Roosevelt Field is a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...

in East Garden City, New York and

Uniondale, New York Uniondale is a census-designated place (CDP), as well as a suburb in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island, in the Town of Hempstead. The population was 32,473 at the 2020 United States Census. Uniondale is home to Hofstra University's nort ...

. It was designed by I. M. Pei and is the largest shopping mall on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

, in the state of New York, and the eighth largest shopping mall in the United States. It is managed by

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/ lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in In ...

. It is the second most successful mall in the state. The anchors of the 243-store mall are

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a di ...

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gi ...

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and ...

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized as "DICK'S Sporting Goods") is an American sporting goods retail company, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The company was established by Richard "Dick" Stack in 1948, and has approximately 854 stores ...

, and

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

. Previous

anchor store In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. Wi ...

s were

Gimbels Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the com ...

(succeeded by

Stern's Stern's (originally Stern Brothers) was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The chain was in business for more than 130 years. In 2001, Stern's parent company Federated Departmen ...

), A&S, and Alexander's (succeeded by

). The original anchor store was Macy's. Discount department store chain Century 21 was no longer expected to open in the former Bloomingdale’s Home Furniture in Spring 2021 because Century 21, on Thursday September 10, 2020, filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

, as a result of insurance companies failing to financially support the chain during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In its place,

Primark Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not us ...

has opened.

Location

Roosevelt Field shopping center interior

The mall is adjacent to the

Meadowbrook State Parkway The Meadowbrook State Parkway (also known as the Meadowbrook, the Meadowbrook Parkway or the MSP) is a parkway in Nassau County, New York, in the United States. Its southern terminus is at a full cloverleaf interchange with the Bay and Ocean par ...

, making it accessible from the

Northern State Parkway The Northern State Parkway (also known as the Northern Parkway or Northern State) is a limited-access state parkway on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. The western terminus is at the Queens– Nassau County line, where the parkway conti ...

and

Southern State Parkway The Southern State Parkway (also known as the Southern State or Southern Parkway; abbreviated as SO on signage) is a limited-access highway on Long Island, New York, in the United States. The parkway begins at an interchange with the Belt and ...

. It is a major hub of Nassau Inter-County Express, with several bus routes stopping in a terminal area near the southern parking structure. It was constructed on the site of, and named for,

Roosevelt Field Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located east-southeast of Mineola, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a training field (Hazel ...

, an airport and military airfield where

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

began his historic trans-Atlantic flight. At one time, a plaque at the north end of the mall (in the hall that now connects Dick's and

) marked the spot where Lindbergh took off. It was later moved near the

Disney Store The Disney Store is a chain of specialty stores selling only Disney related items, many of them exclusive, under its own name and Disney Outlet. It was a business unit of Disney Consumer Products with the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products s ...

, but was removed in the mall's latest renovation.

History

As an

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

, the land served as the take-off site of many famous aviators such as

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...

and

Wiley Post Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was a famed American aviator during the interwar period and the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high-altitude flying, Post helped develop o ...

. Charles Lindbergh's solo transatlantic flight took off from Roosevelt Field in 1927. The field was originally named Hazelhurst Field and was renamed in honor of Theodore Roosevelt's son,

Quentin Quentin is a French male given name from the Latin first name ''Quintinus'', diminutive form of '' Quintus'', that means "the fifth".Albert Dauzat, ''Noms et prénoms de France'', Librairie Larousse 1980, édition revue et commentée par Marie-T ...

, who died in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. After the airfield was closed in 1951, the site was developed by New York's

William Zeckendorf William Zeckendorf Sr. (June 30, 1905 – September 30, 1976) was a prominent American real estate developer. Through his development company Webb and Knapp — for which he began working in 1938 and which he purchased in 1949 — he developed ...

and designed by I. M. Pei. Ground was broken on the $35 million project in April 1955. The center opened with a single level and was an open-air center. It included a Woolworth five-and-dime store, a

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, a ...

drug store, a

Food Fair Food Fair, also known by its successor name Pantry Pride, was a large supermarket chain in the United States. It was founded by Samuel N. Friedland, who opened the first store (as Reading Giant Quality Price Cutter) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in ...

supermarket, a

Buster Brown Buster Brown is a comic-strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault. Adopted as the mascot of the Brown Shoe Company in 1904, Buster Brown, along with Mary Jane, and with his dog Tige, became well known to the American public in th ...

shoe store, a public auditorium, a movie theater, and an outdoor ice rink. The original anchor of the mall was a 2-level 343,000 ft² (31,900 m²)

, which opened on August 22, 1956. In 1962, a 250,000 ft² (2,320 m²)

store opened. Today, the structure houses

and Bloomingdale's Furniture. With the addition, the complex held over 1,000,000 ft² (92,900 m²). A major extension was completed in 1964. Macy's had an 85,000 ft² (7,900 m²) third level added. In 1968, The Century Roosevelt Cinema began operation. At that time, the mall was enclosed. In 1972, a second major expansion was completed which added a 3-level, 260,000 ft² (24,200 m²)

J.C. Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Girl ...

, which was later completely renovated in 2010, and a 2-level 314,000 ft² (2,900 m²) Alexander's. ''Le Petit Mall,'' a Tudor-style expansion was built in 1974 that architecturally reinforced the novelty of shopping indoors. An upper level of stores and food court was established in 1993 after a major renovation which started in 1991. When Alexander's went bankrupt in 1992,

Abraham & Straus Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company ...

gutted the building and extensively renovated it, opening in 1992. The Abraham & Straus location at Roosevelt Field only lasted until 1995, when the chain became defunct. The store was slightly renovated, and re-opened as a

in 1995. The Bloomingdale's store at Roosevelt Field had a major renovation, which was finished by the summer of 2009. The former Gimbels anchor was a

between 1987 and 2001. After Stern's closed, the spot was taken over by

Galyan's Galyan's Trading Company was an American sporting goods chain. It was founded in Plainfield, Indiana. The store began in 1946 as a grocery store, founded by Albert and Naomi Galyan. By the 1960s, the Galyans began selling sporting goods instead. ...

, which opened in 2003 (later bought out by

in 2004). Dick's Sporting Goods occupied the eastern section and

Furniture Gallery, which opened in 2004, occupied the western half until closing in 2019. A new, 3-story

and a 2-story wing leading to the new

opened in August 1997.

took ownership of the mall when it acquired

Corporate Property Investors Corporate Property Investors was a real estate investment trust that built several notable shopping centers, including Lenox Square in Atlanta, the Burlington Mall in Massachusetts, and Roosevelt Field Mall in New York. History CPI was founded in ...

in 1998. In March 2012, it was announced that a new 100,000-square-foot building anchored by luxury department store

would be added to Roosevelt Field. Opened on February 19, 2016, this expansion created room for even more shops leading up to the luxury department store and was accompanied by a new parking structure. During the renovation of the mall in 2015, the glass elevators in the center were removed to create a play area and new elevators were built to replace them. Simon had discovered that the scenic elevators had to be removed due to severe

hydraulic oil A hydraulic fluid or hydraulic liquid is the medium by which power is transferred in hydraulic machinery. Common hydraulic fluids are based on mineral oil or water. Examples of equipment that might use hydraulic fluids are excavators and backhoes, ...

leakage. According to ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'', on June 26, 2020,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

announced they were closing their store with the rest of the Microsoft stores. On September 10, 2020, it was announced that Century 21, which was going to open in the former Bloomingdale's Furniture Gallery space in 2021 would no longer be coming to the mall due to chain filing for bankruptcy and closing all 13 stores.

References

External links

Roosevelt Field (Official Site)
{{Authority control Simon Property Group Shopping malls in Nassau County, New York Hempstead, New York Shopping malls established in 1956 Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area 1956 establishments in New York (state) I. M. Pei buildings