The Food Fair supermarket at ROOSEVELT FIELD opened its doors in October 1956.
Drawing from Food Fair Stores, Incorporated
The shiny new ROOSEVELT FIELD CENTER featured two supermarkets; the aforementioned Food Fair and Grand Union. Food Fair closed for good in 1958, with Grand Union relocating into its vacant building.
Graphic 1 from Food Fair Stores, Incorporated
Graphic 2 from the Grand Union Company
Gimbels Roosevelt Field rang up its first sale in August 1962. The store encompassed 3 levels and 240,300 square feet. It was the fifth branch of the Gimbels-New York division, following stores at Yonkers, Valley Stream, Bay Shore and Paramus, New Jersey.
A circa-'63 ROOSEVELT FIELD CENTER plan. The nation's first shopping mall ice rink had opened here in 1958. With the addition of a new Gimbels, the 50 million dollar facility encompassed an astounding (for the time) 1,261,200 leasable square feet, making it one of the largest malls in the USA. Its vast parking area could accommodate 11,000 autos at one time.
Howard Clothes, a Brooklyn-based men's & boys clothier, operated a store in the original shopping complex.
Photo from http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com
A Macy's ad from August 1968 beckons one and all to come see "the world's largest enclosed shopping center." The complex had just emerged from a 1.5 million dollar roofing renovation.
Advert from R.H. Macy & Company
A ROOSEVELT FIELD logo montage features trademarks of stores in operation at the mall during the late 1970s.
Long Island, New York's big kahuna shopping mall is seen in a late 1950s aerial. Macy's Roosevelt Field is the white structure on the left. On the north end of the mall, land is being cleared for the construction of a second anchor department store.
Photo from http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com
A circa-1965 view of the main mall concourse. The nameplate of Gimbels Roosevelt Field looms in the distance.
Photo from http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com
Photo from http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com
Above, we see the mall's Horn & Hardart Retail Shop, which sold pre-packaged take-out foods. The company was also known for its chain of self-service "Automat" restaurants.
Photo from http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com
Howard Clothes, a Brooklyn-based men's & boys clothier, operated a store in the original shopping complex.
Photo from http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com
A Macy's ad from August 1968 beckons one and all to come see "the world's largest enclosed shopping center." The complex had just emerged from a 1.5 million dollar roofing renovation.
Advert from R.H. Macy & Company
Have a field day at Roosevelt Field! A circa-1976 plan shows several recent modifications. As mentioned, the complex was enclosed and climate-controlled in 1967-'68. In 1971 and '72, two anchor department stores joined the retail roster; Alexander's and J.C. Penney. Two parking garages were also built. Le Petit Mall, a Tudor-motif mall-within-a-mall, opened for business in 1974.
