Greendale Mall; Worcester, Massachusetts
In addition to the Worcester Common Outlets, the city of Worcester is home to another, smaller enclosed shopping mall: the Greendale Mall, on the city’s north side, near the junction of Gold Star Blvd (MA-12) and I-190, not far north of the junction of I-290.
Anchored by Best Buy, Marshalls, and TJMaxx N More, nearly everything about the Greendale Mall identifies it as an ancillary mall, from the TJX anchor tenants to its diminutive size (311,436 square feet). However Greendale has always felt a bit more significant. For one, it’s home to a few things rarely found in smaller malls, such as junior anchors like Old Navy and DSW Shoe Warehouse, and a food court that’s situated on its own mall level, sunken and off to the side of the main level. In addition, the Greendale Mall sports some really neat architecture, especially inside: like the Arsenal Mall in Watertown, Massachusetts (a favorite of mine which will be posted about soon), the mall was carved out of an old brick industrial building, and as such it sports a character-laden mixture of historic architecture and more modern mall decor, and appropriately mirrors its surroundings in the industrial revolution-era metropolis of Worcester. The uses of exposed brick and a slightly odd floorplan with much of the parking tucked under the mall and accessible via a small basement level only reinforce this.
Despite being a relatively local mall of mine, I know quite little about the Greendale Mall’s history. Judging by some of the elements of the mall’s decor, I would imagine it was part of the mall-building spree by Steven Karp’s Malls of New England Development in the early 1990s or late 1980s, likely with Lechmere and Marshall’s as its original anchors, and I am certain that the TJMaxx N More anchor (which is located down a side hallway) was added sometime in the late 1990s. Lechmere closed at the mall in 1997 when their troubled parent, Montgomery Ward, savagely dumped the entire chain. Lechmere was replaced by Best Buy in 2000 or 2001, though I can’t pinpoint the precise year of that change. Greendale Mall has been owned by Simon since 1999, when it was sold to them as part of a package of malls divested by The Malls of New England Development. While Greendale’s size and location prevent it from ever being a truly dominant regional mall, it is relatively successful, hosting a variety of mid-level tenants that cater to the immediate area. With the 1996 opening of the Solomon Pond Mall approximately 10 miles to the east–the mall that truly became the large, dominant Worcester-area mall–Greendale settled into a niche as the convenience-oriented mall for Worcester residents, since the “big mall” was so far-flung from the city proper. And hey, it has certainly outlasted its bigger cousin downtown.
We have two sets of photos of the Greendale Mall, taken five years apart, though not much really changed inbetween. Prangeway took a small set on a trip in 2001, and I took the rest last month (That’s August 2006 to y’all from the future).
2001:
2006:
on September 22nd, 2006 at 4:16 pm
For such a small mall, it’s a great design.
on September 23rd, 2006 at 1:54 am
Wow, a mall that features big-box retailers! See, it’s proof a mall can survive with the changing retail scene. Seems like the only option is to demolish it and build a power center that requires you to drive store to store. It’s refreshing to see it can work without doing that. The roof is nice, too. Looks like good Feng Shui.
Scott
on October 8th, 2006 at 9:18 am
The decor is much better than most malls - and it is impressive to see that they’ve maintained it as an enclosed mall, even with the big box retailers. Unique in a rather homogenous genre.
on November 6th, 2006 at 2:42 am
one of those rare malls that actually look appealing and avoid looking over-the-top.
on December 11th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
I remeber when this mall opened, It had a Lechmere where Best Buy is now located, a Herman;s Sports, Merry Go Round and a Dream Machine Arcade down on the lower level where the food court. I’m amazed it is still open considering all the issues Worcester has!
on February 13th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Greendale opened in mid- to late 1987. It was carved out of the former Riley Stoker building, which soon after became Babcock Borsig Power located in the brick building just next door. This photo (http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/I-190_MA/img9.gif) shows the exact location in relation to the then-under construction I-190. TJMaxx and the parking area underneath were probably added in the late 90s. Apart from that, the mall’s remained relatively unchanged in 20 years.
on October 24th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Greendale Mall is one mall that has a lot of great stores. It’s not too large to run in and pick up a few items. Plenty of parking including parking garages in the front and the back. Perfect mall to take an elder parent because it’s not over whelming for them.
on December 15th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Some historical notes on this mall:
When it first opened there was a restaurant/bar where the shoe store is now. It was called “Charlie’s”, and it was actually an excellent restaurant. (The stuffed animal heads they had for “decor” on the walls notwithstanding.) I think having a legit restaurant added a lot to this mall as a destination, and it’s demise altered the character, leaving something of a void.
There was an Eastern Mountain Sports store next to what is now Best Buy, (originally Lechmere), on the East Side. Not sure why they closed, although now that I think of it, it was a rather odd “corner” spot in the Mall. This space remains vacant, and in your 2006 photo you can’t even tell there was ever a store there.
I don’t think it’s still there, but the Registry of Motor Vehicles had a satellite office at the Greendale Mall. I would say it was there in the Mid-Late 90s. You could go in and do such things as renew your driver’s license. Seems to me it was on the South Side of the Food Court.
The T.J.Max was indeed a later addition. So too was the underground parking garage, or perhaps just some of this garage. Since the T.J. Max addition was erected in what was the parking lot, I think there was some correlation between the two.
And a word of advice for anyone visiting this mall when it’s very busy:
You don’t want to park under 290. Or worse- just at the *edge* of where you can park under the highway. Especially if there is snow or lots of rainwater on the highway. Whatever slops over the guardrail of the highway comes down on the parked cars. (Think about it.) If the parking lot is jammed, fight the temptation to park under the highway and just wait for a good space to free up.
on January 12th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Looks like the Marshalls in the Greendale Mall is closing as of the end of January 2008. An original 20-year-old anchor now gone and possibly among the last remaining original stores. Wonder what’ll happen to this mall, which will likely continue hovering in the limbo between “ancillary mall serving locals” and “soon-to-be-dead”. Will post updates here as I hear them.
on March 26th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
you have a great mall but not a lot of people shope there any more its kind of geting boring you close a lot of good stors maby you gys should make the mall more fun to go to ad like a nike stor there are good shoe stors but some of the shoes are kind of dum at AB mall there are not to many ethere try and ad an Aeblens see how many more people would go pluse the mall is kind of dead not to many good stors and wow do you gyes need to get more stors the best thing there is the nail place thats all we go for so get it going cause i dont want to see you lose bissnins okkkk
on March 26th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
“Jessca”, this site is not owned or affiliated with any malls on this site.