Restored Strip Mall

Harundale Plaza, formerly known as Harundale Mall was one of the first enclosed shopping malls. It is located in Glen Burnie, Maryland at the crowded intersection of Aquahart Road and Ritchie Highway. The mall was built by James Rouse, the developer of Columbia, Maryland, one of the nation's first planned communities. Features in the original mall included a water fountain, and stairs leading to the second floor offices allowing shoppers to watch the water in the fountain "top out'' and fall back to the pool below, while tossing pennies and making wishes, a popular mall fountain activities. Improvements have included fixing the Harundale Mall flooding problems that seemed to occur every time a harsh storm blew through the area. The mall originally opened in 1958. There was traffic backed up for two miles on Ritchie Highway of shoppers waiting to get into the parking lot on opening day. There were several politicians present for the grand opening including John F. Kennedy. The mall's decline began in the mid-1980's.

In 1999, the reopened and is now known as Harundale Plaza. It is a strip shopping center instead of an enclosed mall. Current stores include A.J. Wright, Hollywood Video, and a Burlington Coat Factory. The shopping center can serve as a more conveniently located destination than Columbia or Annapolis and a lot of people who live in the area are glad there are still a variety of shops at the site of the former mall. There are tanning salons, the Glen Burnie Post Office, and Lady of America Fitness Center located at the center. Dining options include Outback Steakhouse and Piazza Italia. There is a also a Super Fresh Market, so shoppers can pick up groceries on their way home without having to travel out of theirway. Other dining options nearby include Ruby Tuesday, the Fireside Inn, RJs Bar and Grill, Sakuro, and Brewster's Saloon. Brewster's Saloon is a biker bar well known in the area as a friendly place to hang out.

Harundale Plaza offers 217,619-square feet of community retail space on Ritchie Way. Within a five-mile radius of the shopping center, there are more than 162,800 people with an average household income of $75,394. Occasionally coupons can be found online for a variety of the retailers at the shopping center, so it is a good idea to take a look before heading out to shop. With the price of gas soaring, and Maryland retail establishments crowded, it may be a good idea to choose a convenient location if you are in the Glen Burnie area. Malls like Columbia and Arundel Mills, comparable in distance to Harundale Plaza to both Washington and D.C., are often overrun during the holidays. If you find parking is too much of a frustration, and you hate the fact that typical area malls are wall to wall people from October through January, consider doing your holiday shopping at Harundale Plaza. Safe, convenient, and affordable, you will not be disappointed by choosing this historic shopping center destination.