Expansion and Upgrade Planned for the Golden Horseshoe

Gristedes is on its way out and a new enlarged Seasons market will open in its place at the Golden Horseshoe Shopping Center on Wilmot Road. This is just one of the changes that will come to the Golden Horseshoe where plans have been approved for an expansion, upgrade, and a redesign of the 50+ year-old shopping plaza that sits in both Scarsdale and New Rochelle.

In the next few weeks Gristedes will close its doors and the store will be cleared. Once the space is turned over to the managers, 12,000 square feet of space, adjacent to the post office will be remodeled into a state of the art market by Seasons. Seasons, who owns stores in Kew Gardens, Lawrence and NYC, will build a market to serve the community. Their selections will include fresh fruit and vegetables, sushi, fresh fish, prepared foods, dairy items and a bakery along with the kosher products and meats for observant shoppers. Prices for staples and other groceries will be competitive and Seasons hopes to serve as the neighborhood market for nearby residents. Pictured above is the Seasons store in Lawrence that will serve as a model for the new location.

Seasons General Manager David Gellman expects that construction on the new site will begin in late spring and will take several months. In the interim, the original Seasons will remain open until the new site is ready.

And that's not all...

Once Seasons moves, the section of the shopping center that includes Seasons and the liquor store Cheers will be demolished and replaced with a new 10,000 square foot store. In order to accommodate this expansion, the driveway to the shopping center will be rerouted closer to Wilmot Road – and the parking spaces in the lot that borders Wilmot Road will be moved to the center of the plaza. Managers hope to attract a new drugstore into this new location, especially since the pharmacy in Gristedes will be gone. The liquor store will move to another storefront in the Golden Horseshoe.

Another new building will be added near the Bank of America ATM in the parking lot. The 4,000 square foot building would be ideal for a coffee shop.

The area that now houses the deli section of Gristedes will be remodeled into two additional storefronts.

As part of the upgrade, the sidewalk along Wilmot Road will be expanded up the hill into New Rochelle. There will be new lighting and improvements to the sidewalks in the shopping center and landscaping to make the center friendly and attractive.

Parking will remain at 400 spots, with some behind the stores for employees and deliveries.

This new phase follows a series of improvements that have occurred since the opening of the original plaza in 1956. According to Property Manager Rob Fine, his grandfather, a New Rochelle resident, built the original store –now home to Seasons -- in the 1950's. A strip extending from that store was added in the 60's with the second wing built in the 1980's. The site has been a good one for decades due to the demographics of the local residents, its location across from the JCC of Mid-Westchester, easy access from the Bronx River and Hutchinson River Parkways and ample parking for shoppers.

With this expansion and improvement of the site, the management hopes to attract new retailers who will meet the needs of the community in the 21st century.