In a borough where storefronts have started to empty out and “for lease” signs have become all too common, Bay Plaza in Co-op City is still drawing crowds. It’s turning Bronx shopping into a rare retail spotlight for families and small-business owners.
Bay Plaza, a mall in Co-op City, has been around for 38 years. It welcomes more than 16 million shoppers every year, making it one of the busiest retail districts in the Bronx, according to the mall’s owner, Prestige Properties.
Sharon Brown, 42, who lives near the Bronx Zoo, said she shops at Bay Plaza frequently for the variety of stores Bay Plaza has to offer.
“I shop here too often. I came here today for Victoria’s Secret, Pink and JCPenny,” Brown said. “I shop all over.”
“I come here regularly. For sneakers [and] when the change of the seasons come, for clothing,” she added.
The Bay Plaza complex spans more than two million square feet, which includes more than 150 stores. The enclosed mall within the complex spans 780,000 square feet.
Anthony Madouty, 39, who lives in Wakefield, said he visits the mall at least once a month because he lives close by.
“They have a multiple variety of stores. I just come to shop around and see what’s on sale. Parking and everything is a great experience overall,” Madouty said.
Madouty said the mall’s look and atmosphere keeps him coming back.
“I shop here on a regular basis,” he said. “Bay Plaza is great.”
“You can bring your family and have an enjoyable shopping experience,” Madouty added.
When the Mall at Bay Plaza opened in Aug. 2014, it became New York City’s first enclosed fashion mall since Queens Center opened in 1973.
Caryn Salomon, a store owner at Bay Plaza runs a women’s wear store called Ily. The store sells premiere Colombian shapewear and jeans. She spoke highly of the mall as one of its residents.
“I think that the mall has done a really great job with the stores, the layout of the mall and the whole landscape of the shopping experience here,” Salomon said.
Ily is a retail chain that sells premiere Colombian shapewear and jeans with additional stores in Queens and West Nyack.
“I haven’t seen any other shopping centers that compare to what Bay Plaza has done,” she added.
“I am a faja store and we cater mostly to a Latina and more urban crowd. We’ve done very well in the short five months that we’ve been in the mall. We fit in perfectly with the demographic of shoppers that come into the mall,” Salomon said.
Salomon’s Ily store is located on the first floor of the mall for all shoppers to see when they visit.
“I think it’s a great space for people to walk around and there’s a lot of variety. Both high-end, low-end and everything in between. The mall has done a really great job at catering to all shoppers,” she added.
More than a mall:
Karla Medina, 25, who lives in Manhattan, said she visited Bay Plaza Mall to do Christmas shopping for her mother who lives in the Bronx.
“This is my very first time inside this mall,” Medina said. “I just like to walk around and wherever the shopping spirit moves me that’s where I go.”
Medina said she was drawn to Bay Plaza because of its store selection without mentioning any specifically. She has noticed retail closures across the city.
“Aside from it being really close to where my mom lives, I know the malls all around the city and the country have sort of been dwindling but they have a pretty good selection here,” she said.
According to amNY, retailers in New York have been closing at a rapid pace due to e-commerce that COVID-19 accelerated since the beginning of the decade.
The Bronx suffered the second largest rate of chain stores declining in the city at 13.8%. Manhattan has the biggest retail decline at 18.3%.
When the mall opened in Aug. 2014, it generated 1,800 new permanent jobs due to the multitude of stores that hired many Bronxites, according to the Bronx Borough President Office.
“The stores are really nice, it’s pretty clean and I feel pretty safe to shop around here,” Medina said. “I can see why it’s probably one of the most popular ones in the city.”
Jody Senior, 30, is the manager of Lush, a retail chain that sells fresh handmade cosmetics at the mall, founded in the UK. She noted how attractive Bay Plaza is.
“In the Bronx, there’s definitely a sense of community in this mall which is really cool. A lot of people that come into our shop specifically are people who shop all year round. It’s a prime place to shop,” Senior said.
Bronxite shoppers, Adara Simon, 37, and Calvin Webb, 29, also described the mall as a main shopping spot for the Bronx.
“I come here whenever I need something. It’s a pretty clean mall,” said Simon, who lives in Throggs Neck. “I think they have a lot of stores. So, there’s variety, especially if you’re looking for clothes.”
Webb, who lives in Baychester, claims Bay Plaza draws a wide mix of shoppers.
“Bay Plaza is its own little city,” he said. “It’s really big. No matter what age you are, you can see all walks of life through this mall.”
Waco Realty, an agency that owns the mall, said Bay Plaza is the premiere district in the Bronx for holiday shopping because of its diverse services.
“The Mall at Bay Plaza is the largest shopping destination in NYC with over 150 stores, services & restaurants,” Etan Shalem, a representative from Prestige Properties who runs the realty firm, said in a statement to the Bronx Times.
“We love the Bronx and feel so fortunate to call this borough our home for more than four decades,” Shalem said.
“Above all else, we strive to be the best community partner and neighbor that we can be.”
For shoppers, Bay Plaza is a mix of big-name anchors and neighborhood favorites. For retailers, it’s a customer base that still shows up in person. For the Bronx, it’s a reminder that despite the rise of e-commerce, the quality and convenience can keep a mall feeling more like a community hub.
LaMont Jackson is a contributing writer at the Bronx Times and a journalism student at Hunter College. He can be reached at Lamontjackson2323@gmail.com
