Connecticut shoppers looking for a mall with a variety of options all under one roof should visit the Meriden Square Mall, also known as the Westfield Meriden Shoppingtown.
The two-floor mall is anchored by a two-floor Sears, two-floor JC Penney, two-floor Macy’s (formerly Filene’s), one-level Best Buy, one-level Borders Books, Music, and Café, one-level Dick’s Sporting Goods, and a one-level food court.
The mall opened in 1971 as a two-floor mall connecting JC Penney and the Hartford-based G. Fox Department store with several small stores in between.
In 1993, a $5 million renovation led to a long two-level wing was built ending at a brand-new Sears store next to a brand-new food court.
The food court also has a family lounge which allows parents the ability to change their little children in a mixed-use restroom inside of a room which has a microwave to heat up baby food.
Years ago, the mall’s food court had a Roy Rogers restaurant; however, it has since closed.
There is a Ruby Tuesday in the mall on the lower level below the food court and near Sears but unlike its restaurant at the Enfield Square Mall, it has no amplifier to call people’s names and unlike many chain restaurants do not have beepers.
They call names from the podium the old fashioned way with the podium facing the restaurant’s mall entrance while those entering the restaurant directly from the parking lot are directed by a small sign to go to the mall entrance podium.
Luckily, the mall has placed several benches in front of the restaurant for those waiting for a table.
However, windows overlooking the mall’s concourse from the restaurant also look out on hungry shoppers waiting for a table.
In the mid 1990’s, G-Fox chain was converted to Filene’s as the result of a merger.
Plans announced in 1997 involved an ambitious $38 million renovation and was completed in 1999 allowing an expansion of the second level out to one side.
The expansion did not affect the first level leaving it to have a T-shape and the upper level to have long-cross shape.
The upper level’s expansion included a variety of stores leading to a new one-level Lord and Taylor Department Store on the opposite side of the mall as Sears.
The new store was part of an ambitious plan by the May Department Store chain.
The store had a unique parking deck over the new wing accessible via an escalator leading shoppers from the parking deck into Lord and Taylor.
The escalators create the illusion the store has a second level and has fooled many into believe this is true.
A parking garage was in the works at this time to be built next to Sears facing Lewis Avenue.
In 2003, the Lord and Taylor chain closed this location citing it was an unprofitable location since it did not draw the same high-class shoppers which more frequently shop at West Farms in West Hartford.
The mall renovated the space formerly occupied by Lord and Taylor to include a central hallway which goes from being wide on the side closest to the rest of the mall and then quickly narrowing near the end of the hallway which ends at Dick’s Clothing and Sporting Goods.
At it’s widest spot, there is a Westfield Child Area is located outside Best Buy which features an indoor play area for little children with seats for parents to take a load off for a while.
These play areas, I believe, are a smart idea and most malls are starting to add these into the middle of their hallways with a particularly large play area at the Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester.
The typical coin-operated children’s rides are also located nearby.
Next to the Play area is the shopping concierge center, a fancy name to the Customer Service Center where your questions about locations of stores and restaurants, hours, and accessing parking areas can be answered.
Best Buy, a store featuring home electronics, DVD’s, CD’s, appliances, and computer software/hardware opened up on the left side which took over about two to three small stores which used to abut Lord and Taylor.
This Best Buy is one of the smallest I have been in.
Their store was much bigger, however, but since the store’s mall entrance was near the mall door, the store does not have a direct entrance to the parking lot.
This store at Meriden has both an entrance from the mall and from the parking lot.
Aisles are barely big enough to maneuver Best Buy shopping carts and several key departments are smaller in this location as opposed to others in Waterford and Manchester namely televisions, washers/dryers, office furniture, and computers.
Due to space limitations, the store only has about three or four registers near the mall entrance and two registers to the parking lot.
For more choices for Nintendo games, DVD’s, CD’s, DVD players, MP3 players, and other accessories, you can visit FYE which is located on the lower level on the other end of the mall almost directly below the food court.
While Best Buy completely renovated their space inside and out, Dick’s Clothing and Sporting Goods which took over the back portion of Lord and Taylor left the store’s exterior.
This exterior featured a unique gray colored rock architecture near the parking lot entrance on the lower level and this architecture is repeated on the upper level parking deck.
Directly adjacent to Best Buy, a new Borders, Books, Music, and Café opened.
The café has its own entrance door and there are several silver tables and chairs in the hallway which don’t quite go well with the wooden tables and chairs in the café’s seating area inside the store.
This Borders store replaces the old Waldenbooks that used to exist on the lower level near Macy’s.
Since the store is located in a mall versus a free-standing location, it is somewhat smaller.
The store, however, is much better than the previous Waldenbooks and features several categories of books, magazines, DVD’s, and CD’s along with the café.
A recent visit to the mall lead me to believe the mall is in an upswing which will only be further advanced with newcomers to the mall which include Borders and Steve and Barry’s University Sportswear.
There were many kiosks in the middle of the mall, all hoping to lure holiday shoppers, with outside mud mats with funny sayings, stencil drawings of players from the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, the vendor who tries to entice people to spend a few minutes getting their nails magically cleaned and polished, Day by Day calendars with every type of calendar you could imagine, and a small train for children that rides in a small circle.
Architecturally speaking, this mall has no unified theme since it was built in stages.
Old space-ship looking architecture is found in JC Penney and the hallway between JC Penney and Macy’s, the oldest corridor of the mall.
In the center of the mall, a geodesic dome sprays natural light into central court near the mall’s only elevator and the area Santa Claus resides during the Christmas season.
Both stores have a uniquely designed mall entrance into the mall with their store names in the upper left and upper right hand corners rather than in a centrally located area in the top like Sears.
Traffic problems with the creation of the garage during the holiday season has forced traffic to drive around the perimeter of the garage between the structure and the JC Penney store rather than drive on the side of the garage between the mall’s side entrance and main entrance.
Meriden Police Department has a substation on the lower level next to JC Penney and quite visible from the parking garage.
Valet parking is available at the mall.
Additionally, the mall has hired its own private security company to patrol the mall to keep it secure.
The parking garage definitely allows the mall to have plenty of parking even during busy holiday weekends.
The mall has 907,000 square feet of leaseable space with over 154 stores.
In some towns, one must drive down a commercial strip to different shopping centers to access the variety exhibited all under one roof in this mall.
Meriden, geographically located in the center of Connecticut, is easily accessibly by a number of expressways including I-91, I-84, Route 15 (Merritt Turnpike), and Route 71.
I-691 has direct access to Route 15, I-91, and I-84.
Unlike other shopping malls in Connecticut, this one features little sprawl.
A Circuit City, a store similar to Best Buy, and a Target are the only stores located behind the mall accessible from a road branching from the mall’s perimeter road.
