The Mall at Greece Ridge

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Facts and statistics
The Mall at Greece Ridge


Location	Greece, New York
Opening date	1959
Management	Wilmorite Properties, Inc
No. of stores and services	141
No. of anchor tenants	15
Total retail floor area	1,600,000 sq ft
No. of floors	1 (some anchors: 2)
Website	http://www.greeceridgecenter.com/

The Mall at Greece Ridge Center is a large shopping mall in Greece, New York, an immediate suburb of Rochester. As of January 6, 2006, it contains 141 stores and restaurants in the main complex, a Circuit City that is attached but has its own entrance, and a free-standing Target which shares the parking lot.

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).

The mall is located at the corner of West Ridge and Long Pond Roads, the historic western terminus of New York State Route 47.

[edit] History

The mall began as 2 shopping malls: Greece Towne Mall, which opened on May 1, 1967 and Long Ridge Mall, which opened thereafter. Long Ridge Mall had five anchors: Sears, Woolworth, J. B. Hunter (later JC Penney), McCurdy's (later Kaufmann's, now Macy's), and B. Forman (later Kaufmann's Home Store, now Macy's Home Store). The Greece Towne Mall had a Sibley's (later Kaufmann's, now The Bon-Ton) and a Gold Circle (later Hills, then Caldor. The Gold Circle building was razed and replaced by Hoyts Cinemas, now Regal Theaters). Both malls competed against each other until 1994 when the malls merged to form The Mall at Greece Ridge Center, forming the second-largest mall in the eastern United States.

At the time of the merger, JC Penney moved to a marquee space in the new wing that connected the two malls, across from the food court. The former Penney's 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. Thus, of the anchor stores, only Sears has retained both its location and name since 1959.

Other smaller anchors 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 and Beyond opened in existing space in the Greece Towne wing, with Circuit City opening in new space attached to the mall but accessible only from outside. In the Long Ridge wing, in addition to Lechmere and Burlington taking over the former Penney's space, existing space has been converted to Dick's Sporting Goods, Barnes and 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 converted to Macy's. The furniture department on the upper level of the Macy's Home Store became storage and offices for the store. The mall's name was also changed in September 2006 to "The Mall at Greece Ridge" (dropping "Center").

The mall is operated by Wilmorite Properties, Inc, and owned by The Macerich Company, which purchased the property from Wilmorite in 2005. Wilmorite retained management of its former Rochester properties and has the option of reacquiring them.

[edit] Anchors

Barnes & Noble
Bed Bath and Beyond : Opened 1998
The Bon-Ton : Opened 1995 in former Sibley's/Kaufmann's 150,082 sq.ft.
Burlington Coat Factory : Opened 1995 in the top floor of the former JB Hunter's/JC Penney space, relocated to bottom level in 2005 in former Lechmere
Circuit City : Opened 1998
Dick's Sporting Goods : Opened 1994 in the former Woolworth's space
JB Hunter's : Replaced by JC Penney in 1973
JCPenney : moved 1994 164,480 sq. ft.
Macy's : Opened 1995 as Kaufmann's in former McCurdy's, replacing prior Sibley's location which opened in 1968 114,670 sq. ft.
Macy's Home Store : Opened 1998 as Kaufmann's in former B. Forman, upper level became storage & offices in 2006 41,978 sq. ft.
Marshalls : Opened 2002
Michael's : Opened 1999 in former London Fog
Old Navy : Opened 1994
Regal Cinemas 12 : Opened 1999 as Hoyt's on site of former Gold Circle/Hills/Caldor building 61,544 sq. ft.
Sears : Opened 1959 122,983 sq. ft.