Walden Galleria facts for kids
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| Location | Cheektowaga, New York, U.S. |
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| Opening date | May 1, 1989 |
| Developer | The Pyramid Companies |
| Management | The Pyramid Companies |
| Owner | The Pyramid Companies |
| No. of stores and services | 170 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 9 (1 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 1,600,000 square feet (150,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | www.waldengalleria.com |
Walden Galleria is a big shopping mall located in Cheektowaga, New York. This town is a suburb of Buffalo, New York. The mall is easy to find, right off Interstate 90.
Walden Galleria has over 1,600,000 square feet (150,000 m2) of space for shops. It has 170 stores spread across two floors. You can also find a food court and a movie theater there. In 2021, Walden Galleria was one of the top 20 most visited shopping centers in America. It welcomed over 23 million visitors from the United States and Canada.
The Pyramid Companies from Syracuse, New York, owns and manages the mall. They also built it. Some of the main stores you can find at Walden Galleria include Macy's, JCPenney, Primark, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Best Buy. There is also a large 16-screen Regal Cinemas movie theater. This theater even has 4DX, which makes movies feel more real with moving seats and special effects!
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History of Walden Galleria
Walden Galleria was built by The Pyramid Companies. This company develops and manages shopping centers in Upstate New York. The mall opened in 1989. It was built near exit 52 of the New York State Thruway.
When it first opened, the mall had many popular stores. These included JCPenney and Sears. It also had more than 150 other stores and a movie theater called Hoyts Cinemas. In 1990, another large store, Lord & Taylor, was added.
The 1990s: Changes and Community Focus
During the 1990s, some of the original stores changed names. For example, Sibley's became Kaufmann's. Later, in 1995, AM&A's stores became The Bon-Ton.
In 1995, there was an important event that led to a change in how people could get to the mall. A young person trying to reach the mall's food court from a bus stop on Walden Avenue was involved in an accident. This led to discussions about making the mall easier to access for everyone. To help, the bus stop was moved inside the mall. It is still there today.
In 1996, the sports clothing store Finish Line opened one of its biggest stores here. In 1998, Lechmere stores closed across the country. The space was then used for JCPenney Home and a DSW Shoe Warehouse. Kaufmann's also opened a home store in the mall in 1999.
The 2000s: New Stores and Updates
The new millennium brought many exciting changes to Walden Galleria. A Pottery Barn store opened, along with Upstate New York's first Apple Store. Forever 21, a popular clothing store for young people, also opened. Other well-known stores like Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister joined the mall. The Hollister store was the first one in Western New York. In 2001, a new Galyan's Trading Company store was added.
By 2002, the mall's movie theater was sold to AMC Theatres. In 2004, the Galyan's store became Dick's Sporting Goods. This happened after Dick's Sporting Goods bought Galyan's. In 2006, The Bon-Ton store closed. Later that year, Kaufmann's became Macy's. This was part of a big merger.
Big Changes in 2007
Plans were made to make Walden Galleria even bigger. The old Bon-Ton store was taken down. This made space for a new section with more stores. A large 16-screen Regal Cinemas movie theater was built on the upper level.
A part of the parking garage was also removed to make way for new store fronts. These new stores created a boulevard-like look on the mall's side. A new five-story parking garage was built to replace the lost parking spots.
The 2010s: Modern Upgrades and Events
The new decade brought many updates to the mall. In 2011, Anthropologie, a trendy women's clothing store, opened. Other stores like Fossil, Free People, and White House/Black Market also opened that year. A brew pub called Gordon Biersch opened near the parking garage.
In 2013, the mall got some stylish upgrades. New Italian marble floors were put in. The lighting and seating areas were also updated. The main entrances were improved to match the newer parts of the mall.
In November 2014, there was a discussion about stores opening on Thanksgiving Day. The mall owners wanted all stores to open at a certain time on the holiday. Some smaller store owners felt pressured to open. This led to some people in the community encouraging shoppers to visit other places instead of Walden Galleria on Black Friday. The mall owners said that Macy's had also encouraged stores to open on Thanksgiving.
Around this time, World of Beer opened, joining the growing craft beer scene in Buffalo. About a month later, in September, Dave and Buster's moved to a new, larger space next to The Cheesecake Factory.
In April 2018, the Spanish clothing store Zara opened a two-story store. In June, Macy's opened a furniture store in a spot that had also been a furniture store for Kaufmann's before.
In late 2019, Macy's announced that its store would get millions of dollars in updates. Regal Cinemas also upgraded its theater to include 4-DX technology. This technology makes movies more exciting with moving seats, wind, rain, lights, and even smells!
The 2020s: New Ideas and Continued Popularity
On August 27, 2020, it was announced that the department store Lord & Taylor would close its physical store. This was partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are plans to turn this large space into a modern area called York Factory. This new space would offer co-working offices and other services like lunch delivery, bike rentals, and wellness studios.
In 2021, Walden Galleria continued to be very popular. It was listed among the top 20 most visited shopping centers in America. It attracted over 23 million visitors from both the United States and Canada.
See also
In Spanish: Walden Galleria para niños
