If you’re looking for a place to go for department stores, specialty shops, and non-traditional anchor stores, look no further than the Stamford Town Center Shopping Mall in Stamford, CT.
The mall opened with 853,000 square feet in 1982 as part of an urban renewal project and was previously home to tenement structures along Greyrock Place.
The mall located in coastal Fairfield County was originally anchored by a 2-floor 160,000 square foot JC Penney, a 2-floor 250,000 square foot Macy’s, and a 2-floor 78,000 square foot Saks Fifth Avenue.
The JC Penney Department Store was closed and became a Filene’s Department Store in 1996 before shutting down completely in 2005 due to declining sales before the May Department Store and Federated Department Store merger leading all Filene’s stores to become Macy’s.
The fate of that location was in question shortly after its closure.
In 2006, Mike McAndrews, Stamford Town Center general manager announced,
“We are very excited to be 100 percent leased in the former Filene’s site as construction begins. From the very beginning, we’ve had tremendous interest from some of the country’s hottest restaurants eager to move into this prime downtown space and introduce themselves to the people of Stamford. With the state’s
largest Barnes & Noble and the area’s first H&M;, this renovation brings a truly amazing addition to downtown Stamford and to the community.”
Specifically, the site of the former Filene’s is expected to house an H&M; store on level 5 and now has a 2-level 40,000 square foot Barnes and Nobles Booksellers store with mall access on level 4.
The mall consists of levels 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 with anchor stores located on levels 4 and 5 and a 4,000 parking space garage sandwiched in the mall.
Stamford Town Center has approximately 130 stores and restaurants and had previously been located only on levels 3, 4, 5, and 7 but a new level 1, which has an outdoor plaza, was created through a new 400,000 square foot lifestyle/restaurant wing.
The outdoor plaza opens the south end of the center to foot traffic and a glass tower with escalators and elevators will lead pedestrians into the Stamford Town Center.
This corrects an issue with the mall which made it primarily automobile oriented.
Most pedestrian routes to the mall previously involved going through the mall’s anchor stores or buildings (primarily office) of Landmark Square and Atlantic Square.
The appearance of the new pedestrian entrance is much more inviting and is expected to draw more to the mall.
The wing, labeled on the mall’s directory as level 1, features several businesses new to the northeast, State of Connecticut, and the region.
They include Arizona-based Kona grill which is new to the northeast, and P.F. Chang’s China Bistro is new to Connecticut.
Mitchell’s Fish Market and Capital Grill, also both new to Connecticut, are expected to soon open.
New to the area options include recently opened California Pizza Kitchen and a Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que expected to open soon.
Also the project features a Cosi Restaurant.
All restaurants will have outdoor patio seating and indoor seating.
Valet service desks are available on floor 1 and 4 and there is a $5 charge for up to four hours, $2 for each additional hour, and $14 daily maximum.
Level 3 houses a TCBY Yogurt, The Hair Garden, The Phone Store, Nails Hollywood, Wetzel’s Pretzels, Hakky Instant Shoe Repair, and Modern Art Gallery.
Level 4 and 5 each houses approximately 35 stores with level 7 being home to Sbarro, Panda Express, Subway and FYE.
A new 454-seat food court with eight quick-service food vendors with a 2,000 square foot interactive children’s playground in the middle is expected to soon open on level 7.
With the additions of the food court and sit-down restaurants, we’re opening new options for our daytime workers looking for a pleasant, relaxing place to eat,” said McAndrews, who pointed to research revealing that almost 107,000 people work within three miles of the mall.
“Families will love the new options as well. The play area is right in the heart of the seating area, so parents can watch their children play as they enjoy a meal. Our investment in these projects emphasizes our commitment to Stamford and demonstrates our goal of bringing our visitors the best in dining and shopping opportunities,” McAndrews said.
The mall is owned by Taubman Centers Inc., a real estate investment trust which currently owns and/or manages 23 shopping centers in 11 states and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
The mall’s customer service center is located on level 4 across from Saks Fifth Avenue and has wheelchairs and stroller rentals, lost and found, mall-wide gift cards, kids clubs registrations, The Advocate Newspaper subscriptions, photocopy machine and fax, store and restaurant information, directions/store directory maps, employment opportunity listings, technical tours, and 24-hour security.
The Parking Services Department of the mall manages on-site parking in the Stamford Town Center deck and charges customers $.50 for four hours and offers free parking on Sundays and holidays.
The mall defined its main geographical trade area, the area where most of its customers reside, to run from the east from Bridgeport and Milford at Interstate 95 to the west at Mount Vernon.
This Interstate 95/Route 1 corridor includes Fairfield, Westport, Darien, Stamford, Greenwich, Harrison, and Rye.
The corridor also includes Route 7 with Wilton, Cannondale, and Ridgefield, Route 15 with New Canaan, Interstate 684 with Bedford and Chappaqua, Interstate 284 with North Tarrytown and White Plains.
Other major corridors in this area include Interstate 87, Routes 124, 137, 104, 33, and 35.
The mall is open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
It is located off exit 8 off the Connecticut Turnpike (Interstate 95) at the intersection of Tesser and Greyrock and those on the Merritt Parkway (Route 15) can use either the Long Ridge or High Ridge exits.
