The last Sears store on Long Island closed this week to little fanfare (not counting Brooklyn which is part of New York City). The store was on the north side of Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, New York. Sunrise Mall is a two-level shopping center with one major hall running north and south on both stories. Click on pictures to enlarge.
Pictures taken inside Sears about six months ago on a Thursday afternoon in April. The Sears store appeared clean and orderly, modern and well kept, except that floors were worn out. Stock was spread sparsely to fill the large two-level store. There were few customers. Looking out the north exit, there were no cars visible in the parking lot.
Shot of Sears taken in the distance from the upper level of Sunrise Mall. The mall was bathed in sun, clean and well kept, but many stores are closed, with vacancy rates at about one-third. Barely a soul was around in the mid afternoon.
A major department store, once JCPenney, was still boarded up in the center of the mall (in the fourth and fifth photos in the above collection). There were empty stores throughout the mall, including on the Macy’s side, which was also empty of customers.
Diagram from the directory of Sunrise Mall first level, above. North is left, south is right. Gallery of outside and around Sunrise Mall below.
Sunrise Mall was a shadow of its former self, but the pet store was open and chock full of popular poodle mixes. Prices started at about 4000 dollars each.
The days of going to Sears at the mall are just about over now.