At the time of opening the mall featured approximately 80 inline stores, including a food court known as "The Garden."

Throughout the 1990s, the presence and success of the McKinley Mall brought enormous growth in peripheral retail surrounding the property.

Likewise, many restaurants opened surrounding the property including Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and TGI Fridays.

Outside the mall on McKinley Parkway and Milestrip Road, stores such as Home Depot, BJ's Wholesale Club, Toys "R" Us, Jo-Ann Fabrics, OfficeMax, A.C. Moore, TJ Maxx, Wegmans, and Aldi opened.

Restaurants that opened outside the mall included Ruby Tuesday, Applebee's, Friendly's, and Outback Steakhouse.

In April 2016, Macy's, which retains several much larger outposts around Western New York, announced that after a strategy had been elected by them to solely focus on their highest achieving locations that they would be leaving the shopping center.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced all malls to close in response to prolonged lockdown orders nationwide.