Courtyard Mall Buffalo, NY

[Jag67]

Here's the abandoned Courtmall on Main Street in Buffalo, NY. This place never did well from the start and has been closed for many many years. I'm not sure when it opened or when it closed, but I know it was doing bad back in 1984. Maybe it's been closed since then!! I dunno, I took a peek inside and the deteriorating storefronts are quite antiquicated. The interior is trashed. Judjing from the architecture, I would say this place was built in the late 1970's.

[Caldor1999]

the mall looks ike it was bult in the 70's but might hvae got a rentvaiton in the 90's cause the outside of it looks kinda like a 90's dizine what ancores were in this mall JC Penny? Sears? Macys? Service Merchandise? Montgomery Ward? Caldor? Bradlees? Ames? Filene's? Toys R Us?:huh::huh::huh:

[Jag67]

Believe it or not, the mall had NO anchors, and never did. Talk about small!!

[76fanAmesmanBBTB]

Originally posted by Jag67
Believe it or not, the mall had NO anchors, and never did. Talk about small!!

WHAAAAA? THEY ONLY HAD SMALL STORES NO WONDER they closed!

[jmn3]

This place was not really a mall.  I mean, it was a mall, with stores inside a corridor...but it was very small and there definitley were no anchors.  The entire building was closed and mothballed in the mid to late 1980's.  Although no anchors existed in this mall, you have to keep in mind that during the 70's, there were plenty of large department stores still operating on Main Street in DOwntown Buffalo.  

These included:
Sattler's (who were an anchor at the Main Place Mall about a block away).  The entire chain closed it's doors around Christmas time in 1982.  The store was later turned into, and remains to this day, the Greenhouse Foodcourt (a very big foodcourt for a mall with about 5 stores).  This wasn't the flagship Sattler's however.  Their main store was located about two or three miles from downtown on Broadway Avenue.  Their jingle is still pretty famous locally to this day: "...at nine-ninety-eight Broadddwayyyy....in Buffalllooooooo."  

Kleinhans - a full service men's department store located just down the street from Courtyard in the historic Brisbane Building at Lafayette Square.  Kleinhans parent company, Hartmarx, closed all of the locations in 1992.

Hengerer's - This was part of the Associated Dry Goods Co. (ADG) and was located pretty much across the street from the Courtyard.  This was a full service, eight level, department store.  Hengerer's was merged in 1981 with sister-company Sibley's, who were based out of Rochester.  In 1986/87, ADG sold out to May Department Stores all of their stores (including Sibley's, Lord & Taylor, and others).  May closed the downtown Sibley's in Buffalo in 1987.  The stores are now Kaufmann's.

AM&A's - There's a whole thread on AM&A's...this was the biggest department store locally and was located about two blocks from the Courtyard.  The Bon-Ton closed this location in 1995.

Hens & Kelly - Located just north of the Courtyard Mall.  The chain closed in 1981/82.

LL Berger - A very exclusive dept. store for women.  Berger's was located just north of the Hens & Kelly store on Main Street.  They closed all of their locations in 1991.

I am probably missing something, but as you can see, the Courtyard Mall didn't have any anchors per se, but Downtown Buffalo as a whole had plenty of anchor stores at that time.

[Jag67]

Woah!! Thanks for the info!! I knew this mall had to close around that time, because there's a book on Buffalo I get out a book from the library quite often from 1984 that says "The Courtyard Mall brought the food court to Buffalo, but when that mall had trouble keeping it's tennants.." FROM 1984!!!! so I think your you're right about that. The Sattler's in Main Place is now the Mall's Food Court. My dad used to by coins there (Me and Him are both coin collectors).  AM&A's was the coolest local dept. store ever..I was so sad when they closed..even though I was only 4. They were so cool. Their jingle (Rembember jingles?) was "We'll AM&Aze you":bounce:

BTW, If you peek thru the window of the Courtyard, look to the right. There should be a very very old-looking store called "Paul's"..complete with psychedelic floor tile. Other stores I noticed were Insta Photo Lab, Feel Rite, and People's Permanent Bank.   to the

[pubdog]

I believe the Courtyard "Mall" was originally the downtown Ulbrich's store and that the "courtyard" was meant to entice visitors to the Buffalo Convention Center to wander over to the pedestrial mall that Main St became through and interesting assortment of small shops - inside.

[Pikapower]

Originally posted by Jag67
Believe it or not, the mall had NO anchors, and never did. Talk about small!!

WHAAAAA? THEY ONLY HAD SMALL STORES NO WONDER they closed!

A mall without at least one anchor isn't a mall to me!