‘WE ARE TRANSFORMING’
To fill vacancies, mall turns to non-retailers to spur revival
STAMFORD — A few years ago, Stamford Town Center’s roster included a Saks Off 5th department store, Ann Taylor, Apple, Gap and Uniqlo establishments.
All of them have since left the mall, and none will be replaced by other stores. But those storefronts are not languishing. In the former Saks Off 5th space, for instance, celebrity chef Todd English’s hospitality group is planning an expansive food hall.
The downtown mall still has numerous vacancies to fill created by other store closings, and it faces major competition from The SoNo Collection mall in Norwalk. But the upcoming arrival of the food hall suggests the shopping center has the potential to overcome its recent struggles by forging a new identity that focuses more on dining and entertainment.
“I think Stamford Town
Center has to reinvent itself, and I think you’re seeing that with some of the tenants that are signing there and are more creative and out of the box,” Vince Maniscalco, a Stamfordbased executive director with commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, said in an interview. “And we’re seeing mall properties nationally moving to different formats.”
Diverse mix of new tenants
Scheduled to open as soon as mid-2023, the food hall will take all of the approximately 78,000square-foot box that housed Saks Off 5th from mid-2015 until the end of last year. In the meantime, that space will undergo extensive renovations.
The food hall will complement the mall’s restaurant plaza. The restaurant row on Tresser Boulevard has been a cornerstone of the shopping center for the
past 15 years, located where a Filene’s Basement department store formerly operated. Upcoming arrivals in the plaza include Mexican restaurant Puerto Vallarta and Brazilian steakhouse Terra Gaucha.
“While occupancy at the Stamford Town Center has had some recent challenges, we are very excited about the new businesses coming in, as well as the Todd English food hall, which will reinvigorate Stamford Town Center in a modern and innovative way,” Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons said in a statement.
Several other non-retail tenants have arrived at the mall in recent years. A Dance Space opened last fall on the mall’s fifth level and houses The Ballet School of Stamford. It took over a storefront that had been occupied by retail tenants in recent years such as Ann Taylor.
“We feel they (the mall’s management) are really looking at what is the future of a mall,” Marti Etter, co-founder and executive director of The Ballet School, said shortly after the opening. “What we believe is that we can help (the mall) and they can help us. That synergy is what makes everything work.”
The fifth floor’s tenants also include a Fun Palace play center, which occupies a storefront that once housed tenants such as Foot Locker.
On the fourth floor, a J. Luppino Fitness & Co. center opened at the beginning of 2021. It succeeded an Apple store, which had occupied the space for 14 years until closing in February 2020.
This summer, the first phase of a multi-purpose hub known as The Living Room — which will feature a lounge, cafe, theater and gaming — is set to launch on the fifth floor. Future phases are scheduled to open every couple of months. Once fully built out, it will occupy about 30,000 square feet, covering the full footprint of the former Gap and Uniqlo stores.
“We are transforming. We are becoming more of a destination where people
can gather and connect, where they can experience world-class artwork, find unique entertainment venues and enjoy delicious culinary offerings,” Stamford Town Center General Manager Dan Stolzenbach said. “Of course, we will always have a retail component, and that component will become much more enticing as we build out more of these concepts.”
Retailers that have opened at Stamford Town Center in the past few months include handbags seller Amara, linens seller Cittadini, streetwear brand Castle Life, electronics specialist Digital Habitat and jeweler Her Children.
Among other new initiatives, artist Sen2 Figueroa is set to start work on April 1 on a permanent mural that will cover the mall’s entire brick exterior along Greyrock Place. Scheduled to be completed by May 15, it is part of a larger initiative to bring murals to all sides of the mall’s exterior and interior, according to Stamford Town Center officials.
“Along with the recent announcement of the Todd English food hall, and the many events that are planned over the coming months, we are growing our cultural ecosystem and
becoming a destination for cultural activity,” Stolzenbach said.
Co-existing with The SoNo Collection
Despite its nascent turnaround, Stamford Town Center still faces major challenges — including the many vacant storefronts that still dot the mall.
A number of those vacancies were created by retailers that closed stores at Stamford Town Center, while opening establishments at The SoNo Collection, which debuted in October 2019. Those businesses include Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, Apple, Bath & Body Works, Chico’s, Clarks, H&M, Pandora, Sephora, Swarovski, Talbots and Verizon.
Commercial real estate professionals such as Maniscalco are not surprised that those retailers have opted against keeping stores at both malls.
“With increased supply and increased competition, you only have so much demand to go around,” Maniscalco said. “And you’ve also got competitors in digital formats.”
Several retailers still maintain stores at both Stamford Town Center and The SoNo Collection. That group includes Cohen’s Fashion Optical, Journeys, Kay Jewelers, Victoria’s Secret, Sunglass Hut and Zumiez.
Like Stamford Town Center and other malls, The SoNo Collection also has an extensive dining roster. It has further diversified with other nonretail tenants such as a D1 Training fitness center, which opened last fall on the mall’s P3 level.
In response to an inquiry from Hearst Connecticut Media, officials at SoNo Collection’s owner, Brookfield Properties, declined to comment directly on the competition between their mall and Stamford Town Center. But said they were pleased with the Norwalk property and optimistic about its future.
“Our center is well-positioned within the market to both compete and complement. Our offerings are focused on new and experiential, as well as fondly familiar,” The SoNo Collection General Manager Matt Seebeck said in a statement. “Norwalk is a great location for a development of this size and scale, and we feel confident that our strategy is in line with the growth that our area has experienced in the past two-plus years. Our design and location permit us the flexibility to evolve with the way our community shops.”