Small, ancient Stop and Shop closing in Meriden, Connecticut

[Brammy]

The small and ancient Stop and Shop in Centennial Plaza in Meriden, Connecitcut will be closing late this fall. This store is small at under 50,000 square feet. According to Cornerstone Realty they have the master lease in the entire plaza. The other Stop and Shop inn Meriden will remain open and get a remodel.

FROM MYRECORDJOURNAL.COM

Stop & Shop to close Centennial Plaza store in Meriden later this year

May 28, 2020 05:57PM
By Mary Ellen Godin, Record-Journal staff
MERIDEN â€" Stop & Shop will close its store and gas pumps in Centennial Plaza this fall, citing lackluster sales and low store traffic.

The grocery store is the largest anchor in the West Main Street plaza.

“Stop & Shop has made the difficult decision not to renew the lease for our store in Centennial Plaza in Meriden, Connecticut, as the store was not meeting financial expectations,” according to a prepared statement by a company spokeswoman. “Stop & Shop intends to operate the store and the fuel station through the fall of 2020 and at that time, all associates will be given the opportunity to transfer to other Stop & Shop locations.”

Stop & Shop’s store at 485 Broad St. (Route 5) will remain open and be remodeled starting this summer.

Centennial Plaza has long struggled to fill its 85,000 square feet of retail space. 

“While I am disappointed that they are closing the west side store I am pleased that they have made a commitment to the Broad Street store and are remodeling it to better serve our town,” said Economic Development Director Joseph Feest. “The loss of the large anchor store for that plaza will be felt but with the new West Main tax incentive now could be a great time to have someone new come in and reinvest in the building and take advantage of the program.”

The city recently approved a tax abatement program for the west side that mirrors similar incentives offered for east side developers. The program has been credited with spurring economic activity on the east side, including new businesses and expansions.   

Feest said he has reached out to the broker to offer assistance in finding another tenant for Centennial Plaza.

Stop & Shop has applied for permits for about a half million dollars in work at the Broad Street store, said David Lowell, City Council Democratic Majority Leader.

David Lowell, the City Council’s majority leader, said he was surprised Stop & Shop maintained two stores in the same city for so long.

“The (Centennial Plaza) is prime real estate right now,” said Lowell, who also chairs the council’s Economic Development Housing and Zoning Committee. “There is absolutely a need for a market of some kind there that might well bring competition to Stop & Shop.”

Lowell said the west side incentives could allow a developer to come in and fill some of the vacancies.

“They could add life to that plaza,” Lowell said. “It could be a logical move for another brand that could take advantage of that space.”

[standa]

This store was once a Finast. Are there other current Stop & Shops that were once Finast?

[AmesNewington]

There is no need for Stop and Shop to have two stores in the same town. Maybe the larger cities (and it works well in a suburb like West Hartford), however, Meriden doesn't need two of the same thing. It can barely keep what it currently has. I hope things will eventually turn around for the city. I always felt that the mall has so much potential, but the city and Westfield just won't think outside of the box and come up with a plan to reenergize the property.

Another thought is that this is highly irregular for Stop and Shop to abandon a lease and not hold on to it and keep the supermarket space empty. They are known for grabbing the leases on competitors which have closed and even other properties that don't house a grocery store. Perhaps they feel that the property is not viable enough for them. Meriden could use a Price Rite. Maybe they can put one there or in the former Saver's store in front of the mall. They would fare better.

Getting back to my first point, I wonder if S&S would ever consider closing other "2nd locations" in towns with two stores, such as Newington (Kitts Lane) and Vernon (Rockville section) that were once Shaw's locations that they put minimal investment in but wanted competitors out. You can tell which S&S locations were more important when it came to stocked shelves during the pandemic. The Fenn Road Newington one was better stocked and Kitts Lane one was as good with it. It proves that Kitts has always had lower customer traffic and isn't their priority.

[Brammy]

I just hope they don't close the Pine Street store in Forestville. (That's where I used to work back five years ago). Yeah it's the secondary Bristol store and it doesn't do as much business as their main Bristol store on Route 6, but a lot of Plainville people go there such as those who don't like Big Y or the little IGA store Gnazzo's. It's not as well stocked as the Southington store. From where I live the Forestville Store and Southington store about equal distance apart, but I prefer Forestville because there's no traffic getting there. It's all residential streets getting there. I hate Route 10 and it's getting worse.

[Bdubs]

Stop & Shop has quite a few towns with 2 stores. The only reason I can see them still operating this way would be to just keep out the competition. Of course, they’ll just sit on this lease and leave the building empty 

[AmesNewington]

Stop & Shop has quite a few towns with 2 stores. The only reason I can see them still operating this way would be to just keep out the competition. Of course, they’ll just sit on this lease and leave the building empty 

Their lease is up and they are not renewing. Wouldn't that mean they are not interested in holding the lease after they close the store?

[mixedday]

I can't speak for that Stop&Shop, but in my area, a long time former Genuardi's was vacant for a decade, and the site was owned by the Acme ownership. Acme operates a store within a mile.

Finally, after long dormancy, Edge Fitness was to open and is working on the site. However, the pandemic likely has delayed this opening.

I believe that these grocery operators will try to sublease to Edge Fitness and Planet Fitness, over just sitting on building empty. Fortunately, Planet (national franchise) is opening everywhere.

I hope Edge opens but their business model is somewhat defined by low monthly rates, more offerings than a Planet Fitness, but dependence on high volume to make it profitable. Huge parking lots with a lot of cars. It's somewhat opposite characteristics for the new way of "normal" for gyms going forward, at least for the next year.

[Brammy]

Their lease is up and they are not renewing. Wouldn't that mean they are not interested in holding the lease after they close the store?

Stop and Shop controls the lease on the entire plaza. They have final say as to what goes into their former store.

That was the situation with Columbus Plaza in New Britain. Stop and Shop closed their small and outdated store and moved to a brand new store on Corbin Avenue. Stop and Shop controlled the lease for the entire Columbus Plaza. Stop and Shop didn't want Price Rite to move in, but the city intervened and said with reopen Stop and Shop or let Price Rite move in. I think the plaza changed hands, but I heard rumors Stop and Shop still controls the lease for the whole plaza.

[AmesNewington]

Their lease is up and they are not renewing. Wouldn't that mean they are not interested in holding the lease after they close the store?

Stop and Shop controls the lease on the entire plaza. They have final say as to what goes into their former store.

That was the situation with Columbus Plaza in New Britain. Stop and Shop closed their small and outdated store and moved to a brand new store on Corbin Avenue. Stop and Shop controlled the lease for the entire Columbus Plaza. Stop and Shop didn't want Price Rite to move in, but the city intervened and said with reopen Stop and Shop or let Price Rite move in. I think the plaza changed hands, but I heard rumors Stop and Shop still controls the lease for the whole plaza.

But didn't the article say their lease is up? So if they did own the plaza, why wouldn't they just say they are closing the store and gas station? If the lease is up on the store and they are closing it, they still own the rest of the plaza with the exception of the former Stop and Shop space?