Green Acres has been a fixture on Sunrise Highway in Valley Stream for as long as most Long Islanders can remember, and this week its list of incoming tenants grew by two names people will recognize. Miniso, the Guangzhou-based lifestyle retailer whose blind boxes and character plushies have built a devoted following among teenagers and collectors, is set to open its first Long Island store at Green Acres Commons. Cava, the fast-growing Mediterranean bowl chain, is taking a space inside the mall itself for what would be its fourth Long Island restaurant.

A first for the Island, in 7,200 square feet

The Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency approved a lease on August 18 for Miniso to take over a 7,200 square foot location at Green Acres Commons, the open-air shopping center alongside the mall. The agency says the store would employ the equivalent of eight full-time workers at an hourly wage of $18.

Miniso was founded in 2013 and has grown into a publicly traded company with more than 7,800 stores worldwide and over 300 in the United States, including flagship locations in New York City, London and Hong Kong. The shelves mix affordable home goods with licensed toys and the chain's signature blind boxes, sealed packages holding one of a series of small collectible figures, with the buyer finding out which one only after opening it. Until now, seeing one meant crossing the city line. Once the Valley Stream location opens, it will not.

The fourth Cava, and a familiar $18.50 detail

Days later, at its meeting this past week, the same agency approved a lease for Cava to move into a 2,100 square foot space at Green Acres Mall. The Mediterranean chain, built around customizable bowls and pitas, would employ 18 full-time-equivalent workers at $18.50 an hour. It would join existing Cava locations in East Northport, Melville and Westbury as the chain's fourth on Long Island, and its first in the mall-anchored southwest corner of Nassau County.

A Perfumes 4 U storefront was approved to lease space the same week.

Why the town knows before the stores announce

If it seems odd that news of a toy store and a bowl shop arrives by way of a town agency, there is a mechanism behind it. Green Acres operates under a long-running tax agreement with the Town of Hempstead IDA, which holds title to the mall property under the arrangement. That means every new lease at the center crosses the agency's desk for consent before it takes effect, and the IDA's approval calendar has quietly become the earliest public record of who is moving in.

It also means the usual caution applies. The agency notes that both leases are still subject to execution by the retailers, and neither store has announced an opening date. Approval is the step where a rumor becomes paperwork. The signs on the doors come later.

Part of a bigger remake

The two arrivals land in the middle of the largest investment Green Acres has seen in decades. The mall is working through a $100 million renovation that includes 370,000 square feet of new development on its northeast side, with construction expected to wrap up in 2027 and the center staying open throughout. The IDA has already consented to leases that will bring new restaurants, a supermarket, an entertainment venue and an activity space with bowling and an arcade.

The tenant wave has been building all year. Leases for Fogo de Chão, the Brazilian steakhouse chain, and Wonder, the food hall concept, were approved in March. A second Burlington storefront at the mall was approved in July. Miniso, Cava and Perfumes 4 U make it at least six named arrivals in six months, alongside the unnamed supermarket and entertainment tenants still to be revealed.

There is a jobs story underneath it as well. Green Acres employed roughly 2,472 people in 2024, and the tax agreement extended that year requires the mall to keep employment above 2,400. Every one of these leases comes with a headcount attached because the agency tracks them.

What it means for the corner of Sunrise Highway

Malls on Long Island have spent a decade in the headlines mostly for what they are losing. Green Acres is currently assembling the opposite story: a first-on-the-Island retailer with a young fan base, a restaurant chain that cannot open locations fast enough, a steakhouse, a food hall and a bowling alley, all landing at one property while the construction crews are still on site.

For Valley Stream, Lynbrook, Woodmere and the rest of the southwest corner of Nassau, the practical version is simpler. The mall run your family has been making for generations is about to include stores that, until now, required a trip over the city line. Keep an eye on the northeast corner of the property the next time you pass on Sunrise Highway. That is where the next two years of this story get built.