The Mall at Rockingham Park is the largest shopping mall in the state of New Hampshire, with of floor space. The mall is located in the town of Salem, about north of Boston. The mall is adjacent to Interstate 93 and the former Rockingham Park race track in Salem, and was the state's third shopping mall to be built. The mall now hosts 144 stores, with Lord & Taylor, Macy's, JCPenney, and Dick's Sporting Goods as anchors with one vacant anchor last occupied by Sears. The mall is managed by Simon Property Group, which owns 28.2% of it. As of March 2015, the mall was Simon's highest grossing center, with annual sales of $2,105 per square foot. Like the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, the Mall at Rockingham Park is located close to the Massachusettsstate line and draws many customers from that state. New Hampshire has no sales tax on most goods. The success of the Mall at Rockingham Park, which opened in August 1991, caused the Methuen Mallacross the line in Methuen, Massachusetts, to close in 1997; it was replaced with The Loop, a "big box"-style center. The Mall at Rockingham Park also caused the adjacent Rockingham Mall to convert into a "big box" center, as Salem could no longer support two shopping malls. In 2006, the mall's original Macy's store was closed with all Filene's converting into Macy's. In 2011, Lord & Taylor renovated and converted the former Macy's space, opening its first New Hampshire store in March, 2012. In 2015, Dick's Sporting Goods took over Sears' second floor as part of a deal with the company. It was one of 235 properties spun off from Sears Holdings into Seritage Growth Properties in 2015. Dick's opened October 2015. In November 2018, Sears closed as one of 46 stores nationwide. A new Cinemark Theatres complex opened in 2020 on the site of the old Sears Auto Center, which is separate from the rest of the mall.
Design
Internal design
The center of the Mall at Rockingham Park is a circular walkway on both floors. In the center of this circle, there is a staircase to travel between floors. From this center, there are two major corridors at approximately a 140° angle. The longer corridor, which goes almost due north of the center, leads to Dick's Sporting Goods at the end, and the entrance to JCPenney partway along the corridor. The shorter corridor leads southeast, with Macy's at the end of this corridor. The central circle also connects to a food court.
Parking and surrounding roads
surrounds most of the Mall at Rockingham Park. From Route 38, there are several entrances. Exit 1 northbound on Interstate 93 has a ramp that provides quick access to the mall; southbound, Exit 1 also provides access, but it is not as direct. Between the mall and Route 38 to the east is a parking lot with two levels. The upper level provides access to all parts of the mall. A smaller parking lot on the southwest side of the mall leads to the southern half; there is another lot north of Dick's Sporting Goods and one east of Route 38 that was intended for the now-defunct racetrack.
