Three new tenants headed to Samanea New York mall in Westbury

Three new tenants are set to open by this spring at Samanea New York, as the Westbury mall's owner continues pushing to transform the property into a "lifestyle destination" with tenants selling more experiences than clothes.

After undergoing a $30 million revamp in 2021 aimed at revitalizing the struggling site formerly known as The Mall at the Source, the property's occupancy rate has risen to 76%, as tenants offering laser tag, rock climbing, miniature golf, arts and crafts, indoor pickleball courts, and other activities have opened in the past few years.

The three incoming tenants opening by this spring are NY Axe, an ax-throwing range; an Ichiddo Ramen eatery; and Crazy Hot Deals, a discounter selling clothing and housewares, said Dominic Coluccio, director of real estate for the mall. Crazy Hot Deals is relocating from Garden City to an approximately 10,400-square-foot space in the mall, he said.

Lesso Group Holdings Ltd., which has owned the mall for almost a decade, is satisfied with its current performance, he said.

“We created a unique leasing and development strategy, so we maximize the property’s best use and provided guests with unique first-to-market tenants so everyone can come and entertain, dine and shop,” he said. 

Located at 1500 Old Country Rd., the 750,000-square-foot mall was plagued by a high vacancy rate for years.

Built in 1996 for $200 million, the mall began to decline when one of its main anchors, a Fortunoff department store, closed in 2009 after the retailer filed for bankruptcy.

Lesso Mall Development Long Island Inc., a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Lesso Group Holdings Ltd., bought the property for $92 million in 2017, changed its name, and then completed a renovation of the property in 2021.

Lesso has been aiming to lure mostly experiential tenants and restaurants in an attempt to help insulate the mall from the online retail competition that has plagued shopping malls for more than a decade. Crazy Hot Deals will be among the few clothing retailers in the mall. 

Malls fight vacancies

From 2015 to 2025, the average vacancy rate for shopping malls and open-air shopping centers rose from 0.9% to 5.7% on Long Island, according to CoStar Group, an Arlington, Virginia-based provider of real estate information.

During the same period, it rose from 3.9% to 8.6% nationwide.

Shopping malls are increasingly incorporating experiential tenants to generate higher foot traffic or retain customers, said David Caputo, data scientist at Moody’s Analytics, a financial intelligence provider in Manhattan.

“Visitors to these experiential tenants typically spend more time and visit more frequently than customers seeking traditional merchandise,” Caputo said in an email, adding that experiential offerings tend to appeal to a younger demographic.

Also, the longer visits help adjacent retailers by driving customers to stores before and after their entertainment experiences, he said.

'More of a destination'

When the renovation on Samanea New York was completed in 2021, there were only six tenants, including Dave & Buster’s, The Cheesecake Factory and Bloomingdale’s Furniture Outlet.

There are now 36 tenants operating at the mall, Coluccio said.

They include The Gravity Vault, a rock-climbing gym; Ryco’s Escape Room & Lounge; X-Golf, a combination indoor golf simulator, restaurant and bar venue; I.FLY Trapeze, an indoor trapeze school; Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, a dumpling soup restaurant; Rainbow Nails & Foot Spa; 99 Ranch Market, an Asian supermarket; and Gatsby’s Game Café. 

Matt Mullen opened his Empire Adventure Park in a 35,572-square-foot space at the mall in 2024.

The family entertainment center’s sales have exceeded the highest projections, said Mullen, who declined to disclose sales numbers, he said.

“My business is more of a destination. … My business is thriving here,” he said.

He said he’d like to see more tenants at the mall, but believes Lesso is "making sure they have the right mix and I understand that,” he said.

Arts and crafts studio Let’s Craft relocated from another Westbury spot on Old Country Road to a larger space, 3,100 square feet, in the mall in 2023. Most of the studio’s customers come from booked workshops, owner Karrie Anne Vitti said.

“We started off slow initially, but we’ve really started to hit a really nice stride with a lot of birthday parties on the weekends and ladies’ night out and workshops,” she said.

While her business is improving, she would like to see more diversity in the restaurant tenants. She'd also like more walk-in customers, which she believes could be achieved by having more retailers in the mall to draw shoppers.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.