Westfarms is a shopping mall on the West Hartford–

Farmington Farmington may refer to: Places Canada *Farmington, British Columbia *Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States * Farmington, Arkansas *Farmington, California * Farmington, Connecticut *Farmington, Delaware * Farmington, Georgia ...

town line in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was opened in 1974, expanded in 1982 and 1995–1997, and remodeled in 2008–2009. With of gross leasable area, Westfarms is the third-largest mall in Connecticut. It is located on Route 71, off the

I-84 Interstate 84 may refer to: * Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N * Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts) Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...

and Route 9 junction and near several open-air shopping plazas. The mall is currently owned and managed by Taubman Centers, a subsidiary of Simon Property Group.

History

Westfarms opened in 1974. It was developed by Bloomfield Hills-based Taubman Centers, which remains in charge of its management since then. Its original anchors were G. Fox & Co.,

J. C. Penney 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, Girl ...

, and

Sage-Allen Sage-Allen was a mid-market department store chain based in Hartford, Connecticut. The store was a fixture in southern New England and anchored a number of smaller local and regional shopping centers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and, later, New ...

. The mall was expanded with a new retail wing in 1982, which included a Lord & Taylor store. They relocated from Bishops Corner in West Hartford. Hartford-based G. Fox was acquired by Boston-based Filene's in 1992, and the Westfarms store was rebranded on January 30, 1993. Sage-Allen filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992, and closed permanently in 1993. Facing competition from the newer Buckland Hills Mall in nearby Manchester, Taubman began a USD $100-million renovation and expansion of Westfarms in 1995. In the first phase, Filene's and Lord & Taylor were remodeled, and the vacated Sage-Allen space became a Filene's Men's & Home. A four-level parking garage was built in the second phase in 1996, and a new retail wing between J. C. Penney and Lord & Taylor with two additional parking garages was completed in 1997. The wing is anchored by Seattle-based Nordstrom, which opened on September 6, 1997. It was the first Nordstrom in New England and remained their only store in Connecticut until

The SoNo Collection The SoNo Collection is an upscale shopping mall in the South Norwalk neighborhood of Norwalk, Connecticut. It was announced and originally developed by GGP Inc. (General Growth Properties) in 2017; it has been owned and managed by Brookfield Prope ...

in Norwalk opened in 2019. On September 9, 2006, Filene's became Macy's. There were rumors spreading that Nordstrom would be closing as part of a plan to close 16 stores nationwide in 2020, but on May 7, 2020, Nordstrom confirmed these rumors were false and that the Westfarms location would not be closing. In August 2020, it was announced that the Lord & Taylor location at the mall would be closing. In December, 2022, it was announced that

Jordan's Furniture Jordan's Furniture is an American furniture retailer in New England. There are currently seven retail locations—three in Massachusetts (Avon, Massachusetts, Avon, Natick, Massachusetts, Natick, and Reading, Massachusetts, Reading) and four in ot ...

would open in the former Lord & Taylor space by 2024.

Architecture

Unlike many enclosed malls, Westfarms does not feature a common-area food court, but some wings of the mall contain several quick service restaurants that are housed in their own storefronts.

List of anchor stores

Gallery

File:WestFarms_mall_entrance,_Connecticut.jpg, Entrance to Westfarms File:Apple store, WestFarms Mall.jpg, Apple Store for consumer electronics File:Nordstrom, WestFarms Mall.jpg, Nordstrom department store File:Pandora, WestFarms Mall.jpg, Pandora jewelry store

References

External links

* {{Shopping malls in Connecticut Shopping malls in Connecticut Buildings and structures in West Hartford, Connecticut Shopping malls established in 1974 Taubman Centers Tourist attractions in Hartford County, Connecticut 1974 establishments in Connecticut