Dead Mall Tour - Boulevard Mall - Amherst, NY

Recorded April 28, 2024
This video was filmed two days before the inside of the mall closed. This is the second mall in the Western New York area to be closed in preparation for an extensive redevelopment project, following the closure of the Eastern Hills Mall in January 2024, which was the subject of my previous video. I will miss this mall the way I knew it.
The Boulevard Mall originally opened in 1962 as Western New York's first enclosed shopping mall. The two original anchor stores were locally-based chains Sattler's & Jenss, along with 30 other stores throughout the mall. In 1970, JCPenney opened a store at the mall. 30 more stores were added to the mall in a 1978 expansion. In 1982, the Sattler's store at the mall, as well as all other Sattler's stores, closed. Rochester, NY-based Sibley's took over the Satter's space in 1983, which was eventually converted to Pittsburgh, PA-based Kaufmann's in 1990. The mall's food court which featured a carousel was built in 1994. The mall went through an extensive cosmetic renovation in 1997. In 2000, Sears opened in an expansion with other big-box stores, but Jenss closed. In 2001, Kaufmann's Men's opened on the first floor of the two-level Jenss store. Kaufmann's & Kaufmann's Men's were both converted to Macy's in 2006. In 2015, the food court was demolished in order to make way for a new Dick's Sporting Goods store which opened in October of that year. In March 2017, Sears closed & in October 2017, Macy's Men's closed their separate store & moved it into the main store at the mall. In subsequent years, notable stores at the mall closed which contributed to the decline of the mall. In 2022, discount store Gabe's opened on the first floor of the old Sears store, albeit without an internal mall entrance. On April 30, 2024, the interior of the mall closed in preparation for an extensive mixed-use redevelopment of the mall to take place. As of June 2024, Dick's Sporting Goods, JCPenney, & Macy's are the only remaining anchor stores, as well as Gabe's, Loft, Men's Warehouse, & TGI Fridays, as these all have exterior entrances.
RIP 1962-2024

[@ElevaTOURSbyRainMaves]

This is terrible news 😢

[@brandonmiller6629]

I'll definitely miss this mall.

[@Littleorangecats]

Aww man, I used to work at that Express 20+ years ago. I used to park at JCPenney’s if I didn’t have a closing shift and near that general mall entrance if I did. If you were standing looking at the entrance to the Express stores, Express Men was on the corner, Bath and Body Works was to the left, and Express on the other side of BBW. The two clothing stores went deeper toward the back of the building and connected behind the BBW. BBW employees had to walk through Express to get to their stock room, if I remember correctly.