Mountain Farms Mall facts for kids
View of one end of the mall in 2007
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| Location | Hadley, Massachusetts, United States |
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| Coordinates | 42°21′14″N 72°33′13″W / 42.35389°N 72.55361°W |
| Address | 335 Russell Street |
| Opening date | 1973-11-23 |
| Developer | Pyramid Corporation |
| Management | Ed Cabitt |
| Owner | WS Development |
| No. of stores and services | 20+ |
| No. of anchor tenants | 9 |
| Total retail floor area | 395,065 square feet (36,703 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Parking | 1745 |
| Owner's page on this mall | |
Mountain Farms Mall is a shopping center in Hadley, Massachusetts, United States, with approximately 12 stores. It is located on Route 9, at 335 Russell Street in Hadley, Massachusetts, between Amherst and Northampton, approximately five miles east of Exit 19 off I-91. The mall is owned by S.R. Weiner and WS Development.
History
Mountain Farms first opened to the public on Nov. 23, 1973 as an indoor shopping mall. Original anchor stores were Woolco and Almy's.
After the neighboring Hampshire Mall opened in 1978, business at Mountain Farms fell off. In the heyday of its first incarnation were about 40 stores in the mall. By 1990, the Mountain Farms was generally referred to as "the dead mall", containing a hot tubbing location, a weekly flea market and an AMC theater. By the spring of 1994 its original 35 stores had declined to four. In May 1994 Wholesale Depot Inc. filed bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code and closed its store which opened at the mall in December 1992.
In June 1997, WS Development, an open-air shopping center developer, showed interest in refurbishing the mall and as part of this plan it envisioned devoting a third of its space to a Walmart store. The Planning Board members at the time raised concerns about the appropriateness of a Walmart in Hadley saying that they preferred small and unique stores. In 1998 permission was obtained to bring in the Walmart. In April 1998 a citizens group in Hadley filed suit against W.S. Development and the Hadley Planning Board seeking to overturn the Planning Board's decision to grant site plan approval. In July 1998 a Hampshire Superior Court justice dismissed the lawsuit.
On August 19, 1998 the mall was sold by Henry Rosenberg of New York City, trustee of MFF Realty Trust, to W.S. Hadley Properties, care of S.R. Weiner and Associates Inc. of Chestnut Hill. The buyers were sister companies of WS Development, the mall's prospective developers. Construction on the new project began in February 1999.
Peoples Bank of Holyoke purchased a boarded-up former Bess Eaton doughnut shop adjacent to the Mountain Farms Mall. Walmart opened its store in February 2000. Linens 'N Things opened its store in September 2000, and closed in 2008 after liquidating. An Old Navy opened a month later in October 2000. In 2001, Barnes & Noble opened a store in the revamped mall. In 2002 Michael's, an arts and crafts store, opened between Marshall's and Bread & Circus supermarket. In September 2002 the Kai Chi restaurant in the Mountain Farms Mall closed as a consequence of their landlord W.S. Development Associates, LLC of Chestnut Hill purchasing the remaining 10 years on their lease.
In 2003 a 16,400-square-foot (1,520 m2) expansion of the Bread & Circus (which later that year was rebranded as Whole Foods Market) at Mountain Farms Mall began.
A 63-room, 27,700-square-foot (2,570 m2) Econo Lodge was constructed that opened in 2003 in front of Mountain Farms Mall. During this time period the Hampshire Mall was regarded as the dead mall in comparison to the vibrant Mountain Farms Mall (although it too revived in 2005). Eastern Mountain Sports, Pier 1 Imports, Panera Bread, and Famous Footwear opened stores in mall in 2004. A new expanded Whole Foods Market (formally Bread and Circus) opened in June 2004. Home Depot obtained permission for a 323,000-square-foot (30,000 m2) shopping center adjacent to the mall later in the year.
In May 2006 the town voted in favor of the "Compatible Building Size Bylaw" which measure placed 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) cap on retail building size, effectively prohibiting future malls and shopping centers from coming to the Route 9 corridor. The proposed Lowe's home improvement center, Home Depot, and Walmart Supercenter projects, all of which have already begun or completed the planning process, will not be affected. The Home Depot and Hadley Corner retail project was shut down in March 2006 by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
In 2007 construction began at the rear of the mall for a Planet Fitness which opened in 2008.
Bed, Bath, and Beyond opened in the former Linens N' Things space in November 2009.
Currently there is no interior entry other than a set of vestigial doors between Panera Bread and EMS.
