Traffic on West Ridge Road is almost constant, and that fits this property. People come here to buy sneakers, see a movie, eat lunch, or shop for bargains, often without thinking about how many earlier versions of the site still exist within the same structure.
A movie theater now occupies a space that was once home to a discount store. A former Sears now holds self-storage.
Goodwill moved into a large retail space near the north entrance. Boscov's now brings shoppers into a building that until recently housed Burlington. The mall feels up to date, but its earlier history is never far away.
That sense of layers comes from the way the property developed. The Mall at Greece Ridge did not start as one large complex that opened all at once.
It began as two separate enclosed malls built next to each other in different years, with different anchor stores and different names.
One opened in 1967. The other opened in 1971, after McCurdy's had already opened next door in 1969. The two malls remained separate for more than twenty years.
In 1994, Wilmorite connected them and turned them into one of the largest enclosed retail properties in the region.
After that, the site kept changing as department stores expanded, declined, relocated, and closed.
How The Mall at Greece Ridge took shape
March 25, 1966, marked the start of the first half of the story when ground was broken for Greece Towne Mall on a 35-acre site.
The enclosed center opened on May 1, 1967, and more stores followed through the summer and fall.
By November, shoppers could walk past Sibley's, G.C. Murphy, a Loblaws supermarket, Security Trust Company, National Clothing Company, A.S. Beck Shoes, Miles Shoes, and Paine Drug under one roof.
They could also visit Norton Cleaners, Singer Sewing Center, Ormond Shops, Casual Corner, Music Lovers Shoppe, Haffey's Card & Gift Shop, and Gutman's.
The second half began nearby before the second mall itself was finished. McCurdy's opened a two-level branch store on October 2, 1969, on an adjacent parcel at West Ridge and Mitchell-Long Pond Roads.
Ground for Long Ridge Plaza was broken on November 14, 1969. The enclosed mall opened on September 15, 1971, and within six months, the name had shifted to Long Ridge Mall. Sears opened there on February 1, 1972.
Other early anchors included J.B. Hunter, B. Forman, and F.W. Woolworth, with stores such as Bond Clothes, Chess King, Disc Records, Foxmoor Casuals, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Plum Tree Gifts, Rite Aid, and Star Markets filling out the new mall.
Bigger boxes, new names, and a 1994 merger
The 1980s changed Greece Towne Mall before anyone physically joined the two properties. A nineteen-store south-end addition brought in Gold Circle, which opened in September 1982.
Inside the mall, a 1984 renovation added new ceilings, skylights, landscaping, and stores, including Rubino's Deli, Azteca Mexican Imports, 1 Potato 2, and Linehan's Hallmark Shop.
Then the south-end anchor started changing hands fast.
Gold Circle closed in November 1988, Hills opened in that box on April 3, 1989, Hills closed in November 1991, a temporary Macy's Close-Out Center used the building, and Caldor opened there on March 11, 1993, after an expansion.
Long Ridge shifted, too. J.B. Hunter closed in late 1974, and J.C. Penney replaced it in September 1975.
Wilmorite acquired Long Ridge in 1989 and moved ahead with plans to connect the two enclosed centers. Work started in 1993.
On March 15, 1994, the linked property opened as The Mall at Greece Ridge Center.
A new corridor joined the former west entrance of Greece Towne to McCurdy's at Long Ridge, and a new two-level J.C. Penney opened on May 4, 1994.
A nine-bay food court and broader updates helped make two old malls read as one.
Courts, closings, and the scramble for anchors
The anchor lineup had not settled even before the merger, and it kept shifting afterward. Sibley's had become Kaufmann's in April 1990. Woolworth closed, and Dick's Sporting Goods replaced it in August 1994.
The old J.C. Penney building was split, with Burlington Coat Factory opening there in April 1995 and Lechmere taking the other level.
Behind those moves sat a much bigger fight over who would control department-store space in Rochester's major malls.
McCurdy's decided in 1994 to shut down and sell its stores. May Department Stores tried to buy eight of them, and that deal ran straight into Bon-Ton and New York State.
The federal case Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. v. May Department Stores Co. led to a preliminary injunction on November 30, 1994, blocking the deal.
Rochester had only a limited amount of full department-store space left in its major malls, and Greece Ridge sat in the middle of that struggle.
McCurdy's at Long Ridge closed in July 1994. Its building reopened as Kaufmann's, replacing the original Kaufmann's location in the former Greece Towne Sibley's space.
Then that older space changed again when The Bon-Ton opened there in August 1996.
From cinema screens to the State Street Wing
The southwest corner changed first. Caldor closed in June 1996, the building came down, and Hoyts Greece Ridge Cinema 12 opened on July 10, 1998, on that site.
The theater later became a Regal property. The mall also added or highlighted Old Navy in 1994, Bed Bath & Beyond in 1998, Michaels in 1999, and a freestanding Target that opened southeast of Sears in October 1999.
In September 2006, the property's name was shortened to The Mall at Greece Ridge, and the former McCurdy's and Kaufmann's store became Macy's.
The next major reset hit the northeast corner after Bon-Ton closed. Work began in April 2012, and the old store was largely demolished as the mall carved out a more open restaurant and retail district.
Nearly $15 million went into the project. More than 90,000 square feet of the old Bon-Ton came down, while 32,000 square feet were reused.
The new tenant mix leaned into dining and smaller-format retail: Benucci's, Bar Louie, Red Robin, Hoopla Frozen Yogurt, Moe's Southwest Grill, Chico's, and Loft.
Bar Louie opened first in October 2013, and the full redevelopment wrapped up in early 2014.
Empty Anchors and a New Round of Arrivals
The older department store spaces continued to change owners and uses. Sears closed in July 2018 and left another very large empty store behind.
In early 2023, Regal's Greece Ridge theater was slated to close during Cineworld's bankruptcy process.
March 9, 2023, was Regal's final day at the mall. The former Bed Bath & Beyond space changed next.
On February 5, 2024, Burlington announced that it would move from its longtime location near Entrance 6 and Dick's Sporting Goods to the former Bed Bath & Beyond space across from Marshalls.
The former Sears property was sold in 2024 to be converted into True Storage, with keycard access approved for customers from 7 a.m.
to 10 p.m. daily. Goodwill of the Finger Lakes moved its Dewey Avenue store into the former Ruby-Gordon space at the north entrance and opened there on February 28, 2025.
Apple Cinemas opened in the former Regal space on March 14, 2025, with ScreenX, ACX with 4K laser projection, Dolby Atmos sound, and a full-service bar.
Macy's and the neighboring Macy's Home Store closed in spring 2025, ending department store lines that stretched back through Kaufmann's and earlier predecessors.
One former anchor became storage. Another became a reopened movie theater. Another former big-box space became Burlington's new location.
Boscov's Arrives as the Property Changes Again
Charlotte Russe opened at the mall on February 21, 2025. Then, on March 28, Boscov's announced plans for a new 175,000-square-foot store at Greece Ridge.
This was the company's fifty-first store overall and its fifth in New York. The chain called it the largest department store in the Rochester region.
The opening lasted three days. Charity Day took place on October 30. The store opened to the public on October 31. A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony and fireworks followed on November 1, 2025.
The opening raised more than $100,000 for nonprofits in the Rochester area, and 160 local residents joined the store's workforce.
By early 2026, the biggest unfinished part of the property was still clearly visible. The two former Macy's spaces were still marked "Developer Site" on the 2026 plan.
Even with Boscov's open and several empty large store spaces put to new use, the mall is still in the middle of another round of change.
Greece Ridge is not a finished comeback, and it is not a dead mall. The property continues to be rebuilt, step by step, where everyone can see the progress.
The Mall at Greece Ridge
Shopping mall in Greece, NY
Address: 271 Greece Ridge Center Dr, Rochester, NY 14626
Opened: 1967; March 15, 1994
Developer: Wilmorite Properties
Owner: Wilmorite Properties
Floor area: 1,208,488 sq ftClosest cities:
Rochester, NY
Irondequoit, NY
North Gates, NY
Brighton, NY
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Chili, NY
