Executive: Area malls making a ‘slow’ comeback
Two weeks after the start of the state’s reopening, many tenants in southwestern Connecticut’s malls are back doing business — but the shopping centers’ comeback is far from complete.
Malls in Connecticut were allowed to re-open May 20, with new social-distancing regulations and ramped-up cleaning protocols.
Resumed operations at most anchor stores have helped to bring back customers and restore jobs in one of the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis. But some of the area’s largest centers are still missing key occupants — including Lord + Taylor, whose long-term plans are shrouded in uncertainty — and foot traffic remains slow at many hours.
“With malls in general, I think you’re going to see slow openings as these brands roll out safety measures throughout their portfolios,” said Jessica Curtis, Stamfordbased senior vice president at commercial real estate firm CBRE. “Some of these brands have hundreds, if not thousands, of stores. Mobilizing all of that in a short amount of time is a huge undertaking.”
At Stamford Town Center, more than half of the tenants have returned, including the three anchor stores: Macy’s, Saks Off 5th and Barnes & Noble. The latter is offering curbside pickup service, but it will resume in-store shopping Friday.
Compared with the mall’s first day back on May 20, when it looked deserted — with few stores open and only a trickle of customers — the downtown shopping center’s turnout is much higher, if not yet back to pre-shutdown levels.
“We’ve had a great response from customers, both in terms of sales and compliance with state regulations,” said Stamford Town Center General Manager Dan Stolzenbach.
Macy’s has also reopened its establishments at Danbury Fair, Westfield Trumbull and Connecticut Post Milford.
At SoNo Collection in Norwalk, which debuted last October, anchors Nordstrom and Bloomingdales have reopened.
Among other anchor stores, Target has resumed service in Milford and Trumbull, Dick’s Sporting Goods has returned in Milford, fast-fashion retailer Primark has come back in Danbury and department store Boscov’s has relaunched in Milford.
JC Penney, which filed for bankruptcy last month, lists a six-day operating schedule at Westfield Trumbull. It is scheduled to reopen Wednesday at Danbury Fair.
This past weekend, some of the other Danbury Fair retailers were attracting sizable crowds. To comply with new state restrictions on store occupancy, a long line of shoppers snaked across the concourse as they waited to enter Primark on Saturday. Most of them wore masks and kept six feet between themselves and other patrons.
Still, the ongoing absence of stores such as Apple — which has not announced yet when it would reopen at Danbury Fair, SoNo Collection and Westfield Trumbull — and the trepidation of some customers about shopping again in person has curbed attendance.
On Monday when the restrictions on salons and barbershops were lifted, the two salons in the Trumbull Mall had a steady stream of waiting customers. But business in the rest of the facility was slow. While about a third of the food court was open, there were few customers taking advantage.
Sections of area malls are desolate where clusters of closed-up shops remain.
The emptiness was pronounced around the entrances of the Lord + Taylor department stores at Danbury Fair and Westfield Trumbull this weekend. Lord + Taylor is the sole anchor establishment at southwestern Connecticut’s malls to have not reopened or announced reopening dates.
Reports emerged last month that Lord + Taylor would liquidate its 38 stores’ inventory as soon as they reopened.
A message left Tuesday for Lord + Taylor representatives was not immediately returned.
Many other stores are scheduled to open their doors again in the next couple of weeks. Danbury Fair’s website lists Ann Taylor, Eddie Bauer, H&M, Hot Topic, Janie + Jack, Justice, Lululemon, Sephora and Torrid among its planned re-openings in the next two weeks.
In Milford, where about 70 percent of the mall’s stores have reopened, women’s retailer New York & Co., and H&M are set to return, respectively, on June 5 and June 20, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Southwestern Connecticut’s malls are counting on customers to return to help shore up employment in a reeling industry.
Connecticut shed a record 266,000 jobs last month. As part of that toll, retail lost approximately 38,000 jobs in Connecticut in April, second after the nearly 73,000 positions shed in the leisure and hospitality sector.
Before last month, the state had not lost more than about 17,000 jobs in one month since at least 1983.