South Shore Plaza 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 Braintree,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, United States. The mall spans of selling space, making it the largest mall in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

by square footage and the 16th-largest mall in the country. The mall was anchored by

Filene's Filene's was an American department store chain founded in 1881 by William Filene. The historic Filene's Department Store in the Downtown Crossing district of Boston, Massachusetts housed the flagship store and headquarters, while branch store ...

when it opened as an open-air plaza in 1961.

Jordan Marsh Jordan Marsh was an American department store chain founded in 1841 by Eben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh. It was headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and operated throughout New England. The destruction of the historical flagship store o ...

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was an American department store chain founded in 1826 by Samuel Lord. It had 86 full-line stores in the Northeastern United States at its peak in the 2000s, and 38 locations at the time of its liquidation in 2021. The Lord & Tay ...

, and

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 ...

opened stores around the time the mall was enclosed in 1976. , the mall is anchored by Sears,

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

, with

Dick's House of Sport 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 o ...

filling the vacancy left by

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 ...

by 2026.

Development

Establishment and early expansions

South Shore Plaza originally opened in 1961 as an open-air plaza with a

and thirty smaller stores. A

opened in 1967. The center was enclosed in 1976 and saw additional anchors, such as

in 1979 and Sears in 1980, when the mall reached 100 stores. In 1995 and 1996, a second level was added, including the "Boardwalk Cafes" food court, and the Filene's store was expanded to include a home store. This nearly doubled the mall's size, giving it a bright and airy feel, largely because of abundant skylighting and spacious corridors.

Effects of Macy's conversions

Also in 1996, the Jordan Marsh store was renamed Macy's. In 1998,

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 ...

acquired the mall owner,

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 ...

, and assumed management. In 2005,

May Department Stores The May Department Stores Company was an American holding company of department stores founded in 1877 by David May. It operated several regional department stores throughout the United States, which were managed as distinct business divisions ...

, at the time the parent of Lord & Taylor and Filene's, was acquired by

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (previously Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus (departm ...

, the owner of Macy's. As a result, the Filene's store was briefly closed in March 2006, before using the space to relocate its Macy's store that May. The remainder of the Filene's stores were converted Macy's later that year. Federated sold the Lord & Taylor chain later that year and sold the vacant Jordan Marsh/Macy's space to

Filene's Basement Filene's Basement, also called The Basement, was a Massachusetts-based chain of department stores which was owned by Retail Ventures, Inc. until April 2009 when it was sold to Syms. Founded in 1909 and one of the oldest off-price retailers in ...

, one of the mall's former anchors, filed for bankruptcy protection on May 4, 2009. New York's Crown Acquisitions made a bid to buy Filene's Basement including their famous Downtown Crossing location which closed for reconstruction in 2007. The South Shore Plaza store in Braintree closed in December 2011.

2010 expansion and renovation

A redevelopment opened on the former site of Jordan Marsh on March 26, 2010. The center now holds , making it New England's largest mall, and includes a newly constructed three-level,

, though the Jordan Marsh building was four stories. Simon Property Group announced on May 12, 2009, that they were in negotiations with the town of Braintree and

to include a Target store on the lowest level of the 3 level mall addition. Its grand opening was on October 10, 2010. Numerous high-end retailers have joined the mall in the Nordstrom wing, including Sur La Table, Vera Bradley, and

Sephora Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products, offering nearly 340 brands alongside its own private label, the Sephora Collection. Its product range includes cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, nail color, beauty t ...

. The mall also received new carpeting, wall decor, food court seating/televisions, and signage as part of the renovations. The parking deck bridges that once connected to Jordan Marsh have now been restored.

Present-day developments

In 2017, the Irish clothing retailer,

, opened in the former top level of Sears. On August 27, 2020, it was announced that upscale specialty department store retailer Lord & Taylor would shutter its traditional brick and mortar format as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nordstrom closed on March 8, 2025, due to the expiration of their lease, and

will be occupied in the former Nordstrom space by 2026.

List of anchor stores

Incidents

On July 3, 2020, a gunman fired six shots in the mall, injuring a 15-year-old girl. The gunman was sentenced to eight years in prison followed by three years of probation. On January 22, 2022, one man shot another during a confrontation in

Forever 21 F21 OpCo LLC, trade name, doing business as Forever 21, was a multinational fast-fashion retailer. It was originally founded as Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles, Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984.Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved ...

. Two days later, it was announced that the victim, 26-year-old Dijoun C. Beasley from Dorchester, Massachusetts, had died due to his injuries after being taken to Boston Medical Center for treatment. Following the shooting, police also stated that the killing was gang-related. On August 18, 2022, a reportedly confused elderly woman drove her car directly into the second story promenade of the mall across a bridge from the parking garage. No injuries were reported.

In pop culture

In 2008, the mall was used to film sequences of the movie '' Paul Blart: Mall Cop''.

References

External links

Simon Malls

South Shore Plaza
{{Simon Property Group Buildings and structures in Braintree, Massachusetts Shopping malls established in 1961 Shopping malls in Massachusetts Simon Property Group Tourist attractions in Norfolk County, Massachusetts