Remember The Como/Appletree Mall In Cheektowaga?

I have a memory of driving down Union Road when I was a kid with my dad and I noticed a big, long building on my right that said "Appletree," and that caught my attention.

I asked my dad, "what's that building?" He said, "that's a business park but it used to be a mall!"

That building was indeed a mall. Before 1985, it was called the Como Park Mall, or Como Mall for short. By 1985 the mall was renamed the Appletree Mall.

The Como Park Mall was popular in the 70s and early 80s, with Hens & Kelly department store being the mainstay retail store, along with the Como 8 Theaters.

However, with the changing times came struggles for the mall. Just a few years after renovations and rebranding as the Appletree Mall, the Walden Galleria opened up down the road in May of 1989, which spelled doom for the mall's future.

Sure enough, by 1991 the Appletree Mall became the Appletree Business Park and by 1994, the last retail store left the property and the mall was dead.

However, if you walk through the business park today, you can still tell this was a mall at one point. They even kept the green carpets long after the mall was defunct and even the water fountains.

You can check out a video below of the property now.