Chen's Buffet to Soon Open in Montville Commons Shopping Center in Uncasville, Connecticut

Chen's Buffet will soon join the largest shopping center located in the town of the world's second largest resort casino complex.

The Town of Montville is home to Mohegan Sun Resort Casino, owned by the Mohegan Tribal Nation, the second largest casino in the world, located about one mile away from the shopping center.

Interestingly enough, the center is located about 9.5 miles away from Foxwoods Resort Casino, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, and is the world's largest resort casino.

Both Indian casinos are located in southeastern Connecticut.

The shopping center is approximately 280,000 square feet and opened in March 2007.

Previously, the Midway Shopping Center, once the town's largest shopping center, which now is the second largest shopping center in town, is anchored by a Beit Brothers Supermarket and the center has a Rite Aid Pharmacy, Dime Savings Bank with drive-thru service, a package store, and a Laundromat.

Chen's Buffet is scheduled to open in late January and construction crews are already outfitting the space located in the Montville Commons Shopping Center near the junction of the Route 2A Expressway and Route 32.

The center is within walking distance to Microtel Inns and Suites located at 1954 Norwich-New London Turnpike.

Chen's buffet will feature Asian food and adds to the number of Asian restaurants the town boasts and for its customer base, seeks to attract the many Asian employees that work at the nearby Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Casinos.

The restaurant already has its neon red sign installed in front and has had signs advertising "free food" for quite a while but specific information on this was not available on Chen's Buffet Web site.

The center, located at 2020 Norwich New London Turnpike, also known as Route 32 is anchored by Super Stop and Shop and Home Depot.

Super Stop and Shop contains a People's United Bank with ATM, Starbucks Coffee, a Staples office supply section, a Red Box video rental system and Boston Market chicken while Home Depot contains a garden center.

The Super Stop and Shop Supermarket was expected to open with a pharmacy, just like its stores in other towns, but no pharmacy opened despite the fact that a section of the store has different tiling indicating that a pharmacy was originally contemplated for the store.

This means the town still has only one drug store/pharmacy, Rite Aid Pharmacy, which was formerly Brooks Pharmacy.

Chen's Buffet adds to the food and drink variety of the Montville Commons Shopping Center which already has a Chili's Bar and Grill as an outparcel restaurant along with Subway, General Nutrition Center (GNC), and Montville Wine and Spirits in the shopping center.

The center also has an American General Financial Services of America office, Exotic Tans, Total Vision Eye Health Center, Hair Cuttery, Olympia Sports, Sleepy's The Mattress Professionals, AT&T Communications Store, Game Stop, and Weight Watchers Center.

A 4,000 square foot space and a 1,500 square foot space are both available for rental in the shopping center.

The center is known as a "power center" since it's an outdoor shopping center anchored by two big box stores.

Two new traffic lights now direct traffic to and from the center as well as local residential roads.

Changes to lane markings and signage were done by the State Traffic Commission meant to help unfamiliar drivers navigate through the area.

Sidewalks in the Montville Commons Shopping Center allow pedestrians to walk between most businesses in the center, sidewalks even allow connections to the Chili's Bar and Grill outparcel near the center's main entrance on Route 32, across from Occum Lane.

Several canopys throughout the plaza provide some covering to prevent pedestrians from being rained or snowed on.

The center brings the town's first chain grocery store and that store competes with Beit Brothers Supermarket, Big Y Supermarkets in Norwich, Waterford, and Groton, Shop Rite in Norwich and New London, Super Stop and Shop in Norwichtown, Wal-Mart Super Center in Lisbon and Waterford, and Better Val-U Supermarkets in Lisbon.

The town's first chain home improvement warehouse competes with the town's previously only hardware store: Montville Hardware, a True-Value Hardware affiliate long with Ace Hardware in Norwichtown, Home Depot stores in Lisbon and Waterford, and Lowe's in Waterford.

Both Super Stop and Shop and Home Depot are smaller in this shopping center than they are at other Connecticut stores.

Montville Commons is located in the Uncasville section of town.