The Hudson Valley Mall opened in October 1981 with anchor stores including Kmart, JCPenney, Hess's, and a Hoyts six-screen theater named Cinema 6, which was later expanded to 12 screens and rebranded under Regal Cinemas.
In 1989, the mall expanded to include a Sears on the east side, a new food court, and approximately 15 additional stores, with Sears having relocated from the Kingston Plaza.
In 1995, Hess's closed due to bankruptcy and was replaced by Filene's the following year, while Kmart relocated to a nearby Super Kmart along U.S. Route 9W that later closed and was replaced by a Kohl's.
In the early 2000s, Pyramid Companies, the mall's owner, renovated the mall interior and brought in new tenants, splitting the former Kmart space into Best Buy (opened in 2000) and Dick's Sporting Goods (opened in 2001), and adding a Target store next to these spaces in 2001.[2]
GameStop, originally operating as EB Games, had been a longtime tenant, and after GameStop acquired EB Games in 2005, the store transitioned to the GameStop name by around 2008 and remained one of the longest-lasting stores in the mall.
In May 2006, Rita’s Water Ice opened, and on September 9, 2006, Filene’s was rebranded as Macy’s.
By 2007, the mall featured over 80 stores including American Eagle, Gap, Best Buy, Kay Jewelers, Zales, Verizon Wireless, Sinclair, LensCrafters, Jules Vision, Taco Bell, and Friendly’s, the latter of which closed in November 2011, while McDonald’s had already closed its food court location by May 2007.
JCPenney closed in 2017, likely due to early bankruptcy pressures at the chain level, and Sears followed in April 2018 as part of that company’s broader downsizing strategy.
Regal Cinemas shuttered its 12-screen theater in August 2018, ending first-run cinema service at the mall, and in early 2019 NCG Cinema took over the space, becoming the only NCG location in New York and remaining open thereafter.
Old Navy left in January 2019, relocating to Kings Mall in the former Modell’s Sporting Goods location, while Kingston Athletics moved into the Hudson Valley Mall later that year in October.
Best Buy closed in October 2020, and in March 2021 its former location was repurposed into Ulster County’s main COVID-19 vaccination site, capable of administering up to 2,500 doses daily and accommodating 300 vehicles, before that site closed in February 2023.
Spirit Halloween began occupying the former Gander Mountain/Gander Outdoors space from 2020 to 2023; Gander Mountain had originally closed in 2017, briefly reopened as Gander Outdoors, then closed again, and in 2023 Spirit Halloween moved to the former Best Buy space before later relocating off-site to the former Big Lots on Ulster Avenue, leaving the former Best Buy space vacant again.
Dick’s Sporting Goods received approval from the Town of Ulster to relocate from its mall location into the former Gander Mountain/Gander Outdoors site at the adjacent Hudson Valley Plaza, and as of June 2025 work was underway at the new location but the move had not yet been completed. Subsequent reporting indicated that Dick’s is expected to remain open at Hudson Valley Mall until February 2026, with the new Hudson Valley Plaza store planned to open around March 2026.
By September 2024, the mall still hosted several tenants, including Jimmy Jazz, Target, GameStop, NCG Cinema, Hudson Valley Mall Dental, Quest Medical Practice, Innate Movement Parkour, Kingston Athletics, Mauceri Muay Thai, the Boy Scouts office, and a United States Postal Service branch. Jimmy Jazz had closed its mall location by late December 2024, and shortly afterward GameStop closed abruptly on January 5, 2025, with little notice to staff and no public announcement, with the store fully vacated by January 10, 2025.
The United States Postal Service branch at Hudson Valley Mall permanently closed on May 29, 2025, with postal services for customers redirected to the Kingston Post Office on Cornell Street and other nearby locations.
Hudson Valley Mall Dental officially closed on May 29, 2025, and as of that date the mall no longer had an operating dental office, despite earlier reports that a new provider might take over the space.
As of December 2025, Hudson Valley Mall hosts a smaller but varied group of tenants, reflecting its ongoing transition from a traditional enclosed mall to a mixed-use community site. Major and anchor occupants include Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and NCG Cinema, while other tenants center on health, fitness, and community services, such as Health Quest Medical Practice, Innate Movement Parkour, Kingston Athletics, Mauceri Muay Thai, Unisex Hair Palace, and the Boy Scouts of America – Rip Van Winkle Council office.
Incidents
2005 mall shooting
On February 13, 2005, Robert Bonelli, age 24, of Glasco, New York, entered the mall with a semi-automatic AK-47 Variant and began firing it in the mall's Best Buy shop.[3] Panic ensued as employees and shoppers began to flee the mall. Bonelli moved into the mall's main corridor and continued firing his weapon until he ran out of ammunition. He had two 30 round magazines, and fired a total of 60 shots.[4] After emptying the assault rifle, he promptly dropped it. As Bonelli dropped the weapon, a mall employee grabbed his gun, and another tackled him.[5] The mall was evacuated and Bonelli was taken into custody. No one was killed in the shooting, but two people, a 20-year-old National Guard recruiter and a 56-year-old male shopper, were wounded.[6]
After the incident, Ulster County investigators searched Bonelli's room at the home he shared with his father, and found what Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams described as "Columbine memorabilia". Officials described the young man as being fascinated by the Columbine High School massacre. Additional searches were conducted by police after videos seized at Bonelli's residence showed him exploding homemade pipe bombs with a man named Kenneth Stine and another individual. Both individuals were later arrested and charged with violating federal explosives laws.
Bonelli was taken to the Ulster County jail; on March 15, 2006, Bonelli pleaded guilty and on May 20, 2006 was sentenced to 32 years in the state prison (the maximum allowed by the guilty plea). He will be eligible for parole after 26 years.
2006 murder of Sharon Inger
Some time between closing time of the Ground Round restaurant in the mall on June 3, 2006, and 9a.m., the following morning, a suspect entered it and stabbed Sharon Inger, 42, approximately 33 times.[7] Inger, who worked as a night manager of the restaurant, was found early Sunday morning when another employee arrived to open the restaurant. $4000 was missing, according to night receipts. On September 21, police named Paul David Despres as the killer of Sharon Inger. Despres had begun employment with the Ground Round just a couple of weeks earlier. Investigators believe he went to the restaurant to steal his personnel file after giving a false name to police during a traffic stop earlier on the night of the murder, at around 11p.m. Police believe he had a confrontation with Inger, grabbed a knife in the kitchen, and killed her at about 12:45a.m. Two weeks later, Despres died after jumping, while intoxicated, from a vehicle after leaving a party.[8]
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