Small Size a Theme at Crystal Mall in Waterford, CT

The opening of a Christmas Tree Shop and Bed, Bath, and Beyond store in the Crystal Mall in Waterford, CT are expected to keep in the "smallness" trend at the mall.

According to mall owner Simon on the Mall's Web site, both stores are expected to open in March with mall directories showing the Christmas Tree Shop, will be located in the former Filene's Department Store, lower level and Bed, Bath, and Beyond will be located in the former upper level of Filene's.

I was recently at the mall and through new windows looking into the mall, observed fixtures being setup in Bed, Bath, and Beyond. By looking at the hallway flooring, it's quite obvious the chain decided not to use the entire space vacated by Filene's and instead has a large court area in front of their mall entrance. One can see the difference where the ceiling is lower in the area formerly occupied by Filene's creating an extended hallway with Bed, Bath, and Beyond sort of hidden in the corner.

While drywall blocks the entrance to the soon-to-open Christmas Tree Shop, it was reported by The Day that the retailer will only take over a portion of the lower level of the former Filene's.

This unfortunately continues the trend of smallness at a mall that was renovated in 1996 making it look much nicer.

According to The Caldor Rainbow Web site, that renovation included a white look to floors and walls replacing the mall's original style of brown tiles and green railings.

The regional mall first opened in 1984 as a two-floor 1,000,000 square foot indoor shopping mall anchored by Jordan Marsh, Macy's, J.C. Penney, and Sears.
It is located off Interstate 95 at Route 85, exit 82, and off Interstate 395 at Route 85, exit 77.

Currently, the mall is open Monday through Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. while department stores and restaurant hours may vary.

Junior anchor D&L joined the mall shortly after the mall officially opened and was located on the lower level near Sears before it went out of business.

Currently the mall has 137 stores, according to the Largest Connecticut Shopping Malls Web site.

Combined the former Filene's Department Store consisted of 90,600 square feet while some other Filene's stores in the state were between 125,000 and 150,000 square feet.

For example, the Directory of Major Malls in 1998 stated that the 992,000 square foot Westfarms Mall, in West Hartford, CT, is one of the largest Filene's, and now Macy's, in Connecticut. Westfarms, with 170 stores, has two Macy's stores, the main store with 209,000 square feet and the Men's store with 80,000 square feet.

With less than half the space with the extended hallway, Bed, Bath, and Beyond is only expected to be approximately 40,000 square feet. Yet the company Web site, states that stores typically range from 20,000 to 50,000 square feet with some exceeding 80,000 square feet.

It's possible the store was not made bigger because of the Linens 'N Things which is located on the other side of Route 85 in the Waterford Commons Shopping Center as stated in this news article.

Christmas Tree Shops is also expected to be approximately 40,000 square feet while their Web site, states that some of their stores are as large as 58,000 square feet.

The two-floor Sears at the Crystal Mall is only 150,000 square feet while it's sister store at the 1,450,000 square foot Danbury Fair Mall, with 180 stores, in Danbury is 178,000 square feet and even the small 574,895 square foot mall the Naugatuck Valley Mall, with 54 stores, which is now closed, boasted a Sears with 166,400 square feet.

The two-floor Macy's at the Crystal Mall is only 115,000 square feet while it's sister store at the 884,000 square foot Westfield Meriden Square Mall, with 148 stores, is 179,795 square feet and it's other sister store at the Enfield Square Mall, with 81 stores, is 161,720 square feet with a Men's/Home store of 76,450 square feet.

The two-floor J.C. Penney is no exception with only 90,000 square feet. The 1,019,300 square foot Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester, with 145 stores, has a J.C. Penney which is 128,000 square feet and the Danbury Mall store is 137,000 square feet.

Perhaps one of the saddest parts of the Crystal Mall is the constant loss of food retailers. Mrs. Fields Cookies and Haagen-Dazs recently unexpectedly left the mall and the mall's food court features a shoe store, cellular phone store, Pacific Sunwear store, and a hat store. Most mall food courts actually have food outlets in most, if not all, of the food court area.

Many quality food outlets in the food court, which are located in most mall food courts in other Connecticut malls, closed their Waterford locations. These outlets include Cinnabon, Arby's, Everything Yogurt, Nathan's, Taco Bell, Bannanas, and South Philly Steak/Fries.

While an independently-owned deli and an Orange Julius/Dairy Queen recently opened in the food court, there are still a few vacant spaces where more food outlets could open.

The mall's sit-down offerings increased by 50 percent when the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant, located near the J.C. Penney parking lot, opened.

This is much better than Charley's Eating and Drinking Saloon, a restaurant which diners are almost on top of each other, lighting is so poor one can barely read the menu, and ugly paintings decorate the walls. The saloon is in stark contrast to the mall's corridors which have white walls and white floor tiles.

While the mall had a fairly large Tweeter Etc. when the store was relocated near Sears, that electronic store closed down when the chain announced a number of unprofitable locations would be closing. That space remains vacant but hopefully it will be filled soon.

The Crystal Mall does boast a variety of clothing, jewelry, electronics, footwear, health and beauty, and special interest stores and currently most of its spaces are occupied.

However, I have noticed that even some of the mall's specialty stores are smaller at Crystal Mall than larger malls.

Some merchandise at department stores never make it to Crystal Mall, especially Macy's, because of its small, cramped location.

If you are looking to just go to the mall and look around, Crystal Mall is a pretty good place to do it but for serious shopping, consider getting in the car and taking an hour-trip to Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester, Westfarms Mall in West Hartford, Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, or Providence Place Mall in Providence.