Seneca Mall

Seneca Mall, which opened in 1969, was a shopping mall south of Buffalo, New York in the United States. The mall was located in the Town of West Seneca at the intersection of Ridge Road (Erie CR 137) and Slade Avenue (Erie CR 91) immediately east of the New York State Thruway (Interstate 90).

This article is about a defunct shopping center near Buffalo, New York. It is not to be confused with the existing shopping center in Liverpool, New York.
Seneca Mall
LocationWest Seneca, New York
Coordinates42°49′55″N 78°47′9″W
Opening date1969
Closing date1994
No. of stores and services60
No. of anchor tenants6
No. of floors1

The William Hengerer Company originally sought to develop a location on this site in the early 1960s. This eventually led to the development and opening of Seneca Mall in 1969 in direct competition to The Thruway Plaza.[1] The mall at that time housed a large JCPenney store as well as local chain Sattler's.[2][3]

Seneca Mall was the major mall in the southtowns of Buffalo from its opening in 1969 through the 1980s. In 1985, the McKinley Mall opened in Hamburg less than three miles (4.8 km) away. Seneca hung on until 1989 when the Walden Galleria opened in Cheektowaga. At that time, all of the mall anchors vacated as well as most of the specialty stores and restaurants. The mall remained open until 1994, finally becoming a haven for mall walkers with no retailers.

In 1994, the mall's owners, The Pyramid Company, elected to demolish the mall. The company, which also owns the Walden Galleria, elected to build a power center on the site once the mall and outlying buildings were demolished. The center was branded as The Shops at West Seneca and its first tenant (Tops Markets) opened in May 1997. Although many elaborate plans were put on the table by Pyramid,[4] a Kmart store, which closed in late 2018 a part of a plan to close 142 Kmart and Sears stores, is the only other development. A majority of the former mall site remains fenced off. The big signs of Seneca Mall's entries are still standing as the only standing remains from 1969, reading "TOPS", with "Shops at West Seneca" above. The town of West Seneca has many times attempted to push Pyramid into developing the site with no results.

Former anchors
  • Hengerer's - Original anchor, located at the south end of the mall. Converted to Sibley's in 1981.
  • JCPenney - Original anchor, located at the north end of the mall. Closed in April 1989.
  • Kleinhans - Original mini-anchor, located at center court, closed in August 1990.
  • L.L. Berger - Original mini-anchor, located next to Hengerer's/Sibley's, closed 1989.
  • The Sample - Original mini-anchor, located just south of center court, closed October 1989.
  • Sattler's - Original anchor, located on the east side of the mall at center court. Closed in January 1982.
  • Sibley's - Converted from Hengerer's in 1981, closed in March 1989.

See also

References
  1. "The Thruway Plaza: Western New York's Pioneer Suburban Shopping Plaza". Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  2. "WELCOME TO FORGOTTEN BUFFALO". Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  3. "Sattler's, 998 Broadway, Buffalo, NY". Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  4. McCarthy, Robert J. (16 December 2015). "Project at Seneca Mall site called unworkable". The Buffalo News.
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