McKinley Mall is a one-level shopping mall 10.0 miles (16.2 km) southeast of downtown Buffalo, New York, between McKinley Parkway, Milestrip Road and Interstate 90 in Hamburg, a suburb of Buffalo. The mall has one open anchor which is JCPenney. There is also two junior anchors which are Old Navy and Barnes & Noble, as well as a six-screen Dipson cinema outside of the mall.
Mall History[]
On October 7, 1985, McKinley Mall opened in the small Buffalo suburb of Hamburg. At the time of opening, it had 80 inline stores, including a food court known as "The Garden." The mall opened originally with three anchor spaces which were Sears, The Sample and AM&A's. In 1986, a six screen General Cinema theater opened. On August 15, 1988, a fourth anchor, L.L. Berger was added to the mall. On April 6, 1989, a fifth anchor was added to the mall which was Sibley's, relocating from the Seneca Mall in West Seneca. Also in 1989, the Walden Galleria mall opened in Cheektowaga, which caused some competition between the two malls. In 1990, Sibley's was converted into Kaufmann's. In 1991, a sixth anchor was added to the mall which was JCPenney, which also relocated from the Seneca Mall in West Seneca. Also in 1991, L.L. Berger closed due to the chain filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, the space was then quickly converted into a Kaufmann's Home Store. During the 1990s, many stores opened on outparcles and many shopping centers were built outside the McKinley Mall, the new stores included Circuit City, Pier 1 Imports, Media Play, Dollar Tree, Rosa's Home & Furniture Store, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, TGI Fridays. More stores were built and opened along McKinley Parkway and Milestrip Road including The Home Depot, BJ's Wholesale Club, Toys R Us, JoAnn Fabrics, OfficeMax, A.C. Moore, T.J. Maxx, Wegmans and Aldi. More restaurants moved outside the mall including Ruby Tuesday, Applebee's, Friendly's and Outback Steakhouse. In 1994, AM&A's was converted into Bon-Ton. In 2006, Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy both opened new stores inside the mall. In September 2006, Kaufmann's and the Kaufmann's Home Store were converted into Macy's and Macy's Home Store. In 2008, Barnes & Noble opened inside the mall. In 2009, Ulta Beauty joined the mall. In 2011, Old Navy moved into the mall in the former KB Toys space. In 2016, both Macy's and their Home Store closed down. In April 2018, Bon-Ton closed down. In February 2020, Sears closed down.
Mall Decline[]
The McKinley Mall started to decline during the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, it causes many stores to close at the mall such as Sterling Jewelers, Vitamin World, GNC, New York & Company, Parkside Candy and Things Remembered. In late 2020, Academy of Sports opened an indoor sports facility inside the mall as an attempt to bring back foot traffic to McKinley Mall. In March 2021, Foot Locker, Zale's and Victoria's Secret closed their stores at the mall. On July 28, 2021, Kohan Retail Investment Group purchased McKinley Mall for $8.5 million.
