Green Acres Mall was built in 1956 on the northern portion of Curtiss Airfield and was one of Long Island's first open air malls. It was partially built on the former site of the Columbia Aircraft Corporation. In 1968, the mall was enclosed "to create an even more appealing shopping environment." At the time, there were three anchor stores, Lane's, JCPenney, and Gimbels. There were more renovations and an expansion in 1983 including adding a second level, food court and a fourth anchor store, Sears. In the early days of the mall, WMCA `Good Guys' would broadcast from the mall as would WABC. The ceilings, floors, and food court have been going under multimillion-dollar renovations to better compare to Long Island's largest mall, Roosevelt Field. The food court's renovation was finished in early 2006. The mall's other renovations were finished in March, 2007. New to the area is a Best Buy, Petsmart and a BJ's Wholesale Club which opened in early 2007. During the last few years the mall's slogan has been Re... such as Reinvented, Redone, Remastered, etc. It is on Long Island, right next to the border line separating Nassau County and Queens. Charlotte Russe closed in 2019. In January 2019, it was announced that Kohl's would close as part of a plan to close 4 stores nationwide. On January 17, 2020, it was announced that JCPenney would be closing as part of a plan to close 6 stores nationwide. The store will close on April 24, 2020. However, on June 17, it was included in an updated list of 136 stores closing.
Anchor stores
The mall has many anchors such as Macy's, Macy's Men's & Furniture Gallery, JCPenney, and Sears. It is currently owned and managed by The Macerich Company, having been previously owned and operated by Vornado Realty Trust until January 2013. It was announced in May 2012 that Vornado planned to sell the mall and some of its other retail centers, and in October 2012, it was announced that the mall was being sold to Macerich in a deal that completed in the beginning of 2013.
Former anchors
Gimbels - Closed in 1987. Replaced by Abraham & Straus, then Macy's
Lane's - Closed in 1960. Replaced by Love's, then S. Klein, then Korvettes, then Stern's, then Macy's Men's & Furniture Gallery and Kohl's. Kohl’s closed in 2019.
Green Acres Commons
In 2015 the Sunrise Cinemas complex at 750 Sunrise Highway was acquired by RIPCONY, a real estate management company, which completed the 366,000 SF of new shops and standalone eateries for Macerich Companies; dubbed Green Acres Commons. The complex opened in October 2016 with BJs Brewhouse, Buffalo Wild Wings, Ulta, 24-Hour Fitness, DXL, Five Below, Dick's Sporting Goods, HomeGoods, Sonic Drive-In Restaurant, Ashley Furniture store, Burlington and in 2017 CapitalOneBank and 2019 AT&T. A Marshalls and HBC Bank are projected for future occupancy. Existing properties Bronx BBQ, a 8,000SF eatery on the northwest corner remained. To the south are Walmart and The Home Depot. There have been lawsuits to rollback a $4.5mil tax increase affecting the Three town area surrounding the Green Acres mall. Hempstead Town Industrial Development Agency provided a tax incentive to the Green Acres Mall that would reduce the 2016 liability by that amount, resulting in increases that residents met with protests. The 15 year deal hinged on the promise of added security, renovations to the mall complex, and new higher-end stores which resulted in the commons.
