The Mall at Greece Ridge
Encyclopedia
The Mall at Greece Ridge is located in Greece
, a suburb
of Rochester, New York
, and managed by Wilmorite Management Group LLC. It contains 140 stores and restaurants in the main complex, with 10 big box retailers including Dick's Sporting Goods
, Bed Bath & Beyond
, Barnes & Noble
, Michaels
, Burlington Coat Factory
, Old Navy
, Macy's Home
, and a free-standing Target
.
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
).
, Woolworth
, J. B. Hunter (later J. C. Penney
), McCurdy's
(later Kaufmann's
, now Macy's
), and B. Forman (later Kaufmann's Home Store
, now Macy's Home Store
--*Kaufmann's took over Sibley's, and Macy's took over Kaufmann's). 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 March 15, 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 1969.
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 mall
s 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 Penney's 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 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 also features a Tom Wahl's
restaurant.
Greece (town), New York
Greece is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town had a total population of 96,095. The town motto is "Discover the Promise."...
, a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, and managed by Wilmorite Management Group LLC. It contains 140 stores and restaurants in the main complex, with 10 big box retailers including Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. , or Dick's, is a Fortune 500 American corporation in the sporting goods and retail industries.The company's headquarters are on the grounds of Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay Township near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dick's has 451 stores in 42 states as of...
, Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. was formed in 1971 and today operates a chain of domestic merchandise retail stores across United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. They feature mostly medium-ranged, but also a limited selection of high quality, domestic merchandise: items for the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen,...
, Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
, Michaels
Michaels
Michaels is an arts and crafts retail chain. It currently operates more than 1040 Michaels Arts and Crafts Stores located in 49 U.S. states and in Canada. The company owns and operates the Aaron Brothers retail chain which consists of more than 140 stores...
, Burlington Coat Factory
Burlington Coat Factory
Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation is a national department store retailer focusing on clothing and shoes, with over 450 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico.. In 2006, it was acquired by Bain Capital, LLC in a take-private transaction...
, Old Navy
Old Navy
Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...
, Macy's Home
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
, and a free-standing Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
.
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
Ridge Road (Western New York)
Ridge Road is a east–west road that traverses four counties in Upstate New York in the United States. It is named for the rise atop which the road was built, a mound of sand and gravel that was formed when it was the shoreline of ancient Glacial Lake Iroquois...
(New York State Route 104
New York State Route 104
New York State Route 104 is a long east–west state highway in Upstate New York, United States. It spans six counties and enters the vicinity of four cities—Niagara Falls, Lockport, Rochester, and Oswego—as it follows a routing largely parallel to that of the southern shoreline of Lake...
).
History
The mall began as 2 shopping malls: Greece Towne Mall, which opened on May 1, 1967 and Long Ridge Mall, which opened in 1969. Long Ridge Mall had five anchors: SearsSears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
, Woolworth
F. W. Woolworth Company
The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first successful Woolworth store was opened on July 18, 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store"...
, J. B. Hunter (later J. C. Penney
J. C. Penney
-External links:*...
), McCurdy's
McCurdy's
McCurdy's was a Rochester, New York-based department store. Founded in 1901, the company was acquired by May Department Stores in 1994, but as a result of an antitrust settlement due to both McCurdy's and May's Kaufmann's stores being the predominant anchors in the area shopping malls, its stores...
(later Kaufmann's
Kaufmann's
Kaufmann's was a department store that originated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was owned in the early 20th century by Edgar J. Kaufmann, patron of 'Fallingwater' and the Kaufmann's Desert House. In the post-war years the store became a regional chain in the eastern United States, and was last...
, now Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
), and B. Forman (later Kaufmann's Home Store
Kaufmann's
Kaufmann's was a department store that originated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was owned in the early 20th century by Edgar J. Kaufmann, patron of 'Fallingwater' and the Kaufmann's Desert House. In the post-war years the store became a regional chain in the eastern United States, and was last...
, now Macy's Home Store
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
--*Kaufmann's took over Sibley's, and Macy's took over Kaufmann's). The Greece Towne Mall had a Sibley's
Sibley's
Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company, known informally as Sibley's, was a Rochester, New York-based department store chain with stores located exclusively in the state of New York...
(later Kaufmann's
Kaufmann's
Kaufmann's was a department store that originated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was owned in the early 20th century by Edgar J. Kaufmann, patron of 'Fallingwater' and the Kaufmann's Desert House. In the post-war years the store became a regional chain in the eastern United States, and was last...
, now The Bon-Ton
The Bon-Ton
The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. is a regional department store company based in York, Pennsylvania, chiefly operating 275 stores, including 11 furniture galleries, in 23 states throughout the northern United States. Stores carrying its namesake nameplate serve the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions of...
) and a Gold Circle
Gold Circle
Gold Circle was a discount department store chain based in Ohio. Founded in 1967, it was a division of Federated Department Stores with 76 stores when the chain was sold and dismantled in 1988...
(later Hills
Hills Department Stores
Hills Department Store was a Canton, Massachusetts, based discount department store chain. It was founded in 1957 in Youngstown, Ohio, and existed until 1999 when it was acquired by Ames. Most stores were located in Ohio, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, though the company had...
, then Caldor
Caldor
Caldor was a chain of American discount department stores headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, operating throughout the northeastern United States. At one time, the company was a subsidiary of May Department Stores; Caldor was among the country's largest discount retailers.Despite being a popular...
). The Gold Circle building was razed and replaced by Hoyts Cinemas, now Regal Theaters
Regal Entertainment Group
Regal Entertainment Group also known as REG is a movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. Regal operates the largest and most geographically diverse theater circuit in the United States, consisting of 6,775 screens in 548 locations in 39 states and the District of Columbia as of...
). Both malls competed against each other until March 15, 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
Burlington Coat Factory
Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation is a national department store retailer focusing on clothing and shoes, with over 450 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico.. In 2006, it was acquired by Bain Capital, LLC in a take-private transaction...
(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
The Bon-Ton
The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. is a regional department store company based in York, Pennsylvania, chiefly operating 275 stores, including 11 furniture galleries, in 23 states throughout the northern United States. Stores carrying its namesake nameplate serve the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions of...
. Thus, of the anchor stores, only Sears has retained both its location and name since 1969.
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 mall
Strip mall
A strip mall is an open-area shopping center where the stores are arranged in a row, with a sidewalk in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front...
s rather than indoor shopping malls. Many of them have separate outdoor entrances in addition to their indoor mall entrances. Michaels
Michaels
Michaels is an arts and crafts retail chain. It currently operates more than 1040 Michaels Arts and Crafts Stores located in 49 U.S. states and in Canada. The company owns and operates the Aaron Brothers retail chain which consists of more than 140 stores...
, Marshalls
Marshalls
Marshalls, Inc., is a chain of American department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 750 conventional stores, as well as larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico. Marshalls expanded into Canada in March 2011...
, and Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. was formed in 1971 and today operates a chain of domestic merchandise retail stores across United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. They feature mostly medium-ranged, but also a limited selection of high quality, domestic merchandise: items for the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen,...
opened in existing space in the Greece Towne wing. In the Long Ridge wing, in addition to Burlington taking over the former Penney's space, existing space has been converted to Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. , or Dick's, is a Fortune 500 American corporation in the sporting goods and retail industries.The company's headquarters are on the grounds of Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay Township near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dick's has 451 stores in 42 states as of...
, Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
, and Old Navy
Old Navy
Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...
.
In 2005, Burlington Coat Factory
Burlington Coat Factory
Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation is a national department store retailer focusing on clothing and shoes, with over 450 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico.. In 2006, it was acquired by Bain Capital, LLC in a take-private transaction...
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
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
. The furniture department on the upper level of the Macy's Home Store
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
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").
Anchors/Big Box Retailers
- Barnes & NobleBarnes & NobleBarnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
Opened 2000 - Bed Bath and Beyond : Opened 1998
- The Bon-TonThe Bon-TonThe Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. is a regional department store company based in York, Pennsylvania, chiefly operating 275 stores, including 11 furniture galleries, in 23 states throughout the northern United States. Stores carrying its namesake nameplate serve the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions of...
: Opened 1995 in former Sibley's/Kaufmann's 150082 sq ft (13,943.1 m²). - Burlington Coat FactoryBurlington Coat FactoryBurlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation is a national department store retailer focusing on clothing and shoes, with over 450 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico.. In 2006, it was acquired by Bain Capital, LLC in a take-private transaction...
: 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 : Closed 2009, Opened 1998 in former location of Greece DMV Office
- Dick's Sporting GoodsDick's Sporting GoodsDick's Sporting Goods, Inc. , or Dick's, is a Fortune 500 American corporation in the sporting goods and retail industries.The company's headquarters are on the grounds of Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay Township near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dick's has 451 stores in 42 states as of...
: 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'sMacy'sMacy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
: Opened 1995 as Kaufmann's in former McCurdy'sMcCurdy'sMcCurdy's was a Rochester, New York-based department store. Founded in 1901, the company was acquired by May Department Stores in 1994, but as a result of an antitrust settlement due to both McCurdy's and May's Kaufmann's stores being the predominant anchors in the area shopping malls, its stores...
, replacing prior Sibley'sSibley'sSibley, Lindsay & Curr Company, known informally as Sibley's, was a Rochester, New York-based department store chain with stores located exclusively in the state of New York...
location which opened in 1968 114,670 sq ft. - Macy's Home StoreMacy'sMacy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
: Opened 1998 as Kaufmann's in former B. Forman, upper level became storage & offices in 2006 41,978 sq ft. - MarshallsMarshallsMarshalls, Inc., is a chain of American department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 750 conventional stores, as well as larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico. Marshalls expanded into Canada in March 2011...
: Opened 2002 - Michael'sMichaelsMichaels is an arts and crafts retail chain. It currently operates more than 1040 Michaels Arts and Crafts Stores located in 49 U.S. states and in Canada. The company owns and operates the Aaron Brothers retail chain which consists of more than 140 stores...
: Opened 1999 in former London FogLondon Fog (company)London Fog is a large manufacturer of coats and other clothes.The company was founded in 1923 as the Londontown clothing company by Israel Myers.During World War II, the company was known for making waterproof clothing for the United States Navy.... - Old NavyOld NavyOld Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...
: Opened 1994 - Regal Cinemas 12Regal Entertainment GroupRegal Entertainment Group also known as REG is a movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. Regal operates the largest and most geographically diverse theater circuit in the United States, consisting of 6,775 screens in 548 locations in 39 states and the District of Columbia as of...
: Opened 1999 as Hoyt's on site of former Gold CircleGold CircleGold Circle was a discount department store chain based in Ohio. Founded in 1967, it was a division of Federated Department Stores with 76 stores when the chain was sold and dismantled in 1988...
/Hills/CaldorCaldorCaldor was a chain of American discount department stores headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, operating throughout the northeastern United States. At one time, the company was a subsidiary of May Department Stores; Caldor was among the country's largest discount retailers.Despite being a popular...
building 61544 sq ft (5,717.6 m²). - SearsSears, Roebuck and CompanySears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
: Opened 1969 122,983 sq ft.
The mall also features a Tom Wahl's
Tom Wahl's
Tom Wahl's is a chain of fast-food restaurants based in the Rochester, New York area that currently has several restaurants around the Finger Lakes region. USA Today named it one of "51 great burger joints across the USA" in 2010.Tom Wahl, Sr...
restaurant.