Riverside Mall (Utica, NY)

[powersbt]

Riverside Center (Former Riverside Mall) is located in Utica, NY. Once the most popular Mall in the area, its demise started when the Nearby Sangertown Square opened in 1980. Slowly, the mall began a Downward Trend. In the Mid '90s, it was decided that a portion of the mall would be stripped, adding Big Box stores to the Center as Anchors. Wal Mart, and Lowes were added around this time, joining other stores such as Bradlees, Montgomery Wards, BJ's, Eckerd (Fays), and numerous smaller stores. Originally a Nobody Beats the Wiz was going to be built, but due to their own Demise, it never occurred.

The Lower End of the Mall towards Montgomery Wards was going to be Stripped. Montgomery Wards would become it's own Building. Note that at this point there were 2 existing Wards buildings. The original, and a new one. The new one was built as a result of a partial Roof Collapse that occurred in the Wintertime due to Heavy Snow. The collapsed Section was sectioned off and the store reopened, but still they built a new store.

Even with the Smaller Version of the Mall, and the new Big Box stores, the Mall continued to go down. Bradlees closed, Montgomery Wards did as well. In the Meantime, the New Centralized Food Court that was built when the Mall Stripped was taken over by AC Moore, which because of it's size took out the remaining existence of the Mall. All stores that had Mall only Entrances closed.

I often wondered how much of the original Mall still existed. I figured that most of it was eaten up by AC Moore, but figured that a Small Section of it still existed up near the Mall Entrance of the Former Bradlees. Tonight, my Wondering was Answered.

I found on Webshots, an album of photos from the Interior of the Mall. Apparently, Much more of the Original Mall remains than I imagined, including Walkways, Stairs/ramps, and many store Fixtures. Enjoy these photos as I did.

Photos were from this Webshots Album:
Riverside Mall

[Marc82]

Nice find. Cool pics. :)

[amesman]

Very nice! A friend of mine managed to get into the old mall as well, but he didn't find any of this...just back service hallways. Very cool. I hope all that is still there.

[Caldor1999]

ah ive seen these pictures  what happned to the old bradlees?????

[powersbt]

Originally posted by Caldor1999
ah ive seen these pictures  what happned to the old bradlees?????

The Old Bradlees was subdivided into 3 Sections. At one point, it housed Office Max, Rex (Electronics), and Old Navy. All 3 are now gone. Office Max and Old Navy are still Vacant, Rex did become a 99 cent store. I think it still is.

[powersbt]

Originally posted by amesman
Very nice! A friend of mine managed to get into the old mall as well, but he didn't find any of this...just back service hallways. Very cool. I hope all that is still there.

I myself thought that most of this was destroyed after AC Moore went in, thus shutting the Mall as we knew it down. Through tidbits of info, and by looking at Dimensions of stores, I guesstimated that it was gone. For example, I figured that AC Moore extended the whole Width of the Mall thus blocking the Hallway. According to the photos, that is not true as it juts into the Hallway, but not enough to make it inpassable.

What boggles my mind is how unchanged it all is. It is like going back in time.

[XISMZERO]

Outstanding, elusive photos. I'm really diggin that Bradlees entrance. I wonder if there's access into the Bradlees store since it appears to be sealed from the mall. Also, that "Thank you for shopping at Bradlees" was Lechmere's font!

[powersbt]

Originally posted by XISMZERO
Outstanding, elusive photos. I'm really diggin that Bradlees entrance. I wonder if there's access into the Bradlees store since it appears to be sealed from the mall. Also, that "Thank you for shopping at Bradlees" was Lechmere's font!

Like I told Caldor, the Bradlees store was subdivided into 3 separate Stores. I would guess that any remnants of Bradlees was removed from the Salesfloor. However, there may be remnants of Bradlees in their Respective Backrooms. For the life of me, I cannot figure out where the "Thank You for Shopping at Bradlees" photo was taken. You'd expect to see that as leaving the store through the Mall Entrance. I'm not sure if that is somewhere in the Corridor Perpendicular to the Former Bradlees, or if this person gained access to a section of Bradlees that was never converted.

Actually, now that I think about it, the person does mention that that photo was taken in a makeshift Storage area, which might mean that Old Navy never fully went to the area occupied by Bradlee's Mall Entrance, and that area remained unchanged.

[buzz86us]

as far as I know now everything is gone since they put in the Marshalls it really sucks Sangertown Mall is just so drab I don't see any reason to ever go back there and they closed this mall.

[HannafordHearts]

Yeah, that remaining original portion of the mall was finally gutted back in 2009 or so for the opening of Burlington Coat Factory.

Also, more recent info on this shopping center:

The short-lived Old Navy store later became Steve & Barry's, which closed when the chain folded in 2009. It is now Adirondack Furniture, which opened in fall 2009.

The OfficeMax is now Tractor Supply Company.

The 99 cent store in the former Rex closed, but is currently being used as a seasonal Halloween City store.

Half of the newer Wards building was torn down in 2004 when the Walmart next door expanded into a Supercenter. The remaining portion became Linens & Things, which closed when the chain folded in 2008. It then became Famous Labels for about 2 years. It is now currently a Bass Pro Shops outpost store, which opened in 2013.

The old Hoyts cinema behind the Wards was also torn down for a Bass Pro Shops boat service center.

There are also other new stores that opened up in the shopping center, including a Planet Fitness gym between Burlington and Adirondack Furniture. An outparcel was also built featuring GameStop, GNC, and possibly other stores I don't know about, I don't live in Utica anymore. A ZoomTan is also coming soon to that outparcel.