AMHERST, N.Y.- Dick's Sporting Goods is coming to the Boulevard Mall.
The mall announced Monday that construction on the store will begin early this year and it will be built on the site of the current food court.
"By bringing Dick's Sporting Goods to the mall, we are adding a popular full-line sporting goods retailer with a wide variety of quality, brand-name sports equipment, apparel and footwear," Brian Calvert, Boulevard Mall General Manager said in a statement.
Dick's is moving its Meyer Road store, the one off of Maple Road, into the Boulevard Mall.
"This is part of a broader trend in the mall industry to improve the overall guest experience by activating under-utilized areas with new tenants and retail concepts while retaining and upgrading foodservice options and amenities," said Calvert.
Management would not let us inside to shoot video Monday night, but we went in without the camera and found that only three restaurants in the food court are still open. There is space for about twelve.
Workers at Verizon, which is in the food court right now and will soon move to a different space at the mall, told us three other restaurants closed at the end of the year.
Dick's will take up 55,000 square feet. So what will happen to the three food court restaurants that are left?
The mall's general manager told us that because of leases getting worked out right now, he can't tell us which places are staying, but he says he should be able to make an announcement in about a week.
The carousel in the food court is operated by a third party and will be leaving mall property.
The children's play area will move to another area of the mall and will be all new. And, the family events are not going anywhere. Santa and the Easter Bunny will still be visiting the mall.
Demolition will start by the end of this month, and Dick's is expected to open this fall. Calls and emails for comments from Dick's Sporting Goods went unanswered Monday.
