Old Navy Vacancy Means Less Christmas Shopping in Lisbon, Connecticut

This holiday season, shoppers at Lisbon Landing Shopping Center in Lisbon, CT will have one less place to do their shopping.

This past July, Old Navy closed its 20,124 square foot store in the Lisbon Landing Shopping Center so suddenly the local newspapers made no mention of it, only a blog on the Norwich Bulletin Web site makes reference to the closure.

Most probably did not notice the closure until they recently started their Christmas shopping.

I never saw a lot of cars at this particular Old Navy except for some weekends during Christmas 2006.

The inability to walk from this strip mall building to other buildings in the center does hurt the tenants there.

While the closure of the store is not a big loss to the center, it does mean that those living in the area will have to drive further to visit the store.

This makes the closest Old Navy stores to be Crystal Mall in Waterford, CT, 20 miles away, Warwick Mall in Warwick, RI, 35 miles away, The Crossing at Smithfield in Smithfield, RI, 36 miles away, Tanger Outlet Center in Westbrook, CT, 37 miles away, and Providence Place Mall, Providence, RI, 42 miles away.
Interestingly enough, the Crystal Mall store used to be larger but was renovated and made smaller.

The store in the Tanger Outlet Mall in Westbrook used to be an Old Navy Outlet and was only a few months ago converted into a regular Old Navy store.

The center is located right off Interstate 395 Northbound exit 84 and Interstate 395 Southbound exit 84S is on Route 12, also known as River Road.

Hope for renting that space this holiday season was increased when Halloween Express opened for the Halloween season using only the right half of the store.

In fact, the store generated a good deal of traffic and is visible from the shopping center access road.

Some thought a Christmas or calendar shop would open this holiday season but while the lights in the space remain on, those walking by look into an empty shell of a store.

The store's vacancy means less foot traffic for the remaining tenants in that strip building which include a 3,879 square foot Bath and Body Works and a 33,000 square foot Linens 'N Things.

After this store, the closest Bath and Body Works is located in the Crystal Mall and the closest Linens 'N Things is in the Waterford Commons, across from the Crystal Mall.

The shopping center's largest strip building includes the center's largest and most popular anchors.

Those include a 133,000 square foot Home Depot with a 17,850 square foot garden center, 88,470 square foot Kohl's Department Store, a 4,525 square foot Olympia Sports store, a 2,056 square foot American Cellular store, and last but certainly not least, a 183,500 square foot Wal-Mart Super Center with garden center, open 24 hours a day.

To here, the closest Home Depot is in the Montville Commons Shopping Center in Montville while the closest Kohl's is located in the East Brook Mall in
Mansfield.

The closest Olympia Sports opened recently in the Montville Commons Shopping Center while the closest American Cellular store is located in the Putnam Parkade Shopping Center in Putnam.

The closest Wal-Mart is located in Norwich off I-395 exit 80.

Across the parking lot from Wal-Mart is an O'Neil Theatre with 12 screens and stadium seating.

The closest movie theater is the Regal Cinemas in Waterford.

Another small strip building has a 7,885 square foot Pier 1 Imports and a 9,993 square foot Famous Footwear, both within walking distance to a 6,686 square foot Ruby Tuesday restaurant which is an outparcel.

The closest Pier 1 Imports is in the Waterford Commons while the nearest Famous Footwear is in the East Brook Mall.

The closest Ruby Tuesday is in the Waterford Commons.

The site states the existing gross leasable space is 519,266 square feet with a proposed 39,975 square feet.

The site also states that the center is the largest open-air shopping center serving eastern Connecticut and the I-395 corridor, has excellent highway visibility and access, a powerful tenant mix, and close to regional employers such as Pfizer Chemical and Electric Boat.

The center is also close to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos.

The departure of Old Navy is not the only disappointment at the center.

The center's lease plan calls for additional retail space next to the movie theater.

The plan actually shows a 27,949 square foot Marshalls Department Store and a 14,818 square foot Petco, both built onto the same building as the theater.

The nearest Marshalls store is in the New London Mall while the closest Petco is in Waterford near Crystal Mall.

In the past, rumors had it another restaurant would join the shopping center.