First tenants set to open in former West Hartford Sears

[giantsfan2016]

The first tenants are set to open in the former Sears in West Hartford, CT. Saks off Fifth opens Thursday and REI (which is relocating from Blue Back Square) is opening  next Tuesday Shake Shack will open in May, and Buy Buy Baby and Cost World Market will open at a later date.

FROM COURANT.COM
Redevelopment Brings Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, REI And Shake Shack To Corbin's Corner
By    Mikaela Porter
mmporter@courant.com

As Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, Shake Shack and REI are about to open at Corbin’s Corner, across from the Westfarms mall, town officials and neighboring businesses say the redevelopment at the former Sears property will maintain the vitality of an already busy retail district.

Two of the retailers â€" Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th and REI â€" have grand openings planned in the next two weeks. Those stores are moving into the space vacated by Sears and Sears Auto Center, which closed in January 2017. The space is now called Corbin’s Collection.

Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th’s grand opening is Thursday, with its website offering promotions to the first 100 shoppers. REI, which is closing its location on Raymond Road in Blue Back Square next Monday, looks to open its New Britain Avenue store on Tuesday and among its promotions is one with Hanging Hills Brewery in Hartford, according to its website.

The other tenant at Corbin’s Collection, Shake Shack, hasn’t confirmed an opening date according to Regional Marketing Manager Adam Shapiro, but it has scheduled a ribbon-cutting for May 7, according to the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce.

Saks Off 5th and REI both secured temporary certificates of occupancy, according to West Hartford Community Development Director Mark McGovern, and other retailers like buybuy BABY and Cost Plus World Market looking at later opening dates.

“It’s an important project,” McGovern said. “The architecture is nice. It’s adding a lot to a very active retail district at Corbin’s Corner with a lot of openings in that area lately. It points to the strength of retail in that area.”

The former Sears auto building is about 30,000 square feet, McGovern said, with the other former Sears retail building about 300,000 square feet.

At Westfarms across the street, leadership welcomes the Corbin’s Collection project, saying it complements existing shopping. The mall is soon adding Kate Spade, Texas de Brazil steakhouse and Cinnabon.

“It’s an addition to the already vibrant retail area and we are confident it will benefit all the surrounding businesses in the Corbin’s Corner area,” Westfarms spokesperson Amanda Sirica said Tuesday. “They’ve got a great addition to the merchandising mix already established in the area.”

According to Saks Off 5th’s website, the doors will open early on Thursday â€" at 9 a.m. â€" with a number of promotions. Promotional information is available online at http://locations.saksoff5th.com/en/west-hartford.

According to REI’s website, the Raymond Road location will close its doors April 23 and the new location on New Britain Avenue will open Tuesday at 10 a.m. Tuesday’s opening includes a fundraising initiative for the Connecticut Forest and Parks Association, with local brewery Hanging Hills Brewery offering limited-edition pint glasses and an “exclusive new beer” called Old New England Trail. Other promotions are available on REI’s website: https://www.rei.com/stores/west-hartford.html.

The new space was projected to be about 800 square feet smaller than the Sears and Sears auto space. The original Sears building was constructed sometime in the 1950s with minimal upgrades to each building, according to the application filed with the town last year. Delaware-based Seritage SRC Finance LLC received council approval on the project in January 2017 and started demolition work in April, McGovern said.

The space includes 52 new parking spaces, bringing the total number of parking spots in the shopping center area to 1,683, according to approved plans for the project. The parking lot was to be modified for safer circulation of vehicles and pedestrians.

A traffic study included in the application requests that improvements be made at the intersection of New Britain Avenue (Route 71) at Ridgewood Road and the Sears driveway, and include minor realignment of the northbound Sears driveway. According to the study, the redevelopment project is not expected to have significant impact on traffic.

[giantsfan2016]

My Mom was meeting her 2 cousins for tea at the Corbin's Corner Starbucks today. She was curious about Sak's Off 5th. Even at what are supposed to be discounted prices their merchandise is still beyond our budget. They did a good job remodeling the space. It doesn't resemble Sears at all. REI is open. We didn't go there. 2 other stores are still under construction = Cost World Market and their sister chain Buy Buy Baby. Shake Shack (in the old Sear's Auto Building) appeared to be busy - even at 2:45PM on a Wednesday.

BTW, your humble admin Brammy felt very self-concious being inside Sak's off 5th wearing his cheap Walmart Clothing - shorts, watch, t-shirt, and sneakers, and fake diamond stud earrings. Plus a NY Giants hat. - Actually even if I could afford to shop there I wouldn't.

[giantsfan2016]

Go Urgent Care and an Asian Restaurant called the Pokeworks will be joining Shake Shack in te former Sear's Auto Center.

[JimSawhill]

My Mom was meeting her 2 cousins for tea at the Corbin's Corner Starbucks today. She was curious about Sak's Off 5th. Even at what are supposed to be discounted prices their merchandise is still beyond our budget. They did a good job remodeling the space. It doesn't resemble Sears at all. REI is open. We didn't go there. 2 other stores are still under construction = Cost World Market and their sister chain Buy Buy Baby. Shake Shack (in the old Sear's Auto Building) appeared to be busy - even at 2:45PM on a Wednesday.

BTW, your humble admin Brammy felt very self-concious being inside Sak's off 5th wearing his cheap Walmart Clothing - shorts, watch, t-shirt, and sneakers, and fake diamond stud earrings. Plus a NY Giants hat. - Actually even if I could afford to shop there I wouldn't.

Nothing wrong with WalMart clothing...I get my clothes from them. I bought 6 Dickies for work and T-SHIRTS and still had money left over...

[Bdubs]

My Mom was meeting her 2 cousins for tea at the Corbin's Corner Starbucks today. She was curious about Sak's Off 5th. Even at what are supposed to be discounted prices their merchandise is still beyond our budget. They did a good job remodeling the space. It doesn't resemble Sears at all. REI is open. We didn't go there. 2 other stores are still under construction = Cost World Market and their sister chain Buy Buy Baby. Shake Shack (in the old Sear's Auto Building) appeared to be busy - even at 2:45PM on a Wednesday.

BTW, your humble admin Brammy felt very self-concious being inside Sak's off 5th wearing his cheap Walmart Clothing - shorts, watch, t-shirt, and sneakers, and fake diamond stud earrings. Plus a NY Giants hat. - Actually even if I could afford to shop there I wouldn't.

Funny story, My wife and I were shopping at Buy Buy Baby, so we stopped to grab lunch at Shake Shack before we headed home. Well, just as we complete our meal a mother and her daughter who couldn’t have been more than 4 sits next to us. The daughter stands up on the seat, looks around, and barfs everywhere. Lol. Everyone nearby gets up to avoid the mess, I felt sorry for the mom but the employees were very helpful and helped her clean up.
I was just thankful we were done eating!