Westgate Mall is a

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 ...

in the city of

Brockton, Massachusetts Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population is 105,643 as of the 2020 United States Census. Along with Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of Plymouth County. It is the sixth-largest city in Mas ...

. It is the oldest enclosed shopping mall in the state. Westgate Mall features Best Buy Outlet,

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

, Dick's Sporting Goods, Liam's Home Furniture,

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

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 loc ...

. Although ''Westgate Mall's'' GLA is small by regional standards, it is also surrounded by numerous adjacent

big-box store A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The t ...

s including:

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 ...

, Lowe's,

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when ...

Market Basket A market basket or commodity bundle is a fixed list of items, in given proportions. Its most common use is to track the progress of inflation in an economy or specific market. That is, to measure the changes in the value of money over time. A ...

Marshalls Marshalls is an American chain of off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico, and 61 stores in Canada. M ...

, and

Ocean State Job Lot Ocean State Job Lot (abbreviation: OSJL or simply Job Lot) is an northeastern American chain of discount closeout retailers founded in Rhode Island in 1977. In addition to its origin state, it operates stores throughout the Northeastern United S ...

. These standalone retailers complement the main building, driving increased traffic to the location as a shopping destination.

History

Today's mall opened as the Westgate Shopper's Park in February 1963. The original anchor store was local department store Gilchrist's, which was expanded in 1984-85 and substantially renovated between 2000 and 2003. The Gilchrist's store was then replaced by

Jordan Marsh Jordan Marsh (officially Jordan Marsh & Company) was an American department store chain that was headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and operated throughout New England. It was founded by Eben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh in 1841. The ...

in 1977 (became the first

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 ...

in 1996) while

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

was later added to the mall in 1999. The mall's former

Bradlees Bradlees Department Store, more commonly known as Bradlees, was a discount department store chain based in Braintree, Massachusetts, which operated primarily in the Northeastern United States. Bradlees sold various retail items in its stores, inc ...

store was then replaced with a new

Filene's Filene's (formally William Filene & Sons Co.) was an American department store chain; it was founded by William Filene in 1881. The success of the original full-line store in Boston, Massachusetts, was supplemented by the foundation of its off-p ...

store in 2002 (became second Macy's in 2006). Ownership of the mall has changed hands several times over the past decade. The mall was purchased by New England Development for $17 million in 1999, with plans to revitalize the vintage mall. Over several years, the new owners spent significant resources to remodel it, and were very successful in turning the mall around. In 2004, New England Development sold ''Westgate'' to Gregory Greenfield & Assoc. (GG&A) for $58.5 million; three years later, GG&A was taken over by Australia-based Babcock & Brown. In 2009,

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

foreclosed the mall due to "breach of conditions" on its mortgage with Babcock & Brown, and the property was auctioned. In 2010, New England Development again purchased the property for $31.75 million, and as of 2016 remains ''Westgate Malls current owner. On January 4, 2017, it was announced that Macy's would be closing as part of a plan to close 68 stores nationwide. The store closed in March 2017. On June 29, 2018,

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters loc ...

closed after the chain's liquidation. On August 6, 2018, it was announced Fallas would also be closing as part of a plan to close 74 stores nationwide after parent company

National Stores National Stores Inc., was a family-owned company headquartered in the Harbor Gateway, Los Angeles, California, Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles, California with 88 locations in 5 states including Puerto Rico, and employed 2200 people nationwide ...

filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The former Macy's was partially replaced by

and

in September 2018 and October 2018 respectively with PCX Apparel taking another portion of that space. On January 8, 2019,

announced that it would be opening in the former Toys "R" Us sometime in 2019. On January 5, 2020, Liam's Home Furniture opened in the former Fallas space. On August 8, 2020, Dick's Sporting Goods opened in the remaining portion of the former Macy's space relocating from a freestanding store. On January 14, 2021, it was announced that Best Buy would be closing as part of a plan to close 5 stores nationwide. The store closed on February 27, 2021. On April 1, 2021, it was announced that Best Buy would reopen as Best Buy Outlet in May 2021. On February 12, 2021, it was announced that Sears would also be closing as part of a plan to close 32 stores nationwide. The store closed on May 2, 2021.

References

External links

Official website
*News
2010 Shooting Incident
{{Shopping malls in Massachusetts Shopping malls established in 1963 Shopping malls in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Brockton, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Plymouth County, Massachusetts