Walt_Whitman_Shops Knowpia

Walt Whitman Shops
	The Walt Whitman statue in front of Walt Whitman Shops
Location	Huntington Station, New York
Coordinates	40°49′20″N 73°24′35″W / 40.8223°N 73.4097°W
Opening date	November 23, 1962; 61 years ago
Owner	Simon Property Group
Architect	Welton Becket
No. of stores and services	105
No. of anchor tenants	3
Total retail floor area	1,089,350 sq ft (101,204 m2)
No. of floors	1 (2 in Saks Fifth Avenue, 3 in Bloomingdale's, 4 in Macy's)
Parking	5,043 spaces
Public transit access	Suffolk County Transit: 1, 3, 6 ; Huntington Area Rapid Transit: H20, H30, H40 ; Nassau Inter-County Express: n79
Website	simon.com/mall/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. ^{[citation needed]}

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

References edit

^ "About", Walt Whitman Shops official website
^ "About Walt Whitman Shops". Simon Property Group. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
^ Robinson, Pam (March 10, 2023). "Medical Office Use Planned for Former Lord & Taylor Store at Mall". Huntington Now. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
^ "L.I. Mall Still Assessing Fire Losses". The New York Times. November 23, 1984. p. B2. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
^ 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.
^ "1 Dead, 28 Others Exposed to Carbon Monoxide at NY Mall". NBC News. February 22, 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
^ ^a ^b Madore, James; Bruno, Lisa (May 29, 1998). "Bloomingdale's to Debut In Suffolk With New GM". Newsday. Newsday LLC.
^ Madore, James T. (March 10, 1999). "New Saks Marks A Rebirth at Mall / Walt Whitman stays on an". Newsday. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
^ Ratner, Ian (2010-10-13). "60 Years Later, Saks Ends Iconic Relationship with Southampton". Curbed Hamptons. Retrieved 2021-01-09.