The Mall at Greece Ridge
| Location | Greece, New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°12′26″N 77°41′31″W / 43.207287°N 77.692051°W |
| Developer | Wilmorite Properties |
| No. of stores and services | 119 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 9 (5 open, 3 vacant, 1 coming soon) |
| Total retail floor area | 1,419,281 sq ft (131,856 m2)[1] |
| No. of floors | 1 (2 in JCPenney and main Macy's) |
| Website | http://www.themallatgreeceridge.com/ |
The Mall at Greece Ridge is located in Greece, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, and managed by Wilmorite Properties. It contains 119 stores and restaurants in the main concourse. The mall's anchors are JCPenney, Dick's Sporting Goods, Goodwill, Apple Cinemas and a free-standing Target. There are three closed anchor buildings formerly occupied by Macy's, Macy's Home Store, and Sears. Burlington, which moved to a smaller location inside the mall, had its anchor pad vacant until Boscov’s bought the space to build a new department store. The mall also features the specialty retailers , Barnes & Noble, Michaels, and Old Navy.
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 Ridge Road (New York State Route 104).
History
The mall began as two shopping malls. Greece Towne Mall, which opened on May 1, 1967. The Greece Towne Mall had a Sibley's, a Loblaws, and a Gold Circle.
Long Ridge Mall began with the opening of McCurdy's on October 2, 1969. A newspaper article reported that the rest of the mall would start before the end of the year. The official opening of Long Ridge Mall, nicknamed Long Ridge Plaza at the time was on September 15, 1971.[2][3] It was unique in that it had five anchors, Sears, Woolworth, J. B. Hunter, McCurdy's, and B. Forman Co.[4]
In the late 1980s, talks to link the two malls to draw shoppers back to Greece escalated when new malls opened in Irondequoit and Henrietta and when plans for a massive expansion of Eastview Mall were revealed. At that time, a new wing was made at the Greece Towne Mall for a Gold Circle (which became Hills then Caldor.)
Both malls competed against each other until March 15, 1994, when the malls merged to form The Mall at Greece Ridge. Construction began on the 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) expansion. When it was complete, the new 1.4 million square feet (130,000 m2) mall was renamed The Mall at Greece Ridge Center and at that time was the 4th largest in the eastern United States, and the 20th largest in the country. The mall is still the largest shopping center in the Rochester area.
At the time of the merger, JCPenney moved to a marquee space in the new wing that connected the two malls, across from the food court. That same year, McCurdy's got claimed to Kaufmann's and then The Bon-Ton filed a lawsuit to Kaufmann's for not being able to go into the Rochester area. Kaufmann's made a deal with The Bon-Ton that they can take all the former McCurdy's spaces except the Long Ridge Mall one. Kaufmann's moved from the former Sibley's to the McCurdy's space while The Bon-Ton claimed the Sibley's space.[5]
In 1997, Lechmere left the mall because of bankruptcy, shortly after, Caldor left also due to bankruptcy. Regal took the Caldor space in the early 2000's, while Burlington moved down to where Lechmere used to be in 2005. In 2011, The Bon-Ton went digital and shut down it's stores, the space was demolished for a street wing.
On April 20, 2018, It was announced Sears would be closing as part of an ongoing decision to eliminate its traditional brick-and-mortar format.[6] On June 19, 2024, it was announced that a True Storage self-storage facility would move into that space.[7]
On January 19, 2023, it was announced that Regal Cinemas would be ending its lease as a result of restructuring its established long-term debt due to the COVID-19 outbreak.[8] Apple Cinemas, a luxury theater group, renovated the space and reopened it on March 14, 2025.[9]
Burlington moved from the former J. B. Hunter/JCPenney/Lechmere anchor space to the former Bed Bath & Beyond space inside the mall on March 29, 2024.[10]
On January 9, 2025, it was announced that Macy's would close as part of a plan to close 66 stores nationwide. The store closed on March 23, 2025.[11] 5 days after the closure, Boscov’s announced that they would open a new department store in the former Burlington location and expand to Entrance 6, this seemed to be fine until the owner of Jim's at the Mall, a popular diner at the mall next to entrance 6 said that they are no relocating, this caused a change.org petition to start.[12] The store is set to open in the Fall of 2025 and is Boscov’s first location in the Rochester area.
References
- ^ "THE MALL AT GREECE RIDGE - ROCHESTER, NEW YORK - LEASE PLAN" (PDF).
- ^ Greater Greece Press, September 16, 1971, page 7B.
- ^ Old News - McCurdy's Long Ridge
- ^ Greater Greece Press, March 30, 1972, page 7
- ^ "State of New York v. The May Department Stores Co., Inc., Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. v. May Department Stores Co. et al. (No. 94-CV-6454L)". National Association of Attorneys General. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
- ^ "Sears at the mall at Greece Ridge location to close". WHEC News10NBC. April 20, 2018.
- ^ "Former Sears at Greece Ridge Mall to be repurposed into self-storage facility". News10NBC. June 19, 2024. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
- ^ "Regal Cinemas is closing 39 more movie theaters. See the list". CNN. January 20, 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
- ^ https://www.themallatgreeceridge.com/news/apple-cinemas-announces-grand-opening-at-greece-ridge/
- ^ Greenwood, Marcia. "Popular clothing and home décor chain announces opening date for new Greece store". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
- ^ Tyko, Kelly (January 9, 2025). "Macy's closing 66 more stores in 2025. See the closure list". Axios. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ Calzetoni, Natalie (May 1, 2025). "Jim's at the Mall inside Greece Ridge set to close, sparking community petition". WHAM. Retrieved May 17, 2025.