Staten Island Advance/Tracey Porpora

Hylan Plaza as we know it will soon be gone

Out with the old, in with the new: Hylan Plaza's current state is temporary. The longtime shopping hub, which was redesigned in the 1990s, will give way to a brand new shopping complex called The Boulevard.

You can read about it here, plus the latest news here.

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Courtesy of Kimco Realty Corp.

The Boulevard will bring "Main Street" to Hylan

Kimco Realty Corp. is designing a 356,000-square-foot shopping center in a multi-level "Main Street" format in Hylan Plaza. A brand new supermarket and movie theater will be among the approximately 60 retailers coming.

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Staten Island Advance/Mark Stein

The plaza's yellow letters

Seen here from Beach Avenue and Hylan Boulevard are the yellow Hylan Plaza letters that welcome visitors to the shopping plaza.

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Staten Island Advance

Construction during the 1960s

Workers clear what will be the parking lot for W.T. Grant's on Hylan Blvd. in New Dorp in this photo from June 1965. Grant's has since given way to K-Mart and King Kullen.

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Staten Island Advance/Mike Falco

Car shows at Hylan Plaza

This photo was taken on a typical Thursday night in the Hylan Shopping Plaza lot, during an annual summer amateur car show. July 1990.

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Remember Lionel Kiddie City?

Lionel Kiddie City was the chief New Dorp toy store prior to Toys "R" Us, but the parent company filed for bankruptcy in the early 1990s, and the Staten Island business went down with the ship. RIP.

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Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimo

Snow in Hylan Plaza

Anyone who often uses this plaza knows about the strategically placed snow mountains. Seen here is a man walking through the shopping center following a big 2011 snowstorm. In the background is one of the Hylan Plaza columns.

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Staten Island Advance

Movies at the Plaza!

The United Artists Theatre, by the closed Carvel. Easily the least favorite movie theater on Staten Island, this tiny complex has been a popular destination for moviegoers for at least two decades. Prior to that, Fox Plaza Twin Theater operated in the area having opened as a single theater in 1966.

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Staten Island Advance

Hylan Plaza: Episode II of the shopping hub

September 8, 1995: A worker installs a grand re-opening sign for the celebration of then-revamped Hylan Plaza.

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The trash tornado, a plaza trademark

Nestled in the corner of the movie theater and Toys "R" Us is a wind corner that would excite Ricky Fitts from "American Beauty." Somebody decided to record 10 seconds of this "Only Staten Islanders would get it" thing.

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Staten Island Advance/Irving Silverstein

Toys 'R' Us, a Hylan Plaza staple

Toys "R" Us was installed in Hylan Plaza in 1993. The popular toy shop replaced another similar store, Lionel's Kiddie City (see the next slide!). Garber Brothers operated in the space well before the giraffe- and kangaroo-mascotted businesses opened shop in New Dorp. Toys "R" Us briefly left the plaza in 2006, but returned (this time, with Babies "R" Us) four years later.

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Staten Island Advance

Hylan Plaza in 1986

Cars search for parking spots in the already filled lot of Hylan Plaza Shopping center in New Dorp. February 1986. See the Kmart and Pathmark? The latter is gone, and the fate of Kmart is unknown.

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Staten Island Advance

King Kullen came and went

We mentioned how Toys "R" Us came, went, and came back. Pathmark did the same after King Kullen temporarily took the supermarket's place in 2008. However, King Kullen only held the spot for about a year or so before Pathmark returned. It closed in 2015.

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Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimo

RIP, Pathmark

A shopper walks to stores in the Hylan Shopping Plaza in New Dorp as the sun struggles to get through, after the Island got walloped by a snow storm dumping over seven inches. The store closed in 2015.

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A nostalgic (sort of) look at Hylan Plaza

Earlier this year, SILive visited Hylan Plaza for a slightly informal, light-hearted recollection of the many stores that have come and gone.

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Staten Island Advance/Irving Silverstein

Hylan Plaza's Tex-Mex tenant

Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant had a long run at Hylan Plaza, but closed in October 2008. The venue was home to many fun-filled Cinco de Mayo bashes.

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Staten Island Advance

OTB called New Dorp home

The OTB at 2696 Hylan Blvd. in New Dorp closed in February 2008. It eventually became the home of CVS. For those who didn't dish out money to bet the horses, they'll probably recall watching the neon racing sign. We'll never forget you, neon racing sign.

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Staten Island Advance/Irving Silverstein

Kmart, the Hylan Plaza anchor

Kmart (once the Big K, remember?) continues dominate Hylan Plaza, but today is operates in a much more lonelier space, as Pathmark is no longer in business.

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Staten Island Advance

Grants, New Dorp's premier department store

Grants, the first major shopping anchor in the pre-Hylan Plaza hub. Today, it's Kmart. Picture from October 1967.

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Staten Island Advance

Have Hylan Plaza photos? Send them to us!

We'd love to see them. Attach photos to an email and send them to stein@siadvance.com with the subject "Hylan Plaza."

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