Chautauqua Mall is an enclosed

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is 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, but in the late 1960s, i ...

Lakewood, New York Lakewood is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 2,993 at the 2020 census. The village is in the northern part of the town of Busti. Geography Lakewood is located at (42.100989, -79.321919), at the south ...

. Opened in 1971, the mall's anchor stores are

Planet Fitness Planet Fitness, Inc. is an American franchisor and operator of fitness centers based in Hampton, New Hampshire. The company has around 2,600 clubs, making it one of the largest fitness club franchises by number of members and locations. The fr ...

, Jo-Ann Fabrics, and

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...

. The mall is owned and managed by

Kohan Retail Investment Group Kohan Retail Investment Group is a shopping mall investment company based in Great Neck, New York. They “specialize” in malls and retail spaces as well as hotels. History Kohan bought Northland Mall from SITE Centers, Developers Diversified ...

and Summit Properties USA.

History

The mall opened in 1971 under the development of Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr. (whose company is now part of

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 Indian ...

), with

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

, Woolworth,

, and

Quality Markets Quality Markets was an American supermarket chain, with stores in Western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. It was a subsidiary of Penn Traffic, but is now a division of Tops Markets LLC. History The first Quality Markets store opened ...

as its anchor stores. JCPenney vacated its store in 1986, which was later mostly converted to

Jamesway Jamesway Corporation, more commonly known as Jamesway, was a chain of discount department stores based in Secaucus, New Jersey. It was founded in 1961 with a single store in Jamestown, New York, ultimately growing into a chain that, at its peak ...

that same year. (The remaining space was converted to Present Company). This new Jamesway store, the 100th in the chain, was a replacement for the first store in the Jamesway chain, located in nearby Jamestown. Jamesway and Woolworth closed in 1993, and Quality Markets moved outside the mall. In 1997, JCPenney returned to the mall in the portion of the former Jamesway space, while the former Woolworth store was expanded to become a

Bon-Ton Bonton Holdings Inc. operating as Bonton () was an American department store chain and group founded in 1898. It operated in Western New York, Pennsylvania, Western Maryland, and throughout the Midwestern United States. The former York, Pennsy ...

. The remainder of the former Jamesway space later became OfficeMax. Several new stores were also added, including

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay, San Francisco, Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of t ...

, Gap/GapKids, Spencer Gifts, new locations for Electronics Boutique and

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a Privately held company, privately held, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of greeting cards in the United ...

, and a

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...

. The food court closed in 1999 due to the original owner of its vendors withdrawing from the mall, but it reopened that same year with

Orange Julius Orange Julius is an American chain of beverage stores, known for a frothy, smoothie-like fruit drink also called an Orange Julius. The chain has been in business since the late 1920s. The signature beverage is a mixture of ice, orange juice, swe ...

, Hot Stuff Pizza, and Mean Gene's Burgers. All of the restaurants closed by 2002, but the food court soon reopened again with local tenants and a Subway. In 2013, an

Olive Garden Olive Garden is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. It is a unit of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in Orange County, Florida. As of 2022, Olive Garden restaurants accounted for ...

restaurant opened in front of the mall. The Bon-Ton closed on August 29, 2018. On February 19, 2021, it was announced that

Ollie's Bargain Outlet Ollie's Bargain Outlet is an American discount store chain. It was founded in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1982 by Morton Bernstein, Mark Butler, Harry Coverman, and Oliver "Ollie" Rosenberg, the company's namesake. , the chain has 558 locatio ...

would open. In 2022, Kohan Retail Investment Group would become the new owners of Chautauqua Mall

References

External links

Chautauqua Mall
{{Shopping malls in Upstate New York Shopping malls established in 1971 Shopping malls in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Chautauqua County, New York Tourist attractions in Chautauqua County, New York 1971 establishments in New York (state) Kohan Retail Investment Group