Westfield Sunrise
Encyclopedia
Westfield Sunrise, formerly known as Sunrise Mall, is a shopping mall
located in East Massapequa, New York
.http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/longislandlife/ny-lflist08,0,2822025.story?coll=ny-lilife-print The mall originally opened on August 30, 1973 as the first 2-level shopping center on Long Island
. It later underwent a major remodel in 1991 and it was acquired by the Westfield Group in 2005.http://www.westfield.com/corporate/newsroom/announcements/2005/2005606_43314.html The main anchor tenants include Macy*s, Sears
, JCPenney, and Walmart. If you enter the mall from the west side parking lot, you are on the second floor of the mall. If you enter on the east side, you are on the first floor.
Some stores that have been in Westfield Sunrise (but are not longer there) include Orange Julius
, Abraham & Straus
, Stern's
, Woolworth's
, Korvette's, Record World, Home Decor (a store which sold mostly rock t-shirts and posters), Playworld, the Sunrise Mall Cinemas, Eddie Bauer
, Sam Goody
, Jean Country (known for being where Amy Fisher
worked), Old Navy
, and Steve & Barry's
. There also used to be a pet store at Westfield Sunrise that featured a foul-mouthed parrot
by the store's entrance.
In the 1970s, fish aquariums were featured in the mall. Pictures are featured here. And for many years, Westfield Sunrise featured indoor water fountains and also duck
ponds. Both have since been replaced by children's play areas and Koi fish ponds, respectively. There was quite a bit of fun to be had by youngsters in the mall during the decade, as evidenced by an appearance of men dressed as Spider-Man
and Micronauts
at Korvettes. Vintage pix are featured here.
During the '80s, the mall continued to thrive, as there was a magic store in the mall circa the '80s, that sold fake feces
, a Conehead Halloween
mask, pet rock
, garlic gum, and snap snot, among other goodies. In the summer of 1984, one of the arcade video games featured in the Sunrise Mall Cinemas was Dragon's Lair
. On Saturday, August 4, 1984, more than 6,000 people were forced to leave Westfield Sunrise after a power failure cut off lights and air-conditioning to its shops and walkways. The blackout occurred at 2:30 P.M. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20810FC3C5C0C768CDDA10894DC484D81 In July 1986, 110 men and women competed for what was billed as the 'Arm-Wrestling Championship of New York State' at Westfield Sunrise http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50715FB3C590C738EDDAE0894DE484D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fW%2fWrestling.
While the mall fell on rough times come the '90s, Westfield Sunrise experienced a renaissance come the dawn of the 21st century. On February 18, 2001, a benefit for 2ge+her
's Michael Cuccione
was held at Westfield Sunrise http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1438360/20010119/2gether.jhtml. Little more than a year later on Friday, June 7, 2002, a 'Sunrise Mall Cruise Night' was hosted at Westfield Sunrise. According to this article, there were several hundred cars there. Additionally, in 2002 or 2003, a food court was placed in the mall near Sears
, and a new glass elevator was placed near the food court for easier access. It was removed and replaced with another elevator (not glass) because the koi pond had to be moved down for a play area. Also, several WWE
wrestlers have signed autographs at Westfield Sunrise, including Stone Cold Steve Austin
, Paul Wight
(aka 'The Big Show'), and John Cena
(a report about the Cena signing can be viewed here), among others.
The mall experienced some criticism on Monday, December 18, 2006, when the Massapequa Schools Talent Showcase was held at Westfield Sunrise. According to this article, it was a 'big flop.' And on a more serious note, on Thursday, June 7, 2007, a 19 year old man went haywire and drove through the mall with his 1995 Toyota, causing over $60,000 worth of damage http://www.news12.com/LI/topstories/article?id=195629. Upon further research, it was discovered that this was five years to the day that the 2002 'Sunrise Mall Cruise Night' was hosted at Westfield Sunrise! On Christmas Eve, 2007, two anonymous gentlemen handed out $100 bills to pleasantly surprised shoppers http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny-odd--surprisesanta1225dec25,0,1451150.story. On August 28, 2008, a 12-year-old boy fell off a balcony at Westfield Sunrise and injured his legs ankles and feet when he was running away from his father. He intentionally went over the rail. During March 2009, an official New York Islanders
store opened at the mall, during which the team's popular - yet oft-injured - goalie, Rick DiPietro
, was present for.
The mall is served by several bus routes in the area. It is currently served by the N19, N54/N55, and N71, run by MTA Long Island Bus, as well as the S20 and S33, operated by Suffolk County Transit.
40.6829°N 73.434591°W
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
located in East Massapequa, New York
East Massapequa, New York
East Massapequa is a hamlet located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 19,069 at the 2010 census.The hamlet lies in New York's 3rd congressional district...
.http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/longislandlife/ny-lflist08,0,2822025.story?coll=ny-lilife-print The mall originally opened on August 30, 1973 as the first 2-level shopping center on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. It later underwent a major remodel in 1991 and it was acquired by the Westfield Group in 2005.http://www.westfield.com/corporate/newsroom/announcements/2005/2005606_43314.html The main anchor tenants include Macy*s, Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
, JCPenney, and Walmart. If you enter the mall from the west side parking lot, you are on the second floor of the mall. If you enter on the east side, you are on the first floor.
Some stores that have been in Westfield Sunrise (but are not longer there) include Orange Julius
Orange Julius
Orange Julius is a chain of fruit drink beverage stores. It has been in business since the late 1920s. The eponymous beverage is a mixture of orange juice, milk, sugar, ice and vanilla flavoring.- History :...
, Abraham & Straus
Abraham & Straus
Abraham & Straus was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, in 1929 it became part of Federated Department Stores, which eliminated the A&S brand shortly after its 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company...
, Stern's
Stern's
Stern's was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The chain was in business for more than 130 years, prior to its 2001 integration into Macy's and Bloomingdale's...
, Woolworth's
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"...
, Korvette's, Record World, Home Decor (a store which sold mostly rock t-shirts and posters), Playworld, the Sunrise Mall Cinemas, Eddie Bauer
Eddie Bauer
Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc. is a holding company that operates the Eddie Bauer clothing store chain, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, United States. EBH was formed after Eddie Bauer's former parent company, Spiegel, Inc., went bankrupt in 2003...
, Sam Goody
Sam Goody
Sam Goody was a music and entertainment retailer in the United States and United Kingdom, and was owned and operated by Trans World Entertainment which also runs FYE, Saturday Matinee, and Suncoast Motion Picture Company. It specialized in music, video, and video game sales...
, Jean Country (known for being where Amy Fisher
Amy Fisher
Amy Elizabeth Fisher is an American woman who became known as "the Long Island Lolita" by the media in 1992, when, at the age of 17, she shot and severely wounded Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the wife of her lover Joey Buttafuoco...
worked), Old Navy
Old Navy
Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...
, and Steve & Barry's
Steve & Barry's
Steve & Barry's was an American retail clothing chain, featuring casual apparel. By mid-2008, the chain operated 276 stores in 39 states. The company was headquartered in Port Washington, New York. The company liquidated all of its stores throughout 2008....
. There also used to be a pet store at Westfield Sunrise that featured a foul-mouthed parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
by the store's entrance.
In the 1970s, fish aquariums were featured in the mall. Pictures are featured here. And for many years, Westfield Sunrise featured indoor water fountains and also duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
ponds. Both have since been replaced by children's play areas and Koi fish ponds, respectively. There was quite a bit of fun to be had by youngsters in the mall during the decade, as evidenced by an appearance of men dressed as Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
and Micronauts
Micronauts
The Micronauts comic books feature a group of characters based on the Micronauts toyline. The title was published by Marvel Comics, Image Comics, and Devil's Due Publishing. Their first comic appearance was in Micronauts #1 with characterizations created by Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden...
at Korvettes. Vintage pix are featured here.
During the '80s, the mall continued to thrive, as there was a magic store in the mall circa the '80s, that sold fake feces
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
, a Conehead Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
mask, pet rock
Pet rock
Pet Rocks were a 1970s fad conceived in Los Gatos, California by advertising executive Gary Dahl.-Development:In April 1975, Dahl was in a bar listening to his friends complain about their pets. This gave him the idea for the perfect "pet": a rock...
, garlic gum, and snap snot, among other goodies. In the summer of 1984, one of the arcade video games featured in the Sunrise Mall Cinemas was Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair is a laserdisc video game published by Cinematronics in 1983. It featured animation created by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth....
. On Saturday, August 4, 1984, more than 6,000 people were forced to leave Westfield Sunrise after a power failure cut off lights and air-conditioning to its shops and walkways. The blackout occurred at 2:30 P.M. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20810FC3C5C0C768CDDA10894DC484D81 In July 1986, 110 men and women competed for what was billed as the 'Arm-Wrestling Championship of New York State' at Westfield Sunrise http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50715FB3C590C738EDDAE0894DE484D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fW%2fWrestling.
While the mall fell on rough times come the '90s, Westfield Sunrise experienced a renaissance come the dawn of the 21st century. On February 18, 2001, a benefit for 2ge+her
2ge+her
2gether was an American fictional boy band whose composition, songs, and formation story is a satirical approach to the boy bands of the 1990s, such as New Kids on the Block, 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys...
's Michael Cuccione
Michael Cuccione
Michael James Cuccione was a Canadian actor, singer, dancer, author, and cancer research activist. He was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, and raised in neighbouring Coquitlam by his parents Domenic and Gloria Cuccione...
was held at Westfield Sunrise http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1438360/20010119/2gether.jhtml. Little more than a year later on Friday, June 7, 2002, a 'Sunrise Mall Cruise Night' was hosted at Westfield Sunrise. According to this article, there were several hundred cars there. Additionally, in 2002 or 2003, a food court was placed in the mall near Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
, and a new glass elevator was placed near the food court for easier access. It was removed and replaced with another elevator (not glass) because the koi pond had to be moved down for a play area. Also, several WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
wrestlers have signed autographs at Westfield Sunrise, including Stone Cold Steve Austin
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Steve Austin , better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor and retired professional wrestler...
, Paul Wight
Paul Wight
Paul Donald Wight, Jr. , better known by his ring name, Big Show, is an American professional wrestler and actor, currently signed to WWE on its Raw brand....
(aka 'The Big Show'), and John Cena
John Cena
John Felix Anthony Cena is an American professional wrestler, actor, rapper, and television personality. He is currently signed to WWE as a member of its WWE Raw brand....
(a report about the Cena signing can be viewed here), among others.
The mall experienced some criticism on Monday, December 18, 2006, when the Massapequa Schools Talent Showcase was held at Westfield Sunrise. According to this article, it was a 'big flop.' And on a more serious note, on Thursday, June 7, 2007, a 19 year old man went haywire and drove through the mall with his 1995 Toyota, causing over $60,000 worth of damage http://www.news12.com/LI/topstories/article?id=195629. Upon further research, it was discovered that this was five years to the day that the 2002 'Sunrise Mall Cruise Night' was hosted at Westfield Sunrise! On Christmas Eve, 2007, two anonymous gentlemen handed out $100 bills to pleasantly surprised shoppers http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny-odd--surprisesanta1225dec25,0,1451150.story. On August 28, 2008, a 12-year-old boy fell off a balcony at Westfield Sunrise and injured his legs ankles and feet when he was running away from his father. He intentionally went over the rail. During March 2009, an official New York Islanders
New York Islanders
The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
store opened at the mall, during which the team's popular - yet oft-injured - goalie, Rick DiPietro
Rick DiPietro
Rick DiPietro, Jr. is an American professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League . He was the first overall selection by the Islanders in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft....
, was present for.
The mall is served by several bus routes in the area. It is currently served by the N19, N54/N55, and N71, run by MTA Long Island Bus, as well as the S20 and S33, operated by Suffolk County Transit.
Anchors
- JCPenney (193,530 sq ft.)
- Macy*s (208,078 sq ft.)
- Sears (200,172 sq ft.)
- Walmart (131,000 sq ft.)
Food Court
- TCBYTCBYTCBY is an international franchise chain of frozen yogurt stores based in the United States. It is the largest U.S. retailer of soft-serve frozen yogurt with live active cultures....
- Wendy'sWendy'sWendy's is an international fast food chain restaurant founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The company decided to move its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. It has been owned by Triarc since 2008...
- KFCKFCKFC, 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...
- Taco BellTaco BellTaco Bell is an American chain of fast-food restaurants based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., which serves American-adapted Mexican food. Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, other specialty items, and a variety of "Value Menu" items...
- SbarroSbarroSbarro is a bankrupt chain of pizza restaurants that specializes in traditional Italian cuisine, including its most popular menu item "pizza by the slice." Its headquarters is located in Melville, Huntington, New York.- History :...
- Nathan'sNathan's FamousNathan's Famous is a company that operates a chain of U.S.-based fast food restaurants specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's restaurant stands at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in the Coney Island neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-History:Nathan's began as...
- Arthur Treacher'sArthur Treacher'sArthur Treacher's Fish and Chips is a fast food seafood restaurant chain., there were 45 stores in 8 northern states of the United States which serve fish and chips. Its main competitors are Long John Silver's and Captain D's...
- Arby'sArby'sArby's is a fast food restaurant chain in the United States and Canada. Roark Capital Group owns 81.5% of the company, with Wendy's Company owning the other 18.5%. It is primarily known for selling roast beef sandwiches and curly fries. The Arby's menu also includes chicken sandwiches, appetizers,...
- Master Wok
- SubwaySubway (restaurant)Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...
- Bourbon Street Cajun Cafe and Grill
- Suki Japan
External links
- Official Westfield Sunrise Site
- Article about Walmart at Westfield Sunrise
- Article about how the mall was updated for the 1990s
40.6829°N 73.434591°W