The Walt Whitman Shops were previously known as the Walt Whitman Shopping Center. The department store chain Abraham & Straus purchased 45 acres in South Huntington in 1956 to build a shopping mall and parking lot. An A & S store would be built as the centerpiece of the mall. The groundbreaking ceremony for the shopping center took place on April 20, 1961. The first store to open, on March 28, 1962, was Abraham & Straus, followed by Macy's on Sept. 18, 1962. The official opening for the entire shopping center was in November 1962. It was the first enclosed shopping center on Long Island. The mall had 75 stores, lighted fountains and a reflecting pool. The parking lot had spaces for 5,000 cars.