Broadway Commons

Broadway Commons, better known by its former name Broadway Mall, is a large shopping mall located in Hicksville, New York, United States. Broadway is located only a few miles from Roosevelt Field Mall, the largest mall in all of New York state and one of the largest on the entire eastern seaboard. As a result, it has an interesting feel and has an unusual store roster. The center is shaped like an “H”, with Macy’s at one of the junctions.
Originally an open-air shopping center called the Mid-Island Shopping Plaza, Broadway Commons is currently a regional enclosed shopping center comprising 98 stores, as well as a food court and movie theater. Anchor stores at the mall are IKEA, Target, Showcase Cinemas, Round One Entertainment, H&M and Old Navy.
Long Island's third shopping mall was designed by Lathrop Douglass and developed by a joint venture of Allied Stores and the New York City-based Stackler & Frank Company. It occupied a 68-acre parcel, situated 27.3 miles east of Times Square, in Nassau County's Town of Oyster Bay/Hicksville hamlet.
There were several major shopping centers in the vicinity of Mid-Island Shopping Plaza. These included Roosevelt Field Mall (1956) {4.6 miles southwest, in Nassau County}, Walt Whitman Center (1962) {6.9 miles northeast, in Suffolk County} and Sunrise Mall (1973) {7.8 miles southeast, also in Nassau County}.
The original Mid-Island Plaza consisted of 10 buildings and 8,000 parking spaces. The center’s main anchor, Gertz, was a local store from downtown Jamaica Queens who opened a major outpost in Hicksville to follow the population trends. Gertz’ 5-story, 300,000 square foot store dominated the center’s original design, and it's rumored that this store is the tallest suburban department store ever built. At some point, the mall also was converted to an EJ Korvette’s store. The mall was even structured with an underground tunnel (still in use today) that allowed deliveries to be made directly to the stores underneath the mall. 
== History ==
=== The 1950s and opening ===
The Mid Island Shopping Plaza held its Grand Opening on October 25, 1956 on the site of a former boys orphanage and a dairy and vegetable farm operated by the Catholic Church. It cost $40,000,000 to construct and was built to accommodate more than 40,000 shoppers daily. It opened just as the population of Nassau County, Long Island surged and the area became a major suburban population center. 
When it opened, it had 80 stores and services. Charter Mid-Island Shopping Plaza tenants included Bond Clothes, Oppenheim Collins, Lorry's Haberdashery, National Shoes, Buckner's Bridal, Albrecht's, Kitty Kelly Shoes, Thom McAn Shoes, Bonnet Shops, Savel Jewelers, Lodge Coffee Shop, Atlantic Book Shops, Famous Fashions and a Horn & Hardart Retail Store.
=== The 1960s ===
On September 28, 1960, Vice President Richard Nixon, then running for President, made a stop at the Mid Island Shopping Plaza, where he gave a campaign speech. The first addition to the shopping center came in the way of the Fox Plaza North and South Cinerama, which was built as a freestanding structure at the north end of the mall. One of America's earliest "shopping mall" twin-plex theaters, it showed its first feature in May 1964. The shopping center was enclosed in 1968.
=== The 1980s ===
Gertz, a department store based then in downtown Jamaica Queens, and a unit of the then Allied Stores Corporation planned the center and built a 5 level store to anchor the facility. The Gertz store was reported to be the tallest suburban department store ever built. In the early 1980s, Gertz closed their downtown Jamaica store, and this location became its new flagship store, and the Gertz corporate staff was relocated to the 5th floor of the Broadway Mall location. In mid-1982, Allied merged its Gertz division into its Paramus, New Jersey-based Stern's division. All former Gertz locations were re-branded as Stern's in early 1983, and a regional corporate staff remained at the Broadway Mall store. The store was then rebranded as Macy's in 2001 when Federated Department Stores folded their Stern's Division.
Work commenced on a scaled-down refurbishment in November 1987. A vacant Pathmark supermarket became the mall's first Food Court and the interior of the complex was updated with skylights and new flooring. With completion of the project in 1989, the name of the shopping hub was changed to Broadway Mall.
=== The 1990s ===
In 1991, IKEA opened their second store in the New York Metropolitan Area at the mall (The Elizabeth, NJ store opened 1990). Until 2003, the store was not connected to the mall (although only about 20 feet separated the mall from the store). IKEA did, however, maintain a display in the center court where its mall entrance would eventually be. It is currently one of the only IKEA stores that is connected to a mall and has a mall entrance.
The National Amusement Company Broadway Multiplex Cinemas opened in April 1995. Korvette’s stores tended to have large footprints, so it was possible that IKEA took this space after the mall’s major redevelopment in 1995, which included an 8-bay Food Court.
On October 1999, a single-level JCPenney opened to the public.
=== The 2000s ===
In January 2003, JCPenney closed after 4 years of operation. It was demolished and replaced by a Target Greatland, which opened on October 10, 2004.
In 2005, Vornado Realty Trust purchased Broadway Mall, adding it to their portfolio of shopping centers across the country. Vornado later sold the mall to a partnership led by KKR in 2014 as part of a plan to shelve its regional mall holdings.
=== The 2010s ===
On May 5, 2015, renderings surfaced on the homepage of the mall's website that appears to depict a planned renovation. The renovation of the main mall was completed, while the renovation of the food court is ongoing. A facelift renovation commenced in August 2015. During the project, new flooring, seating, and landscaping were installed, the common area was refurbished and exterior entrances rebuilt. New tenants, such as Noodles & Company, Blaze Pizza, Blink Fitness and Chick-Fil-A, were signed. 
In January 2017, the mall's named was changed from Broadway Mall to Broadway Commons. In July of the same year, a 2-level (49,200 square foot) Round One Entertainment opened in space previously housing Steve & Barry's University Sportswear and Sam Good music.
On January 8, 2020, it was announced that Macy's would be closing as part of a plan to close 29 stores nationwide. The store will close in March 2020. The final day of this store was supposed to be Sunday, March 22nd, 2020 but due to COVID-19 outbreak this store closed permanently on Tuesday, March 17th, 2020 five days earlier than intended.
== Anchor Stores ==
=== Current ===
* IKEA (Opened on March 13, 1991)
* Target (Opened on October 10, 2004)
* Showcase Cinemas (Opened in 1995)
* Round One Entertainment (Opened in July 2017)
* H&M
* Old Navy
=== Former ===
* Macy's (Opened in 2001. Closed in 2020)
* Gertz (Opened in 1956. Closed in 1982. Replaced by Stern's. Stern's closed in 2001. Replaced by Macy's.)
* JCPenney (Opened October 1999. Closed January 5, 2003. Demolished and replaced by Target in 2004.)
* Steve & Barry's
== Restaurants ==
* Buffalo Wild Wings
* On The Border
* Panera Bread (Opened in 2003)
== Food court ==
* Arby's
* Charley's Grilled Subs
* Chinese Gourmet Express
* Hibachi Grill Express
* Sbarro
* Shah's Halal
* Sushi.com
* Subway
== Gallery ==
=== Videos ===
File:Scenic Schindler Westinghouse Elevator at Broadway mall in Hicksville, NY. (Day time)|The Main Elevator
File:Pissed Off Schindler Freight Elevator at Broadway Mall in Hicksville, NY|The Mall Freight Elevator
File:YOUTUBE FIRST! Schindler Hydraulic elevator at Showcase in Broadway mall, Hicksville, NY.|The Showcase Cinemas Elevator
File:Round 1 Broadway Mall Hicksville NY grand opening arcade tour|Round One Entertainment Tour
File:Schindler MT Elevator at Round1 Bowling and Amusement. Broadway mall, Hicksville, NY.|The Round One Entertainment Elevator
File:A Full Tour of Macy's at Broadway Commons in Hicksville, NY|Macy's Tour
File:Vintage 1956 Armor Traction Elevators - Macy*s - Broadway Mall - Hicksville, NY|The Vintage Macy's Elevator
File:Extremely Frosty Modernized Armor Traction Elevator at Macy's, Broadway Mall, Hicksville, NY|The Modernized Macy's Elevator
File:Armor Freight Elevator at Macy's at Broadway Mall in Hicksville, NY|The Macy's Freight Elevator
File:Modded! Schindler elevator at IKEA in broadway mall in Hicksville, NY.|The New IKEA Elevator
File:Crappy 1991 Otis Series 1 Elevator 2 at IKEA in Broadway Mall in Hicksville, NY|The Old IKEA Elevator
File:Rambunctious OTIS Hydraulic Freight Elevator - IKEA - Broadway Mall - Hicksville, NY|The IKEA Freight Elevator
=== Images ===
American Eagle Outfitters.jpg|American Eagle Outfitters
== External Links ==
Broadway Commons's Official Website
Category:Malls in New York
Category:Malls in the United States
Category:Shopping Malls
Category:Malls that opened in 1956
Category:Multi-Level Malls
Category:IKEA-anchored Properties
Category:Arby's Locations
Category:Charley's Locations
Category:Blaze Pizza Locations
Category:Sbarro Locations
Category:Buffalo Wild Wings Locations
Category:Former Steve & Barry's Locations
Category:Former JCPenney-anchored Malls
Category:Former Macy's-anchored Malls
Category:Target-anchored Malls
Category:Panera Bread Locations
Category:Showcase Cinemas-anchored Properties
Category:Round One Entertainment Locations
Category:Noodles & Company Locations
Category:On The Border Locations
Category:Pacific Retail Capital Partners Malls