🎵Come see the deader side of Sears🎵

Wow! We used to go there to shop for clothes many years ago. So much memories!

I didn't realize that was the last one - wild!

I’m just wondering what will happen to Meriden Mall. That place is definitely closing soon.

Buckland hills mall seems like it will close soon also.

Malls are dinosaurs from a time that no longer exists.

Coming for Roebuck next, mf'ers ...

Yeah instead of walking around with your friends and girlfriend, playing in the arcade, eating at the food court, seeing a movie....

Now you just order a shirt from Amazon sitting in your cum soaked underwear and microwaved hot pocket boxes and captain morgan bottles scattered on the floor, sending more tinder messages that go unread.

Life is so much better now.

r/oddlyspecific

From what I understand the owners of sears were free market fetishists who believed in "the power of competition" sooooo much that they had the departments of their own stores compete for resources

Last time I was in Sears at Buckland was to drop off a rental car at Avis in 1999. I had time to kill, so I wandered the store. It was well on the way out then, I'm surprised it hung on for so long.

Getting oral in the mens room

The rest of that mall is still pretty busy, though.

We recently were up at the Burlington Mall in MA. They took the Sears location and built an entire extension of the mall with a bunch of new stores, several restaurants and communal outdoor areas with everything from fire pits to cornhole to open turfed areas where they hold free exercise classes for the public. They really did a beautiful job, showed what can be done with the old spaces that isn't just a health club and urgent care center.

Looks like Westfarms will be the last standing mall in CT.

Don't remind me :(

I can’t see Buckland Hills closing any time soon. It’s always got people shopping in there and I have to go through it to get home and there’s always cars.

Hey I’m from the mall times. I actually miss it. But now it’s fuckin depressing to go. 2/3 of the shops empty. Just sad. I grew up in the 80s. Malls were the bomb. Especially if they had a movie theater!

Also I don’t drink, so it’s a no for the captain Morgan for me, I hate hot pockets, I prefer taquitos, I got married before tinder was a thing so I’m afraid I missed that boat, and I’m a squirter for sure but not generally when I’m wearing my underwear because by that point my husband has already gotten me out of them. Hey, you brought it up 😂

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Didn't they just renovate the one Danbury, what a waste of money?

Sears was systematically gutted by the CEO to squeeze all the value out until there was little left. https://prospect.org/economy/sears-gutted-ceo/

Turns out, we're both right https://www.businessinsider.com/eddie-lamperts-sears-strategy-disaster-2013-7

If only they had more parking. That would have saved it.

Burlington Mall is one of a few that are surviving. The big high end malls are hanging on.

Meanwhile, the searstown mall/ mall at Whitney field in Leominster MA is turning into an apex entertainment center.

Thanks for sharing.

Ingleside in Holyoke is still doing good as well.

Yeah but girls are scary in person. Stranger dangers.

That is unironically better.

Malls just aren't needed anymore, not in this era and I don't see a future for them.

Driven out of business by a douchebag CEO

Don’t tell that to Westfarms.

Wild. I bought my lawnmower from Sears in new london circa 2015. They were mostly closing up shop back then. Lawnmower is great.

Craftsman tools. Kenmore appliances. These were great items, but are they now?

Malls nearly never come back from 2 dead anchors. It just takes time.

If Macys or Jcp close, it will accelerate.

Sad part is they had the inventory, logistics, supply partners and infrastructure to be the online monster Amazon is now. They even dabbled in some early online shopping ideas.

But sometime in the 90s they decided they would rather be a real estate holding company and shut down all the catalog distro.

A lot of stores have closed at west farms too. I was just there last weekend.

Oh man, that’s a bummer; it’s always been a great mall. Love that we have a Lego store in the Hartford area.

Eastbrook mall in storrs too.

What about blackstone valley? I wonder how that one’s doing.

Oh god my husband loves that too.

As he should! Don’t currently live in CT but it will always be home. Just today, drove 3 hours to the closest Lego store!

Absolutely, now find out what they still charge for rent for the smallest space. Doing it to themselves. Buckland is no different

Ever been to Disney world? There’s a MEGA Lego store there.

Is it any surprise when you constantly hear of the "young people" rioting/fighting in the malls,! Who wants to go there if they cannot be safe?

https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/new-haven/large-police-presence-reported-at-ct-post-mall/

https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/fairfield/man-6-juveniles-arrested-after-fights-break-out-at-trumbull-mall/

https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/hartford/mall-fight-breaks-out-at-westfarms-mall-in-west-hartford/

It’s been a solid 25 years since I’ve been to Disney World. We plan to go within the next 1-3 years though!

SoNo Collection in Norwalk too - albeit a different audience in some ways.

Fren, you ok? 🙉

🎯💥💥💥💥💥

🎯🎯🎯

We only carry sizes 1, 3, and 5. You could try sears.

I never understand why people like malls so much but then vehemently fight against having a walkable neighbor hood. It's basically just a mall but people don't need top drive to get to it. I'd imagine a big reason for these mall's closures is because people just don't want to make the drive when amazon is cheaper. If we could walk 5 min to a store i think it would be a different story. Hopefully whatever comes after the malls close is more productive with their land use.

Still can’t believe they even built that mall

Wait which ones? Oh man. When I was last there a few months ago only the old Lord & Taylor was empty. There were a couple coming soon space though, like Abercrombie returning after leaving 7 years ago.

Actually I just realized I was talking about the Crystal mall not westfarms. My bad.

Well it’s in downtown Disney and it’s worth the trip. Awesome selection.

Ah that makes sense, I haven’t been down there in awhile but I heard all the anchors are gone. Unless you count target. Doesn’t seem Like it has long left.

Nope. It’s pretty obvious it’s on the way out.

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Danbury Fair isn’t going anywhere. They’re opening a 5 below and a target in the mall, and primark is a huge draw.

Danbury Fair isn’t going anywhere. Target is moving into where Sears was. 5 Below across from Old Navy.

They also just built the 2 new restaurants in the parking lot that are always jammed and Dicks expanded as well. Urban Outfitters opened this year too.

I bought a floor model dishwasher for a house I was selling during their final sale. It was like $200. Entire place felt like stepping back into time.

If only the rest of Connecticut was as vigorous as Danbury.

But when you do go out - you find the freeways full of trucks... not stop 24/7 ready to get you your box of cookies. In another 20 years it will only be trucks and mega warehouses. Its a hoax... its not better... only for a few greedy people at the top of the pyramid.

I feel like your username is a lie after that comment.

Buckland has been a dying mall since I started working there in 2010 at that Sears before moving to the mall office. The politics and egos of the both mall management, and to a lesser degree the store owners, lead to a mass exodus. Many of the anchor stores and main attractions are gone: Panera, Bertucci’s, Dick’s, Sears, Regency, all gone. Many replaced by dollar stores. I’ve heard rumors about Newburry Comics about ready to leave too. One of the mall’s biggest blunders was not attaching Dave and Busters to the mall itself. Management expected a huge increase in mall customers which never happened because it’s so far away from the main building.

Couple that with the mall having an absolute shit reputation due to the high profile Mall Brawls involving kids, shootings, drugs, etc Buckland is circling the bowl. The higher end malls like Westfarms are still doing very well for themselves though

I found the norwalk one pretty busy last time I went, not sure about Milford.

🫡🫡🫡🫡

Round 1 is really clutching it for Holyoke imo

I'm not sure you can call the hedge fund douchebags exactly "the power of competition". At least in the sense that the phrase is intended. Let the best product win, but these guys are stacking the deck.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/16/investing/retail-sears-private-equity/index.html

It is still hanging in there pretty well considering other makes I've been to. People still like to shop at these places.

I can't believe this mall is still open. There's basically no stores along the side not facing the main road. I've watched so many businesses come and go through the last couple years. It also looks like it got stuck somewhere in the 70s.

I get the impression they're converting it into a strip mall though.

I was just there today and it was so busy it made me smile

Looks like most CT malls no people anywhere

I walked through the Brass Mill Center last week, and I think the ratio of empty to occupied stores is close to 2:1

Brass Mill Center is on life support.

This is what Burlington did with the old Sears property. There is also a mall entrance with more interior stores.

That's smart. I don't see something like that ever getting legs in Waterbury though.

Watertown did something similar with the old Kmart. It doesn't have the outdoor seating, but very similar otherwise. Seems to be working well. All the spaces have been occupied for some time now.

Danbury fair is also opening a Round 1

Me either. It’s pathetic. I feel bad for the movie theater. I don’t want it to go away but it’s literally handcuffed to a corpse at this point.

That movie theatre is in serious need for an upgrade too.

I wonder if my old manager from Bernie's was still there

My wedding band came from Sears. Sears You will always be with me. Pretty sure that’s the last thing I bought there, been married 11 years.

I still miss Kahunaville and drunken college nights dancing on that bar. In the Holyoke mall. Gorgeous.

WeHa mall still poppin like crazy.

I guess it depends on location? Westfarms is close to a lot of things and right off the highway. Buckland just has the mall and other shoppes and there really isn’t anything around the same way WeHa has a lot around.

I think a mall closer to Hartford would be more profitable. Like somewhere in east Hartford instead of Clanchester

It brings back childhood memories huh? I think the peak of that mall was the 90s

I grew up in the 2000’s and my local was brass mill, even then it was always sooooooo full, it was great

Even during that time it was still crazy especially in the fall Christmas rush

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I know but I doubt they can afford it because they have so little money coming in! I can’t believe they even stay open.

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A lot of stores have closed at Westfarms, but they have been consistently filling up the vacant stores. One of the biggest losses was Lord & Taylor because that was an anchor store.

The ones that come to my mind are Lord & Taylor and one of the eye brow threading places, Brow Art 23. For me, everything else is solid. WestFarms has also recently opened a number of stores, so they are doing well (at least on the surface).

Ever since covid it just seems pretty dead when I go in there (compared to pre covid). Online shopping is booming. Plus a few stores has closed in there. Hopefully it doesn’t close soon bcuz that’s just lost jobs. But West Farms stays pretty packed.