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Roosevelt Field is a
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 ...
in the East Garden City section of
Uniondale, New York Uniondale is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in central Nassau County, New York, on Long Island, in the Town of Hempstead, within the New York metropolitan area. The population was 32,473 at the time of the 2020 United States census ...
. It is the largest shopping mall on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
, the second-largest in the state of New York (after
Destiny USA Destiny USA (stylized as destiny usa and also known by its former name Carousel Center) is a six-story Shopping mall#Super-regional mall, super-regional shopping, dining, and entertainment complex on the shore of Onondaga Lake in the city of Syra ...
), and the eighth-largest shopping mall in the United States. Designed by architect
I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...
, Roosevelt Field Mall 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 Indian ...
. It is the second most successful mall in the state. Major retailers at the mall include
Primark Primark Limited (; trading as Penneys in Ireland) is an Irish multinational fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original ''Penneys'' brand is not used outside of Irel ...
,
Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized in all caps as DICK'S Sporting Goods) is an American chain of sporting goods stores founded in 1948 by Richard "Dick" Stack. It is the largest sporting goods retailer in the United States and is listed ...
,
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 ...
,
Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...
,
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...
,
Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...
, and
Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...
.


Location

Roosevelt Field is located adjacent to the
Meadowbrook State Parkway The Meadowbrook State Parkway (also known as the Meadowbrook, the Meadowbrook Parkway, Meadowbrook Causeway, or the MSP) is a controlled-access highway, controlled-access Parkways in New York, parkway in Nassau County, New York, in the United S ...
, making it accessible from both the
Northern State Parkway The Northern State Parkway (also known as the Northern State or Northern Parkway) is a controlled-access parkway on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. The western terminus is at the Queens– Nassau County line in Lake Success � ...
and the
Southern State Parkway The Southern State Parkway (also known as the Southern State or Southern Parkway) is a controlled-access parkway on Long Island, New York, in the United States. The parkway begins at an interchange with the Belt and Cross Island parkways ...
. It also serves as major bus transportation hub for Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE), with several of its bus routes stopping at a bus terminal located adjacent the mall's southern parking garage. The mall was constructed on the site of (and is named for) Roosevelt (Hazelhurst) Field – the airport where
Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...
began his historic transatantic flight to
Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. At one time, a plaque at the north end of the mall – in the hallway which as of 2025 connects Dick's Sporting Goods and JCPenney – marked the spot from where Lindbergh took off in the ''
Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that Charles Lindbergh flew on May 20–21, 1927, on the Charles Lindbergh#New York–Paris flight ...
'' during the famous event. This plaque was later moved near the
Disney Store The Disney Store is a chain of specialty stores created on March 28, 1987, and sells only Disney-related items, many of them exclusive, under its own name and Disney Outlet. It is a business unit of the Disney Experiences division of The Walt Disn ...
, but was removed during a renovation to the mall in the 2010s.


History


Before the mall

The mall's location was previously an airfield. This airfield – Roosevelt Field – served as the take-off site for many famous aviators such as
Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...
and
Wiley Post Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was an American aviator during the Aviation between the World Wars, interwar period and the first aviator, pilot to fly solo around the world. Known for his work in high-altitude flyi ...
. 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 masculine given name derived from the Latin first name ''Quintinus'', a diminutive form of ''Quintus'', which means "the fifth". Albert Dauzat, ''Noms et prénoms de France'', Librairie Larousse 1980, édition revue et comment� ...
, who died in
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. In 1950,
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
-based real estate company Webb and Knapp, led by New York real estate developer
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 ...
, gained a controlling interest in the airfield, which it closed one year later, in 1951.


Roosevelt Field Mall

After the airfield was closed in 1951, Zeckendorf announced that he, through Webb and Knapp, would redevelop the site as the Roosevelt Field Mall and Garden City Plaza. Designed by Webb and Knapp's chief architect,
I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...
, the new Roosevelt Field Mall, upon its opening, would be the largest shopping mall in North America. Ground was broken on the $35 million project in April 1955. The mall opened the following year with a single level and was an open-air center. It included a Woolworth five-and-dime store, a
Walgreens Walgreens is an American pharmacy store chain. It is the second largest in the United States, behind CVS Pharmacy. As of March 2025, the company operated more than 8,700 stores in the U.S. Walgreens has been the subject of a number of lawsuit ...
drug store, a Food Fair supermarket, a
Buster Brown Buster Brown is a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault that was adopted as the mascot of the Brown Shoe Company in 1904. The characters of Buster Brown, Mary Jane, and his dog Tige became well known to the American publ ...
shoe store, a public auditorium, a movie theater, and an outdoor ice rink. The original anchor of the mall was a 3-level
Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...
, which opened on August 29, 1956. In 1962, a
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 comp ...
store opened. Today, the structure houses
Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized in all caps as DICK'S Sporting Goods) is an American chain of sporting goods stores founded in 1948 by Richard "Dick" Stack. It is the largest sporting goods retailer in the United States and is listed ...
and
Primark Primark Limited (; trading as Penneys in Ireland) is an Irish multinational fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original ''Penneys'' brand is not used outside of Irel ...
. With the addition, the complex held over . A major extension was completed in 1964. Macy's had an third level added. In 1968, The Century Roosevelt Cinema began operation. At that time, the mall was enclosed. In 1971, a 3-level,
Alexander's Alexander's, Inc. is a real estate investment trust that owns 7 properties in New York metropolitan area, including 731 Lexington Avenue, the headquarters of Bloomberg L.P. It is controlled by Vornado Realty Trust. It was founded by George Farka ...
was completed. In 1972, a 3-level J.C. Penney was added which was later completely renovated in 2010. An upper level of stores and food court was established in 1993 after a major renovation which started in 1991; the mall's bus terminal was also relocated to its present location about this time. When
Alexander's Alexander's, Inc. is a real estate investment trust that owns 7 properties in New York metropolitan area, including 731 Lexington Avenue, the headquarters of Bloomberg L.P. It is controlled by Vornado Realty Trust. It was founded by George Farka ...
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 & Compan ...
gutted the building and extensively renovated it, opening in 1992. As such, Roosevelt Field had as anchors the three department stores - Macy's, Abraham & Straus, and Stern's - during the first half of the 1990s. The Abraham & Straus location at the mall lasted only until 1995, when the chain became defunct. Subsequently, the store space was then renovated, re-opening as a
Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...
– which relocated there from its former Franklin Avenue location in downtown Garden City – later that year.


21st century

The former Gimbels anchor was a
Stern's Stern's was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey. The chain was in business for more than 130 years. In 2001, Stern's parent company Federated Department Stores opted to retire the Stern's bran ...
between 1987 and 2001. After Stern's closed, the spot was taken over by Galyan's, which opened in 2003 (later bought out by
Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized in all caps as DICK'S Sporting Goods) is an American chain of sporting goods stores founded in 1948 by Richard "Dick" Stack. It is the largest sporting goods retailer in the United States and is listed ...
in 2004). Dick's Sporting Goods occupied the eastern section and
Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...
Furniture Gallery, which opened in 2004, occupied the western half until closing in 2019. A new, 3-story
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...
and a 2-story wing leading to the new
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...
opened in August 1997.
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 ...
took ownership of the mall in 1998, 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 (Massachusetts), Burlington Mall in Massachusetts, and Roosevelt Field Mall in New ...
. In March 2012, it was announced that a new, wing, anchored by luxury department store
Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...
, would be added to Roosevelt Field. Opened on February 19, 2016, this expansion also created room for additional shops leading up to the luxury department store, and was accompanied by the erection of a new parking structure and a center-wide renovation & modernization project. In 2015, during the renovation of the mall, 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. On November 17, 2022, Ireland-based retailer
Primark Primark Limited (; trading as Penneys in Ireland) is an Irish multinational fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original ''Penneys'' brand is not used outside of Irel ...
opened its first Long Island store at the mall, in the space which had previously been occupied by Bloomingdale's Furniture Gallery. By 2023, Roosevelt Field had announced several newer additions, among them are Brilliant Earth, Rudsak, TYR,
Kendra Scott Kendra Scott (born March 27, 1974) is an American fashion designer. She is the executive chairwoman, designer, and former chief executive officer of Kendra Scott, LLC. Early life and career Kendra Scott was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. At age 16, ...
,
Primark Primark Limited (; trading as Penneys in Ireland) is an Irish multinational fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original ''Penneys'' brand is not used outside of Irel ...
,
Savage X Fenty Savage X Fenty is a lingerie brand founded by Barbadian singer Rihanna. Along with lingerie, the line features bras, underwear, sleepwear, and loungewear. The brand features an optional membership program called Xtra VIP. History Savage X ...
,
Warby Parker Warby Parker Inc. is an American eyewear brand and retailer of prescription glasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses, based in New York City. Founded in 2010, it was initially an online-only retailer. It now receives (about two-thirds) of its r ...
,
TAG Heuer TAG Heuer S.A., founded Heuer AG ( ) is a Swiss luxury watchmaker. Founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer in St-Imier, Switzerland, it was acquired by Techniques d'Avant Garde (TAG) in 1985, which purchased a majority stake in the company, forming ' ...
,
Armani Exchange Giorgio Armani S.p.A. (), commonly known as Armani, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in Milan by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, accessories, and ...
, Offline by Aerie, and the return of
Abercrombie & Fitch Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (A&F) is an American lifestyle store, lifestyle retailer, founded in 1892 which focuses on contemporary clothing targeting customers in their early 20's to mid 40's. Headquartered in New Albany, Ohio, the company operate ...
.


Bus terminal

Roosevelt Field serves as a major hub for buses operated by Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE), containing the
Roosevelt Field Mall Bus Terminal Nassau Inter-County Express East Garden City, New York Uniondale, New York Hempstead, New York Bus stations in New York (state) The Roosevelt Field Mall Bus Terminal (also known as the Roosevelt Field Bus Terminal or simply the Roosevelt Fie ...
. The seven-bay terminal is located on the south side of the mall, adjacent to its south parking garage. As of March 2025, the mall is directly served by the n15, n16, n22, n22x, n24, n27, n35, and n43 Nassau Inter-County Express bus routes, via the mall's bus terminal.


See also

* Smith Haven Mall * Walt Whitman Shops


References


External links


Official website
(June 1983), RCTV, documentary about mall culture at Roosevelt Field in the early 1980s. {{Authority control Simon Property Group Shopping malls in Nassau County, New York East Garden City, New York Hempstead, New York Uniondale, New York I. M. Pei buildings Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area Shopping malls established in 1956 1956 establishments in New York (state)