Cromwell Square

[JJBers]

Yea, I know it isn't dead, but both anchors are closed down, so close enough?
This plaza is located in Cromwell, Connecticut on CT 3, nearby CT 372 and CT 9 interchange.
Photos...:

Abandoned Kmart (Cromwell, Connecticut) by JJBers, on Flickr

Xpect Discounts (Cromwell, Connecticut) by JJBers, on Flickr
This sign is about to collapse at this point:

Cromwell Square Sign by JJBers, on Flickr

[giantsfan2016]

I really have no idea what happened to Mr. Garafalo's plans to open a ShopRite Supermarket in this plaza. He was supposed to take the entire former Xpect Store and around 20,000 Square feet from the former KMART.

[Jstar1994]

I went through some of the minutes from the Cromwell Planning and Zoning commission and it appears the project is still alive, but there are issues the State DOT and new traffic studies. Once they have all of those issues solved they should begin construction.

[AmesNewington]

This was a regular stop for me and my mom for 8 years, despite living in Newington. My mom wanted to check out Xpect Discounts one Saturday in 2009 and after we went there, we stopped at Kmart next door and ever since frequented Kmart quite a bit. It was the go-to store for my mom for just about anything. It was rather outdated but they kept it well stocked and organized. It was sad to see it go earlier this year, but I can see the downward spiral of Sears/Kmart, so I believe Cromwell went out with some dignity. It was beginning to slip in the end. Nevertheless, it saddens me to see the empty store still sitting there. I know right now, we would have been there a few times already for Christmas stuff as they always had a lot, more than Walmart. I can't understand how a traffic study could hold up construction of ShopRite. Kmart closed earlier than the other Kmarts slated to close around the same time. I assumed they had to be out ASAP so ShopRite/Garafolo's could come in and start. I hadn't seen one picture of how it looks now and had gone a few weeks ago to see if anything had begun and nothing. Nice to see the pics on here now. This is how it looked in April too.

[giantsfan2016]

I don't understand why they need a traffic study. When KMART and Xpect were open that was a combined total of a 129,000 Square feet of retail space. Now ShopRite is coming in and they're taking the entire Xpect space which is around 34,000 Square Feet and around 20,000 Square feet of the KMART space, leaving 75,000 Square feet left over, so ShopRite will be around 54,000 Square Feet. Seems to me a 54,000 Square foot store is going to generate less traffic than 2 stores combined for 129,000 Square feet. I still don't know why they're taking the Xpect space and part of the KMART space. This is going to give ShopRite and odd shape.

If it was me I woudn't take any of the Xpect space and would take the entire 54,000 Square feet from the KMART space.(Actually if if was me my ShopRite would be my much larger than 54,000 square feet. That's a smaller sized store for ShopRite or any other grocery store for that matter other than Big Y or Whole Foods. Across the street is a Stop and Shop and it's much bigger than 54,000 Square feet).

[scottw73]

I don't understand why they need a traffic study. When KMART and Xpect were open that was a combined total of a 129,000 Square feet of retail space. Now ShopRite is coming in and they're taking the entire Xpect space which is around 34,000 Square Feet and around 20,000 Square feet of the KMART space, leaving 75,000 Square feet left over, so ShopRite will be around 54,000 Square Feet. Seems to me a 54,000 Square foot store is going to generate less traffic than 2 stores combined for 129,000 Square feet. I still don't know why they're taking the Xpect space and part of the KMART space. This is going to give ShopRite and odd shape.

If it was me I woudn't take any of the Xpect space and would take the entire 54,000 Square feet from the KMART space.(Actually if if was me my ShopRite would be my much larger than 54,000 square feet. That's a smaller sized store for ShopRite or any other grocery store for that matter other than Big Y or Whole Foods. Across the street is a Stop and Shop and it's much bigger than 54,000 Square feet).

I agree with you 100% Marc, it does seem kinda weird the way shop rite is using the space, if it were up to me, I'd put shop rite in the old Kmart space and lease the former Xpect to either an Ollies, OSJL, or a Big Lots, no traffic study needed.

[JJBers]

This was a regular stop for me and my mom for 8 years, despite living in Newington. My mom wanted to check out Xpect Discounts one Saturday in 2009 and after we went there, we stopped at Kmart next door and ever since frequented Kmart quite a bit. It was the go-to store for my mom for just about anything. It was rather outdated but they kept it well stocked and organized. It was sad to see it go earlier this year, but I can see the downward spiral of Sears/Kmart, so I believe Cromwell went out with some dignity. It was beginning to slip in the end. Nevertheless, it saddens me to see the empty store still sitting there. I know right now, we would have been there a few times already for Christmas stuff as they always had a lot, more than Walmart. I can't understand how a traffic study could hold up construction of ShopRite. Kmart closed earlier than the other Kmarts slated to close around the same time. I assumed they had to be out ASAP so ShopRite/Garafolo's could come in and start. I hadn't seen one picture of how it looks now and had gone a few weeks ago to see if anything had begun and nothing. Nice to see the pics on here now. This is how it looked in April too.

Hey, instead of traffic issues, we got environmental issues here. We also got a abandoned Sears Hardware too.

[BillyGr]

I don't understand why they need a traffic study. When KMART and Xpect were open that was a combined total of a 129,000 Square feet of retail space. Now ShopRite is coming in and they're taking the entire Xpect space which is around 34,000 Square Feet and around 20,000 Square feet of the KMART space, leaving 75,000 Square feet left over, so ShopRite will be around 54,000 Square Feet. Seems to me a 54,000 Square foot store is going to generate less traffic than 2 stores combined for 129,000 Square feet. I still don't know why they're taking the Xpect space and part of the KMART space. This is going to give ShopRite and odd shape.

If it was me I woudn't take any of the Xpect space and would take the entire 54,000 Square feet from the KMART space.(Actually if if was me my ShopRite would be my much larger than 54,000 square feet. That's a smaller sized store for ShopRite or any other grocery store for that matter other than Big Y or Whole Foods. Across the street is a Stop and Shop and it's much bigger than 54,000 Square feet).

Seems like a couple things:
1. Regarding the traffic study - I don't know how busy those Xpect stores were (never was at one but did visit one of the "parent" Marcs in OH but don't really remember how busy, nor would one visit be a true comparison), but we all know how busy Kmart hasn't been most places lately. 
ShopRite on the other hand tends to draw fairly high numbers of customers, so it may not impossible for them to have as many as both of the others combined (or at least close).  They might want to know, given that a chunk of the building is left empty what future use of that could have as an impact also?

2. Size wise, that's not unusual.  They are just about to open the 5th store in the greater Albany area since they returned a few years back, and that new store is 55,000 Sq. Ft. - the others are a similar size (only the first of the 5 was an existing building - a former Grand Union - so that one may be a bit different, but the other 4 have been built for them, so they chose the size to go with).

[Chuck E. Cheese]

From when I went to this Xpect when it was close to shutting down, it wasn't that busy. The Kmart was busier.