Smith Haven Mall

Smith Haven Mall is a shopping mall located in Lake Grove, New York (with the western half of the mall in St. James), and is the main mall for the "Middle Island" area of Long Island. It is also the easternmost enclosed mall on Long Island, and thus draws shoppers from the communities that make up the Hamptons, and the North Fork. The mall features Macy's, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Primark. The mall also has a vacant anchor space last occupied by Sears.

The complex covers an area of 1,204,769 sqft of retail space, with the key building (opened in 1969) being one story and 800000 sqft, which includes 119 shops and restaurants. The mall has been managed since 1995 by Simon Property Group; it is one of the largest developers of shopping malls in the United States and the owner of Long Island's largest mall, Roosevelt Field in Garden City. Its name is a portmanteau of the towns of Smithtown and Brookhaven, as the mall overlaps the boundaries of these towns, Also the mall overlaps the boundaries of the Smithtown Central School District and Middle Country Central School District.

History
Plans for the mall were first announced in October 1965 by Macy's, to be called "Nesconset Shopping Center". After a preview event with guest of honor Robert Moses on March 10, 1969, the mall, with anchors Macy's and Abraham & Straus (later Stern's and now a lifestyle village), opened on March 12. They were followed soon after by a 68000 sqft Martin's (later Steinbach, then JCPenney), and then Sears.

The mall is notable for the works of public art which it originally held, including one of the final works of noted sculptor Alexander Calder, a giant mobile Janey Waney which was made especially for the mall's opening in 1969, and a 40 ft mural by Larry Rivers. Calder's piece, after being taken down in early 1970s, was refurbished and moved to the newly built food court in 1987, which was named Calder Court for the sculptor. The food court was later renamed Saturn Court when the car dealership picked up the food court's sponsorship. No artwork remains from the gallery which existed at the mall's inception, which also included work from Peter Max, among others. The Calder piece at the food court sold at auction for $1.7 million in 2002.

One of the developers was Leonard Holzer who was married to art dealer Jane Holzer and the art work originally cost $50,000. After Holzer sold his interest in the mall the art work was dismantled. Rivers' mural, "40 Feet Of Fashion", was 40 ft long and 20 ft and consisted of an assemblage of giant Plexiglas objects including lips, a clock, bathing suits and giant women's legs. When the art work was dismantled it was sold off piecemeal with the legs winding up being erected outside the home of East Hampton, New York art dealer Ruth Vered in Sag Harbor, New York. Her home is in the former Bethel Church/former art studio for Abraham Rattner. In 2010/2011 the 16 ft high sculpture of the legs raised controversy when Sag Harbor building officials said it exceeded the 15 ft height requirement for structures. Vered has said she would lower its foundation to get it under the 15 ft limit.

Smith Haven Mall underwent a massive multimillion-dollar renovation project in 2006–2007, in which a lifestyle village was built over the space once occupied by Stern's and the adjacent unused parking lots. Major retailers there include Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Dick's Sporting Goods, and California Pizza Kitchen. Elsewhere in the mall, Abercrombie & Fitch's new concept Gilly Hicks, an underwear store, has opened its doors, as well as Abercrombie & Fitch's upscale RUEHL No.925 (now closed) concept which opened on August 1, 2008. On September 9, 2006, an Apple Store was added to the mall with many on hand to commemorate it. In addition, on November 16, 2006 the newly constructed Cheesecake Factory was opened. In July 2008, Bobby Flay's first Bobby's Burger Palace location was opened at the mall. On June 23, 2017, L.L.Bean opened its first Long Island location at the Smith Haven Mall.

The dawn of the early 2020's saw several storied traditional department store retailers update their brick-and-mortar formats after being encroached upon to a degree by several digital retailers in recent years.

On February 28, 2019, JCPenney announced that as part of modernizing their traditional brick-and-mortar base that they will no longer continue to position an outpost in this retail environment. It was announced that Primark would be reconstructing the previous JCPenney outpost and open in October 2023.

On February 12, 2020, it was announced Sears would shut down as part of an ongoing decision to eliminate its brick-and-mortar format. A concept for Stony Brook Advanced Medicine is reconstructing the previous Sears outpost and is opening sometime in 2023.

In popular culture
On the 2000 release, "This Time Next Year", by the band, "The Movielife", the mall is mentioned in the song, "Single White Female".