Crossgates Commons is a large

shopping plaza A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to ref ...

in Albany,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

along Washington Avenue Extension. It is owned and managed by Pyramid Management Group, Inc., who also own and manage the nearby

Crossgates Mall Crossgates Mall is an enclosed, automobile-oriented, super-regional shopping mall located in the Albany, New York suburb of Guilderland. It is the largest indoor shopping center in the Capital District, and the third largest in the State of New ...

History

Crossgates Commons is built within the

Albany Pine Bush The Albany Pine Bush, referred to locally as the Pine Bush, is one of the largest of the 20 inland pine barrens in the world. It is centrally located in New York's Capital District within Albany and Schenectady counties, between the cities of ...

, one of the largest of the world's 20 inland

pine barrens Pine barrens, pine plains, sand plains, or pineland areas occur throughout the U.S. from Florida to Maine (see Atlantic coastal pine barrens) as well as the Midwest, West, and Canada and parts of Eurasia. Perhaps the most well known pine-barre ...

. When Europeans arrived in the early 17th century, the Pine Bush was in use as hunting grounds and firewood supply of the

Mohawk nation The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous people of North America, with communities in southeastern Canada and northern Ne ...

of the

Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

to the west along the Mohawk River, and the

Mahican The Mohican ( or , alternate spelling: Mahican) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, who ...

to the east, along the Hudson River. One of the largest remaining remnants of the Pine Bush is located across Washington Avenue from the plaza, and is managed as the Pine Bush Preserve. When the shopping center first opened in 1994, it had six original tenants:

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

(then branded as Wal-Mart),

Sam's Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's Cl ...

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the l ...

Media Play Media Play was a chain of retail stores founded in 1992 by Musicland that sold VHS, DVDs, music, electronics, toys, video games, anime, books, and board games similar to Hastings Entertainment, 2nd and Charles, and Half Price Books. Each store ...

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 neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

, and MJ Designs. The Walmart located at Crossgates Commons became the largest Walmart in the United States (and the largest outside of China) in 2008, when it expanded into a

Walmart Supercenter Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, now occupying over two floors.

Description

The shopping center has a split-level design with stores on the upper level accessible from the front and stores on the lower level accessible from the rear. It opened in 1994 and has of retail space. Although Crossgates Commons is relatively young, it has already undergone an expansion, and some locations have had high turnover rates.

Tenants

(left to right)

Upper level

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

* At Home *

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

(Outparcel) * Skechers Outlet *

T.J. Maxx TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American department store chain, selling at prices generally lower than other major similar stores. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in ...

(downsized early 2018, part now American Freight) *

American Freight American Freight Furniture, Mattress, Appliance, or American Freight, is an American retail company that sells furniture, mattresses and home appliances. The company's history dates to 1968, when Sears established a surplus store in Kansas City, M ...

Panera Bread Panera Bread is an American chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in Sunset Hills, Missouri. The company operates as Saint Louis ...

(part of expansion project) *

Party City Party City Holdco Inc. is an American publicly traded retail chain of party stores founded in 1986 by Steve Mandell in East Hanover, New Jersey. Party City’s parent organization is Party City Holdings Inc. Based in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, the compa ...

(part of expansion project) *

—2nd Floor (department store floor)

Lower level

—1st Floor (supermarket floor).TU Story
/ref> * Mattress Xpress *

PetSmart PetSmart is a privately held American chain of pet superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors are Amazon, Walmart, ...

* Albany Ninja Lab *

Planet Fitness Planet Fitness (PFIP LLC) is an American franchisor and operator of fitness centers based in Hampton, New Hampshire. The company reports that it has 2,039 clubs, making it one of the largest fitness club franchises by number of members and loca ...

Michaels Michaels Stores, Inc., more commonly known as Michaels, is a privately held chain of 1,252 American and Canadian arts and crafts stores, as of January 2021. It is one of North America's largest providers of arts, crafts, framing, floral and wall ...

Former tenants

(original tenant on upper level, 1994-1997) Later became HomePlace * HomePlace (1997-1998) (upper level) Moved into former Media Play in 1997; later became Bob's Stores * MJ Designs (original tenant on lower level, 1994-1999) Now

* The Big Party (1996-2000) (upper level) Now

Mars Music {{short description, American musical instrument retailer Mars Music, Inc. was a chain of music stores based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The company was founded in 1996 by guitarist and former Office Depot president Mark Begelman, who created the s ...

(2000-2003) (lower level) Now Mattress Xpress * Kids "R" Us (1996-2004) (Moved from Northway Mall in 1996 to the upper level of Crossgates Commons) Part now Skechers Outlet *

Bob's Stores Bob's Stores is a chain of retail stores in the northeastern United States owned by GoDigital Media Group. Founded as Bob's Surplus in Middletown, Connecticut, by Robert "Bob" Lapidus in 1954, the chain expanded gradually until it was acquired by ...

(1998-2004) (upper level) Later became Sports Authority. Location now occupied by part of At Home. *

(original tenant, 1994-May 1, 2006) closed in favor of the nearby Latham branch, and the location is now the supermarket/pharmacy level of Walmart Supercenter * Giant Book Sale (2006) part now Skechers Outlet * General Carpet Outlet (1998-2006) (lower level) Now Ollie's Bargain Outlet *

Tweeter A tweeter or treble speaker is a special type of loudspeaker (usually dome, inverse dome or horn-type) that is designed to produce high audio frequencies, typically deliver high frequencies up to 100 kHz. The name is derived from the high ...

(2001-2007) Closed in a wave of underperforming stores, now part of At Home *

(1994-2008) Original tenant on upper level, and one of the first in the entire chain, closed in favor of existing branch at Crossgates Mall. Space now part of At Home. *

Circuit City Circuit City is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered the electronics superstore format in the 1970s. After m ...

(1999-2009) Part of expansion project on upper level. Closed on March 8, 2009, when the chain shuttered all of its American stores. Replaced by

Ultimate Electronics Ultimate Electronics was a chain of consumer electronics stores which filed for bankruptcy twice after 2006, liquidating and ceasing operations in 2011. At its peak, the store operated in Arizona, Colorado (where it originated as Pearse Electroni ...

. Now the site of

and

. *Jeepers! (1998-September 2010) Now Tuesday Morning *

(June 2010-April 2011) Now occupied by T.J. Maxx and American Freight *Fastrax Raceway (2012-2014) - closed unexpectedly due to owners being evicted for nonpayment; replaced by K1 Speed, now

and

Sears Outlet American Freight Furniture, Mattress, Appliance, or American Freight, is an American retail company that sells furniture, mattresses and home appliances. The company's history dates to 1968, when Sears established a surplus store in Kansas City, M ...

(original location; 2013–2018) relocated to portion of downsized T.J. Maxx, now Mattress Xpress *

Sports Authority Sports Authority, Inc. (formerly The Sports Authority) was an American sports retailer. At its peak, Sports Authority operated 463 stores in 45 States and Puerto Rico. The company's website was on the GSI Commerce platform and supported the reta ...

(2006-2016) Now part of At Home *K1 Speed (2015-2016) Replaced by TJ Maxx *Mattress Xpress (original location, 2015-2016) now part of At Home *Pump 'n Jump (2015-2016) Replaced by Tuesday Morning *

Golf Galaxy Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

(2007–2018) part now Skechers Outlet *

Noodles & Company Noodles & Company is an American fast-casual restaurant that offers international and American noodle dishes in addition to soups and salads. Noodles & Company was founded in 1995 by Aaron Kennedy and is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. ...

(2017-2018) now Zaitoon Kitchen *Sears Outlet (second location; 2018–2020) now American Freight *Tuesday Morning (2016–2020) now vacant *Ollie's Bargain Outlet (2013–2021) now vacant *Zaitoon Kitchen (2019–2021) now vacant

Square footage

() *

Michael's Michaels Stores, Inc., more commonly known as Michaels, is a privately held chain of 1,252 American and Canadian arts and crafts stores, as of January 2021. It is one of North America's largest providers of arts, crafts, framing, floral and wall ...

() * At Home () *

() *

()

References

External links

Crossgates Commons (Pyramid Company web site)Crossgates Mall
{{Shopping malls in Upstate New York The Pyramid Companies Buildings and structures in Albany, New York Guilderland, New York Shopping malls in Albany County, New York Tourist attractions in Albany, New York