anchor tenants4 (3 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area1,423,411 sq ft (132,239.2 m2)[1]
No. of floors1 (2 in J. C. Penney and main Macy's, closed 2nd floor in Burlington)
Websitehttp://www.themallatgreeceridge.com/

The mall is near the center of a long line of plazas, chain hotels, restaurants, and car dealerships which continues for several miles in each direction on West Ridge Road (New York State Route 104).

History

The mall began as 2 shopping malls: Greece Towne Mall, which opened on May 1, 1967. The Greece Towne Mall had a Sibley's (briefly Kaufmann's, then The Bon-Ton), a National Clothing (location unknown), a Loblaws (later Circuit City) and (after an expansion in the early 80s) a Gold Circle (later Hills, then Caldor). The Gold Circle building was razed and replaced by Hoyts Cinemas (now Regal Theaters).

Long Ridge Mall, began with the opening of McCurdy's on Oct. 2, 1969.[2] A newspaper article says that the rest of the mall would start before the end of the year. The official opening of Long Ridge Plaza was on Sept. 15, 1971. An ad shows the following stores as being open on that date:[3]

Early advertising called the mall Long Ridge Plaza but by March 1972[4] advertising used the name Long Ridge Mall. It was unique in that it had five anchors: Sears, Woolworth, J. B. Hunter (later J. C. Penney), McCurdy's (later Kaufmann's, now Macy's), and B. Forman Co. (later Kaufmann's Home Store, now Macy's Home Store).

In the late 1980s, talks to link the two malls to draw shoppers back to Greece escalated when a new mall, By that time, the malls were becoming obsolete as newer malls in the area were being built. The Irondequoit Mall opened, and when plans for a massive expansion of Eastview Mall were revealed. Both malls competed against each other until March 15, 1994 when the malls merged to form The Mall at Greece Ridge Center. Construction began on the 300,000 square foot expansion. When it was complete, the new 1.6 million square foot mall was renamed The Mall At Greece Ridge and at that time was the 4th largest in the eastern US, and the 20th largest in the country. The Mall is still the largest shopping center in the Rochester area. It is also one of the busiest, with over 25 million vehicles passing by the mall every year.

At the time of the merger, J. C. Penney moved to a marquee space in the new wing that connected the two malls, across from the food court. The former J. C. Penney was converted into a Burlington Coat Factory (top floor) and a Lechmere (now closed). Shortly after the mall redevelopment, Kaufmann's (which had absorbed Sibley's in 1990) acquired McCurdy's as well, selling its original store to Bon-Ton.

Other big box retailers have been added since the merger, often taking over what used to be several storefronts. These stores are smaller than the big department stores that normally serve as anchors, and are usually found in strip malls rather than indoor shopping malls. Many of them have separate outdoor entrances in addition to their indoor mall entrances. Michaels, Marshalls, and Bed Bath & Beyond opened in existing space in the Greece Towne wing. In the Long Ridge wing, in addition to Burlington taking over the former J. C. Penney space, existing space has been converted to Dick's Sporting Goods, Barnes & Noble, and Old Navy.

In 2005, Burlington Coat Factory relocated downstairs in the former Lechmere space, leaving the upper level vacant. In 2006, the Kaufmann's name was retired and all existing stores were sold to Macy's. The former Kaufmann's furniture department on the upper level of the Macy's Home Store became storage and offices for the store.

The former Sibley's/Kaufmann's/Bon-Ton building was razed in 2014 to create a restaurant and high end clothing wing after Bon-Ton left the Rochester area.

In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at The Mall at Greece Ridge, into Seritage Growth Properties.[5]

On December 15, 2016, just after 11PM, an individual fired shots into a vehicle parked outside Old Navy at the mall. No one was hit. The suspect is in custody and charges are expected to be filed.[6]

On April 20, 2018, Sears announced that they would be closing this location as part of a plan to close 24 stores.[7] The store closed on July 15, 2018.

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References
  1. http://www.wilmorite.com/Portals/0/PortalFiles/Documents/GRlogos%20Website.pdf
  2. Old News - McCurdy's Long Ridge
  3. Greater Greece Press, Sept. 16, 1971, page 7B.
  4. Greater Greece Press, March 30, 1972, page 7
  5. "At Mall at Greece Ridge Center | Seritage". seritage.com.
  6. Edlund, Ashley (2016-12-16). "Shots fired outside Greece Ridge Mall". RochesterFirst. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  7. "Sears at the mall at Greece Ridge location to close". WHEC News10NBC. 2018-04-20.
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