For a decade, the default Harford County Saturday looked the same. Drive to Harford Mall, eat at TGI Fridays, maybe swing through Sears for a lawnmower part. That routine has been quietly dismantled. Macy's closed in March 2025 and left the mall without a single anchor. Sears has been gone since 2019. TGI Fridays is a construction site. What's replacing them is not another mall, and the center of gravity for a summer weekend has moved.
If you live in Bel Air, Havre de Grace, Fallston or Aberdeen, the working assumption that "there's nothing new around here" is now several openings out of date. Below is what actually changed, where the food corridor moved, and what's on the calendar before Labor Day.
The Mall Isn't A Mall Anymore
The shorthand still says "Harford Mall," but what's happening at Routes 1 and 24 is closer to a controlled demolition than a renovation. Macy's announced its closure in January 2025 as part of a plan to close 66 stores nationwide, closed in March 2025, and left the mall with no anchors. The former Macy's site is being transformed into Derby Place, a mixed-use center with shops, restaurants, green areas and new housing, led by Atlanta-based SJC Ventures, which is purchasing the property from CBL Properties. Demolition of the former Macy's was announced in June 2026 and expected to start in July.
Two numbers give the project shape. The new open-air complex will feature a Whole Foods Market as a primary tenant, expected to occupy a 35,600-square-foot building on the redeveloped Macy's parcel, which will feature four additional retail buildings and restaurants, including confirmed tenants like THB Bagelry and Deli. The Residences at Harford Mall will add 249 luxury apartments and a four-story parking garage to the campus, with plans for pedestrian walkways, pocket parks, and open green gathering spaces.
The former Sears parcel is moving on a separate track. Contrary to earlier reports suggesting the cancellation of plans, the former Sears site was specifically rebuilt to accommodate an Amazon Fresh grocery store, which is expected to move into the space in 2026. Two grocery anchors, on opposite corners of the same campus, in the same calendar year. That's the story residents are living with: dust, orange fencing, and a redrawn map of where you buy dinner.
The Tollgate Road Food Corridor
While the mall parcel is under demolition, the food scene has already relocated to its edges. The Tollgate Road strip has quietly become the most active dining stretch in the county.
- Wonder — Opened April 9 next to the Harford Mall at 131 North Tollgate Rd., a "fast-fine" food hall that allows customers to order from more than 30 chefs and restaurants, including Bobby Flay, in one single order. Dine in, pickup, or delivery from a single ticket.
- Akira Ramen & Izakaya — Next door at 125 N. Tollgate Rd.
- THB Bagelry & Deli — Towson Hot Bagels, bringing New York-style bagels into the mall redevelopment footprint.
- Burtons Grill & Bar — Opening its first Harford County location in Bel Air, with construction underway at 609 Belair Rd., the former home of TGI Fridays. Known for its American cuisine and its commitment to accommodating food allergies, offering an extensive gluten-free menu.
That last one matters more than it reads. The TGI Fridays box was, for years, the county's default weeknight table. Replacing it with an allergen-forward menu from a 20-location East Coast chain is a small tell about who the corridor is being rebuilt for.
The Steak Question, Answered Twice
Two openings on opposite ends of the county are reshaping where residents go for beef, and both bring a name worth knowing.
Harford County has two new spots for meat: a steakhouse in Havre de Grace from the owners of Geresbeck's Food Market, plus a second branch of John Brown General & Butchery opening in downtown Bel Air.
The Havre de Grace side is the more architecturally interesting of the two. Butcher on the Bay is an offshoot of Butcher & Bay, a specialty food shop in Kingsville from the owners of Geresbeck's grocery stores. It takes the place of Abbey Burger at 226 N. Washington Street. The building itself, the Elizabeth Rodgers House, dates back to the 1700s and is the only property in Havre de Grace to survive the War of 1812. "We were told that George Washington has been in the space multiple times," co-owner Justin Graham said. With a kitchen led by chef Ricky Foxwell, the menu focuses on beef, particularly meats from Monkton's Roseda Farm, plus Chesapeake-inspired dishes including crabs and invasive species like blue catfish and snakehead.
The Bel Air side is a homecoming. Robert Voss will bring a second branch of his popular Cockeysville shop, John Brown General & Butchery, to downtown Bel Air starting in September. Voss, who lives in Harford County with his wife and two kids, said he was drawn to expand in the Bel Air area, where he grew up.
The Weekend Ledger, Before Labor Day
Bel Air's dining scene is under construction. Havre de Grace's calendar is not. If your default is to point the car south toward Baltimore County on a Friday, the map for the next several weeks argues for pointing it northeast instead.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Every Sat, 9a–12p | Havre de Grace Farmers Market | Downtown HdG |
| Fri Aug 7, 5–9p | First Fridays block party | N. Washington Street |
| Fri Aug 7, 8p | The Sugar Hill Gang | The STAR Centre, 700 Congress Ave. |
| Sat Aug 8, 12–6p | 9th Annual Arts, Wine, Jazz & Soul Festival | Concord Point Lighthouse Keeper's House |
| Sat Aug 8, 2p | Watermelon Festival | 4100 Webster Lapidum Road |
| Fri Aug 14, 7:30p | Leanna Crawford (singer-songwriter) | Chesapeake Theater, Harford Community College |
| Aug 28–30 | Mosaic 250 multimedia experience | Havre de Grace Arts Collective |
A few of those are worth pulling out of the table.
First Fridays on Aug. 7 runs 5 to 9 p.m. on N. Washington Street in downtown Havre de Grace, with live bands on every block, food trucks and local restaurants, cafe seating with beer, wine, or coffee, and artisan vendors. That's the same night The Sugar Hill Gang plays The STAR Centre a few blocks away, which is a genuinely unusual double-header for a Harford County Friday.
The Aug. 8 festival at Concord Point is the one to actually plan around. The 9th Annual Arts, Wine, Jazz & Soul Festival is Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026, from noon to 6 p.m., with VIP entry at 11 a.m., at the Lighthouse Keeper's House, 714 Concord Street, with general admission $50 to $65, VIP tickets $80 to $90, and a Premier table of ten at $1,000. It is the annual fundraiser for the Havre de Grace Colored School Museum, with all proceeds supporting restoration and preservation of the historic school. The museum says the one-room frame schoolhouse opened in 1912, built for about $1,700 raised mostly by Havre de Grace's Black community, and later became home to Harford County's first public high school for African American students in 1930.
For a lower-key Saturday, Hopkins Farm Brewery is hosting an all-you-can-eat crab feast on Aug. 1, and the Havre de Grace Farmers Market runs every Saturday morning through late December.
The Bel Air Side, For Residents Who'd Rather Stay Close
Not everyone wants to drive to the water on a weeknight. A few Bel Air-side notes worth having in the calendar app:
- Harford County Public Library, Bel Air branch — "DINO-mite Outdoor Extravaganza and Stage Show" runs Aug. 10 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Shamrock Park, behind the Bel Air Library at 100 East Pennsylvania Avenue, with the Traveling Library, active games, a community art exhibit and open mic on stage.
- A Pyrex talk that's more interesting than it sounds — "The Colorful History of Pyrex: From Kitchen Staple to Collector Favorite" runs Aug. 8 from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the Bel Air Library, presented by Jolene Forrester, owner of JoRetro in Havre de Grace. The program concludes with a live identification and informal appraisal session, where attendees may bring one Pyrex item from home for discussion. If your kitchen contains inherited casserole dishes with pattern names you don't know, that's a free thirty minutes of due diligence.
- Chesapeake Theater at HCC — Singer-songwriter Leanna Crawford performs at the Chesapeake Theater in the Chesapeake Welcome Center at Harford Community College on Friday, Aug. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
- Horizon Cinemas Kids Summer Series — "The Sandlot" runs Aug. 7 through Aug. 13 at Horizon Cinemas Fallston, 2315 Belair Road, with $7 tickets that include a snack pack of popcorn, soda, and fruit snacks.
The Read On All Of This
Harford County has spent the past decade being described, mostly by people who don't live here, as a commuter shelf between Baltimore and the Susquehanna. The last twelve months have quietly rewritten that. A dead mall is being replaced by two grocers, a food hall, and 249 apartments. A 1700s house that survived the War of 1812 is about to serve steaks sourced from Monkton. A Cockeysville butcher is opening a second shop in his hometown. And the county's most interesting summer Saturday is the one you spend on Concord Point.
For residents, the takeaway is small but real. The default weekend routines built around Harford Mall and the Belair Road strip are outdated. The new map runs from Tollgate Road up through downtown Bel Air and out to N. Washington Street in Havre de Grace, and it's worth reworking your Friday around it before the pattern hardens.
When you're ready to think about what all of this activity means for your own address — whether that's a Bel Air move-up, a Havre de Grace waterfront listing, or an estate sale that needs a steady hand — The Lacey Real Estate Group is here to help. Get Your Free Home Valuation and we'll walk you through what the corridor's changes mean for your property.
