Dick's Sporting Goods, last tenant at Sunrise Mall, closing in April

Dick's Sporting Goods at Sunrise Mall will close April 4, according to a sign posted in the store.

The store is the last tenant at the Massapequa mall, where Amazon plans to build a 24/7 warehouse and distribution center on a 26.7-acre portion of the property that the e-commerce conglomerate intends to buy. The mall's owner confirmed that the athletic store's lease will expire in April.

"We look forward to discussing further plans for the property with the community as they develop," said Jeff Mooallem, CEO at Urban Edge Properties, a Manhattan-based real estate investment trust and the managing member of Sunrise Mall Holdings LLC, which owns the property.

Other Dick's Sporting Goods locations on Long Island will remain open, according to the sign in Massapequa, which also directs customers to the company website as an alternative for purchasing athletic gear. There are eight Dick's Sporting Goods stores across Long Island, according to the company website. 

Dick's Sporting Goods, headquartered in Pennsylvania, did not respond to a request for comment.

Sunrise Mall, built in 1973, was once a popular shopping destination with 1.2 million square feet of retail space on 77 acres of land. But, like many other malls around the United States, the shopping center lost tenants over the past decade with the growth of online shopping — a decline exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 

Some experts say, though, that malls have been evolving rather than declining. 

"Consumer expectations have shifted significantly and consumers now want experiences, convenience, and a mix of uses beyond traditional retail," said Stephanie Cegielski, vice president of industry education and public relations at industry group ICSC. "While some malls haven’t been able to adapt to these changing preferences, many are successfully evolving to change their tenant mixes and services that attract customers." 

The loss of malls or shopping centers without plans for a replacement can also mean the loss of a "key economic driver, a central gathering place," access to services and retail, as well as a source of local jobs for communities, Cegielski said in an email. 

"This is why many communities and developers are investing in repurposing older properties, turning them into mixed‑use destinations that restore their value to the community in new ways," she said. 

Plans for Sunrise Mall

In Massapequa, plans for the proposed 150,348-square-foot Amazon facility call for parts of the mall to be demolished, Newsday has reported. 

Brian Nevin, a spokesperson for the Town of Oyster Bay, said Monday that Amazon has not yet submitted plans for demolition and is undergoing site plan and environmental reviews.

Planning documents filed with the town indicate construction of the Amazon facility would take around 13 months, Newsday has reported. 

The property changed hands in 2020 when Sunrise Mall Holdings purchased the mall from the Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield for $29.7 million, a far cry from the $143 million value the site held when it previously sold in 2005.

Newsday's Tory N. Parrish contributed to this story.