Vernon Hills Village

Vernon Hills Village, formerly the Vernon Hills Shopping Center is a 380000 sqft shopping center in Eastchester, New York near Scarsdale and about 5 mi from downtown White Plains, in Westchester County.

Officially not part of the shopping center but immediately adjacent a former branch of Lord & Taylor which preceded the shopping center, opening in 1947, and operating for 73 years through 2020. Since 2022 a Saks Off Fifth store is located there.

Lord & Taylor freestanding store
On February 25, 1948, the Lord & Taylor-Westchester store opened with floodlights, models, and 70 mannikins, to large crowds, with 18,000 visitors in total that day, and the worst traffic jams that that community. The store on a 14-acre site, provided parking for 1040 cars, and the store employed around 300 people.

Shopping center addition
In 1955, Mount Vernon, New York-based developer Salvatore Pepe released plans to build shopping center on the 9 acre parcel next to Lord & Taylor, promoting it as the future "Fifth Avenue of Westchester" and already envisioning luxury department store Bonwit Teller as the anchor, more than a decade before Bonwit's would actually move from White Plains to Vernon Hills in 1967.

Bonwit Teller
In 1964 Bonwit Teller had branch store in a two-and‐a‐half‐story building in downtown White Plains, where it had operated since April 1941, on the current site of the Westchester One tower. Bonwit had a 20‐year lease ending in 1976, but Pepe went to the landlord Archie Davidow and bought it, including the remainder of the lease, thus permitting Bonwits to move; it ceased operations at White Plains at the close of business on April 13, 1967.

Five days later, on April 18, 1967, the new 43000 sqft, Bonwit Teller Scarsdale store opened. Guests included actress Arlene Francis (member of the company's Board of Directors), Princess Marcella Borghese and Mildred Custin, president of Bonwit Teller. Designed by architectural firm Copeland, Novak & Israel, it consisted of 36 fashion departments, and featured a 7900 sqft center court of Italian marble, with a crystal chandelier hanging above. Two additional chandeliers had once hung in the Ambassador Hotel in New York. 1700 ft of murals by Richard Neas decorated the walls of the court, and additional Neas murals adorned the shoe salon. 85 employees from the White Plains store were transferred to Vernon Hills, and 40 additional employees were hired specifically for the new branch.

Sale to Ashkenazy
In 2019 owner and developer Bianco & Pepe Inc. sold the center to Ashkenazy Acquisition.

Current tenants
As of 2023, tenants include Saks Off Fifth (38000 sqft), New York Sports Club, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble (opened in 2016), West Elm, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta.