South Shore Plaza

South Shore Plaza is a shopping mall in Braintree, Massachusetts, owned by Simon Property Group. It is near the Braintree Split interchange, off the I-93 / US 1 and Route 37 junction. The mall opened as an open-air plaza in 1961; it was enclosed in 1976 and expanded between 1995–96. With 192 tenants and 1,586,446 sq ft (147,385.7 m2) of gross leasable area, the mall is the largest in New England in terms of square footage and is the 16th-largest mall in the United States.

South Shore Plaza
Interior of mall looking toward the Nordstrom wing (2012)
LocationBraintree, Massachusetts, United States
Address250 Granite Street
Opening date1961
ManagementSimon Property Group
OwnerSimon Property Group
No. of stores and services192[1]
No. of anchor tenants7 (6 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area1,586,446 sq ft (147,385.7 m2)[2]
No. of floors2 and partial basement
Parking7,388
Websitesimon.com/mall/south-shore-plaza

As of 2021, the mall's anchor stores are DSW, Macy's, Nordstrom, Sears, Primark, and Target. Previous anchors include Filene's, Filene's Basement, Jordan Marsh, and Lord & Taylor.

History

Opening and expansion

South Shore Plaza originally opened in 1961 as an open-air plaza with a 120,000 sq ft (11,000 m2) Filene's and thirty smaller stores. A 300,316 sq ft (27,900 m2) Jordan Marsh opened in 1967. The center was enclosed in 1976 and saw additional anchors, such as Lord & Taylor in 1979 and Sears in 1980, when the mall reached 100 stores. In 1995 and 1996, a second level was added, including the "Boardwalk Cafes" food court, and the Filene's store was expanded to include a home store. This nearly doubled the mall's size, giving it a bright and airy feel, largely because of abundant skylighting and spacious corridors. Also in 1996, the Jordan Marsh store was renamed Macy's. In 1998, Simon Property Group acquired the mall owner, Corporate Property Investors, and assumed management.

Effects of Federated–May merger

In 2005, May Department Stores, at the time the parent of Lord & Taylor and Filene's, was acquired by Federated Department Stores, the owner of Macy's. As a result, the Filene's store was briefly closed in March 2006, before using the space to relocate its Macy's store that May. The remainder of the Filene's stores were converted Macy's later that year. Federated sold the Lord & Taylor chain later that year and sold the vacant Jordan Marsh/Macy's space to Simon Property Group. Filene's Basement, one of the mall's former anchors, filed for bankruptcy protection on May 4, 2009. New York's Crown Acquisitions made a bid to buy Filene's Basement including their famous Downtown Crossing location which closed for reconstruction in 2007. [3] The South Shore Plaza store in Braintree closed in December 2011.

Redevelopment

A redevelopment opened on the former site of Jordan Marsh on March 26, 2010. The center now holds 2,165,000 sq ft (201,100 m2), making it New England's largest mall, and includes a newly constructed three-level, 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m2) Nordstrom, though the Jordan Marsh building was four stories. Simon Property Group announced on May 12, 2009 that they were in negotiations with the town of Braintree and Target to include a Target store on the lowest level of the 3 level mall addition.[4] Its grand opening was on October 10, 2010.[5] Numerous high-end retailers have joined the mall in the Nordstrom wing, including Sur La Table, Vera Bradley, and Sephora. The mall also received new carpeting, wall decor, food court seating/televisions, and signage as part of the renovations. The parking deck bridges that once connected to Jordan Marsh have now been restored.

In 2017, the Irish clothing retailer, Primark, opened in the former top level of Sears.[6]

On August 27, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would be closing all stores, including the South Shore Plaza location. The store closed on December 29, 2020.[7]

2020 shooting

On July 3, 2020, the mall went under a lockdown after two men fired 6 shots, hitting a 15-year-old girl. The assailants were taken into custody the same day, Police said the incident began as a fight between two groups inside the mall that may have known each other.[8]

List of anchor stores
Name No.
of floors		 Year
opened		 Year
closed		 Notes
DSW 1 2013 N/A Replaced Filene's Basement
Filene's 2 1961 2006
Filene's Basement 1 2011
Jordan Marsh 3 1967 1996
Lord & Taylor 2 1979 2020
Macy's 3 1996 2006 Replaced Jordan Marsh
2 2006 N/A Replaced Filene's
Nordstrom 3 2010 N/A New construction that replaced Jordan Marsh site
Sears 2 1980 N/A Downsized to first floor and basement in 2015
Primark 1 2017 N/A Replaced the second level of Sears
Target 1 2010 N/A New construction that replaced Jordan Marsh site

In pop culture

In 2008, the mall was used to film sequences of the movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop.[9]

References
  1. "South Shore Plaza® Directory". Simon Property Group. Retrieved 2011-03-15.
  2. "Property Information". Simon Property Group. Retrieved 2011-03-15.
  3. Donna Goodison (May 5, 2009). "N.Y. firm to nab 17 Filene's Basement stores for $22M". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012.
  4. "South Shore Plaza in talks with Target as anchor tenant". Boston Business Journal. May 12, 2009.
  5. "South Shore Plaza" (PDF). Simon Property Group. Retrieved 2011-03-15.
  6. http://www.patriotledger.com/news/20170613/primark-store-at-south-shore-plaza-opens-thursday
  7. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/08/27/lord-taylor-liquidation-sales-closing-all-stores/5643258002/
  8. "15-year-old killed after 6 gunshots fired at the South Shore Plaza". WCVB-TV Channel 5 (ABC Affiliate for Boston). July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  9. "'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' has local flavor". Wicked Local: Braintree. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

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