News

Kingston’s first mall gets makeover
Kings Mall was originally named Mammoth Mall when it opened in 1975 in the Town of Ulster and shoppers are seeing some mammoth changes these days at the shopping center on Ulster Avenue.

The mall, the first in the Kingston area, has been undergoing a $1.5 million facelift for the last 24 months.

“Just about the entire mall has been replaced, repaired or upgraded,” said Scott Herrington, the owner of Sav-On Party Centre.

The mall has received a new roof, floors, paint, restrooms, landscaping, outside façade, signage and a resurfaced and re-striped parking lot. A new parking plan created more parking spaces for customers.

The last element, which was the interior hallway, was updated at the end of 2006.

“The renovations are ongoing as the Leinbach Co., the management company of the mall, continue to try to respond to the needs of their tenants and shoppers by making it a safer and better place to shop,” Herrington said.

Herrington admits the mall, which opened 32 years ago, was beginning to show its age when an investment group purchased it in the spring of 2001.

“It didn’t look very nice when they first took it over,” he said. “It was quite well-dated. This was the first mall in Kingston. We call it ‘Kingston’s Hometown Mall.’

“They’ve done an excellent job at updating, modernizing and kind of bringing it in line with the rest of the structures out here in the town so that it doesn’t look shabby when you come by.”

Herrington said customers love the changes.

“We’ve received nothing but compliments,” he said.

The scheduled renovations should be completed this year in time for Mother Earth’s Storehouse to open its flagship store in the mall. Mother Earth’s, which is already a tenant, will move to a much larger space in the mall vacated last year by CVS.

King’s Mall also will sponsor a Chamber mixer in the future.

Herrington said Chamber members will be impressed with the number of locally owned businesses in the mall.

“The best benefit of shopping here is that 80 percent of the businesses are owner-occupied,” he said. “These are not your ‘box stores,’ your corporate stores. If you walk down the hallways, you’ll speak to the owners in 80 percent of the businesses with the obvious exception of Marshalls and HomeGoods and Modell’s. Pretty much everyone else, the owner is in the building five, six, seven days a week.

“It’s like a marketplace more than a mall. It’s like your neighborhood marketplace. We promote and encourage that. Everyone here employs locally. We pay better than minimum wage. We treat our employees and customers like they’re family because we live here.”

Besides Marshalls, HomeGoods, and Modell’s, the mall’s tenants include King’s Mall Laundromat; Jande Candle Store; CitiFinancial; Paradise Tanning; Value Lot; 3 Guys Discount Furniture; Sav-On Party Centre; Bohemian Book Bin; The Little Gym of Kingston; Tour Mates Travel; Mother Earth’s Storehouse; Hair Pizzaz & Nails; Blooming Boutique Florist; The Bridal Cottage; Weight Watchers; Kingston Dental Associates; Trupiano Uniform; Panda Buffet; Fashion Bug Plus; USA Recruitment Center; Arturo’s Pizzeria & Restaurant; Aerus Electrolux; The UPS Store; Fit Lady Total Women’s Fitness; and HSBC Bank.

The mall got its name when the Kings Department Stores bought The Mammoth Mart in the 1980s.

In the spring of 2001, an investment group headed by Harold Bernstein of Palm Beach, Fla., and Ed Leinbach of Leinbach Co. in Tulsa, Okla., acquired Kings Mall.

Some members of the investment group were very active in the retail business, both nationally and in New York, and believed the location of the Kings Mall property was “the eye of the golf ball” in Kingston, according to Brandi Wilson of the Leinbach Co.

Wilson said that because of their belief in its location and the opportunity for a redevelopment, the investors enthusiastically embraced the concept and proceeded to locate new and different tenants.

As a precursor to finding new tenants, the group committed to the $1.5 million renovation project.

When Weiss Market, an original tenant, left the mall in the fall of 2001, HomeGoods, a TJX company, quickly agreed to occupy 28,661 square feet across the parking lot from their sister store Marshalls. Given that boost, Modell’s Sporting Goods followed along with The UPS Store and others.

At about the same time, Sav-On moved from its downtown Kingston location to the old J.D. Cohen Furniture space and the 3 Guys Discount Furniture moved to a vacant space, providing room for the new Little Gym of Kingston facility. Today the property is almost completely occupied and Wilson said the tenants seem pleased with the property and their businesses are thriving on the increased customer base.

Wilson said the investment group remains committed to a long-term investment in Kingston and is excited about the opportunities that lie ahead in the Kingston market.