Mall faces more store closings
STAMFORD — The Stamford Town Center started 2021 much like it began 2020: facing another round of store closings and widespread vacancies.
The downtown mall’s challenges intensified during the coronavirus crisis, but its struggle to hold on to some of its marquee tenants long predates the COVID-19 crisis. The growing list of retailers that close there, then open at The SoNo Collection mall in Norwalk has compounded its predicament, and the competition is unlikely to relent as the Stamford property tries to rebound under new ownership.
“Retail brands are in many instances attracted to the ‘shiny new project.’ And as a counterpoint to that, I think it’s been the
position in the market that Stamford Town Center is overdue for a makeover,” said Jessica Curtis, a Stamford-based senior vice president at commercial real estate services firm CBRE.
“So it does not surprise me that SoNo Collection, with its more modern design and aesthetic, has managed to attract some of these brands that have had stores at Stamford Town Center for a long time,” she said.
Moving from Stamford to Norwalk
A couple of weeks ago, Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters became the latest retailers to close at Stamford Town Center after opening at SoNo Collection, which launched in October 2019 at the junction of Interstate 95 and Route 7, just eight miles from Stamford Town Center.
A&F has also closed a number of its flagship stores in the past couple of months. American Eagle told investment analysts last September that it planned to close 40 to 50 stores at the end of 2020.
“These closures are part of a larger retail contraction that is happening throughout the country,” Stamford Town Center General Manager Dan Stolzenbach said. “Many industries have been severely impacted by COVID, and retail is no different.”
Thomas Madden, Stamford’s economic development director, gave a similar assessment.
“All the closures in Stamford are part of the planned closures from the companies to help their bottom line,” he said. “COVID-19 has accelerated the transition to online marketing and sales.”
Also, the relocations from Stamford Town Center to SoNo Collection started long before the pandemic began.
In January 2020, fastfashion retailer H&M ended a 12-year stay at Stamford Town Center after it opened the previous November at SoNo Collection. In the summer of 2019, H&M opened an establishment at Danbury Fair mall.
United Kingdom-based shoe seller Clarks also closed its shop at Stamford Town Center in January 2020, as it preferred a longterm presence at SoNo Collection.
Apple closed its store at the Stamford mall in February 2020 after a nearly 14-year run. A few days later, it opened its SoNo Collection showroom.
A few months later, women’s clothing retailer Talbots also decided that it no longer needed to operate at both malls and closed its Stamford location.
Jeweler Pandora and women’s clothing retailer Chico’s led the eastward migration, closing their Stamford Town Center stores in 2019.
Some of those tenants might have preferred to invest in their new stores at SoNo Collection instead of remodeling their existing ones at Stamford Town Center, according to Curtis.
“Between the need to renovate their existing stores along with whatever concessions or incentives (SoNo Collection developer) Brookfield (Properties) is willing to make to lure them to SoNo Collection, I think it probably made it particularly easy to make that decision,” Curtis said.
Several retailers still maintain stores at both malls. That group includes Bath & Body Works, Cohen’s Fashion Optical, Journeys, Kay Jewelers, Pink and Victoria’s Secret, Sephora, Sunglass Hut, Swarovski and Zumiez.
Brookfield Properties declined to comment for this story.
Many vacancies
The departures from Stamford Town Center extend beyond those that moved to SoNo Collection.
Video-game chain GameStop is set to close this week at the Stamford mall. Last year, it had announced plans to shutter 400 to 450 stores globally. Independent men’s clothing retailer Zane is also holding a closing sale.
Other recent closings include a Kilim Design rug showroom and a Crystal’s Fun Spot children’s play center. Kilim succeeded an Ann Taylor store that had shuttered in February 2019, but it lasted only about a year.
The closings “allow us to recapture valuable space to make room for our new lineup of tenants,” Stolzenbach said.
But Stamford Town Center has struggled to replace retailers that have left.
About two-dozen vacant storefronts dot the mall. Among them are the spaces vacated in the past two years by Brooks Brothers, Chico’s, GNC, Gymboree, H&M, Uniqlo, J. Crew, Justice, Payless ShoeSource, Talbots, The Walking Co., and Williams Sonoma.
In the mall’s restaurant plaza on Tresser Boulevard, spaces formerly occupied by The Cheesecake Factory, Kona Grill and a Rascal Flatts eatery are also vacant. A Plan B Burger Bar there has been dormant since last March, with its website listing the location as “temporarily closed.”
Stamford Town Center has partially offset the departures with several openings in the past yearand-a-half. Those arrivals include a Cosmetics Company Store shop; entertainment center Fun Palace; Luggage and Bags; and a Sprouting Spaces art studio .
Looking for newcomers
At the same time, Stamford Town Center has retained some of its most valuable retailers.
While Macy’s has confirmed another round of closings, its Stamford department store is not on that list. Macy’s owns its 245,000-square-foot property at the mall.
A Barnes & Noble bookstore and Saks Off 5th department store are the other anchor tenants at Stamford Town Center.
Upcoming arrivals include a fitness center that will operate in the former Apple storefront and So Avant Garde, which mall officials described as a “luxury-fragrance studio.”
“There are a number of other stores that we’re speaking to, and we look forward to making those announcements shortly,” Stolzenbach said.
Stamford Town Center has also benefited from new investment, following its $20 million acquisition last October by home-furnishings retailer Safavieh. At that point, the mall operated with about 90 tenants.
Last month, Safavieh opened its own showroom in a fifth-floor space that had been vacated by Pottery Barn in 2019.
SoNo Collection, meanwhile, continues to bring in new tenants. Its upcoming arrivals include homefurnishings retailer Lillian August and restaurants Jacob’s Pickles, Road Runner, Sally’s Apizza and Soul de Cuba Café, Yard House and Yalla Organic Hummus & Grill.
As of last October, SoNo Collection housed some 60 tenants, with its leasing rate running at about 90 percent. It is anchored by a pair of high-end department stores, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom.
“They have (at SoNo Collection) more current technology because it’s been more recently built — including more current technology as it relates to people coming into the parking garage, easier access to entrances to the mall, more entrances to the mall,” Curtis said. “I think those types of physical advantages to the new property certainly lend themselves to more potential long-term success for retailers.”