Buffalo Ridge Shopping Center
Buffalo Ridge Shopping Center is a shopping center in south of Traverse City, Michigan, in Garfield Township just off of US 31. It opened as an outdoor outlet mall in 1992. Its main outlets were Old Navy, Gap, Kitchen Collection, Kohl's, Bed Bath & Beyond, Michaels and a 9 screen movie theater. It was renovated in 2015 through 2017 to become a strip mall with an 14 screen movie theater. A Lowe's store and an AutoZone store are across the street. The Traverse City Great Wolf Lodge is nearby. History. In 1992, an outdoor outlet  mall opened as Traverse City Horizon Outlets off of US 31 south of Traverse City. The same year, the Grand Traverse Mall open one mile southeast. The outlet mall featured 30+ small outlet stores with an Outback Steakhouse and small movie theater, called Horizon Cinema, all within 3 wings and 2 other buildings. By 2015, all the stores (including Old Navy) in the northern wing had been closed and demolished to build a 14 screen theater known as Cherry Blossom 14. By this time, most of the stores in the western wing had closed as well, leaving it vacant . This means that two movie theaters were open on property, giving each other competition, as well as the 9 screen movie theater in the nearby Grand Traverse Mall. Between mid-2015 and late-2016, 32 movie screens were operating in the area, as well as 2 independent theaters in downtown Traverse City. Eventually in 2016, Horizon Cinema closed because too many people were going to its competitors. The theater in the Grand Traverse Mall closed that same year because Dick's Sporting Goods was planning on building a store there. The supermarket chain Lucky's bought the abandoned movie theater building and  renovated it for a new store, opening in March 2017. In Summer 2017, the vacant western wing was completely demolished, leaving the southern wing the only one in use. It had a Halloween Store and pet training facility inside. Also in the summer of 2017, the on-property Gander Mountain closed, re-opened as a Gander Outdoors store, which has also closed. That property is now empty. In 2017, the name of the shopping center changed from Traverse City Horizon Outlets to Buffalo Ridge Shopping Center. Kohl's, Bed Bath and Beyond, Michael's, ABC Warehouse, Qdoba, Cherry Blossom 14 , the Halloween Store, a Dog Training facility, and Outback Steakhouse are the remaining stores in the complex. In January 2019, a Hobby Lobby store opened in the Buffalo Ridge Center. Lucky's Market closed in 2019 and became Oryana West in 2020.