Bedford Mall

The construction of the Bedford Mall started in 1968. The Mall would open on August 14th 1969, with the main anchor stores being Grants Department Store, Purity Supreme Supermarket, and Bedford Mall Cinemas. Some other stores that opened with the mall were CVS Pharmacy, Hallmark, Paperback Booksmith, Anderson Little, and Weeks Restaurant. There was also a New Hampshire liquor store only accessible from the exterior of the mall connected to Purity Supreme. In early 1973 the Grants was rebranded to Grant City. In October 1975 the Bedford Mall Cinema expanded to 3 screens. In March 1976, Alexanders bought the Purity Supreme store, and in late March 1976 Grant City closed after its bankruptcy. Alexanders would rebrand/take over the Purity Supreme in May 1976. Montgomery Ward would later open in the former grants in spring 1977. In the late 70s-early 80s Papa Ginos opened. In spring 1987 the theater was expanded to 4 screens. In mid-1990 Alexanders and the NH liquor store closed and moved to a new plaza up the road.  In 1991, an expansion was added to the front of the mall, which included two new anchor tenants: Marshalls, who moved from across the street, and Paperama, which opened in February of that year. A Chinese buffet would later move into the former liquor store. On November 12th 1992, MVP Sports opened in former Alexanders. Canad Cinemas took over the cinema in late 1992. Canad Cinema was bought/taken over by Hoyts Cinemas in 1997 along with the rest of the chain. In late 1997 Montgomery Ward closed. Paperama was replaced by The Party Experience in May 1997. The Party Experence did not last long and would close in late June 1998. Linens ‘n Things and Bob's stores opened in former Montgomery Wards in the late 90s. Linen ‘n Things would take over the 1/2 where the mall entrance was and Bob’s would open in the rest and was only accessible from the exterior. The Bob’s stores also had a one-of-a-kind prototype sign. In 1999 MVP Sports was bought by Decathlon Sports and rebranded but the interior entrance and road sign stayed as MVP Sports. In 2000 the mall was remodeled changing the interior brick walls to new white walls with square designs. An Outback steakhouse was built in the parking lot in 2001. The mall started losing tenants in the 2000s because of the larger Mall of NH 2 miles up the highway and other new retail stores opening in the area. Paperback Booksmith closed in the early 2000s. In April 2003 the Hoyts cinema was taken over by Regal Cinemas. In late 2003 Decathlon sports closed. The Chinese buffet closed in the mid-2000s. Regal Cinemas closed on October 2, 2007. Linens ‘n Things closed in December 2008. Papa Ginos closed in 2009. In mid- 2009 CVS closed and moved to a newly built stand-alone store down the street. In early 2009 it was announced that the mall was going to be redeveloped into a shopping center. The plan for the mall was that everything north of and including the movie theater would be demolished for a Kohls department store, and some of the mall's remaining stores would relocate. Partial demo and construction started in November 2010. The only stores that stayed from the original mall were Marshalls which moved into the former Linen ‘n Things, Bob’s stores didn't move, Staples moved to a newly constructed building, Michaels Hair School stayed in its original spot in the mall and was just walled off, and key nails moved into the former Montgomery Ward auto section. During the transition of the mall, the Bob’s store received regular Bob’s store signage getting rid of its unique signage, but the highway building sign was untouched until its closure. In early 2011 staples reopened in new space and Marshalls partially reopened in the former Linen ‘n Things. The construction was mostly completed in early 2012. On March 7th 2012, Kohls opened. On March 31st 2012, Pet Supply Plus opened. On June 27 2012, Fresh Market opened. In mid-2012 construction started on a new building in the parking lot that included Starbucks which opened on September 7th 2012, along with Chipotle around the same time and a bank that later opened between the two. There was additional store space next to Staples, stores that would open in the spaces were Famous Footwear, Jos A Bank, and Sally Beauty. In summer 2017 Bob's stores closed. The fresh market closed in late July - early August 2018. Famous Footwear closed in 2019. In 2019 the citizen's bank in the parking lot was demolished and rebuilt to a more modern building. Sierra and Homesense opened on September 26th 2019 in the former Bob’s stores. In late June 2020, Outback Steakhouse closed. Jos A Bank Catalog store closed in mid-late 2020. On October 25th  2021, Tuckers opened in the former Outback. Micheals closed in late 2022-early 2023. On October 30th 2024 world market opened in the former Fresh market.