Walden Galleria

The Walden Galleria is an automobile-oriented, regional shopping mall located in Cheektowaga, a suburb of Buffalo, New York located east of Interstate 90 and New York State Thruway Exit 52 off Walden Avenue.[2] The Walden Galleria comprises more than 1,600,000 square feet (150,000 m2) of retail space, with 190 stores on two levels, including a food court and a movie theater. The Galleria has department stores, JCPenney and Macy's; with additional anchors including Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Forever 21, Old Navy, and a Regal Cinemas multiplex. The third department store, Sears closed in April 2017 with Kids for Less occupying a portion of the space. The fourth department store, Lord & Taylor closed on December 29, 2020. The mall is owned and managed by The Pyramid Companies of Syracuse, New York, the same management firm that developed it.

Walden Galleria
LocationCheektowaga, New York, USA
Opening dateMay 1, 1989 (1989-05-01)
DeveloperThe Pyramid Companies
ManagementThe Pyramid Companies
OwnerThe Pyramid Companies
No. of stores and services193
No. of anchor tenants11 (9 open, 2 vacant)
Total retail floor area1,600,000 square feet (150,000 m2)[1]
No. of floors2
Websitewww.waldengalleria.com

History

The Walden Galleria was developed by The Pyramid Companies, an Upstate New York-based shopping center development and management firm. Built on a site near Exit 52 of the New York State Thruway, the mall was opened in 1989. At the time, the mall featured six anchor stores: national chains JCPenney, and Sears, regional chain Bonwit Teller, and three Western New York chains: Sibley's, L. L. Berger, and The Sample.[3] Sibley's opened in late 1988, several months before the rest of the mall.[4] An additional anchor space was originally built for B. Altman and Company, but it remained vacant, as the chain decided not to open the Walden Galleria store due to credit restraints.[5] At the time, the two-story mall also featured more than 150 stores, as well as a theater owned by Hoyts Cinemas.

In 1990, Sibley's parent, May Co., merged operations with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Kaufmann's. That same year, local chain AM&A's (Adam, Meldrum & Anderson Company) moved from the nearby Thruway Mall into the space originally planned for B. Altman.[6] The owner of the Thruway Mall sued the AM&A's chain, claiming breach of contract;[7] the chain would later be declared liable for damages to the Thruway Mall, which was subsequently torn down and rebuilt as a strip mall in the early 1990s.[8] Finally, Hoyts sold the Walden Galleria theater complex to General Cinemas by the end of the year.[9]

L. L. Berger declared bankruptcy in 1991, closing all of its stores.[10] Later that same year, three more anchor stores were added to the mall: Lechmere, Loehmann's, and Lord & Taylor.[11] The Sample closed in 1991, and was soon replaced with Linens & Wares, a household goods-based retailer;[12] also, by the end of the year, Filene's Basement would open in the former L. L. Berger space. Both Filene's Basement and Loehmann's would close within three years.[13][14]

Mid-late 1990s

In 1995, York, Pennsylvania-based department store chain The Bon-Ton acquired the AM&A's chain, converting all outlets to The Bon-Ton. Later that year, on December 14, 17-year-old Cynthia Wiggins of Buffalo was struck by a dump truck while trying to get to her first day of work in the mall's food court from a NFTA Metro bus stop on Walden Avenue. The incident sparked allegations from Buffalo's African-American community that Pyramid did not want people from Buffalo's predominantly minority East Side to have easy access to the mall. In settling a wrongful death claim against Walden Galleria and NFTA Metro and to prevent a boycott of the mall, the bus stop was soon moved to a point inside the mall, where it remains today.[15][16][17] Bonwit Teller closed off its upper level in 1996 as part of the chain's restructuring, with Old Navy soon opening in the store's former upper level.[18] By the end of the year, Bonwit Teller had closed the rest of its store as well, with the lower level becoming the area's first Bed Bath & Beyond store in 1997.[19][20] Also in 1996, sporting apparel retailer Finish Line opened what was then one of its largest stores, in the space vacated by Filene's Basement two years previous.[21]

Dick's Sporting Goods at Walden Galleria, formerly a Galyan's sporting goods store.

Montgomery Ward, which acquired the Lechmere chain in 1994, closed the last of the Lechmere stores nationwide in 1998, as part of a corporate restructuring.[22] After its closure, half of the former Lechmere was then converted to a home store for JCPenney,[23] while the other half sat vacant until DSW Shoe Warehouse replaced it in 1999.[24] Linens 'n Wares, which closed at some point in the late 1990s, was converted to a home store for Kaufmann's in 1999 as well.[25] One year later, a Galyan's Trading Company store was added onto the mall as well, with this store being renamed Dick's Sporting Goods in 2004 following the acquisition of the Galyan's chain.

2000s

As the new millennium arrived, so did several exciting developments. A 12,000 sf Pottery Barn store opened on the mall's first floor in the space formerly occupied by Finish Line, who recently relocated to the former Warner Brothers Store space. It would also be joined by Upstate NY's first Apple Store which would occupy 7,200 sf in front of the Bon Ton and Forever 21, a junior clothing store, who opened an 8,500-square-foot store on the mall's first floor. Also joining the mall was Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister, the latter of which was the first location in Western New York.[26]

In addition to new stores joining the existing mall space, many expansions were also proposed. The initial plan called for the addition of a new, three-story wing with an eighteen-screen movie theater complex, as well as several upscale tenants. Under this proposal, the existing Sears store would have been converted to mall space, and a new Sears store built immediately behind it.[27] This iteration of expansion never came to fruition.

By 2002, General Cinemas had sold the mall's theater complex to AMC Theatres.The JCPenney Home Store also closed that year and became a Steve and Barry's.[28] One year later, Pyramid made a failed attempt to evict the theaters for a Best Buy store[9][29] and although this attempt was unsuccessful, Best Buy would end up opening a store at the mall 3 years later next to Sears.[30] In 2004, AMC ended up closing the mall's theater complex. The vacancy of the space was short-lived as only four days later, it was reopened by Regal Cinemas. Another acquisition of a major anchor took place a year later as Kaufmann's became one of several former May Co. brands to be acquired and renamed by Macy's in 2005, and while the main Kaufmann's store was converted to Macy's, the Home Store was shuttered. Also in 2006, The Bon-Ton closed.[31] In 2007, Bed Bath and Beyond left the mall for a location in a plaza nearby and Colton RV, a recreational vehicle dealership occupied the space for 2 years.

2006 expansion
Walden Galleria concourse

With the closure of The Bon-Ton in 2006, plans were once again announced to expand the Walden Galleria. Under these new plans, the recently vacated Bon-Ton department store, the adjacent existing Regal Cinemas space and a Kahunaville restaurant outside the food court entrance were demolished to make way for the new home of a 16-screen Regal Cinemas movie complex on the upper level and new retail and upscale restaurant space on the lower level. An existing exterior entrance with escalators and an elevator up to the food court was removed and the large exterior glass wall was temporarily blocked off with the intention of creating a Barnes and Noble store in front of that space that would open up to the food court. That location never came to fruition however due to what would be complications of construction of the Barnes and Noble's proposed escalators since that particular section of the mall was built on caissons over Scajaquada Creek. Additionally, a portion of the multi-level parking ramp near the Bon-Ton store was demolished to make way for new store fronts that would create a boulevard-like design along the mall's western edge. A five-story, 1,200-vehicle parking ramp was also built to replace the spaces affected by the expansion.[32]

2010s

A new decade brought many changes to the now 21-year-old shopping center. The first was Papaya Clothing, who opening a new story on the mall's first level. In 2011, the space formerly occupied by Bed Bath and Beyond became home to Swedish retailer H&M. This was the first location for the chain in the Buffalo Area, with the closest being in Rochester and Toronto.[33] A small part of the former Bed Bath and Beyond space next door also became a location for Anthropologie, a trendy women's clothing and accessory store. A wave of other stores joined the mall that year as well including Fossil, which opened its second area location in a 4,000 sf space on the first floor, Free People, a Philadelphia-based retailer which opened its first Upstate New York location in a 2,000 sf space on the first floor, and White House/Black Market whose 3,000 sf store is its second area location. Gordon Biersch, a brew pub opened in the restaurant outparcel attached to the parking garage.[34]

In 2013, several aesthetic upgrades were made throughout the mall. New Italian Marble floors were installed in the original 1989 portion of mall. Lighting and seating updates were made as well. The main entrances were updated to reflect the 2007 expansion to the mall. At the end of the year, Pole Position Raceway would open an indoor go-kart racing track in the former Steve and Barry's Location in order to add more entertainment options to the mall.[35]

In November 2014, the mall was involved in a controversy regarding stores being fined for deciding not to open on Thanksgiving Day.[36] The mall owners threatened to fine stores $200 an hour if they remain closed on the holiday.[37]

In the latter part of the decade, the Walden Galleria, as with other malls around the nation, was faced with great adversity. This was in the form a growing segment of ecommerce and a shifting preference towards online shopping. The mall would face many prominent store closings in the next five years, but also had growth in different niche segments of the retail market. The mall would take action to combat any negative effects of closings and changing shopping habits by adding new entertainment options. This was part of the mall's ongoing efforts to diversify its offerings to avoid becoming a victim of the retail apocalypse. One of the first moves was the opening of a World of Beer tavern in the former Ruby Tuesday's space.[38] This was buoyed off of the craft beer boom happening in the Buffalo area. About a month later in September, Dave and Buster's relocated its existing arcade center from the Eastern Hills Mall to a 30,000 sf location next to the Cheesecake Factory which was once the site of a planned Barnes and Noble almost a decade prior.[39] In 2016, the mall caught a break as Macy's one of its largest anchor stores, did not list the Galleria as one of the 2 area locations that it was closing. This good news however, would be quelled as later in the year Sears announced that it would be closing as part of a plan to close 30 stores nationwide. The location finally closed in April 2017.[40]

In April 2018, Spanish retailer Zara opened a two-story 30,309 square foot space next to H&M and Gap.[41] The 1st floor of the store occupied space that was formerly, Fossil, White House Black Market, Free People and Banana Republic, and the 2nd floor space of what was Aéropostale. Fossil and Banana Republic closed their Galleria locations while the balance of the listed stores moved to other locations in the mall. In June, Macy's opened a 14,456 sf furniture store in the location that formerly hosted the same concept under its predecessor, Kaufmann's. Some good news also came in the former of large anchor's commitments to stay at the mall. both Macy's and Regal Cinemas announced that they would invest millions in their current locations. In November, RPM Raceway, formerly known as Pole Position, announced that it was relocating the track to Poughkeepsie. The chains other 5 locations in Rochester, Syracuse, Long Island, Jersey City, NJ and Stamford, CT would remain open.[42] The space would not remain vacant for long as Urban Air Adventure announced that it was planning on opening a 45,000 square-foot trampoline, recreation and entertainment center within the next year.[43]

Present Day

Currently, the Walden Galleria is the Buffalo-Niagara region's largest shopping, dining, and entertainment destination. With over 200 retailers, 12 sit-down restaurants, an international food court. The mall attracts over 23 million visitors from the United States and Canada.[44]

On March 19, 2020 at 8PM, the mall announced that it was closing temporarily due to the state guidelines put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Stores with exterior entrances were able to reopen at the beginning of June and the mall was cleared to open entirely by July 10.

On August 2, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would be closing as part of a plan to close 19 stores nationwide. On August 27, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would be closing all remaining stores. The store closed on December 29, 2020.[45] Initial plans call for conversion of the 99,534-square-foot store into York Factory, a co-working space that targets emerging companies.[46] As of November 2020, some of the mall's newest additions include Ardene, Earthbound Trading Co., the Lego Store, Mandati Jewelers, Santora's Pizza Pub and Grille and Urban Air Adventure Park.[47]

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