The era of the indoor shopping mall arrived in the 1960s and 1970s. Local malls built, with opening years shown, included Eastfield Mall (1968) and Baystate West (1970) in Springfield; Holyoke Plaza Mall (1969) and Mt. Farms Mall (1973) in Hadley; and the Fairfield Mall in Chicopee (1974). Some were popular shopping destinations; a few never reached their potential and staggered or failed.
On July 5, 1979, the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside opened its doors as one of the largest regional shopping malls in the Northeast. A new Friendly Restaurant, located in the mall's Cafe Square, had been part of the mall since 1979. The city now had 4 Friendly Restaurants; however, times were soon to change.
Friendly Ice Cream was sold to the Hershey Foods Corporation in 1979 and continued to operate as an independent subsidiary.
In 1985, John F. Cauley, a Holyoke native who worked as a management trainee at the Appleton Street Friendly's in 1957, rose to become CEO of the Friendly Ice Cream Corporation. The Executive Vice-President of the Friendly Corporation was Joseph A. O'Shaughnessy, who began as a management trainee with Mr. Cauley at 435 Appleton Street.
The restaurant operated 725 restaurants across 17 states in 1985. The company planned to add 60-70 additional outlets in the following 3 years. Sales were $427 million, and the company's profit was close to $42 million.
In 1986, Ranch Land Associates sought a Friendly's for the K-Mart Plaza. This plan did not materialize.
On June 30, 1988, the Appleton Street Friendly's closed as it was unable to negotiate a new lease. Holyoke was left with 3 shops for a short time after the Friendly Restaurant on South Street closed. The closing date could not be determined.
At its peak in 1995, there were 850 Friendly's operating throughout the eastern half of the country. It was during this time that the company rebranded, adding the apostrophe "s" to Friendly's.
In 2004, Friendly's held interviews at the Holiday Inn seeking employees for several positions. It was about that time that a new Friendly's Restaurant opened adjacent to the Holiday Inn at 247 Whiting Farms Rd. The lease may have been nearing its end at the Friendly's in the Holyoke Mall, and the company was preparing for another nearby location. The last newspaper account for the Holyoke Mall location occurred in January 2005.
On September 23, 2012, the Whiting Farms Rd. Friendly's closed. As of 2026, Friendly's continues to maintain its presence in Holyoke with its Northampton Street restaurant.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
