Square Peg Pizzeria has closed their location inside Montana Nights Axe Throwing at 80 Fenn Road.

A new food option, Full Belly's Brick Oven has opened in its place. They will serve as the food vendor for Montana Nights. There is no information currently available online, including menus for the new restaurant, or whether they will offer takeout service.
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The closest Square Peg to Newington can be found in Berlin inside of The Truck Bar (151 Webster Square Road), as well as other locations farther away in Plainville, Glastonbury, Storrs and Vernon.

Mattress Plus has leased the space formerly home to Metro Mattress at 3153 Berlin Turnpike (McBride Plaza).

The shopping plaza is also home to McBride Carpet, Munson's Chocolate, and Neptune Cremation. Metro Mattress closed their store at this location, in addition to a second store at 3475 Berlin Turnpike last year when the mattress chain left Connecticut after a short run. Karma's Closet also left the plaza and relocated their consignment boutique to downtown Newington in January.

Mattress Plus has existing locations in Hamden, Orange, Milford and Old Saybrook as well as 2 in New Jersey. No word on their timeline to open or if there are more locations in the works in the state.
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Visit them online at www.mattressplusct.com

-Ollie's (3103 Berlin Turnpike) is NOW OPEN in Newington! The store is having a soft opening this week. They will be having their official Grand Opening on Thursday, March 20th at 9AM!

-The store closing sale at JOANN Fabric and Craft Stores (3105 Berlin Turnpike) is well underway. No closing date is known at this time. I am planning to visit the store later this week.

-Party City is in its final days of liquidating all stores. The Newington store (3087 Berlin Turnpike) is closing in 8 days from today's post (on or around March 23rd). I visited the store today (3/16) and there is not much left. A lot of themed party wear, a few costumes, and miscellaneous items.

JoAnn Plaza is going through several changes as JoAnn itself, Big Lots, Party City and TGI Fridays have or will close in the shopping center, leaving a large vacancy rate. The retail center is also plagued with a parking lot in poor condition with potholes and unkept landscaping throughout. Hungry Bowl recently opened in the former TGI Fridays space at 3025 Berlin Turnpike. There is a possibility for new tenants to move into JoAnn Fabrics and Party City, although nothing has been confirmed at this time. There is additionally a "lease pending" for another space in the plaza which we are keeping an eye on.
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What would your choice(s) be for new businesses in JoAnn plaza?

Dave's Hot Chicken has set their opening date in Newington!

The chicken eatery will open this Friday, March 14th! The restaurant will be located at 3384 Berlin Turnpike, the former Batteries Plus space.

The dining room will have seating for 49 customers. This will be Dave's Hot Chicken's second location; Milford opened in January. The chain has additional CT locations planned for Stamford and Southington.

The new restaurant serves Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, normal chicken sandwiches, tenders, bites, shakes, fries, slaw, mac & cheese, slushers of various flavors, and more. They sells a 'Hot Box Roulette' featuring a box of 10 chicken sliders with 4 mild, 5 medium, and 1 reaper (their hottest flavor.)

Find their full menu here: https://daveshotchicken.com/

Check them out this Friday!

The Little Cake Cafe is now Breakfast at Angelo’s!

The popular downtown eatery which specializes in Breakfast and Lunch favorites, remains under the same ownership, along with the same menu and staff as before!
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You can visit them at 1052R Main Street (Constitution Square).

AAA Bottle Redemption Depot has opened a redemption facility at 156 Pane Road, Unit C!

One of our first stories back in 2023 was for a series of "pre-applications" for potential businesses around town, and a redemption center at this site was one of them. They appear to have opened March 1.

They are a redemption facility unlike that of a grocery store. Customers must bag like items separately. They accept plastic bottles, cans and beer bottles (non-craft only and must be brought in boxes).
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AAA has a location at 4 Niblick Road in Enfield. To learn more, visit their website at https://aaabottleredemption.com/