The Reisterstown Road Plaza, usually known since its inception simply as "The Plaza," is a shopping center and mall located near the Reisterstown Plaza Metro Subway Station. Originally built as an outdoor shopping center (with two parallel rows of stores between the original anchors Hecht's and Stewarts), in recent years, much of its structure has been converted into an indoor mall and outdoor shopping center with big box stores. The Reisterstown Road Plaza opened in 1962.

Previous anchors

Anchor store

In retail, an anchor store, draw tenant, anchor tenant, or key tenant is one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain....

 at the Reisterstown Road Plaza were the now defunct chains of Stewart's

Stewart's (department store)

Stewart's Department Store in Baltimore, Maryland, took its name in 1901 when Louis Stewart acquired the building of Posner's Department Store on the northeast corner of Howard and Lexington Streets. The chain was a founding member of Associated Dry Goods or ADG. It opened its first suburban store...

/Caldor

Caldor

Caldor was a chain of American discount department stores headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, operating throughout the northeastern United States. At one time, the company was a subsidiary of May Department Stores; Caldor was among the country's largest discount retailers.Despite being a popular...

, Zayre

Zayre

Zayre was a chain of discount stores that operated in the Northeastern, Southern and Midwestern United States from 1956 to 1990. The company's headquarters was in Framingham, Massachusetts. In 1988, the Zayre department stores were sold to the parent company of the competing Ames chain, and Zayre's...

/Ames, Hechinger

Hechinger

Hechinger, mistakenly called Hechinger's by many customers was a chain of home improvement retail stores headquartered in Landover, Maryland outside Washington, D.C., and an online retailer owned by Home Decor Products.John Hechinger, Sr...

, and Hecht's

Hecht's

Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores located mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States....

. Some of the current anchors include Burlington Coat Factory

Burlington Coat Factory

Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation is a national department store retailer focusing on clothing and shoes, with over 450 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico.. In 2006, it was acquired by Bain Capital, LLC in a take-private transaction...

, Home Depot, National Wholesale Liquidators

National Wholesale Liquidators

National Wholesale Liquidators is a West Hempstead, New York-based company that operates a chain of warehouse-style closeout discount stores in the Eastern and Midwestern United States. It offers a mix of brand-name items, everyday household items, and furniture. National Wholesale Liquidators...

, Modell's

Modell's

Modell's is a sporting goods retailer with locations in the Northeastern United States. Modell's carries both sporting goods and related apparel. Modell's currently has more than 140 retail locations in ten states and the District of Columbia as of 2008...

, and Giant Food. Other stores and restaurants include Shoe City, Economy Shoes, Foot Locker

Foot Locker

Foot Locker, Inc. is an American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in approximately 20 countries worldwide. Formerly known as Venator Group, Inc., it is the successor corporation to the F.W. Woolworth Company , and many of...

, Lot Stores, Popeyes, Applebee's

Applebee's

Applebee’s International, Inc., is an American company which develops, franchises, and operates the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar restaurant chain. As of September 2011, there were 2,010 restaurants operating system-wide in the United States, one U.S. territory and 14 other countries...

, Panda Express

Panda Express

Panda Express is a fast casual restaurant chain serving American Chinese cuisine. It operates mainly inside the United States, in casinos, shopping malls, supermarkets, airports, train stations, strip plazas, theme parks, stadiums, college campuses and The Pentagon...

, KFC

KFC

KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...

, Long John Silvers, and Checkers

Checkers (fast food)

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. is the largest chain of double drive-thru restaurants in the United States. In June 2006, the Company went private through a merger with Taxi Holdings Corp., an affiliate of Wellspring Capital Management, a private equity firm.The company operates more than 815...

The Plaza also houses a satellite campus

Satellite campus

A satellite campus or branch campus is a campus of a college or university that is physically detached from the main university or college area, and is often smaller than the main campus of an institution....

 of Baltimore City Community College

Baltimore City Community College

Baltimore City Community College is a community college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1947 and has about 7,200 students enrolled in one of its three campuses...

 and the office of vital records

Vital record

Vital records are records of life events kept under governmental authority, including birth certificates, marriage licenses, and death certificates. In some jurisdictions, vital records may also include records of civil unions or domestic partnerships....

 for the state of Maryland.

History

In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Plaza had plaster and plastic dinosaury looking creatures for kids to climb on. These were later removed, and the space has undergone various other uses in the years since.

The Plaza was one of several areas in Baltimore that saw redevelopment as a result of a nearby transit system being constructed. The nearby Metro Subway opened in 1983.

In 1986, a two-story office center at the Plaza was completed. It started out by housing the Maryland Lottery

Maryland Lottery

The Maryland Lottery is an independent agency of the Maryland government. Its games include Mega Millions, Powerball, Multi-Match, Keno, Bonus Match 5, and numerous scratch tickets. The Maryland Lottery is headquartered in Suite 330 at 1800 Washington Boulevard, in Montgomery Business Park,...

.

In 1991, the Plaza underwent a 125000 square feet (11,612.9 m²) expansion

In 1993, Caldor

Caldor

Caldor was a chain of American discount department stores headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, operating throughout the northeastern United States. At one time, the company was a subsidiary of May Department Stores; Caldor was among the country's largest discount retailers.Despite being a popular...

 returned to the spot it previously held in the Plaza

In 1997, a fire damaged a section of the Plaza. This forced the closing of Woolworths

F. W. Woolworth Company

The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first successful Woolworth store was opened on July 18, 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store"...

.

In 2001, Home Depot announced it would open a store at the Plaza.

In 2004, Giant Food

Giant Food of Landover, Maryland

Giant Food LLC is a supermarket chain with 202 stores in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.. It is headquartered in unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland, near Landover. Giant often is known as Giant-Landover to avoid confusion with sibling company Giant-Carlisle...

opened a store at the Plaza.