Stamford Town Center is an urban

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

located in Downtown Stamford, Connecticut. The mall is the eighth largest in Connecticut, with space for about 130 stores and restaurants. The malls two anchors are a

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

and a Barnes and Noble. An

Todd English William Todd English (born August 29, 1960) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, author, and television personality, based in Boston, Massachusetts. He hosted the TV cooking show, ''Food Trip with Todd English,'' on PBS. In 2005 he was ...

Food Hall is scheduled to open by 2024.

History

Construction

Built by F.D. Rich Co and

Taubman Centers Taubman Centers, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The company invests in shopping centers, and is a subsidiary of Simon Property Group since 2020. History The company was founded in 19 ...

, Stamford Town Center opened in 1982 as part of an

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

project and had been the location of

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

structures that once lined Greyrock Place, the street which is its primary address. The mall was a significant part of Stamford's urban renewal efforts, and thus its construction was not without controversy. Upon the mall's opening, the city of Stamford reoriented nearby Bedford Street and Summer Street to be one-way, in order to make the mall more accessible via car, a move which harmed surrounding businesses. An opinion piece in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

lamented the destruction of once lively housing complexes which hosted lower-income residences, which was done to make way for the mall.

Launch and success

The mall launched with two anchors:

and J.C. Penney.

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; colloquially Saks) is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washington ...

opened its store in the mall on March 12, 1983, and served as the mall's third anchor. From its opening, the mall was very popular and drew shoppers and tourists from as far as the New York City boroughs and even internationally, and was considered "one of the country's most successful malls" by the 1990s, despite stiff nearby competition. In July 1994, it was announced the mall's J.C. Penney would move out, and would be replaced by a Filene's.

2000s redevelopment

In May 2006, the southern portion of the mall, along Tresser Boulevard, was demolished and redeveloped. The redevelopment of the former Filene's anchor emphasized being more pedestrian-friendly, and improving the nearby better streetscape. This portion of the mall, which included Filene's, was replaced with space for six new restaurants, and Connecticut's largest Barnes & Noble, the latter of which opened in 2008. The initial opening of the Plaza (which included Barnes & Noble, H&M, California Pizza Kitchen, Così, Kona Grill, and P.F. Chang's) occurred on November 1, 2007. Mitchell's Fish Market opened on December 8, 2007, closed in 2014, while the Capital Grille opened on February 25, 2008. Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que had planned to open in this new space, but pulled out of the project.

Layout and design

The mall's design has been criticized for not being pedestrian-friendly, something that the mall's developers sought to address in a redevelopment during the mid-2000s.

Anchors

() – opened in 1982 * Barnes and Noble – opened in 2008

Former anchors

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

() – opened in 1982, closed in 1994 *

Filene's Filene's (formally William Filene & Sons Co.) was an American department store chain; it was founded by William Filene in 1881. The success of the original full-line store in Boston, Massachusetts, was supplemented by the foundation of its off-p ...

() – opened in 1994, closed in 2005, demolished in 2006 *

() – opened in 1983, closed in 2014, reopened as Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH in 2015 *

Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; colloquially Saks) is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washington ...

() – opened in 2015, closed in 2021

Gallery

File:STC Indoors Holiday 2007.jpg, Inside the Stamford Town Center during the holidays. File:STC New Wing BN.jpg, The Plaza at the Stamford Town Center. H&M (closed in 2020) is shown here. File:STC New Wing CPK.jpg, The Plaza at the Stamford Town Center. California Pizza Kitchen (closed in 2018) and Così (closed in 2016). File:STC Plaza KonaGrill.JPG, Kona Grill at The Plaza at Stamford Town Center. File:STC BarnesNoble.jpg, The Largest Barnes & Noble in Connecticut. File:STC Capital Grille.jpg, The Capital Grille. File:STC New Entrance.jpg, The entrance to the main mall from the Plaza.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Stamford, Connecticut Shopping malls in Connecticut Shopping malls established in 1982 Taubman Centers Tourist attractions in Stamford, Connecticut Economy of Stamford, Connecticut Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area 1982 establishments in Connecticut