With 1.4 million square feet of retail space, The Mall at Greece Ridge is the largest shopping center in metro Rochester. Located in the suburb of Greece, about 8 miles northwest of downtown Rochester, Greece Ridge is a sprawling, Z-shaped one level mall, with 140 stores and restaurants and space for 16 anchors. Greece Ridge’s trajectory, from a two separate enclosed malls to the monster it is today, is an interesting and unique story worth sharing.
In 1966, Rochester-based developer Wilmorite began construction on the first of its four enclosed regional malls in the area. Called Greece Towne Mall, it opened May 1, 1967, and was the second enclosed mall in all of greater Rochester after Midtown Plaza, which opened downtown in 1962. It was located at the corner of NY 104 (Ridge Road) and Long Pond Road, in Greece, New ork, a growing post-war suburb of Rochester.
Greece Towne Mall was anchored by a 2-level, 150,000 square-foot Rochester-based Sibley’s department store, National Clothing Company, and a Loblaw’s supermarket. Complementing the main anchors were juniors David’s apparel and G.C. Murphy.
Here’s a vintage shot of the Sibley’s store and the east side of the mall, courtesy Malls of America:
Greece Towne Mall was a small mall, even by 1969 standards. It was designed with a T-shaped corridor, and center court featured a faux water feature called Wonderfall, which consisted of a statue-like thing surrounded by shimmering red fabric (or lights?) meant to mimic flowing water coming from the ceiling. To me, it looks like an elaborately hideous trophy being protected by lasers so it doesn’t get stolen, but you can use your imagination. It’s gone now, because it was apparently too cool to be there, but here’s a photo of it courtesy vintageviews.org:
Here’s what they have there now. The holiday decor is nice, but I imagine this is soulless and boring the rest of the year. At least it’s better than a blank tile floor.
And, just for fun, here’s a vintage shot of the north court at Greece Towne, from Malls of America:
And here’s a similar shot below in 2007 from a little ways down the same corridor, looking the same direction. The flowers-on-poles statement (is it a fountain? art?) that was there before is gone, and has been replaced by nothing. Just an empty tile floor. Whatever it was, it was pretty cool. Seriously. This is why people hate malls now. /endrant
Just as Wilmorite was busy dedicating Greece Towne Mall in 1969, McCurdy’s, another venerable Rochester-based department store, decided to also join the party in Greece by opening a 2-level, 116,000 square-foot free-standing store to the north of Sears, on October 2, 1969.
Next, McCurdy’s went a step further and decided to build an enclosed mall of its own, entirely separate from and directly adjacent to Greece Towne Mall. Right next to the already-open Greece Towne Mall, McCurdy’s built Long Ridge Mall, named after the adjacent intersection of Ridge Road (NY 104) and Long Pond Road, to connect their new McCurdy’s store to a Sears.
Some confusion here: I’ve now seen or heard four different dates the Sears supposedly opened. Wikipedia, mall-hall-of-fame, and others have said Sears opened as a stand-alone store predating both malls in 1959, while others have said Sears opened around the time Long Ridge Mall opened in 1971. I called the store myself and was told that it opened in 1967. What’s the right answer? See the thread in the comments for more details.
Long Ridge Mall opened in 1971, connecting Sears and McCurdy’s with a corridor of in-line stores between them. Long Ridge Mall also featured a 2-level, 123,000 square-foot J.B. Hunter discount store near the middle of the mall, along with Rochester-based B. Forman and Woolworth’s as junior anchors. Long Ridge was also significantly larger than its neighbor Greece Towne.
A good circa-1973 illustration of the two malls’ layouts can be seen here, courtesy mall-hall-of-fame.
J.B. Hunter didn’t last long at Long Ridge Mall. In 1973, the retailer went out of business; however, it was swiftly replaced with Rochester’s first full-line JCPenney.
During the 1980s, the two adjacent Grecian malls competed with each other, and with metro Rochester’s other malls for shopper dollars and loyalty: Midtown Plaza, which opened in 1962 in downtown Rochester; Eastview Mall, which opened in 1971 in southeast-suburban Victor; and Marketplace Mall, which opened in 1982 in south-suburban Henrietta and became the area’s largest mall as soon as it debuted.
Greece Towne Mall also expanded in the 1980s, adding 10 more stores to the south end of the mall, giving it a cross shape. A 1-level 110,000 square-foot Gold Circle discount store, which was short-lived, was also added in the expansion. The Gold Circle chain was sold and dismantled in 1988, and the Greece Towne location became discounter Hills, and later on Caldor. In addition, a London Fog store (?) also operated as a mini-anchor at Greece Towne Mall, before closing and being split into Marshall’s and Michael’s in the late 1990s.
During the 1990s, both anchor changes and a major expansion would transform both Long Ridge Mall and Greece Towne Mall into the behemoth that exists today. In addition, Wilmorite brought a new mall, Irondequoit Mall, to Rochester’s retail scene in 1990, and expansion efforts transformed the average Eastview Mall across town into an upscale super-regional mega-mall seemingly overnight in 1995.
In 1990, the first of many anchor changes occurred at the two malls, when Sibley’s at Greece Towne Mall became Pittsburgh-based Kaufmann’s after May bought Sibley’s in 1986 and decided to consolidate nameplates 4 years later.
Sometime in the early 1990s, Wilmorite, which already owned Greece Towne Mall, acquired neighboring Long Ridge Mall with big plans in mind. In 1993, Wilmorite began constructing an enclosed corridor connecting the two malls, creating the largest mall in Rochester in the process. Opened in 1994, the new construction added over 50 stores and restaurants, including a 9-bay food court and a new 2-level, 164,000 square-foot JCPenney. The older malls were also extensively renovated to match, as best they could, the decor of the newer connection.
As part of the renovation, many works of public art in Long Ridge Mall were needlessly destroyed. For many years, Long Ridge Mall was home to over 40 works of public art on permanent display, designed by the mall’s architect, David William Bermant. These included a large kinetic ball sculpture and others, and most of these were thrown in the trash by Wilmorite when they gave the mall a uniform look. I’m not sure how this beats this? I would much rather shop, and linger, in the latter.
Many other changes came along with connecting Greece Towne Mall to Long Ridge Mall, the first of which being the mall’s name. Both of the old malls’ names were scrapped, and a new name was chosen: The Mall at Greece Ridge Center.
Second, many anchor changes took place around the time the malls were sewn together. The old JCPenney was subdivided between Burlington Coat Factory on the upper level, and Boston-based Lechmere on the lower level. Woolworth’s also closed around this time, and was replaced by Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods. B. Forman and Loblaw’s closed too, and McCurdy’s was rebranded as Pittsburgh-based Kaufmann’s. Kaufmann’s parent May bought McCurdy’s, and due to antitrust issues, Kaufmann’s was not allowed to rebrand both Sibley’s and McCurdy’s stores as May plates, so May chose to move Kaufmann’s from the old Sibley’s store in Greece Towne Mall to the better location in the former McCurdy’s. Bon Ton moved into the old Sibley’s store, and operates there to this day.
Other big box anchors opened at Greece Ridge in the mid- to late-1990s, while a couple closed. They included Michael’s (1999), Marshall’s (?), Bed Bath & Beyond (1998), and Circuit City (1998) in the former Greece Towne Mall wing, and Dick’s Sporting Goods (1994), Kaufmann’s Home Store (1998), Barnes & Noble (?), and Old Navy (1994) in the former Long Ridge Mall wing. About the same time all of these stores opened, Caldor closed, and was replaced by a new Hoyt’s 12-plex movie theater in 1999. Lechmere closed too, in 1997.
The presence of all these box stores as anchors is an innovative way to use up space in a mall that is probably too big to effectively and successfully use the same space for smaller in-line shops. However, the former Greece Towne Mall corridors feel a bit barren due to the facades of the box stores, and the overall tone of the mall changes quite a bit between the barren, darker former Greece Towne Mall section and the newer, vervier 1994-95 addition.
The 2000s have been tantamount to success at Greece Ridge. In late 2000, a stand-alone 124,000 square-foot Target was added in the parking lot near Sears, and is considered part of the mall complex. In 2005, Burlington Coat Factory swapped space with the former Lechmere store, which had been located beneath it and was vacant since its closure in 1997. Also in 2005, Macerich acquired Wilmorite and the mall dropped the word ‘Center’ from its name.
An anchor change took place in 2006, as both Kaufmann’s and Kaufmann’s Home Store got eaten by Macy’s after May Company was sold to Macy’s parent, Federated, who consolidated all of the former May banners to Macy’s. Finally, Circuit City, in the former Greece Towne wing of the mall, closed in 2009 when that chain flopped.
Today, Greece Ridge is a successful top-tier mall, and is both the largest and second best mall in the Rochester region, after Eastview. With three traditional anchors and many box store anchors, Greece Ridge is able to hold on to its size and still be successful. Without the box anchors, there would probably be too much space in the mall to fill, but having them both creates traffic and uses up space.
I visited Greece Ridge in December 2007 and took the pictures featured here, obviously sans the vintage ones that were taken before I was born. I really liked the franken-mall feel of this one, and even despite efforts to make the center uniform, there are definitely three separate tones the mall takes as you go through the long and winding corridors. The middle of the mall definitely feels (and is) newest, and is the vervey heart and soul of the mall. The design is very typical of modern Wilmorite, with the A-frame and skylight over the middle of the corridor, and the ancillary design accoutrements like the hidden mickeys and lighted archways. And, while the ancillary wings aren’t dead, the presence of many box stores leave some areas feeling a bit barren, especially in the old Greece Towne wing. As usual, feel free to leave your own comments, reactions, and experiences.
Elsewhere on the web:
- Mall-hall-of-fame’s write-up of these malls
- A fansite about dead Rochester retail, with articles and many photos of the old malls
That sure is a Wilmorite Mall! Is the location of that Christmas tree normally a fountain?
I’ve heard anecdotally that the locals really hate this mall due to its overly large layout and the dinginess of the two side wings.
I’m not sure why Wilmorite can’t seem to rip up the dated 80’s tiles in their malls, either.
@alpha, Macerich did when they acquired Danbury Fair and Freehold Raceway Mall, two former Wilmorite malls.
This blog looks great and thank you for mentioning my website! Sears first opened to the public on September 15, 1971 along with Long Ridge Mall. McCurdy’s opened on October 2, 1969 as a free standing department store and Long Ridge was added on to it. Nine times out of ten, Wikipedia is wrong.
Unfortunately, The Mall at Greece Ridge has gone downhill in recent years. A curfew and added security are the only things that keep it going. Wilmorite actually wanted to renovate Greece Ridge over a year ago, but their efforts were turned down by town leaders and residents. That and Wilmorite could not acquire The Bon Ton, a department store they tried to buy illegally. To be completely honest, an upscale shopping mall would never survive in Greece. Eastview is doing so well because it’s far away from Rochester in the Town of Victor.
Oh, and National Shopping Centers Inc. built Long Ridge Mall. Its designer was a man named David W. Bermant who was also the President of NSC. Sadly, he passed away in 2000 at the age of 81. Mr. Bermant and a man named Emil Muller also headed a company called North Gate Plaza Inc. (later called National Plazas). They developed Northgate Plaza in Greece which opened on October 29, 1953. Northgate was the very first strip mall of its kind to open in Monroe County.
I can see what you mean about an empty feeling, looking at that Bon Ton corridor.
Did they jazz up their Directory for Xmas, or are snowflakes just their theme?
Stand alone Sears in 1959 at Ridge and Long Pond !!!!
Where the hell did that information come from ?????
The “ribbon cutting” for the new Sears at Longridge was Feb 1972. Before that they had their own store at Ridge and Dewey which opened in 1939. That store closed when the LongRidge store opened.
BTW the first store at the LongRidge site was McCurdy’s NOT Sears. McCurdy’s opened Sept 1969
Hello Willy,
The biggest problem with Wikipedia is that anybody can edit its pages. This is why I still have encyclopedias in my house. Whatever you read on there should not be taken seriously unless it is a cold hard fact. The “ribbon cutting” for Sears took place on September 15, 1971. McCurdy’s first opened on October 2, 1969. I have proof backing up my claims.
Oh, and the Wonderfall from Greece Towne Mall was removed in 1975-76 because there used to be a doorway right near it. The doorway would cause the “tubes” on the Wonderfall to freeze up during the winter.
Also, I nearly missed this, but it took me awhile to figure out what you were saying with the “Hidden Mickeys” , haha.
OK, Dave so we are a few months off on the Sears Opening …..At least we are closer than 12 YEARS !
Despite the relative blandness, I think this is a kind of cool mall.
Tomorrow, I’m betting we’ll either have a certain competitor mall to The Mall at Greece Ridge that closed in January 2009, or we’ll have a dead mall that was famous for combining a hypermarket with high-end department stores that failed spectacularly but isn’t quite dead yet.
@Pseudo3D, So either Irondequoit Mall or Ownings Mills?
@mallguy, Yes on the first, no on the second. I don’t ever recall that Owings Mills Mall had a hypermarket. 😛
@Pseudo3D, Haven’t been to Owings Mills lately, but they used to be upscale and now it is rather dead…I thought maybe they opened a hypermarket to save themselves.
Hoping for more New Jersey malls in the weeks and months to come 🙂
@mallguy, I never thaught there was any type of hypermarket at Owings mills. Speaking of Owings Mills, what happend to that mall & that general area. Did it just go downhill fasst, or was there something else at work.
@SEAN, I haven’t been to Owings Mills since Saks was there and thought they tried a hypermarket to keep it going.
Owings Mills faltered as a result of a perception of high crime due to a couple of incidents in the immediate area. Furthermore, Towson Town Center (which is the prominent upscale mall close to Baltimore) and the Mall at Columbia renovated and/or expanded.
It’s a shame beacuse I visited Owings Mills back in the day and it was my favorite mall in the Baltimore area. Today, that title goes to The Mall in Columbia.
@Dave, I just called the Sears store at Greece Ridge and the manager told me it opened in 1967. So now I’m even more confused. There were several other sources too, not just Wikipedia, that also said 1959.
Are you old enough to remember 1971 for sure? Can anyone else corroborate this? Hopefully others from Rochester will come forward and chime in, and we can come to a consensus. Or, if there’s some other proof out there, that would be great too. I tried to scour google news for archived articles, but also came up flat.
Either way, I changed the article to show my confusion.
Willy, I know what you mean. The only malls that existed in Greece in 1959 were Ridgecrest and Northgate Plaza. Ridgemont was still under construction. I think Ridgemont Plaza had a Sears store at one time.
Pseudo3D, three anchor stores are still in business at the former Irondequoit Mall/Medley Centre. In fact, my tenant just bought a refrigerator at Sears.
Hello Prange Way,
I am not old enough to remember 1971, but I have done a lot of research on both Greece Towne and Long Ridge Mall. When Greece Towne first opened to the public on May 1, 1967, Sears was not mentioned at all. Now I’m confused. I do know for a fact that Long Ridge opened in 1971 and you can see Sears on a construction photo. Not sure if it was open yet or not. I know McCurdy’s opened their department store first on the corner of West Ridge Rd. and Long Pond Rd.
Looking at the photo of the “Faux Fountain” and the term “WonderFalls” only strikes up one thought… There were several malls to claim a “Wonderfalls” type of centerpiece. Dixie Square was one and I think another was in Canada. The device was similar to those 1970’s oil drip lamps where mineral oil was pumped up to the top of the fixture and ‘dripped’ down mono-filament line into the bottom basin. They were really cool… for the time.
http://www.oaktreevintage.com/web_photos/deco/Nude_Goddess_Oil_Lamp_Large_Collage.jpg
Irondequoit Mall seemed
like such a nice place-It’s amazing that even 20 years ago no – considoration for what type of area was to host the mall was even thought about when selecting where to build . How fast did that area go down hill ? Whats with the Mall in the Hood concept that never seems to work ? Why not create malls where you must have memberships to shop at -offer discounts etc.- this might be a way to keep out the people that always ruin them(.Members Only Mall !) I was sad to read about the Mall that show cased the world clocks because it had such awesome design – Demo should have never happened – The mod vibe was awesome.-Love this website !
@Dave, I am age 47, and I remember Ridgemont well. There was no Sears store there. The had a JC Penney store which was small , and an EW Edwards, which was the third Rochester branch of the Syarcuse based department store (they also had Edwards in Downtown Rochester and at Pittsford Plaza), a Wegmans (Wegmans owns Ridgemont Plaza), and both FW Woolworth and WT Grant as junior anchors. There were two “out” buildings, with Western Auto and the Post Office in one, and a Marine Midland (HSBC) Bank in the other. Ridgemont stood stable until the 1970’s. WT Grant went bankrupt in 1972. K-Mart opened a huge store at the west end of the plaza in the early 1970’s. Penney’s left Ridgemont when JB Hunter left its almost brand new Long Ridge Mall store (Hunter’s went bankrupt) circa 1974-1975. Woolworths maintained it’s traditional 5&10 at Ridgemont, as well as a newer modern store at Long Ridge for years. I’m guessing the the Ridgemont Woolworth’s closed in the late 1970’s. Edwards hung in there until the mid-1980’s. It was so much fun to shop there because it was pretty much the original interior the store opened with. it looked dated, but was a great example of late 1950’s-early 1960’s store architecture.
B t w-I sure miss the fountains at the malls in my area.I live in Youngstown -and shop at Southern Park/ Eastwood Malls that both got rid of them?????? I also miss the SPM’S flooring -it seemed to be white stone ? I worked there as a teen at Pennys–back in the Mall crazy 80’s-It was packed with stores galore! My such a wonderful time -that I feel lucky to have experienced – sure wish it was 1985!
@Dave, McCurdy’s was built as a free-standing store, with the idea of building a mall to it later. Even when it was by itself, it was called “McCurdy’s Long Ridge” The mall was built (along with the JB Hunter, B. Forman, and Sears anchor stores afterward. I can remember going to McCurdy’s with my parents and thinking how odd that it wasn’t connected to a mall like Sibley’s was. And I remember going to Sears when it first opened. It was a big deal, because the old Sears store at Ridge and Dewey, like the old South Town store, was a hardlines-only store. The only full-service Sears in Rochester until then was the classic store on Monroe Avenue , near Alexander St. I won’t swear to a date, but it was either 1971 or even 1972 when it opened. 1967 is when Sibley’s opened at Greece Towne. That I am certain about.
@Pseudo3D, …Forest Fair Cincinnati? Yeah…that was bad retail planning 101. Deadmalls has a great entry detailing just how bad the idea was (hint: partly the developer’s).
@Russ Grasso,
W.T. Grant began bankruptcy proceedings “last week” according to an October 13, 1975 article from Time Magazine. A March 22, 1976 article from Time said that W.T. Grant was down to 155 stores and were conducting a going out of business sale, so it looks like spring 1976 was then end of Grant. They may have closed the Ridgemont store earlier, though.
@Raymie, I actually wrote a historical (and researched) piece about Cincinnati Mall a year or so ago, even before Shopping Mall Museum did anything. I have some facts wrong (like where Sakowitz was), and there’s some things out of date (closure of theaters, death of the bigg’s chain) but it was relatively long. I sent it in to Labelscar hopeful that it would get published within the next few months, but it never really did…
Alright, Willy Saymore was right the first time. Sears opened on February 2, 1972. Carla at Sears Holdings looked into this for me.
“Dave, according to my info, the open date of the store on Greece Ridge Ctr rd in the town of Rochester, NY is 2/2/1972.”
Carla
Hello Russ,
I concur with your statement about McCurdy’s.
Hello again Russ,
It must have been JCPenney then. My mistake.
Hello Marge,
I frequented Irondequoit Mall with my family during its first four years in business. At one time, that mall was quite a thriving place! Sadly, a false perception of criminal activity (fueled by our local media outlets) is what initially caused Irondequoit Mall to go downhill. Ghetto thugs and gangs weren’t that big of a problem. The only reason why Medley Centre died is because Wilmorite did not want it to succeed!
Regarding Midtown Plaza, seeing it being demolished is a sad thing indeed.
@Dave, You mean two anchors, since Target is a stand-alone.
@marge, I have a good friend with family living in the Boardman area. We went to visit his aunt and uncle in 1985 (they lived on Southern Boulevard in Boardman).
I remember going to Southern Park Mall to buy a dress shirt because we were going out to dinner, and I had forgotten to pack one. I bought the shirt from Joseph Horne’s, a branch of the legendary Pittsburgh store. That was a true, classy department store establishment. I also got to see Strouss, just before it was converted to Kaufmann’s. Southern Park was one of the great DeBartolo malls!
@Marge, Russ Grasso, I shopped at Southern Park in the very early 90’s, and I just don’t like the vibe it has anymore. No Bressler’s. No Candy Tree. No Mr. Hero. At least Buttermaid is still there.
I miss the old Umbrella ceiling at Eastwood, and their cool fountain in that area. I was lucky enough to get a postcard from Ebay showing the center area there (in front of where Woolworth used to be) in all it’s umbrella and fountain glory.
@Russ Grasso, – How cool that post card would be nice to scan for this site. I loved the vibe the malls had before the 90’s make over trend.
@Russ Grasso, I loved Hornes/Strauss – you would have loved the down town store – I was just out at the mall – sure miss many of those stores.Have a great Holiday !
@Russ Grasso, How sad to it is that Woolworths shut down – you would think that type of store would do grest these days sort of like a Big Lots with a snack bar.
They were beautiful shopping malls. My mother used to work in the McCurdys as a supervisor. And my father told me about when he was just a teenager during his first year as a plumber he installed a water fountain in Long ridge. The fountain had a number of weighted cups that would fill with water. As they filled the weight of the water would cause them to tilt and splash into the smaller cups below. As they tilted they would hit chimes making in interesting melody.
My memories of as a small child are vague of these malls in their original forms. I do remember always hoping to go to Long Ridge mall over Greece town though because of all the abstract art work. Dispite all the artwork of LongRidge Midtown Plaza was always my childhood favorite.
Another thing I remember not from these malls but from (what I think) was Eastview Mall. I remember a large fountain with a bridge going over it. The fountain featured a number of glowing crystals which water sprayed from the inside out. Does anyone remember this?
Sears, at Longridge Mall opened in 1971. I managed Bond Clothing which was accross from Forman’s and I opened that store moving from Ridgemont Plaza down the street. Bill Fischer was Store Manager.
It very well may have been 2/2/71 rather than 2/2/72. Eastview opened later that year, I believe in September or October. I helped open that store also, but turned down managing it as I refused to travel from Greece where I lived to Eastview. I trained the store manager for that location.
Also, David Bermant’s brother Bob was active in National Shopping Centers and visited a few times a year from headquarters which was in Rye, NY. The art was part of David Bermant’s collection originally and he donated it to the Mall at opening.
Until the Sears opened at its current site in the mid-1960’s… 1967 seems plausible to me… there was a Sears in the City of Rochester on Ridge Road West (now West Ridge Road) at Dewey Avenue. It closed very soon after the new one opened.
Who actually owns the mall at Greece ridge, I heard it is not wilmoerite.
I left Irondequoit in 1973 as a 13 year old. This site is bringing back a lot of memories.
This might be old news to everyone now but the Bon Ton store(former Sibleys) closed in late 2012 it sat vacant for a few years but Wilmorite demolished the building for a new lifestyle wing; “State Street ” new tenants include Loft Chicos Moes SW grill Benuccis Italian restaurant and Red Robin Greece Ridge is now the largest mall in Rochester with 1.6 million square feet and about 140 stores
Hello Prange Way and Caldor i just want to say you guys have a great website You guys should post the Mckinley Mall in Hamburg NY and the Summit Park Mall in Wheatfield NY I have some pictures of the Summits current state please reply i would love to hear back
I remember as a kid going from one mall to the other both malls had arcades the art was awesome to I loved the kenetic ball drop. The old school Christmas decorations the animated ones were great. I really liked the shows they did magic shows sand sculpture and even a old western shootout show. Or the sunken in sitting area and there was a small diner right next Woolworth that you could enter from the mall or Woolworth can’t remember the name. Lots of memories I miss the old style malls