The Poughkeepsie Galleria (locally known as The Galleria) is a shopping mall on U.S. 9 in the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York, located just north of Wappingers Falls, and is the biggest shopping center in New York's Hudson Valley region. The mall opened in 1987 after much controversy regarding construction, due to its close proximity to the South Hills Mall. Prior to the construction of the Galleria, the South Hills Mall was the dominant retail center of Dutchess County. The Poughkeepsie Galleria has an area of 1,100,000-square-foot (100,000 m2) with two floors containing 140 shops[1] and 14 restaurants as well as a 16-screen, stadium-seating Regal Cinemas theater. The mall is owned and managed by The Pyramid Companies, a group who also owns and manages regional sister mall Galleria at Crystal Run in Middletown, NY, as well as the Palisades Center in West Nyack, NY. The Poughkeepsie Galleria has adopted the Pyramid corporate "MB-18" teenage curfew policy on Friday and Saturday evenings, a policy that began in September 2005.
In the early 1980s, a proposal for a two story indoor mall in Poughkeepsie, New York was submitted. Despite much conflict and many protests, the proposal was submitted, and the mall opened on August 1, 1987 as the Poughkeepsie Galleria Mall. The mall's grand opening included the following anchor stores: G. Fox and Co., Jordan Marsh, Lechmere, Steinbach and J.C. Penney. The mall also included dozens of smaller retailers, restaurants, a movie theater and a food court. One wall of the food court was entirely enclosed by windows overlooking the parking lot with an escalator entrance leading to the cinemas. The mall was very family oriented, and had a red color scheme. It included big, colorful origami-like objects in center court by the stairs. In 1991, the mall began construction on a two story addition adjacent to the food court. The addition eliminated the window enclosure at end of the food court, despite receiving criticism from many of the food retailers. In 1992 Jordan Marsh went out of business and was replaced by Sears.
In 1994, G. Fox was taken over by Filene's, subsequently Macy's in 2004. Steinbach also went out of business, and its space became Dick's Sporting Goods in October 1995, relocated to its current location, the 2nd floor at the end of the food court. Lechmere became defunct, and the space was divided into three separate stores, later becoming Best Buy, Old Navy and H&M. In the early 2000s, the mall's red paint scheme was changed to sea foam green, and the large origami-like sculptures in center court were removed. Montgomery Ward went out of business and Dick's Sporting Goods moved into its space up in the food court. Target moved into the Dick's former location. During January 2005, the mall announced it would enact and begin enforcing the Pyramid Companies' "MB-18" teenage curfew policy beginning in September 2005, following a large fight involving young teenagers in front of then-Filene's. Due to the size of the incident, local police were called, and several arrests were made.
On February 15, 2007, a 30-foot (9.1 m) by 50-foot (15 m) section of the top level of the parking garage in front of tenants Ruby Tuesday and Best Buy collapsed.[4] The town and the mall blamed the snow removal company, saying that the snow was improperly concentrated in a small area causing the failure under heavy loads. The snow removal company claims their snow clearing practices have remained unchanged for years, and that the collapse was due to poor structural design.[5] The New Hamburg Fire District responded and were the command authority at the scene. They were assisted by the Town of Poughkeepsie Police, Dutchess County Sheriff's Office, and Search and Rescue K-9's from the New York State Police. Sections of the parking deck were reopened on May 17, 2007, however public mistrust plagued the structure.[6] As recently as January 2017, the sections of the parking deck that were affected by the collapse remain closed to the public, even though they were repaired. Concrete barriers prevent shoppers from parking in these areas.
In August 2007, the Poughkeepsie Galleria pleaded guilty for violating 302.3 of the New York State Maintenance Code, and was fined $1,000. An earlier civil complaint required the mall to pay $20,000 to the town to cover cleanup and response fees. The early 2010's saw another major remodel of the Galleria interior. The sea foam green accents were painted white, and the incandescent light strips that adorned the trimming on the mall's upper level were replaced with LED light strips. The pink, black, and green floors tiles around the mall were all replaced with shiny and matte white floor tiles. New carpeted seating areas with burgundy and brown modern furniture were also added in front of the Best Buy and in the Galleria's center court. The old seating benches around trees growing on the first floor, as well as various other small seating areas around the mall were also updated to match the burgundy and brown color scheme. ^ a b [1] Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
^ [2] Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. ^ [3] Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. ^ [4] Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.Jamal "Mally" Gaines at the grand opening of his sneaker boutique in 2013. East Coast sneaker store sits on a commercial strip in downtown Rahway, New Jersey, a working class city just south of Newark. For the past two and a half years, it has been a destination for sneaker collectors throughout the state. But this week, the hole-in-the-wall boutique remains darkened and locked. Four days ago, East Coast’s owner, 21-year-old Jamal “Mally” Gaines, was shot and killed inside the shop he had worked for years to build. “He worked every day, day in and day out, to help his sister, mother, and grandmother,” said one of Gaines’s business partners, who calls himself SoleyGhost, in an . He recalled one day several weeks ago when a blizzard blanketed Rahway in snow. He called Gaines to warn him not to go into work, “but it was too late for that.
He wouldn’t let it happen. He had business to do.” Gaines’s obsession with sneakers began in middle school. He’d pore over YouTube videos of sneakerheads detailing their latest hauls, and camp outside of stores when a new model would be released. “He just had a love for them,” his older sister, Divinity Gaines, tells The Trace. “One time he told me, ‘The sneakers just love me back. I can go to them and they’re always going to be there.’” Subscribe to receive The Trace’s daily roundup of important gun news and analysis. Thanks for your subscription! Your signup request was successful. Please consider sharing the Daily Bulletin with your friends and followers. At 18, Gaines sold most of his 500-pair collection and invested in his first shop. The business didn’t catch on and closed within three months. But Gaines remained undeterred. He had cultivated a reputation for resilience as a senior in high school, when he recovered from a serious car accident.
And last year, he dealt with a progressive eye disease that left him blind in one eye. Following the initial closure of his store, Gaines stacked boxes at FedEx until he saved enough to try again. Six months later, in the summer of 2013, he opened his second boutique beside a Masonic temple on Irving Street. Inside the narrow, low-ceilinged space, he populated one brick wall with rows of pristine Nikes: Jordans, LeBrons, Kobes — some of which sold for up to $1200 a pair. EASTCOAST HAS GOT ANGEL TODAY OUR VERY OWN @cali_kickz CANDLE LIGHTING AT 9PM AT EASTCOAST!! A photo posted by Eastcoast•Consigment•BuyBack (@eastcoastboutique) on Feb 27, 2016 at 11:30am PST Last Friday night, Gaines closed the shop as usual around 8 pm. He was still there an hour later when some men pounded on the back door. Gaines told a friend to let them in, according to an employee who was there that night and later spoke with Gaines’s mother, Tina Wilson. “The guy pushed his arm and put the gun to his head, so my son threw a drink on the guy with a gun and ran toward him.
And the second guy shot him,” Wilson told News 12 New Jersey. Gaines’s death marked the first gun homicide this year in Rahway, according to the Gun Violence Archive. In 2015, there were only two gun murders in the city of more than 28,000. Authorities are still searching for suspects, and a motive. “They didn’t get money, they didn’t get sneakers. They just got Mally,” said SoleyGhost in an . “I lost a best friend and a business partner over nothing. SoleyGhost and other friends of Gaines plan to to preserve his legacy. On Saturday evening, nearly 150 people — friends, family, and community members — flooded the street in front of the shop, holding candles, sharing memories, and voicing outrage about Gaines’s death. “Young black man with a business!” shouted Miriam Harris, pointing to the shop’s illuminated sign behind her. That’s important in our community.” On the sidewalk behind her, mourners had propped plastic-wrapped bouquets of roses in the insoles of Nike shoes.