A Grand Opening: Nanuet Mall and the Wetlands That Became a Dream
On November 4, 1969, the Nanuet Mall opened its doors to a county discovering what modern shopping could feel like.
Built on land that had once been wetlands off Route 59, it stood as Rockland County's new symbol of progress: a fully enclosed, air-conditioned world of glass and escalators.
A few weeks earlier, Bamberger's had opened first, on September 25, giving families a chance to press their babies' hands into wet cement before rushing inside to see the future for themselves.
The grand opening was part circus, part civic celebration. Thousands of people flooded the parking lot; sheriff's officers on horseback tried to steer the crowds as Miss New York and Miss New Jersey waved from a balcony.
A brass band called the Polkamasters played while hot-air balloons drifted overhead. Five thousand blue spruce saplings, handed out as souvenirs, were gone within an hour.
Inside, the air smelled faintly of popcorn and perfume, and for a moment, Rockland County believed it had built the perfect center of its suburban life.
The mall was enormous for its time, about 675,000 square feet, spread over two levels with more than a hundred stores.
A year later, Sears reported that its Nanuet branch had exceeded every expectation. For families who had just traded city stoops for driveways and lawns, the mall wasn't just a place to shop.
It was proof that the suburbs could have their own kind of downtown.
Boom Years and Blood: The 1981 Brink's Robbery and the Mall's Peak
The 1970s turned the Nanuet Mall into a dependable Saturday ritual. Families from New City to Pearl River came for Sears appliances, Macy's makeup counters, and the occasional Orange Julius.
It was the kind of place where barbershops like Mario's and Unisex Palace could thrive for decades, clipping through generations of Rockland hair while gossip drifted down tiled hallways.
Then came October 20, 1981. At 3:55 p.m., an armored Brink's truck pulled up to the Nanuet National Bank branch at the mall. Within minutes, gunfire shattered the afternoon.
Members of the Black Liberation Army and former Weather Underground radicals ambushed the guards, killing one and wounding two others before fleeing with $1.6 million.
The violence spilled into the streets, where two Nyack police officers were killed in a second gunfight.
The event shocked the county and scarred the mall's otherwise ordinary history, a dark punctuation in a place built for shopping lists and baby strollers.
By the mid-1980s, the mall had recovered its composure. Bamberger's was rebranded as Macy's in 1986, a small corporate sleight of hand that meant little to local shoppers.
A new wing appeared in 1994, anchored by Abraham & Straus, later rebadged as Stern's and, finally, Boscov's.
By the late 1990s, the mall sprawled over 900,000 square feet, with 120 stores that sold everything from Warner Bros. T-shirts to Suncoast DVDs.
In the food court, Ruby Tuesday's burgers competed with Nathan's hot dogs and Auntie Anne's pretzels for the scent of loyalty. For a time, Nanuet was unstoppable.
Trouble Down Route 59: The Fall of the Nanuet Mall
Then, in March 1998, a new giant opened its doors a few miles west: the Palisades Center.
Nearly four times the size, with indoor amusement rides and movie theaters, it redefined what a mall could be. Nanuet's glossy corridors suddenly felt narrow, its lighting dim.
Within a few years, the decline was visible even to children.
By the early 2000s, tenant turnover became routine. The A&S lineage of anchors cycled from Stern's to Boscov's, and Boscov's itself filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
National brands began to trickle out. By 2010, only Sears and Macy's were holding on.
The barbershops stayed until the bitter end, still cutting hair in echoing halls.
When the lights dimmed for good, the mall felt less like a failure and more like a relic of a particular American optimism that had run its course.
Demolition and Reinvention: The Shops at Nanuet Arrive
By 2011, the Nanuet Mall was finished. Simon Property Group decided to tear it down and start over.
The plan was to build an outdoor shopping center called The Shops at Nanuet. Macy's and Sears owned their buildings, so they stayed.
Everything else came down. Demolition began in January 2012 and went fast. Within months, the old concourse and parking decks were gone.
The new place opened on October 10, 2013. It covered 750,000 square feet and looked like a small town instead of a box.
There were new stores like Apple and Fairway Market, and restaurants like P.F. Chang's and Bonefish Grill.
People came out for the ribbon-cutting and live music. The general manager said it would be the area's main shopping spot again. For a while, he was right.
On opening weekend, the parking lot was full. Lines stretched outside the Apple Store. Fairway's carts jammed the aisles.
The town called it a success and counted on new tax money. For the first time in years, Nanuet felt alive again.
Shorter Summers: A Mall Reinvents Itself Again
But the retail winds were shifting faster than anyone wanted to admit. By 2018, Sears filed for bankruptcy and shuttered its Nanuet location in January 2019.
Macy's followed soon after, closing that April. Fairway Market tried to hold the line but lasted only until September 25, 2019, when it closed after citing dwindling traffic.
Empty anchor boxes became the new architectural motif. At Home, a Texas-based furniture chain, moved into the former Macy's space in February 2021, promising stability.
Stop & Shop relocated into the vacant Fairway spot that August, temporarily restoring life to the site.
But by 2025, At Home itself had filed for Chapter 11 protection, announcing plans to shutter its Nanuet store by October.
Even the victories came with expiration dates.
Meanwhile, the community showed a stubborn affection for its patch of commerce. When Regal Cinemas faced closure in 2023, locals launched an online petition to save it.
The theater stayed open. It was a small act of defiance against the slow unraveling of retail normalcy.
A New Owner and a New Name: Nanuet Town Centre
In late 2024, Simon Property Group sold The Shops at Nanuet to Alexander Property Holdings, a New City-based firm.
The $60 million purchase included the main shopping center, the former Sears parcels, and several nearby lots.
By January 2025, the new owner rebranded the property as Nanuet Town Centre. The change marked a shift from a shopping mall to a broader development plan.
The proposal calls for a 1.25-mile walking trail around the property, new restaurant pads along Route 59, and a mix of retail and residential space.
The residential phase features luxury apartments that would require zoning adjustments. The goal is to create a place that combines shopping, dining, and community activity.
Depo House, a furniture retailer that moved into part of the old Sears building in 2022, briefly revived one of Nanuet's largest empty spaces.
The store operated as a temporary tenant, filling the former department store with sofas, rugs, and dining sets. In 2025, the storefront began advertising a "Closing Down Sale," signaling the end of its short run.
The closure will leave the building empty once again and highlights the challenge of finding lasting uses for large anchor spaces as Nanuet Town Centre continues its search for stability.
As of late 2025, about fifty stores remained open, including Stop & Shop, GAP, LOFT, 24 Hour Fitness, Storage King USA, and Regal Cinemas.
Clarkstown officials began reviewing early housing concepts, and Alexander's team focused on keeping existing tenants.
