JC Penney Story

[dayville81]

Approx. 250,000 square foot mall in Mansfield, CT north of Willimantic. Anchors: Kohl's, JC Penney, TJ Maxx, Cinema North 8-screen movie theatre. Kohl's was an Ames before that a Caldor. TJ Maxx used to be a grocery store which is why to get to it you have to go outside the North Mall doors and walk down the sidewalk.

[dayville81]

Former Ames on Mall Sign

[dayville81]

Back entrance of mall. Signage taken down and replaced by cinema marquee. Last time mall was renovated was 90's. New renovation included adding automatic doors on one side of a skylight atrium area and regular doors on the other. An atrium exists on both the west and east sides of Kohl's. An atrium was also built at this entrance and the one at the south end of the mall near JC Penney.

[dayville81]

Correction: The above photo was from signage and renovation done in the 1980's.

[dayville81]

This is the new atrium area as explained above. Each atrium area has a store directory sign and this one has a Willimantic Chronicle newspaper box.

[dayville81]

Olympia Sports, Waldenbooks, Hallmark, Eblens (local clothing chain), The Hoot (independent women's clothing, collectibles, cards, cookbooks, seasonal merchandise, bird feeders, jewery), Smith Keon Jewlers, a fomer Chinese buffet restaurant, Fashion Bug & Fashion Bug Plus, a bank and ATM on JC Penney end with another bank's ATM at Kohl's end, EB Games (old Kaybee), Payless Shoe Source, Papa Gino's, Subway, CVS, Tropik Fruit and Nut (food kiosk with ice cream, candy, hotdogs), Westies Shoes, a small arcade next to theatre, a very small aracade inside theatre (need ticket to enter), JC Penney Hair Salon (inside store), Claires Accessories, Recruiting for Navy, Nail Salon, Hair Salon, Cingular kiosk, Mall Security and Information Booth selling CT Lottery tickets.

PHOTO: Outdoor walkway connecting north and south mall entrances. Most stores along here do not have outdoor entrances. Exceptions are: Subway, EB Games, and Fashion Bug.

[d_fife]

Originally posted by dayville81
Approx. 250,000 square foot mall in Mansfield, CT north of Willimantic. Anchors: Kohl's, JC Penney, TJ Maxx, Cinema North 8-screen movie theatre. Kohl's was an Ames before that a Caldor. TJ Maxx used to be a grocery store which is why to get to it you have to go outside the North Mall doors and walk down the sidewalk.

I heard it was built in 1975. a picture of the old ames in the willimantic has the labelscar of Caldor.

[dayville81]

Forgot to add two major reasons why mall is successful:
Eastern CT State University 2 miles from mall
Univ of Conn 5 miles from mall

plus mall is off the Route 6 Expressway on Route 195. Only shopping mall in area.

[Caldor1999]

this mall looks  kida boring the only major store/good store it has is JC Penny and TJ Maxx but i dont like them and now they hvae Kohls but i think the should add a lil more to it

[dayville81]

Exterior lighting and a canopy were added to the outside of the mall between JC Penney and TJ Maxx. Many customers use this sidewalk to walk between the two anchor stores since TJ Maxx has no mall entrance.

[dayville81]

Exterior of mall near where most of the small stores are. Glass tower atrium visible.
Side note: When Kohl's bought up Ames, they added windows facing the parking lot since the store used to not have any windows at all, just light from the mall from the gate opening. Also Kohl's opened up a hallway that was used by Ames as a storage area. This hallway connects the anchor to a glass atrium area which exists to the back parking lot.

[dayville81]

I heard Target was looking at the former Ames site right after Ames closed up. The site lay vacant for a year or two before Kohl's decided to move in. As for discount stores in the area, the only ones that exist now is:
Ocean State Job Lot, Willimantic Plaza, Rte 32, 3 miles away
Wal-Mart Super Center, North Windham, Rte 6, 3 miles away
Benny's, Downtown Willimantic, Rte 32/66, 6 miles away

Closest Target from here is Manchester and closest K-Mart is in Vernon. Too bad one of those didnt move in the mall and keep the discount store in a mall theme.

There are no Kohl's in the area, and I believe they are doing quite well despite how small the store is in comparison to most of their other stores. It is funny since they took over the whole Ames store and even have less stock areas than Ames did. Ames was a big square while Kohl's here has a back left of the store going furhter back than the rest of the store. That area has the Customer Service, Restrooms, and Bridal Registry.

[dayville81]

Originally posted by Caldor1999
this mall looks  kida boring the only major store/good store it has is JC Penny and TJ Maxx but i dont like them and now they hvae Kohls but i think the should add a lil more to it

I believe in the 80's, the mall added the west wing on with mostly small stores and now a movie theatre. I dont believe they have the room to put on another expansion but do predict another outparcel this time in the TJ Maxx/JC Penney parking lot near Route 195. There were rumors Starbucks wanted to go in but not sure how true that was since they already have a restaurant on Route 195 a few miles away though that one has no drive-through and is on the UCONN Campus in a shopping center.

[d_fife]

Originally posted by dayville81
I heard Target was looking at the former Ames site right after Ames closed up. The site lay vacant for a year or two before Kohl's decided to move in. As for discount stores in the area, the only ones that exist now is:
Ocean State Job Lot, Willimantic Plaza, Rte 32, 3 miles away
Wal-Mart Super Center, North Windham, Rte 6, 3 miles away
Benny's, Downtown Willimantic, Rte 32/66, 6 miles away

Closest Target from here is Manchester and closest K-Mart is in Vernon. Too bad one of those didnt move in the mall and keep the discount store in a mall theme.

There are no Kohl's in the area, and I believe they are doing quite well despite how small the store is in comparison to most of their other stores. It is funny since they took over the whole Ames store and even have less stock areas than Ames did. Ames was a big square while Kohl's here has a back left of the store going furhter back than the rest of the store. That area has the Customer Service, Restrooms, and Bridal Registry.

now I heard the Ames was 84,800 square feet in this mall and most kohl's are 86,000 square feet. That would be small for a target unless they enlarged it and kmart isn't opening new stores. sorry, wal-mart is the only discounter in this area.

[dayville81]

Originally posted by d_fife

Originally posted by dayville81
I heard Target was looking at the former Ames site right after Ames closed up. The site lay vacant for a year or two before Kohl's decided to move in. As for discount stores in the area, the only ones that exist now is:
Ocean State Job Lot, Willimantic Plaza, Rte 32, 3 miles away
Wal-Mart Super Center, North Windham, Rte 6, 3 miles away
Benny's, Downtown Willimantic, Rte 32/66, 6 miles away

Closest Target from here is Manchester and closest K-Mart is in Vernon. Too bad one of those didnt move in the mall and keep the discount store in a mall theme.

There are no Kohl's in the area, and I believe they are doing quite well despite how small the store is in comparison to most of their other stores. It is funny since they took over the whole Ames store and even have less stock areas than Ames did. Ames was a big square while Kohl's here has a back left of the store going furhter back than the rest of the store. That area has the Customer Service, Restrooms, and Bridal Registry.

now I heard the Ames was 84,800 square feet in this mall and most kohl's are 86,000 square feet. That would be small for a target unless they enlarged it and kmart isn't opening new stores. sorry, wal-mart is the only discounter in this area.

You're right. Many Kohl's stores that opened up in former Ames, Caldor, or Bradlees stores are smaller than ones that they build from scratch. Ive been to Lisbon, CT that has a large Kohl's. Also been to Groton, CT (former Bradlees), East Brook Mall, Branford, CT (former Caldor). Typically the seasonal, small appliances, kitchen, and domestic departments seem to be the ones that lose the most amount of space when comparing new build Kohl's to a retro-fit. Clothing departments are smaller but not by as much.

[dayville81]

Since the mall opened, some development has taken place within a couple miles of the mall. Across the street is a shopping center with a Staples, Salvation Army Thrift Store, and Sears Appliance (which originally was Sears Hardware and Appliance and they opened up a Sears Hardware Store behind Wal-Mart and converted this store to just be electronics and appliances - kinda funny that Sears is broke up like this and there is no "Sears" clothing store in the area)

Next door to the mall is the Big Y shopping center renovated a few years ago. Includes several shops along with Angelino's Italian Restaurant, really good Italian food. Across from Big Y is McDonald's.

No Home Depot in area yet but I heard that one is supposed to be built next to Wal-Mart. Much commercial development is out there on Route 6 with three small shopping centers across from Wal-Mart. Willimantic is trying to fight Home Depot but not sure if they were successful.

[dayville81]

There is a story to the JC Penney in the mall. It used to be in the Willimantic Plaza where BJ's is now. It was a fairly large store and had more clearance merchandise than a normal store. When they moved to the former Sage-Allen they made their store just like any other JC Penney. Since they have been in the mall I remember that they renovated the store several times. Moving departments around such as men's suits, men's sports wear, etc. This store has a very small domestics department. Many just go up to Buckland Hills Mall 20 minutes away where there is a much larger JC Penney. I heard when they first opened this store they were CLOSED on Sundays!!! The mall closes at 5pm on Sundays as compared to some malls that stay open til 6 or 7.

[dayville81]

Article about recent renovation to East Brook Mall:

Archived News Details for 11/18/2005
In the 1990?s there was a fairly good supply of well located but poorly tenanted and ineptly operated shopping centers in New England. Specialists in redevelopment and repositioning of shopping centers found opportunity in nearly every corner of New England as old guard discounters including Ames, Bradlees and Caldor went dark for ever.

Windsor Connecticut based Northeast Retail Leasing & Management had so far made a specialty of purchasing and ?fixing? many of these tired properties both for investors as well as its principals, Richard Korris, George Lee and Daniel Plotkin. With the successful redevelopment of Manchester Parkade, West Farms Plaza, Post Office Square, Townline Square and Keene Plaza as well as many other properties, the three set out to purchase the East Brook Mall located near University Of Connecticut?s primary campus in Mansfield Connecticut.

?It just seemed like the next logical step? said George Lee who oversees property operations in the 244,186 square foot enclosed mall anchored by Kohl?s, TJ Maxx, JC Penney and Cinema North. Richard Korris, Director of Leasing and Development for the firm reviewed the existing tenant mix, the dominance of the location, the absence of competition, together with the proximity of UCONN and Eastern Connecticut State Universities and their combined population of 28,000 students. The conclusion was obvious. With significant capital and attention paid to tenant mix and the facility, this property could be brought back to its once dominant status in the market.

In January of 2000 the three purchased East Brook Mall and immediately began plans to bring the property back to life. The former owners were foreign investors who never paid attention to the property and who instead retained a number of national asset management firms to operate it on their behalf. Built in 1977 and expanded in 1986 the property had not been updated and was a ?textbook case study in deferred maintenance and antiquated mechanical systems? according to Daniel Plotkin who heads up Development and Construction. ?We had failing roofs and electric heat HVAC , bad entry systems, faded signage, it was as if no one was in charge or cared,? said Plotkin.

A regional architectural/design firm who has its offices in a park behind the property was enlisted to redesign the mall exterior. ?Kevin Tubridy of New England Design did a great deal of work for the Fox Woods Casinos and we were impressed with his work, we were not interested in the typical shopping center redo, hanging EFIS across storefronts with new signage, we knew the property needed more than that? said Plotkin who worked with Tubridy and General Contractor Orlando Annulli & Sons to come up with what turned out to be an atypical look for a New England shopping center. The result is twin entry towers wrapped in cultured stone rising

above the roof line some 40 feet and a trellis of Canadian cedar spanning the distance between them for an Adirondack feel. A new roof, new HVAC, new motion operated sliding doors, metalwork, revamped vestibules, lighting, paint and flooring completed the first phase of what became a carefully planned and phased redevelopment.

Meanwhile Richard Korris used the uniquely designed and attractive look of the property along with the proximity of UCONN and Eastern Connecticut State to attract a tenant mix of new retailers including Applebee?s, The Savings Institute, Olympia Sports, Fashion Bug, EB Games and Famous Footwear and most recently capped with the addition of Kohl?s and Cinema North. Cinema North operates a state of the art 8 screen complex with stadium reclining seating and replaces an obsolete 2-screen theatre in an adjacent community. Soon a gourmet Asian restaurant will open opposite the theatres serving world class sushi and Japanese/Asian cuisine. Existing tenants followed by relocating, expanding and renovating their stores. ?We took the strengths of our market and reached out to the tenants who would succeed in the environment created by our redevelopment plan? said Korris.

Now 99% occupied, the three principals look upon the results as another mission accomplished and are very proud that the result was not just another renovated shopping center but something special for what turned out to be, given its success, a previously under-served trade area.

[dayville81]

STORE DIRECTORY CHANGES:
- Asian restaurant coming soon to old Chinese buffet space
- New knick-knack kiosk with frog-related merchandise (since Willimantic is frog city)
- Waldenbooks is now a Borders - only change is selling of DVD's, and new chairs in the store to sit down on

Mall needs to change its directory signs. Still has "Ames" on it and never updated it with Kohls. Also they should have maps there esp. for mall walkers. I believe its 1/4 mile around perimeter of mall from one end to other including west corridor.

[XISMZERO]

Full report on East Brook Mall on my site, The Caldor Rainbow. Thanks to Dayville81 and this site for information!

http://thecaldorrainbow.blogspot.com/2006/12/east-brook-mall-willimantic.html

[C. Fontaine]

Does anyone know if this Caldor labelscar is still on the back of the mall?

http://www.amesfanclub.com/archive/main.php/v/ames/stores/CT/willimantic/010105/09.jpg.html

[XISMZERO]

Originally posted by C. Fontaine
Does anyone know if this Caldor labelscar is still on the back of the mall?

http://www.amesfanclub.com/archive/main.php/v/ames/stores/CT/willimantic/010105/09.jpg.html

Nope, it's gone. The former wall where it once was has been transformed into an entrance for Kohl's. Thus, it is gone.

I actually walked around the mall *twice* looking for it last December 2006 when I visited because I originally wasn't sure where it was.

That's a magnificent picture of the scars (there's two there one from the 70s and one from the 90s!), Chris -- very glad you took that one.

The former sign was in the circle area...