Retail to reps
Struggling malls are turning into fitness hubs
STAMFORD — For nearly eight years, Simona Cipriani has taught Pilates inside an office building on the edge of downtown Stamford. Now, she has another, much different setting for her classes.
Cipriani opened last month her second Art of Control studio, on the fourth floor of Stamford Town Center, next door to the new Pickleball America complex. The newcomers are playing a key role in the revival of a mall that has grappled with numerous retail closings in recent years. At the same time, fitness-focused tenants are helping to fill vacancies and diversify the offerings at other malls in Connecticut.
“I like that we’re next to Pickleball America,” Cipriani said in an interview at the mall. “And I like the idea of being part of a community.”
Pilates at the mall
Art of Control has taken an approximately 1,200-square-foot storefront, a well-lit space with floor-toceiling windows. It had been occupied in earlier years by a mix of retail, entertainment and service tenants.
“This is really great that it’s near the pickleball,” Lynda Cesiro, who is working toward a certification to teach Pilates classes on mats, said after a class last week at the new studio. “It’s so convenient and so affordable.”
Cipriani plans to work closely with her next-door neighbor. Window signs in the studio advertise classes for pickleball players, while Art of Control instructors will lead sessions at Pickleball America to help players warm up for matches. Single sessions at Art of Control start at $25 for members and $35 for non-members.
“A problem with some Pickleball players is they’ll go in and just start playing and then they get injured. Injury prevention is what we want to focus on with them,” said Cipriani, who is a pickleball player. “In 10 minutes before they play, I can show them movements or stretches.”
Pickleball America officials expressed similar optimism about the partnership.
“We’re so excited,” Pickleball America co-founder Mia Schipani said in an interview. “The more synergy we have, the better the experiences for our guests.”
Art of Control will also offer classes to students who train at A Dance Space, a venue on the mall’s fifth floor that opened in the fall of 2021 and hosts The Ballet School of Stamford and the Parsons Dance company.
“I’ve known Simona for years, and having her at the mall is fantastic,” Marti Etter, The Ballet School’s cofounder and executive director, said in an interview. “There’s a lot of dance and Pilates that go together. There’s a lot of core and back strength. It’s a great low-impact exercise. It’s not something you get injured from; it’s something that helps you with flexibility.”
Filling the gaps
For Stamford Town Center, the fitnessfocused tenants have helped to fill the vacancies created by a number of retail closings in recent years. Pickleball America, which is the largest indoor pickleball complex in the U.S., took over a two-level anchor pad that was occupied from 2015 to 2021 by a Saks Off 5th department store. A Dance Space occupies a storefront whose previous tenants included a rug gallery and an Ann Taylor store. Soccer Fun Zone, which opened in July 2022 on the mall’s eighth level, filled a vacancy resulting from the closing in 2018 of an FYE store.
“With the new anchor, we’ve garnered a tremendous amount of leasing activity,” Stamford Town Center General Manager Dan Stolzenbach said in an email. “Many businesses find that they are complementary to, or closely associated with, pickleball, whether it’s sports medicine, food and beverage uses, other sports ventures, or co-working. We fully expect this trend to continue, and we will be announcing even more new tenants in the coming weeks.”
As pickleball’s popularity keeps growing, Pickleball America looks like it will be a trend-setter in Connecticut. At Meriden Mall, a Club Pickleball is setting up within a section of the shopping center previously occupied by Meriden Public Library and an Old Navy store, according to mall officials. Club Pickleball’s opening date has not been finalized, but mall officials said that they anticipate finding out more within the next few weeks about the timeline for opening.
In Trumbull, town officials have said that a pickleball center could be a viable tenant at Trumbull Mall, which still has a vacant anchor pad, following the closing in February 2021 of a Lord & Taylor department store.
Among other fitnessfocused tenants at malls in the state are LA Fitness centers at Trumbull Mall and Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, and a D1 Training center at The SoNo Collection in Norwalk.
“Having LA Fitness at the property allows us to be more than just a retail-focused destination,” Connecticut Post General Manager Ken Sterba said in a statement. “Many employees of Connecticut Post Mall enjoy utilizing LA Fitness before or after work, and it’s also a convenient location for local gym goers to get a workout in before or after running errands at our mall shops. Having LA Fitness here also allows the property to be active early in the morning before the mall opens, which helps tenants like Target and Robeks benefit from that extra foot traffic.”