Mountain Farms Mall

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Mountain Farms Mall
View of one end of the mall
Facts and statistics
Location	Hadley, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°21′14″N 72°33′13″W / 42.35389, -72.55361 (Mountain Farms Mall)Coordinates: 42°21′14″N 72°33′13″W / 42.35389, -72.55361 (Mountain Farms Mall)
Address	335 Russell Street, Hadley, MA 01035
Opening date	1973-11-23
Owner	W/S Development
No. of stores and services	12
No. of anchor tenants	9
Total retail floor area	393,000 square feet (36,511 m²)
No. of floors	1
Footnotes
Owners's page on this mall

Mountain Farms Mall is a one-story shopping mall in Hadley, Massachusetts, United States, with approximately 12 stores. It is is located on Route 9, at 335 Russell Street in Hadley, Massachusetts between Amherst and Northampton, approximately five miles east of Exit 19 off I-91. The mall is owned by S.R. Weiner and W/S Development.^[1]

View of the other end of the mall

[edit] History

The Mountain Farms Mall first opened to the public on Nov. 23, 1973 as an indoor shopping mall.^[2]

After the neighboring Hampshire Mall opened in 1978, business at Mountain Farms Mall fell off. In the heyday of its first incarnation were about 40 stores in the mall. By 1990, the Mountain Farms Mall was generally referred to as "the dead mall", containing a hot tubbing location and an AMC theater. By the spring of 1994 its original 35 stores had declined to four. In May 1994 Wholesale Depot Inc. filed bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code and closed its store which opened at the mall in December 1992.

In June of 1997 S.R. Weiner Mall Management, a mall developer, showed interest in refurbishing the mall and as part of this plan it envisioned devoting a third of its space to a Wal-Mart store. The Planning Board members at the time raised concerns about the appropriateness of a Wal-Mart in Hadley saying that they preferred small and unique stores. In 1998 permission was obtained to bring in the Wal-Mart.^[3] In April 1998 a citizens group in Hadley filed suit against W.S. Development and the Hadley Planning Board seeking to overturn the Planning Board's decision to grant site plan approval.^[4] In July 1998 a Hampshire Superior Court justice dismissed the lawsuit.

On August 19, 1998 the mall was sold by Henry Rosenberg of New York City, trustee of MFF Realty Trust, to W.S. Hadley Properties, care of S.R. Weiner and Associates Inc. of Chestnut Hill. The buyers were sister companies of W.S. Development, the mall's prospective developers.^[5] Construction on the new project began in February 1999.^[6]

Peoples Bank of Holyoke purchased a boarded up former Bess Eaton doughnut Shop adjacent to the Mountain Farms Mall.^[7] Wal-mart opened its store in February 2000. Linens 'N Things opened its store in September 2000. An Old Navy opened a month later in October 2000.^[8] In 2001, Barnes and Noble opened a store in the revamped mall.^[9] In 2002 Michael's, an arts and crafts store, opened between Marshalls and Bread & Circus supermarket.^[10] In September 2002 the Kai Chi restaurant in the Mountain Farms Mall closed as a consequence of their landlord W.S. Development Associates, LLC of Chestnut Hill purchasing the remaining 10 years on their lease.^[11]

In 2003 a 16,400-square-foot expansion of the Bread & Circus (which later that year was rebranded as Whole Foods Market) at Mountain Farms Mall began.^[12]

A 63-room, 27,700-square-foot Econo Lodge was constructed that opened in 2004 in front of Mountain Farms Mall.^[13] During this time period the Hampshire Mall was regarded as the dead mall in comparison to the vibrant Mountain Farms Mall (although it too revived in 2005). Eastern Mountain Sports, Pier 1 Imports, Panera Bread and Famous Footwear opened stores in mall in 2004.^[14] A new expanded Whole Foods Market (formally Bread and Circus) opened in June 2004. Home Depot obtained permission for a 323,000-square-foot shopping center adjacent to the mall later in the year.

In May 2006 the town voted in favor of the "Compatible Building Size Bylaw" which measure placed 75,000-square-foot cap on retail building size, effectively prohibiting future malls and shopping centers from coming to the Route 9 corridor. The proposed Lowe's home improvement center, Home Depot and Wal-Mart Supercenter projects, all of which have already begun or completed the planning process, will not be affected.^[15] The Home Depot and Hadley Corner retail project was shut down in March 2006 by the state Department of Environmental Protection^[16], but has resumed activity.

In 2007 construction began at the rear of the mall for a Planet Fitness which is due to open in 2008.^[17]

Currently there is no interior entry other than a set of vestigial doors between Panera Bread and EMS.

[edit] Walmart controversy

This is the Wal-Mart that is currently in Mountain Farms Mall. Wal-Mart wants to close this location and build a bigger location in the adjacent Hampshire Mall.

Starting in 1997, when Wal-mart started expressing interest in establishing a store, an organized group of area residents have sought to oppose any Wal-mart development plans, Wal-mart epitomizing what they oppose. In 2005 Wal-mart wished to build a new 212,000-square-foot Supercenter southeast of the Hampshire Mall. However there have been various hindrances as a consequence of a bylaw designed to keep out large stores by restricting new stores to 75,000 square feet as well as local organized opposition. After two years of negotiations, on November 20, 2007, a subdivision plan that exempted the planned Wal-Mart Supercenter from the current bylaw restrictions was approved. Developers have eight-years to get a site plan approved before the exemption expires.^[18] This would almost certainly mean the current store, attached to the east end of Mountain Farms Mall, would close.^[19] There continues to be tensions within the Hadley community between those that want development for shopping, business, tax and employment reasons versus those that wish to not allow any more development in order to keep Hadley as rural as possible.

The Wal-mart at the Mountain Farms Mall has been the scene of various demonstrations since it opened, not all of which impinged directly on Wal-mart. On May 2 2004 activists picketed the store to publicize what they have called the "Wal-Martization of health care," and to vocalize what they saw as a need for a national health insurance plan."^[20] Some customers, however, felt harassed and complained to the store manager who called the police. All the other stores in the mall also placed a call in complaint of the protest. According to the police, the protectors stopped customers from entering stores, blocked store entrances and generally annoyed the customers. It was only after a trespass order was issued to force the activists to disperse that the demonstration ended.^[21] Since then, further demonstrations have occurred on Route 9 on the edge of the Mountain Farms Mall property.

[edit] Wifi hotspots

There are currently 2 free hotspots in Mountain Farms Mall, one in Panera Bread, the other in Whole Foods. Barnes and Noble also offers a hotspot through AT&T Wi-Fi for a fee.^[22][23]

[edit] Stores

Current stores include:

[edit] Anchors

• Barnes & Noble
• EMS
• Linens 'n Things
• Marshalls
• Michaels
• Old Navy
• Pier 1 Imports
• Wal-Mart
• Whole Foods Market
• Sleepy's

[edit] Food

The mall has a Whole Foods Market and a Panera Bread bakery/restaurant. There is also a Dave's Soda and Pet City store.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• W/S Development's official mall website

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