Walden Galleria - History

History

Walden Galleria was developed by The Pyramid Companies, a New York-based shopping center management firm. Built on a site near Exit 52 of the New York State Thruway, the mall was opened in 1989. At the time, the mall featured six anchor stores: national chains JCPenney, and Sears, regional chain Bonwit Teller, and three Buffalo-based chains: Sibley's, L. L. Berger, and The Sample. Sibley's opened in late 1988, several months before the rest of the mall. An additional anchor space was originally built for B. Altman and Company, but it remained vacant, as the chain decided not to open the Walden Galleria store due to credit restraints. At the time, the two-story mall also featured more than 150 stores, as well as a theater owned by Hoyts Cinemas.

In 1990, Sibley's parent, May Co., merged operations with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Kaufmann's. That same year, local chain AM&A's (Adam, Meldrum & Anderson Company) moved from the nearby Thruway Mall into the space originally planned for B. Altman. The owner of the Thruway Mall sued the AM&A's chain, claiming breach of contract; the chain would later be declared liable for damages to the Thruway Mall, which was subsequently torn down and rebuilt as a strip mall in the early 1990s. Finally, Hoyts sold the Walden Galleria theater complex to General Cinemas by the end of the year.

L. L. Berger declared bankruptcy in 1991, closing all of its stores. Later that same year, three more anchor stores are added to the mall: Lechmere, Loehmann's, and Lord & Taylor. The Sample closed in 1991, and was soon replaced with Linens & Wares, a household goods-based retailer; also, by the end of the year, Filene's Basement would open in the former L. L. Berger space. Both Filene's Basement and Loehmann's would close within three years.