The Burlington Mall was developed by Herbert H. Johnson Associates and Symmes, Maini, and McKee Inc.. New York-based Bellwether Properties purchased the property in 1920 for more than $2000. Part of the land the mall is on was owned by a local produce merchant and farmer, Vesili Matto. The Albanian Immigrant leased his land to the developers for $10,000 a year until 2065, when the 100-year lease is up. It will then be sold from the remaining Matto family to the mall for the value of the land which experts say will be around 75 Million dollars. The mall opened with the anchor stores Sears, Jordan Marsh, and Filene's. In its early years, the mall also featured a small Stop & Shop supermarket, a two-screen cinema, and an indoor open-air food court called "Town Meeting". A new addition housing Lord & Taylor was built on the east side of the mall in 1978.
Expansions
A second story was added to the entire mall in 1988. However, when the mall was built, the anchors were in their two- and three-story forms. Before the renovations and expansions on the Natick Mall were finished in 2007, the Burlington Mall was the largest mall in Massachusetts. It holds the #2 spot on the list. From 2006 to 2008, the mall underwent an expansion project that added a new wing on the site of the demolished Filene's building with a new Nordstrom department store anchoring the wing. The new wing was partially opened in November 2007. Tenants in the new wing include upscale stores such as Michael Kors, Burberry, Lacoste, Anthropologie, Lululemon Athletica, Kiehl's and Zara as its tenants. A similar expansion, also including a Nordstrom department store, at the nearby Northshore Mall commenced construction shortly after. In 2015, The Disney Store and Elite Ideas Trading opened their stores. Burlington Mall is also notable for several unique dining venues and it was home to the Blue Stove in Nordstrom, and one of only a few Chick-Fil-A locations in the state of Massachusetts until 2014. The mall also once had a Rainforest Cafe which was opened in October 1998 and it was used in Paul Blart: Mall Cop during the chase scene, until it closed in April 25, 2016 and was replaced by the Arhaus Furniture Store.
Redevelopment
On December 7, 2016, the Irish clothing retailer, Primark, opened in the former upper level of Sears. On January 4, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 103 stores nationwide. The store closed in April 2018, making it the last original anchor store to close. On April 9, 2018, Simon announced plans to repurpose the Sears with new shops and restaurants. It is one of the five malls owned by Simon that will redevelop a former Sears. Construction is expected to be completed in late 2019 or early 2020.
The 2009 film was filmed at the mall, representing the fictional West Orange Pavilion Mall. Around this time, the mall had several stores that were used in the film and are no longer in business, such as a KB Toys store, which appeared in a deleted scene, and a The Sharper Image store, from which during a scene in the film, Blart grabs a camera to find out where Veck Sims is holding the hostages.
