Whatever happened to A&S Plaza/Manhattan Mall?? aka Gimbels NYC flagship

The Manhattan Mall or A&S Plaza whatever happened to this mall?? As my first encounter in NY checking out shopping malls this was a brand new mall it all formed from a gutted out Gimbels NYC Flagship that closed in  1987.

On September 14, 1989, After the Gimbels closure in 1987, Abraham and Straus (A&S) opened its store in the borough of Manhattan even though their main flagship in Brooklyn was across the bridges leading into that borough. The building was renamed to A&S Plaza which contained 8 floors of the A&S store plus a upper floor food court and mall stores on every floor. The plaza had a opening night gala before the store opening with Tony Bennett performing and celebrating the stores 125th year in business which didn't last too long. A cast of the longtime Broadway play A Chorus Line participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony the following day. By year 130, A&S succumbed to its rival a block away which was Macy's who retired the A&S branding after the merger with Federated dept stores which on April 30,1995 most A&S stores converted to Macy's, Stern's or Bloomingdale's right away but the Manhattan location brought Stern's back into NYC as the mall changed its name to Manhattan Mall. The Stern's was also short lived as well as they also were retired by Macy's in 2001 which most stores converted to them or Bloomindale's as well. The mall had no anchors till 2007 as JC Penny entered the NYC market opening its anchor on the lower floors which the mall downsized after the A&S and Stern's era. The JCPenny lasted the longest in the mall as a anchor which lasted till 2020. today the mall is closed off to foot traffic inside but still you can access the NYC subway or Path train. 






                                             As Gimbels way back love that art deco skybridge 



        Unusual to see a Penny's store with a darkened interior vs mall stores which are bright 


the store that killed its competitors, Macy's



                                                 Rip Gimbels/A&S/Stern’s and JCPenny 


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