Target store in mall won’t result in Primark relocation

Plans for a two-level Target store in the Danbury Fair mall won’t affect clothing retailer Primark, which has its only Connecticut store there.

A spokeswoman for Macerich, the owner of the mall, said the opening of a 126,000-square-foot Target in space formerly occupied by Sears won’t affect Primark. The

Ireland-based retailer opened in a 70,000-square-foot space on the upper level of Danbury Fair’s Sears location in June 2016 while the iconic department store chain still retained 107,000 square foot print in the mall.

Sears left the mall completely in February 2020. Christine Broad, a Macerich spokeswoman, said that when Primark leased the space from Sears, it did not take up all of the iconic retailer’s second floor space.

“Some back of house for Target will be on the (mall’s) second level,” Broad said. Primark will remain in its current mall location and will not be moved to any of the mall’s other vacant retail spaces, she said.

Macerich officials have not specified when Target will open its location in Danbury. A Target spokesman said Tuesday that the new store will open sometime in the next few years.

Broad said Macerich does not comment on how much space in any of its malls or shopping centers is vacant. But the Danbury Fair mall has several major vacancies left to fill, including the former Lord & Taylor anchor store, which closed at the end of 2020, and the multi-level space that had housed furniture retailer Arhaus until earlier this year.

Sears was among the original anchor stores at Danbury Fair when the mall opened in 1986. The ownership of the mall, which was built by Wilmorite Properties, changed when Macerich acquired the suburban Rochester, N.Y., company for $2.3 billion in 2005.