New York Lesso Home

Roosevelt Raceway bought the property when it expanded the harness-racing track in the 1940s for additional parking. In the early 1960s, Ohrbach's constructed a department store on leased land at north-east corner of the raceway's property. Fortunoff built its store several years later in 1964, as they followed their customers east from the original Fortunoff location in Brooklyn. Alan Fortunoff bought the entire property north of the current boundary of Transverse Drive from Roosevelt Raceway in the early 1980s.

In the late 1980s, Alan Fortunoff planned to construct the Long Island Galleria shopping mall, one comparable to the size of the massive Roosevelt Field Mall a few miles away but with different stores. It was to be built by the Westfield Group and include Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom as anchor stores. Community pressure over congestion concerns forced Fortunoff to scale back the size and scope of the mall. Roughly half of the property was sold to Price Club (now Costco), which developed their portion to include a Kmart (now Walmart). The mall was instead built by Simon Property Group, and they continued to manage and co-own the mall until August 2012.

The mall was also the first on Long Island to house clothing chains H&M, Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, and Saks Off 5th. It was also the first to house restaurants including The Cheesecake Factory, Dave & Buster's, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, and Rainforest Cafe (closed on October 19, 2000).[8] The Mall at the Source is also adjacent to many other shopping complexes and restaurants.[9]

Many of the mall's tenants left after the closure of the anchor stores.

2009 saw the shuttering of all three anchor stores — Fortunoff, Steve & Barry's, and Circuit City — crippling foot traffic and resulting in a steady abandonment by its remaining tenants (outside of its restaurants, which maintained their standalone customers). On August 9, 2012, it was announced that the property was to go up for auction by the end of the month; by then, the mall was under 50% occupancy. The opening of the nearby Gallery at Westbury Plaza in late 2012 prompted Nordstrom Rack, Old Navy, and Saks Off 5th to move away, leaving the future of the mall uncertain.[4] On August 28, an auction was held, but was unsuccessful in attracting buyers.[10] Lenders then took ownership of the mall, and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank was hired for management.[11]

In 2013, a Lord & Taylor outlet store and the Jewelry Emporium and Mall opened in the former Nordstrom Rack and Off 5th, respectively.[12] However, these stores failed to increase foot traffic at the mall, and the vacancy rate continued to increase.

In 2014, Dick's Sporting Goods closed a substantial portion of its Golf Galaxy stores,[13] including its store in the Mall at the Source. David's Bridal moved to the nearby Roosevelt Raceway Shopping Center in June 2015, leaving the Fortunoff court almost completely vacant.

In May 2017, Lesso Mall Development Long Island Inc. (a subsidiary of the Hong Kong listed LESSO Group) purchased the mall for $92 million.[6] On October 21, 2017, it was announced that the Mall at the Source would be redeveloped into a Decor Hub for Lesso Home; redevelopment had been originally scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2018, but has since been delayed. It will include showrooms for many manufactures for home furnishings, decor, walkable markets, etc. The format will be much similar to the Italy-based Eataly.[7]

The firm aims to recast the long-ailing retail center as a home-furnishings marketplace for design professionals, contractors and retail buyers—with a big food and entertainment component for local shoppers.[2]

The Center Court is the main entrance and includes a carousel and train. Some of the stores in the Center Court included P. F. Chang's China Bistro and Lord & Taylor Outlet. The center court is also where Steve and Barry's was; in its place is a Fortunoff Backyard Store. Nordstrom Rack, Old Navy, and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th relocated to the neighboring Gallery at Westbury Plaza. The carousel has since been removed.

The Off 5th Saks court is the upper tip of the L, a long hall that includes the Food Court and the former Saks Off 5th. The 1st floor has a Dave & Buster's, the only tenant left in the court. It also contained the former Circuit City.

Like the Off 5th Saks Court, the Fortunoff Court is a long hall, ending with the former Fortunoff. It also has the 2nd floor entrance to the former Ayhan's Shish Kebab and The Cheesecake Factory. The court also used to contain Gymboree Play & Music, Famous Footwear, Golf Galaxy, and Men's Wearhouse & Tux.