MERIDEN SCOOP: Meriden Mall Continues to Lose Tenants!

Checking in on the Meriden Mall in Meriden, CT! The mall is located at 470 Lewis Avenue, right off I-691.

The mall has struggled in recent years to reinvent itself. The mall is almost 900,000 square feet, making it CT’s seventh largest mall. It features 4 anchors space originally occupied by G. Fox, JC Penney, Sears, and Lord & Taylor. Later anchors became Macy’s, Sears, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Boscov’s; with Bestbuy, TJ Maxx, Old Navy, Ulta Beauty, Shoe Dept Encore, H&M, and Forever 21 as junior anchors.

The mall was owned by Westfield Group until June of 2020 when Namdar Realty Group purchased the mall for $11 million. Namdar’s fourth mall in CT including Enfield Square, Trumbull Mall, and Crystal Mall.

The mall has lost many tenants since Macy’s and Sears closed their anchor stores in 2020 and 2018 respectively. Best Buy closed their store in 2021. H&M, Ulta Beauty, and Old Navy closed in 2020. Old Navy was replaced temporarily by the Meriden Public Library, and potentially pickleball in the future.
Forever 21 closed permanently earlier this week, and we broke the news that Dick’s Sporting Goods will close on April 20th. Check out our post here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/i3nCUWiqARUnuv5P/?mibextid=WC7FNe TJ Maxx is not too far behind unfortunately, their 10 year lease is up next year, and the chain will open a new location in nearby Cheshire.

More in-line tenants are closing or have recently closed including Praline, Charlotte Russe, Rooster’s Chicken & Waffles, Zumiez, More Than Just Lobster, and more. A dinner-theater, The 78, planned for the mall has cancelled the project that would’ve been a must needed draw for the mall.

The mall added a new small business market called Petrillo's Fairs and Festivals in the former Ulta Beauty space. The Rush Market has temporarily occupied Sears as a distribution center for their online open-box furniture store. Yale Health plans to turn the former Macy’s store into a new medical center, though only interior demolition work has been completed on the building.
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Do you think this mall can recover? Comment below!