Walt Whitman Shops

Walt Whitman Shops (formerly known as Walt Whitman Mall) is a shopping mall in Huntington Station, New York in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island.[1][2] The mall features the traditional retailers Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Saks Fifth Avenue. The mall is named for the poet Walt Whitman due to the close proximity to his birthplace, a US National Historic Site, located near the mall.

Walt Whitman Shops
The Walt Whitman statue in front of Walt Whitman Shops
LocationHuntington Station, New York
Coordinates40.8223°N 73.4097°W / 40.8223; -73.4097
Opening dateNovember 23, 1962 (1962-11-23)
OwnerSimon Property Group
ArchitectWelton Becket
No. of stores and services105
No. of anchor tenants3
Total retail floor area1,089,350 sq ft (101,204 m2)
No. of floors1 (2 in Saks Fifth Avenue, 3 in Bloomingdale's, 4 in Macy's)
Parking5,043 spaces
Public transit accessBus transport Suffolk County Transit: S1, S23, S29, S54
Bus transport Huntington Area Rapid Transit: H20, H30, H40
Bus transport Nassau Inter-County Express: n79
Websitesimon.com/mall/walt-whitman-shops

The mall is owned and managed by Simon Property Group, one of the largest developers of shopping malls in the US.

On August 27, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would shutter its traditional brick-and-mortar format as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous Lord & Taylor outpost is in the approval stages to become reconstructed for a vibrant modern office use concept.[3]

Incidents
  • November 13, 1984: A fire destroyed seven stores and damaged 25 others in the 76-store mall.[4]
  • May 16, 1991: In 1993, a McCrory's worker pleaded guilty to tossing a lit cigarette into a display of silk flowers set on a block of styrofoam, causing significant damage to the store and killing two of his coworkers aged 20 and 27.[5]
  • February 22, 2014: A carbon monoxide leak in a restaurant complex attached to the mall killed one person and sickened 28 others. All three restaurants in the complex (Legal Sea Foods, The Cheesecake Factory, and Panera Bread) were evacuated.[6]

Anchors
  • Bloomingdale's (225,000 square feet, 2 floors above ground, 1 floor below ground) Opened in 1962 as Macy's. Closed for renovation in 1998 and reopened as a Bloomingdale's. Macy's had opened in 1995 in the much larger spot vacated by Abraham & Straus that same year. This resulted in two Macy's stores at the same mall for over two years.[7]
  • Macy's (315,000 square feet, 3 floors above ground, 1 floor below ground) Opened in 1962 as Abraham & Straus, which was then closed and converted to Macy's in 1995.[7]
  • Saks Fifth Avenue (100,000 square feet, 2 floors above ground) Opened in 1999 in mall expansion replacing the former McCrory Store which had closed in 1991 after being destroyed in a fire.[8] This location is the only branch location in the state of New York, save for the flagship store in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.[9]

Previous anchors

References
  1. "About", Walt Whitman Shops official website
  2. "About Walt Whitman Shops". Simon Property Group. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  3. https://huntingtonnow.com/medical-office-use-planned-for-former-lord-taylor-store-at-mall/
  4. "L.I. Mall Still Assessing Fire Losses". The New York Times. November 23, 1984. p. B2. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  5. Wasserman, Elizabeth (February 3, 1993). "Guilty Plea in Deadly Mall Fire Ex-guard set blaze at McCrory's". Newsday. p. 25. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  6. "1 Dead, 28 Others Exposed to Carbon Monoxide at NY Mall". NBC News. February 22, 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
  7. Madore, James; Bruno, Lisa (May 29, 1998). "Bloomingdale's to Debut In Suffolk With New GM". Newsday. Newsday LLC.
  8. Madore, James T. (March 10, 1999). "New Saks Marks A Rebirth at Mall / Walt Whitman stays on an". Newsday. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  9. Ratner, Ian (2010-10-13). "60 Years Later, Saks Ends Iconic Relationship with Southampton". Curbed Hamptons. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
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