External links in side menu not working

ionic-v1
1

I have side menu defined in index.html as

<ion-side-menu side="left">
  <ion-header-bar class="bar-positive">
    <h1 class="title">Quick Menu</h1>
  </ion-header-bar>
  <ion-content>
    <ion-list>
      <ion-item menu-close ng-click="openWindow1()">
        <span class="icon-left ion-android-home">&nbsp;Home</span>
      </ion-item>
      <ion-item menu-close ng-click="openWindow2()">
        <span class="icon-left ion-android-cart">&nbsp;Buy</span>
      </ion-item>
      <ion-item menu-close ng-click="openWindow3()">
        <span class="icon-left ion-help-buoy">&nbsp;Help</span>
      </ion-item>
      <ion-item menu-close ng-click="openWindow4()">
        <span class="icon-left ion-android-person-add">&nbsp;Customer</span>
      </ion-item>
      <ion-item menu-close ng-click="openWindow5()">
        <span class="icon-left ion-android-contacts">&nbsp;Community</span>
      </ion-item>
    </ion-list>
  </ion-content>
</ion-side-menu>

Within the controller, in app.js, the links are defined as

 $scope.openWindow1 = function() {
        window.open("https://home.com/", "_blank", "location=no");
    }
    
    $scope.openWindow2 = function() {
        window.open("https://home.com/purchase/", "_blank", "location=no");
    }
        
    $scope.openWindow3 = function() {
        window.open("https://home.com/help/", "_blank", "location=no");
    }
        
    $scope.openWindow4 = function() {
        window.open("https://home.com/customers/", "_blank", "location=no");
    }
        
    $scope.openWindow5 = function() {
        window.open("https://home.com/community/", "_blank", "location=no");
    }

But, up on clicking the side menu simply closes and goes to main content. How can I make touching menu items make open the associated urls ? Thanks.