Walden Galleria

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The Walden Galleria is a shopping mall located in the Buffalo, New York suburb of Cheektowaga and is the largest mall in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area with 1.6 million square feet (230,400 m²) of retail space. Walden Galleria opened in 1989 and is located adjacent to Exit 52 of the New York State Thruway. The in-progress expansion of the mall includes a new 5-story parking ramp, two outparcels, and an additional parking expansion. In total, 300,000 square feet of the mall will be overhauled by mid-2007.

The mall was built and is operated by The Pyramid Companies which operates several large malls throught the northeast incuding Carousel Center (Syracuse), Crossgates Mall (Albany), and Palisades Center (Rockland County).

[edit] Anchors

[edit] Current

• JCPenney (Original tenant)
• Sears (Original tenant)
• Regal Cinemas (It is now currently closed, it's expected to move to the former Bon-Ton location sometime in 2007)
• Macy's (Opened 1988 as Sibley's (before the rest of the mall opened), became Kaufmann's 1990, converted to Macy's 2006) 175,000 square feet
• Lord and Taylor (Opened 1991) 100,000 square feet
• Old Navy (Opened 1996, originally the second level of Bonwit Teller)
• Bed Bath and Beyond (Opened late 1990s, replaced one of the last Bonwit Teller locations in existence)
• Steve and Barry's University Sportswear (Opened in 2004)
• Dick's Sporting Goods (Replaced Galyan's in 2005 with Dick's purchase of that chain)
• Best Buy (Opened 2006, located under Steve & Barry's)
• DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse)

One of the mall's current anchors, Dick's Sporting Goods, which replaced Galyan's Sport and Outdoor Adventure.

[edit] Future

• Barnes & Noble (to be located in current Regal Cinemas) 46,000 square feet

[edit] Past

• AM&A's (Local Buffalo chain. Was originally to be a B. Altman & Co. store but they were closing as the mall was opening, so the space sat vacant until AM&A's opened in 1991. Location was replaced with Bon-Ton in 1995.)
• AMC Theaters (Originally General Cinemas, was acquired by Regal Cinemas in November 2005.)
• Bonwit Teller (Original tenant and one of the last new locations for the chain. The upper level closed early/mid 1996 and became Old Navy. The lower level closed December, 1996 and became Bed Bath and Beyond.)
• Bon-Ton (Assumed former AM&A's in 1995, closed in 2006) 150,000 square feet.
• Galyan's Sports and Outdoor Adventure (Opened 2000 as key tenant of original expansion. Merged with Dick's Sporting Goods in 2005.)
• JCPenney Home Store (Replaced Lechmere, later split into Steve and Barry's and DSW with most of the space going to the former).
• Kaufmann's (Opened 1990. Was replaced by Macy's in 2006.)
• Lechmere (Opened 1991, closed 1997 when the chain folded. Was replaced by the JCPenney Home Store, then split between current occupants Steve and Barry's and DSW Shoe Warehouse.)
• Sibley's (Original tenant (1988), merged with Kaufmann's in 1990, merged with Macy's in 2006)
• The Sample (local Buffalo chain, closed in 1991 and became the Kaufmann's (now Macys) Furniture Store in 2000)

[edit] 2006-2007 Expansion

The costs of this expansion will total $60 million with work beginning on June 1, 2006. Since that date, Pyramid has filed permits for $20 million of that work while details on the balance have not yet been released. The $20 million that has been released will go the following work.

• Demolition of the recently vacated Bon-Ton department store to make way for the new home of a stadium-style 16-screen Regal Cinemas movie complex on the upper level. The new cinema will seat 3,000 people.
• An upscale food court will be also be constructed in and around the former Bon-Ton site. Among the tenants will be the region's first Cheesecake Factory outlet, which opened on December 11th, 2006. The Cheesecake Factory will have a 400-person seating capacity, according to town documents. Other tenents will include Hyde Park Steakhouse, The Melting Pot, Bravo! Cucina Italiana, Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy, and Bar Louie. All of which are new to the region.
• A multi-level parking ramp near the Bon-Ton store will be demolished to make way for a boulevard-like design along the mall's western edge. Also to be constructed is a five-story, 1,200-vehicle parking ramp to replace the spaces affected by the expansion.
• Two restaurant parcels are also slated that likely will house a national steakhouse and an English pub. Plans are in the works for the mall to house The Improv comedy club chain and a Lucky Strike Restaurant, which features bowling lanes.
• Mall officials are also considering adding a valet parking to help shoppers ease a parking crunch.
• Alongside the expansion will come new non-anchor tenants including Coach, Urban Outfitters, bebe, and Lucky Brand Jeans among others, in an attempt to make parts of the mall more upscale.
• A Barnes & Noble superstore will also be at the former Regal Cinemas site.

[edit] Controversy

• In December 1995, 17-year-old Cynthia Wiggins of Buffalo was killed 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 proper to have easy access to the mall. The bus stop was soon moved to a point inside the mall. [1]
• Walden Galleria became the first of Pyramid malls to introduce the MB-18 parental escort policy which bars those under 18 from going into the mall without a parent or guardian after 4:00 PM on Friday and Saturday evenings. This was met with protest from area civil liberity leaders and (naturally) teenagers.

[edit] Trivia

• With 19 million shoppers annually, the Galleria is the busiest mall in Western New York. Much of this success can be attributed with its popularity with shoppers from southern Ontario in Canada which come for the often better deals across the border plus international visitors in spring and summer months because of the peak tourist season in Niagara Falls.
• The interior is modeled in part on two sister malls, Crossgates Mall in Albany and Poughkeepsie Galleria in Poughkeepsie (from which Walden Galleria was named after).
• The roof of the mall was created by local company Birdair and is near-identical to that on the sister Poughkeepsie Galleria (built two years prior). Since the Galleria was constructed, Birdair has constructed notable roofs such as the Millennium Dome in London and the Denver International Airport.
• Since its opening, rumors that the mall is sinking due to being built on swampland have circulated. Similar rumors have circulated about sister mall Palisades Center as well. These rumors are unsubstantiated.
• The mall is located about a mile away from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. When planes pass over the mall, the roar of the engines can be heard inside and planes can be easily identified from the eastern parking lot.
• The mall lies in both the Maryvale and Cheektowaga Central School Districts. The current 2006 expansions will take place in the Maryvale district.

[edit] External links

• Walden Galleria homepage
• Pyramid Companies page
• Article on mall expansion