The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
By Jordan Grice
Forget about the mall-pocalypse.
Online shopping continues to do damage to retail hubs around the nation, but for a variety of reasons, southwestern Connecticut is its own bubble as shopping mall owners adapt their facilities to meet shifting trends in customer demands.
Though owners and managers suggest the state isn’t exempt from the nationwide trend away from malls, many in the region are thriving during turbulent times.
“We had to change our thinking and we had to change as quickly as possible into how we view our property and what works,” said Ken Sterba, general manager of the Connecticut Post mall in Milford. “And we saw that the sales were eroding from internet shopping, the lack of new retailers coming on the market for brick-and-mortar stores. You have to find different ways” to make a mall successful.
National reports have shown vacancy rates in shopping centers nationwide rising to new heights in recent years. Closures among department store such as Macy’s and J.C. Penney have dealt the biggest blow, and hit local malls, as well. But successful centers have managed to shift with different trends to attract new businesses and visitors.
“We had to change our thinking and we had to change as quickly as possible into how we view our property and what works.”
Ken Sterba, general manager of the Connecticut Post mall in Milford
In many cases, Sterba said area malls throughout the region such as Danbury Fair and Stamford Town Center have maintained their status as primary retail hubs in their respective cities. Being in one of the country’s richest counties is a major plus.
“I think we’re exempt down here because of not just the population, which I believe is growing, but also the household income here is higher than other parts of the country, as well,” Sterba said. “I think we are doing the right things now.”
According to Census data, Fairfield County is the the fourthrichest metropolitan area in America, with almost 20 percent of households earning at least $200,000 a year.
It’s that market that has allowed the region to not only refrain from closing malls, but in fact build a new one, with the ongoing development of the SoNo Collection mall in Norwalk.
Industry observers say regional malls have changed with the times. As the rise of retail boxes slows, mall owners and devel-