Manhattan Mall is an inactive indoor

shopping mall 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 refe ...

at 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. There are entrances to the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

's station and the

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...

's station on the second basement level. The mall replaced the former flagship store of the

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 compa ...

department store chain, which operated from 1910 to 1986. It opened in 1989 as a shopping center called A&S Plaza and was rebranded Manhattan Mall in 1995.

Stern's Stern's (originally Stern Brothers) was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The chain was in business for more than 130 years. In 2001, Stern's parent company Federated Departmen ...

department store occupied the anchor store space from 1995–2001. The upper floors were converted into office space in the 2000s decade, with the mall focusing on the first, second, and two basement levels instead.

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

operated the large anchor store from 2007 to 2020. The

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

hit the mall hard in 2020, with most of the remaining stores departing and the location relegated to being a

dead mall A dead mall (also known as a ghost mall, zombie mall, or abandoned mall) is a shopping mall with a high vacancy rate or a low consumer traffic level, or that is deteriorating in some manner. Many malls in North America are considered "dead ...

. As of mid-2022, the mall area functions primarily as an expanded lobby for the offices of 100 West 33rd Street, allowing office tenants direct access from Sixth Avenue as well as the subway station. Lenscrafters is the only retail store remaining inside the mall.

History

The structure was originally built as the flagship of the

department store chain. It was designed by famed architect

Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...

and opened on September 29, 1910. The store was located in the cluster of large department stores that surrounded

Herald Square Herald Square is a major commercial intersection in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, formed by the intersection of Broadway, Sixth Avenue (officially Avenue of the Americas), and 34th Street. Named for the now-defunct ''New ...

, in Midtown Manhattan. It offered of selling space. A major selling point was its many doors leading to the

station. On the other hand, by the time Gimbels closed in 1986, the store had the highest rate of "shrinkage", or

shoplifting Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...

losses, in the world. Doors also opened to a pedestrian passage under 33rd Street, connecting

Penn Station Pennsylvania Station is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals. Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may also refer to Current train stations * Baltimore Penn Station * Pennsylvania Station (Cinc ...

to the 34th Street (New York City Subway) and 33rd Street (

) stations. This Gimbels Passageway was closed in the 1990s for security reasons during a period of high crime. Gimbels closed in 1986. After a renovation, the structure reopened in 1989 as A&S Plaza, anchored by an A&S department store. The mall was originally 13 stories high, but difficult access to upper floors made the whole mall a financial failure. A&S closed in 1995 and the anchor store became

after

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...

took acquisition of the brand. The structure was renamed Manhattan Mall, due to the closure of A&S. Stern's closed in 2001, after Federated Department Stores decided to discontinue the brand. Unlike other Stern's stores, the Manhattan Mall location was not converted to a

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

. Instead, the anchor store was divided into smaller spaces, including a

Steve & Barry's Steve & Barry's was an American retail clothing chain, featuring casual clothing, footwear and accessories. By mid-2008, the chain operated 276 stores in 39 states. The company was headquartered in Port Washington, New York. The company liquidate ...

and a relocated

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. I ...

. The upper ten levels were converted to office space shortly after the closure of Stern's. Venture bought the building in 1999 for $135 million and sold it to

Vornado Realty Trust Vornado Realty Trust is a real estate investment trust formed in Maryland in 1982, with its primary office in New York City. The company invests in office buildings and street retail in Manhattan. Investments Notable properties owned by the ...

in 2006 for $689 million. On April 18, 2007,

announced that it would open a anchor store on the lower levels of the mall. It was the first JCPenney store in Manhattan. The mall's food court, which contained the only

Arby's Arby's is an American fast food sandwich restaurant chain with more than 3,300 restaurants system wide and third in terms of revenue. In October 2017, '' Food & Wine'' called Arby's "America's second largest sandwich chain (after Subway)". Ar ...

restaurant in Manhattan at the time, along with retailers such as

Brookstone Brookstone is a chain of retail stores in the United States and China. It was founded as a mail-order business in 1965, when it started selling items, such as dental clamps and other specialty tools. Its first physical location opened in 1973 ...

and Nine West were closed in 2008 to make way for the new store. The store officially opened on July 31, 2009. On July 7, 2020, JCPenney closed permanently as part of a plan to close 151 stores nationwide. As of November 2021, clothing store Aeropostale moved into the former Express in the front of the mall having an external entrance, leaving

LensCrafters LensCrafters is an international retailer of prescription eyewear and prescription sunglasses. Its stores usually host independent optometrists on-site or in an adjacent store. The company has its corporate headquarters in Mason, Ohio, a suburb ...

as the last store in the mall. The mall has closed to foot traffic and LensCrafters is only accessible by appointment.

Gallery

File:19100923 Gimbels - The Realization of an Ideal - The New York Times.jpg, Advertisement celebrating the grand opening of Gimbels' flagship store, 1910 File:Manhattan Mall - from 86th floor of the Empire State Building (3810422070).jpg, Manhattan Mall, seen from the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

File:Manhattan Mall renovation jeh.jpg, Under renovation File:Manhattan Mall upper floors jeh.jpg, Former shops, now offices

References

External links

*
the Manhattan Mall at ''New York Architecture Images and Notes''
{{New York City Malls Sixth Avenue Shopping malls in New York City Commercial buildings in Manhattan Shopping malls established in 1989 Midtown Manhattan 1989 establishments in New York City