Eastern Hills Mall

Eastern Hills Mall

Location	Williamsville, New York
Opening date	1971
Developer	Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation
Management	Mountain Development Corp.
Owner	Mountain Development Corp.
No. of stores and services	100
No. of anchor tenants	6
Total retail floor area	997,945 square feet (92,712.1 m2)
No. of floors	1, anchor tenants have 2

Eastern Hills Mall is a shopping mall located at the western border of the Town of Clarence in Erie County, New York, United States. It lies on Transit Road (New York State Route 78, a 73.49-mile state highway), which in the vicinity of the mall, divides Clarence, New York from the town of Amherst, New York east of (Buffalo, New York). The mall is north of the junction of NY-78 with NY-5, and Main Street. The name "Eastern Hills" refers to the very low hills that contribute to a slightly higher elevation than the bordering areas along the Onondaga Escarpment. Eastern Hills Mall is part of a long commercial strip on Transit Road. It consists of two long wings running north and south and one short wing running east and west, which connects the north-south wings in a "double L-shaped" formation. A major department store is at the end of each wing. A food court is located adjacent to the end of the long south wing. A three-screen movie theater showing mainly independent films is also located in the mall, as well as a small New York State Department of Motor Vehicles office. Surrounding the mall is a large, but generally unkept, parking lot. The ratio of the mall is so large, it provides the highest parking ratio of any Buffalo area mall. Much of the parking lot space is leased to area car dealerships to store overstock vehicles due to the low volume of shoppers at the mall. Eastern Hills Mall is currently at approximately 70% occupancy, with many vacant stores throughout the mall and popular anchor store Dave & Busters shuttering its doors in 2015 to move to the nearby Walden Galleria. Eastern Hills is considered by many area residents to be a "dead mall" and is listed on the website Deadmalls.com. Most major and nationally recognized retailers have left and been replaced by independently owned "mom-and-pop" type stores, selling crafts and homemade goods. It is common for retailers to open and close within their first few months, unable to turn a profit due to the low volume of shoppers that still visit Eastern Hills Mall.

History

The Eastern Hills Mall was developed by the Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation. The mall was originally to be named "Buffalo Mall", but the name was changed to Eastern Hills Mall at the request of the town of Clarence. Construction began in 1969. Fourteen stores opened by November 8, 1971, and the mall was completed by 1972. The three-screen cinema was owned and operated by General Cinema Corporation from 1971 to 1993. It was then sold to Dipson Theaters and converted to an independent/art film cinema in 1998. The mall underwent an extensive overhaul in 1986 that added a food court. Originally the largest mall in the Buffalo, NY area, the mall lost that title to the Walden Galleria in 1989. Another renovation to the small east-west center concourse and food court took place in 2005, largely cosmetic in nature. New floor tile was installed in both the center concourse and food court, and imitation fireplaces, small flat screen televisions, and new seating were installed. The longer north-south concourses remained untouched during this second renovation, causing a break in a pink zig-zag floor tile line pattern, which prior to the 2005 renovation could be followed through the entire mall from end-to-end, but now remains only in the north-south concourses, broken by the new tile in the center concourse. Television station WBBZ-TV moved its studios to the mall in 2012.

Anchors

Current

• The Bon-Ton (1995–present) (151,208 sq ft.) formerly AM&A's
• JC Penney (1972–present) (152,360 sq ft.)
• Orvis (2005–present) (17,967 sq ft.) formerly Old Navy
• Rocky's Big City Games (2016–present) (38,000 sq ft.) formerly Dave & Busters
• Sears (1971–present) (154,814 sq ft.)
• Sports Performance Park, an indoor sports training facility (2009–present) (57,364 sq ft.) formerly Woolworth/Waccamaw Home Decor

Former

• AM&A's (1971–1995); now The Bon-Ton
• Burlington Coat Factory (1997–2005, formerly Jenss, later became Dave & Buster's)
• Dave & Buster's (2005–2015); formerly Jenss/Burlington Coat Factory, moved to Walden Galleria in 2015, replaced by Rocky's Big City Games
• General Cinema Corporation (1971–1993); became Dipson Theaters
• Hengerer's (1971–1981); became Sibley's
• Jenss (1971–1997); became Burlington Coat Factory
• Kaufmann's (1990–2006); formerly Hengerer's/Sibley's, became Macy's
• Macy's (2006–2016) (129,824 sq ft.) formerly Hengerer's/Sibley's/Kaufmann's, closed in Spring 2016
• Sibley's (1981–1990); formerly Hengerer's, became Kaufmann's in 1990
• Old Navy (1998–2005); became Orvis in 2005
• Woolworth (1971–1993); became Waccamaw Home Decor
• Waccamaw Home Decor (1993–2009); After Waccamaw closed in 1998, the location sporadically held small convention-type events and vehicle showrooms in its large, open space. Became Sports Performance Park

Non-commercial activity

After the October Storm of 2006, which devastated much of the surrounding area, the parking lot of Eastern Hills served as a focal point for clean up and restoration of services. Many utility companies used the parking lot as a ramada for parking vehicles at night and a dispatch point by day. In addition, part of the lot was used for storing materials used to restore power to the area.

External links

• Eastern Hills Mall Website
• Comments about Eastern Hills