[Stylo]

Originally Posted by urbanmyth

Here's what Connecticut malls need to become:

https://visitnorthhills.com/

https://carolinayards.com/

Two former malls in the Raleigh-Durham area. One, North Hills, is a booming mixture of residential units, senior housing, corporate offices, hotels, shops, restaurants, public event spaces, grocery stores, etc.. Connecticut malls are located in places that are just as conducive for this intensity of development if your town zoning rules would allow for more mixtures of uses and better design standards.

Those are better uses for sure.

Surely the Milford mall owners won’t give up? Is there any follow up?

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by JayCT

No, Macy’s has not filed for bankruptcy or said it is going out of business. This is purely speculation on the part of a few naysayers here who always cry “The sky is falling, the sky is falling” when it is not. Relax, the Trumbull mall is not closing either. There’s nothing to say it cannot survive, if not thrive, as retail continues to evolve like it has since the dawn of time. Jay

I have to say though that when I go into Macy's at the Trumbull Mall, it has the smell of death. It's poorly stocked, you can't find help readily, and it has an overall shabby feel to it. It is clearly not doing well.

I used to get my suits at Filene's before Macy's took them over. It had a great men's department and the service was great, with the salesmen and tailors all on point. When it became Macy's, I couldn't even find anybody to help me with a suit, and when I finally looked around myself, they didn't have any in my size (which is a normal size).

There's a sad cycle going on, in which the retail stores are so damaged that they can't exhibit the strengths that they have to compete against online retailers. Both have their strong and weak points, and there are certain things that I don't want to buy online. But stores like Macy's right now are literally pushing their customers right out the door.

Lord & Taylor was somewhat better, though it has gone downhill in recent years. But now that store is gone, or soon will be.

I think a mixed use is probably best for the mall sites. Some residential, some office, and a more limited amount of retail that serves day to day needs as well as longer term needs.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by tsek

I was in the Norwalk mall a few weeks ago. Walked all around. There were maybe ten shoppers at most, including my wife and I. We walked throughout Bloomingdales, and they had about 20 employees that we could see. My wife and I were the only customers in the entire store. We didn't buy anything. Very sad. Stamford mall, which lost Cheesecake Factory, H&M, and Apple, is beyond toast at this point. It boggles my mind that Barnes and Noble is still there.

Anyone can visit a mall or retail during a pandemic and say it's not doing well. Probably not the best time to gauge future viability. I could be wrong.
Stamford's fates been sealed for a while now, even before Covid and the new mall.
Cheesecake closing in Stub FFC is no surprise. Those are better off in Danbury and Trumbull.

[ryanthegoldengod]

Go into the mall or most retail outlets and what type of stores always seem to dominate? Women's clothing stores. That's why brick and mortar retail will never die. Most women don't seem to like shopping for clothes online. At least not exclusively.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Surely the Milford mall owners won’t give up? Is there any follow up?

No follow up. Nor should there be any. Perhaps they should sell the property to Metro Star, who always gets their way in Milford.

[Cambium]

I havent stepped foot in the Norwalk Mall yet nor do I plan to. But talking to some family members who did last month said it was completely dead inside.

Didnt understand why they built it to begin with but this pandemic just made it worse. Bad timing to build a new Mall

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by Cambium

I havent stepped foot in the Norwalk Mall yet nor do I plan to. But talking to some family members who did last month said it was completely dead inside.

Didnt understand why they built it to begin with but this pandemic just made it worse. Bad timing to build a new Mall

It was bad luck that the mall opened around the time of the pandemic. But even without the pandemic, malls have been suffering and I wonder what was the impetus for them to build it. The Westchester Mall in White Plains, NY helped put the nail in the coffin for Stamford Town Center, which was once a wonderful mall that I loved. What made the developers think that there was a calling for yet another mall in the area?

I actually always liked the Trumbull Mall because of the ease of parking and its proximity to me. The problem now, and it's a big one, is the lack of shopping options. Lord & Taylor was my preferred store there, once Filene's was gone. Macy's there is terrible, very poorly run and stocked. There's less and less reason to go there.

My days of driving a distance and parking in tiered structures are over.

[urbanmyth]

G. Fox was the best department store in Connecticut. May Company, then Macy's made a mistake obliterating local department store identities. When G. Fox became Filenes, the quality immediately dropped. Resurrecting the local store identities could help but the biggest issue that stores all carry roughly the same junk. It used to be that you went to Bloomingdale's for fashion-forward style; Lord and Taylor stores clothing was high quality and more conservative. Now, it's the same clothes -- it all looks the same and is of roughly the same quality (or lack thereof); there's really nothing to differentiate one store from another. Why shop at Macy's or Bloomingdale's when the same stuff is for sale at Kohl's? Department stores used to be an experience. Department store sales staff were professionals; now, store staff are hourly wage with no paths for advancement, there is no "career" in retail as there was even 30 years ago. People will shop in brick-and-mortar stores but they are soul-less now. Give them a soul, make them interesting, differentiate your products.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by urbanmyth

G. Fox was the best department store in Connecticut. May Company, then Macy's made a mistake obliterating local department store identities. When G. Fox became Filenes, the quality immediately dropped. Resurrecting the local store identities could help but the biggest issue that stores all carry roughly the same junk. It used to be that you went to Bloomingdale's for fashion-forward style; Lord and Taylor stores clothing was high quality and more conservative. Now, it's the same clothes -- it all looks the same and is of roughly the same quality (or lack thereof); there's really nothing to differentiate one store from another. Why shop at Macy's or Bloomingdale's when the same stuff is for sale at Kohl's? Department stores used to be an experience. Department store sales staff were professionals; now, store staff are hourly wage with no paths for advancement, there is no "career" in retail as there was even 30 years ago. People will shop in brick-and-mortar stores but they are soul-less now. Give them a soul, make them interesting, differentiate your products.

EXACTLY. Today’s department stores are bland and mind numbing. They lack knowledgeable staff and forgot or lost how to make shopping an experience rather than a chore. The elimination of regional department store and mergers that left them deep in debt and over leveraged, coupled with stores trying to beat each other and the internet for price was the nail in the coffin. It’s a shame. Jay

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by urbanmyth

G. Fox was the best department store in Connecticut. May Company, then Macy's made a mistake obliterating local department store identities. When G. Fox became Filenes, the quality immediately dropped. Resurrecting the local store identities could help but the biggest issue that stores all carry roughly the same junk. It used to be that you went to Bloomingdale's for fashion-forward style; Lord and Taylor stores clothing was high quality and more conservative. Now, it's the same clothes -- it all looks the same and is of roughly the same quality (or lack thereof); there's really nothing to differentiate one store from another. Why shop at Macy's or Bloomingdale's when the same stuff is for sale at Kohl's? Department stores used to be an experience. Department store sales staff were professionals; now, store staff are hourly wage with no paths for advancement, there is no "career" in retail as there was even 30 years ago. People will shop in brick-and-mortar stores but they are soul-less now. Give them a soul, make them interesting, differentiate your products.

I really agree with this. Department stores are just dying. When I used to buy my suits at G. Fox/Filene's, the salesmen were professionals who had sold suits their whole career. Now it's just another minimum wage job.