End Of An Era: Galleria Mall in White Plains closes its doors for good

The Galleria opened its doors in 1980 and was once a bustling mall and a staple for young people in the community.

News 12 Staff

Mar 31, 2023, 10:24 AM

Updated 839 days ago

Share:

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 2:19
Loaded: 0.00%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 2:19
 
1x
Today marked the end of an era as the Galleria Mall in White Plains officially closes for good.
The Galleria, the 900,000-square-foot mall in the heart of White Plains, opened its doors in 1980. When it opened, there really wasn't anything like it. It had everything -movie theaters, restaurants, special events, tons of cool stores - all under one roof.
It was the hot spot in the city and was a staple for young people in the community.
News 12 has been been flooded with memories. "I think back to being able to pick up whatever I needed at Sears, Macy's, the stores in between," said one passerby this morning. "It was the place where all the local high school kids came to hang out, so you could come here to see all the cute girls from all over Westchester County back in the day," said another.
Even White Plains Mayor Tom Roach has his own special memories of the Galleria. "People would go to the mall after work on a Friday for happy hour, it was a different time." 
But as more people began to shop online, mall shopping declined. Eventually, the place that was always jam-packed became a virtual ghost town. Roach says the building will likely be torn down. He says the goal is to replace it with something that will open up the area. "One of the negatives of this structure has been that it's a big block dropped in the middle of the city cutting off different areas from each other."
Only three businesses remained as of Friday: a Lenscrafters, a dental and foot care office, and the Westchester Trains and Hobbies shop. Owner Mike Petagine says he will likely move his store to the JV Mall in Yorktown Heights.
While doors may be closed for good, the memories made in the mall will remain.



Logo

Looks like your ad blocker is on.

×

We rely on ads to keep creating quality content for you to enjoy.

Please support News12 by disabling your ad blocker.

Continue without disabling.

Choose your Ad Blocker

  • Adblock Plus
  • Adblock
  • Adguard
  • Ad Remover
  • Brave
  • Ghostery
  • uBlock Origin
  • uBlock
  • UltraBlock
  • Other
  1. In the extension bar, click the AdBlock Plus icon
  2. Click the large blue toggle for this website
  3. Click refresh
  1. In the extension bar, click the AdBlock icon
  2. Under "Pause on this site" click "Always"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Adguard icon
  2. Click on the large green toggle for this website
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Ad Remover icon
  2. Click "Disable on This Website"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the orange lion icon
  2. Click the toggle on the top right, shifting from "Up" to "Down"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Ghostery icon
  2. Click the "Anti-Tracking" shield so it says "Off"
  3. Click the "Ad-Blocking" stop sign so it says "Off"
  4. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the uBlock Origin icon
  2. Click on the big, blue power button
  3. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the uBlock icon
  2. Click on the big, blue power button
  3. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the UltraBlock icon
  2. Check the "Disable UltraBlock" checkbox
  1. Please disable your Ad Blocker
  2. Disable any DNS blocking tools such as AdGuardDNS or NextDNS
  3. Disable any privacy or tracking protection extensions such as Firefox Enhanced Tracking Protection or DuckDuckGo Privacy.

If the prompt is still appearing, please disable any tools or services you are using that block internet ads (e.g. DNS Servers, tracking protection or privacy extensions).