The Walden Galleria was developed by The Pyramid Companies, an Upstate New York-based shopping center development and management firm. Built on a site near Exit 52 of the New York State Thruway, the mall was opened in 1989. At the time, the mall featured six anchor stores: national chains JCPenney, and Sears, regional chain Bonwit Teller, and three Western New York chains: Sibley's, L. L. Berger, and The Sample. Sibley's opened in late 1988, several months before the rest of the mall. An additional anchor space was originally built for B. Altman and Company, but it remained vacant, as the chain decided not to open the Walden Galleria store due to credit restraints. At the time, the two-story mall also featured more than 150 stores, as well as a theater owned by Hoyts Cinemas.