McKinley Mall

The McKinley Mall opened on October 7, 1985 in Buffalo, New York with Sears and local chains AM&A's and The Sample as anchor stores. At the time, the mall featured approximately 80 inline stores, and a food court known as "The Garden". In 1986, a six screen General Cinema Theatre opened (only accessible outside.) The construction of the mall in the early 1980s brought a wave of controversy throughout the town of Hamburg as the town was divided over whether or not the mall should be built. The land the mall was built on was largely parkland and the surrounding land that has now become fully developed was also primarily undeveloped.

Monday, August 15, 1988 local chain L. L. Berger added on to the mall opening a 40,000-square-foot (3,700-square-meter) store. On Thursday, April 6th, 1989, the mall saw Sibley's add on to the mall, relocating from the Shops at West Seneca. 1989 also saw the opening of the Walden Galleria 10 miles north in Cheektowaga. A super-regional mall, the Galleria helped accelerate the death of many aging surrounding malls including the Seneca Mall, and the Thruway Mall. However, the Mckinley Mall continued on almost unfettered, as it served the Southtowns of Western New York. 1991 saw JCPenney add on to the mall which relocated from the Seneca Mall in West Seneca, which was three miles away. 1990 also saw the conversion of Sibley's into Pittsburgh based Kaufmann's and in 1991, the entire L. L. Berger chain closed after filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and became Kaufmann's Home Store.

Throughout the 1990s, the presence and success of the McKinley Mall brought enormous growth in peripheral retail surrounding the property. Surrounding the mall within the property included the opening of stores such as Circuit City, Pier 1, Media Play, Dollar Tree, and Rosa's Home and Furniture Store. Likewise, many restaurants opened surrounding the property including Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and TGI Fridays. Outside the mall on McKinley Parkway and Milestrip Road, stores such as Home Depot, BJ's Wholesale Club, Toys "R" Us, Jo-Ann Fabrics, OfficeMax, A.C. Moore, TJ Maxx, Wegmans, and Aldi opened. Restaurants that opened outside the mall included Ruby Tuesday, Applebee's, Friendly's, and Outback Steakhouse. 1994 brought the opening of York, Pennsylvania based The Bon-Ton after they purchased Buffalo based AM&A's the same year.

In 2006 it was announced that Bed Bath and Beyond would open a store in the Sears wing on the mall's western side while Best Buy announced they would open a store next door. In September 2006, Pittsburgh based Kaufmann's became Macy's. 2008 saw the opening of Barnes and Noble. 2009 saw the opening of Ulta Beauty and in 2011, Old Navy moved into the mall where KB Toys used to be.

The late 2010's saw multiple classic chain anchors retreat from brick and mortar after being disrupted by digital retailers in recent years. In 2016, Macy's, which maintains additional outposts, announced they would shutter in an effort to maximize profit margins. Then in April 2018, it was also announced regional division The Bon-Ton would shutter after filing bankruptcy. Zales moved into the mall in 2017, in the center court. In February, 2020, Sears announced they will shutter.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced all malls to close in response to prolonged lockdown orders nationwide. Longtime tenants such as Sterling Jewelers, Vitamin World, GNC, New York & Company, Parkside Candy, and Things Remembered closed during this time. In late 2020, Academy of Sports opened an indoor sports facility. While not necessarily bringing in shoppers, nevertheless it helped bring in foot traffic to the mall that could be catapulted into other developments in the future. In 2021, American Eagle Outfitters closed their store at the mall after many years in business, and as a part of their liquidation, Christopher & Banks announced their closure at the mall many years after relocating to a marquee space in the center court once occupied by the Gap. In March 2021, Foot Locker, a longtime tenant, abruptly left the mall seemingly overnight and Zale's abandoned their store in the Center Court not long after. Later that month, Victoria's Secret and Pink left the mall unannounced, roughly five years after renovating their stores.

In July 28, 2021, the Kohan Retail Investment Group purchased McKinley Mall for $8.5 million. There were complaints about the low sale price from several local groups.[4]

• Walden Galleria
• The Summit
• Eastern Hills Mall
• Boulevard Mall
• Shops at West Senaca

• McKinley Mall