Boulevard Mall — Attraction in Town of Amherst

Smaller than the Walden Galleria mall that isn't that far away, it still has most of the stores I generally go to for shopping. For people who live in the area, I can see the convenience of coming here but since I commute out of town, both locations being about the same distance, I seldom end up shopping here. For the smaller stores, the selection stays about the same since their real estate didn't really change. The big department stores like Macy's, the selection is noticeably smaller, particularly in the men's clothing department. If you are looking for in house brands, which many may not be aware of but I am since I am a former employee of Macy's, they had about the same. If you are looking for a wider selection in other fashion brands, I would go the Walden Galleria. I can't attest to the other departments as I didn't thoroughly inspect them. Understandably, men's fashion isn't grossing the majority of the numbers and if you know what you want, you can always have them order it and send it to you. This usually doesn't work for me since I like to try on everything and have spent hours shopping for clothes. Yes, as a straight male adult, I enjoy clothes shopping. This location didn't have enough for me to spend more than an hour trying on clothes, versus the Walden Galleria or larger locations elsewhere like the Destiny Mall in Syracuse where I have spent minimum 2 hours. Given the demographic in New York state, fashion is generally pretty conservative unless you are in New York City so the meager fashion selection for men's clothing...

This place was magical in it's hay-day. Before the retail apocalypse came along, this was a place where we, as young and broke teenagers hung out. I have too many memories connected to this place. All the shopping done for dances, weddings, back to school etc. All the friends I spent hours walking around with. My first date was here. Truly a marvelous time in our teenage wasteland days.

This wasn't just a mall to most of us, it was our social gathering. You saw everyone here on the weekends. Every store was packed. You could actually try clothes on before buying them. No "what I ordered online vs. what I got in the mail" issue. There was a food court that had a great variety of food. I became a regular there and made friends with employees. This was an organic way of meeting others and watching yourself grow out of the mall rat phase.

As most reviews are stating: No more food court. Most stores are closing and nothing is replacing them. There is an eerie and quiet vibe when walking through this place. They don't even decorate as nicely for Christmas anymore. Why bother? Everyone shops online these days.

The reason for my obnoxiously long review/rant is mostly due to sadness that this place that has been such a staple of my early years is dying out. Now an adult, I sometimes still do a quick walk around when I need something, but it just isn't the same vibe anymore.

Who knows? Maybe one day far into the future, malls will become popular again. Time is...

I’ve been to this mall twice, and both times I marvelled at the fact it’s still open. From the moment I turned into the massive empty parking lot, I note the mall sign’s are all falling apart with so many random wires sticking out. Once inside, things are very quiet and albeit kind of creepy. There is probably only 1/4 of the stores open compared to back in the mall’s hay day, and the bones of this mall are really showing it’s age. It’s in dire need of a makeover. Store wise, I was really impressed to see stores like H&M, Macy’s and Bath & Body Works still operating here. In fact, those three stores had the majority of customers in them, the rest of the mall was bare. I did find a couple cute things to buy in those three stores though. I wonder if they put up any holiday decor in this mall, but sadly I won’t be back anytime soon to see if they do. Should the right developer come along who can revamp this place, it has potential to come back to life, but it will need a stellar ad campaign to do so. Unfortunately I see this mall as merely being on life support, and someday soon the plug...