[Jarot]

Hey all, I have a lot of fond memories of the Toys R Us that used to be in East Haven. It closed in around 2001, and it used to share a plaza with Bradlees which I think closed a little before that. There also used to be a Post Office next to it on one side, and on the other was a Kmart which I think closed around the same time. Next to Kmart used to be a flea market kind of place, and before that I can't remember. The Auto Zone was always there I think (and the design is the only piece left of the original Kmart building facade today), and next to that is a whole shopping plaza that's been mostly empty for like ten years now.

I can find one or two pictures online of the Kmart long after it closed, but that's it. Obviously now a lot of this stuff has been torn down for CarMax and Home Depot. This is a long shot, but does anyone happen to have any old pictures of this plaza from around the late 80s to around 2000? Hell even before that would just be cool to look at even if it's before my time. Pictures after these places closed would be kind of cool too. Also can anyone remember what stores used to occupy that plaza that's next to what's now Home Depot? I remember my mother used to go to one of them a lot when I was a kid, I want to say one of those plaza stores was a Dress Barn but I can't remember now.

If anyone has stuff like this or even just some help jogging my memory and doesn't mind sharing, I'd appreciate it!

[Stylo]

It's very hard to find photos like that. I'd love to see some from Danbury/Brookfield/Bethel/New Milford.

I did find this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CuVmuW-byM

[Mike 75]

check this site out: The Caldor Rainbow

[Jarot]

I love The Caldor Rainbow, it's a shame whoever was running it stopped posting. It seems they had some pictures of the East Haven TRU and Bradlees at one time, but the links have long since stopped working.

[retiree2011]

Originally Posted by Jarot

Hey all, I have a lot of fond memories of the Toys R Us that used to be in East Haven. It closed in around 2001, and it used to share a plaza with Bradlees which I think closed a little before that. There also used to be a Post Office next to it on one side, and on the other was a Kmart which I think closed around the same time. Next to Kmart used to be a flea market kind of place, and before that I can't remember. The Auto Zone was always there I think (and the design is the only piece left of the original Kmart building facade today), and next to that is a whole shopping plaza that's been mostly empty for like ten years now.

I can find one or two pictures online of the Kmart long after it closed, but that's it. Obviously now a lot of this stuff has been torn down for CarMax and Home Depot. This is a long shot, but does anyone happen to have any old pictures of this plaza from around the late 80s to around 2000? Hell even before that would just be cool to look at even if it's before my time. Pictures after these places closed would be kind of cool too. Also can anyone remember what stores used to occupy that plaza that's next to what's now Home Depot? I remember my mother used to go to one of them a lot when I was a kid, I want to say one of those plaza stores was a Dress Barn but I can't remember now.

If anyone has stuff like this or even just some help jogging my memory and doesn't mind sharing, I'd appreciate it!

I belong to the East Haven Historical Siciety and among all our tons of stuff I have seen photos if those places. We are not meeting this month, but when we go back I can try to find some photos, if possible. As far as the mostly-closed plaza, there was an Animal Kingdom (pet store). I was in there once and a snake got out if its glass enclosure and I had to run out of the store. There was also a Gloria Stevens exercise studio I attended and a place that sold clothing. The A&P liquor store was there for years till the road construction made it too hard for people to get there. Right now an antiques consignment store occupies part of the plaza, along with a liquor store in the same spot the A & P liquor store was and a veterinary clinic and hospital will open next week. The road construction made that plaza hard to get to, which is why it was vacant for so long.

Hope this helps.

[Jarot]

Originally Posted by retiree2011

I belong to the East Haven Historical Siciety and among all our tons of stuff I have seen photos if those places. We are not meeting this month, but when we go back I can try to find some photos, if possible. As far as the mostly-closed plaza, there was an Animal Kingdom (pet store). I was in there once and a snake got out if its glass enclosure and I had to run out of the store. There was also a Gloria Stevens exercise studio I attended and a place that sold clothing. The A&P liquor store was there for years till the road construction made it too hard for people to get there. Right now an antiques consignment store occupies part of the plaza, along with a liquor store in the same spot the A & P liquor store was and a veterinary clinic and hospital will open next week. The road construction made that plaza hard to get to, which is why it was vacant for so long.

Hope this helps.

That would be amazing if you could! I want to say I've been in the pet store before but I can't remember. Yeah she'd go to the clothing store a lot, whether it was a Dress Barn or not I can't remember. I'm pretty sure it was the one all the way at the end, closest to the Chinese restaurant. If that ends up being the case maybe my memory isn't so bad after all. That liquor store had a lit sign on the roof, didn't it?

I'd love to see some old pictures of this area again. That Toys R Us was my childhood pretty much. It would also be very cool to see what it looked like with the Stop & Shop attached to the Bradlees, that's before my time. I always remember the store being in Trolley Square. Also curious what the Child World looked like, that was also before my time.

I never even knew there was an East Haven Historical Society, that's really cool!