Eastern Hills Mall

Opening partly in late 1971 with 14 stores, the Eastern Hills Mall (planned to be called Buffalo Mall by the Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation) was completed by 1972. With anchors of AM&A's, JCPenney, Sears, Jenss, and Hengerer's, the mall was the largest in the Buffalo market at the time. The mall also had a Woolworths store as a junior anchor right up until 1997 when the company closed all its stores. Kaufman's would take the Sibley's space over in 1990 while in 1994 AM&A's became Bon-Ton. The mall saw a period of decline in the 1990s, likely thanks to the 1989 opening of the Walden Galleria. Jenss would close its doors in 1997, and a Burlington Coat Factory would move in the following year until closing in 2005. Kaufman's became Macy's in 2006. Dave & Buster's, which I believe took over the former Burlington, moved to the Walden Galleria in 2015 and a lot of stores either followed or closed. Macy's closed in spring 2017, but was quickly replaced by a vendor marketplace. Sears closed in fall 2018. 

The good news is that even with the loss of Bon-Ton and Sears, replacement stores have already been found. Bon-Ton is set to become a Raymour & Flanigan furniture store while Sears will be replaced with a local Buffalo-themed retailer. Long-term plans call for the mall to be redeveloped into an open-air shopping center, but it would seem that the anchor buildings would likely stay since they are filled or will be.

Eastern Hills Mall Sears Closing

One of Buffalo's two last remaining Sears stores was announced to close prior to the bankruptcy announcement. This location is the Eastern Hills Mall in Williamsville, leaving just the Blasdell McKinley Mall location to serve the region alone. Bankruptcy documents suggest that store too may close leaving just a lone Kmart in Buffalo. Anyways, here's a look at the store during its final months: 

Goodbye Sears

While a move to Chapter 7 bankruptcy isn't out of the question, it is in Eddie Lampert's best interest in keeping both Kmart and Sears alive. He has given too much of his personal fiancees and time to see the brands come to a sudden end. While he is no longer in charge at Sears Holdings, there are plenty of indications that he and/or his company ESL plans to be a bidder to buy around 400 Sears and Kmart locations that are the most profitable remaining and keep these 400 or so locations open. At the time of declaring bankruptcy, Sears had around 800 stores.