Comments on: Smith Haven Mall; Lake Grove, New York

By: Gavin

Gavin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:58:28 +0000

The third floor of macy’s was added in the 80’s. Notice the different black exterior walls and the brick line where the stairwell towers were extended.

By: Galleria Mall Rat

Galleria Mall Rat — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:14:38 +0000

@Baul Plart,

I think the store was simply called “Food of All Nations” – I remember my father (having emigrated to the U.S. from Hungary) LOVED that store and would buy all sorts of odd food there…..

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:13:15 +0000

the Macy*s is original, and the original anchors were Stern’s, Sears, and Macy*s

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:06:01 +0000

It was “Foods Of All Nations” in the south wing across from the Movie theater and next to one of the original “Sbarro” locations which I remember being more like an Italian Deli with cheeses and salamis hanging from the ceiling.

By: keith

keith — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:21:20 +0000

the second macys is the macys furniture gallery.. its fairly new when they opened the lifestyle village like a year or two ago.

there are also some updates… a lott of store closings. two jewelry stores are gone… payless and pacsun both remodeling. sharper image is gone and closed.
oakley sunglasses store is opening soon.

By: Baul Plart

Baul Plart — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:29:20 +0000

There was a store near the middle that I can’t remember the name of. It was like a “food of all nations” type of place, and it was quite small. It was there in the mid to late 70s and possibly a bit later. Anyone remember the name of this store?

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:40:07 +0000

The original anchors were Abraham & Straus and Macys when the mall opened in 1969, soon followed by Sears, Martins (a local upscale department store) and McCrorys. The Martins is now JCPenney at about 90,000 sq. ft.

By: Baul Plart

Baul Plart — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:10:52 +0000

I’ve lived near this mall since I was a young child. There were concrete “bridges” down the aisles that were not raised. On either side there was water. There may have been some small fountains in that water. There was a large oil fountain in front of A&S. There was also a restaurant on the second floor of A&S that overlooked that fountain. The modernist pillars in front of A&S were great, and there were circular, domed skylights in the overhang supported by the pillars. I took photos of it years ago, but they were only on my hard drive, which crashed and so they are lost.

There was a large circular water “pond” in the middle. I don’t remember if there was a fountain in there. On the end without any major store (now the food court), there was a second floor that had stores or offices. I think that is now off-limits to the public. The large Calder sculpture was relegated to the parking lot for a while, then moved into the food court when it opened, which was then called the Calder Court. I guess they figured it was worth more to sell it, which they did (I think at auction), and then they changed the decorations. I don’t think it’s called Calder Court any more (don’t go there that often). I don’t remember the paintings by Rivers, and the others.

Overall, the early mall was comfortable, yet it felt too large. The new mall (meaning in the last several years) feels much smaller, yet not really comfortable (even though the chairs in the aisles are quite comfortable, physically). I’d call the early mall a temple of consumerism. The new mall seems to be trying to hard to be hip. Of course, I’m not the same person I was in the late 70s or 80s.

By: SEAN

SEAN — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:05:03 +0000

@mallguy,
As far as I know construction has NOT started yet. However with credit markets in such bad shape right now , do you think Taubman will get this project off the ground anytime soon?

As a foot note Nordstrom & Neiman Marcus are going to anchor the mall, & even that could be questionable with Neiman’s poor sales & finantial condition at this point.

Origionally Lord & Taylor & Neiman’s signed on, but we all know what happened to NRDC afterwards. Now Neiman Marcus is heading down that same road & things aren’t looking pritty.

A few years ago WLNY-TV ran an ad reguarding the Mall at Oyster Bay’s construction. You saw the site where it will be located but itwas an abandoned industrial park at the time as the PSA explaned. The voiceover asks who is preventing the mall from being constructed, is it Roosevelt Field? As the RF sign pops up.

By: TrickyNicky

TrickyNicky — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:56:38 +0000

aving never been to this or heard of this mill, the first picture really threw me off, as I saw a old 50s style sign, and a haphazardly attached Simon Malls sign, and expecting a dying or dead mall. Much to my surprise, this seems to be doing fairly well, and I think the Lifestyle portion is really unique with the Wooden Arbors.

As a sidenote, is it just me, or does every lifestyle center or addittion required to have either a Chico’s, Coldwater Creek, J. Jill, Ann Taylor Loft or White House | Black Market included in its tenants?