Proclaimed on it’s website as “the nation’s largest broadline closeout retailer”, Big Lots will be one of the new anchors at the Norwichtown Commons.
According to the Eagle Rock Retail website, the store will occupy 33,494 square feet of the former Caldor Department Store.
Big Lots will be almost two times larger than its 18,500-square-foot Putnam Parkade store in Putnam. There are 11 other locations in Connecticut including East Hartford, Wallingford, and North Haven.
According to its website, “Big Lots has the power to negotiate the best deals in the business. We sell a broad range of high-quality, brand-name products, including consumables, seasonal items, furniture, housewares, toys, electronics, home decor, tools and gifts.”
Michelle Bronson, of Oakdale, said, “I love Big Lots! Anytime I go down south, I am there. So glad we are going to have one.”
Also new to our area will be a 1,267-square-foot Yogurt City. The frozen yogurt chain has other locations in Bristol, Danbury, and Enfield with plans for additional locations in West Hartford and Manchester.
Other eateries will include a 1,833-squre foot Asian Bistro and an unnamed 2,184-square-foot pizza shop.
National retail pet supply and pet service provider Petsense will be opening a 5,944-square-foot store as well.
The chain’s nearest store is in the Tanger Outlet Center in Westbrook.
Its stores carry a large variety of pet foods along with grooming, vaccination clinics, and pet adoption events.
Several stores that were formerly part of the enclosed 300,000-square foot Norwichtown Mall will reopen in the new 160,000-square-foot Norwichtown Commons.
The only original tenant that was unchanged by the mall’s conversion was the 73,239-square-foot Stop and Shop, which signed a 10-year lease extension.
Dress Barn downsized and renovated its former 9,900-square foot store. It reopened in a new 7,600-square-foot store last April before construction started on the rest of the shopping center.
The 5,000-square-foot Dollar Tree closed and reopened in an expanded 9,000-square-foot space just recently.
Other returning tenants include a 1,200-square-foot Hair Cuttery, a 1,565-square-foot Fancy Nails, and a 1,500-square-foot GNC.
GNC and Hair Cuttery have sister stores in the Montville Commons Shopping Center in Uncasville.
Unnamed tenants include a pending deal for a 17,000-square-foot health club, a 5,514-square-foot shoe store, a 2,497-square-foot gift shop, and a 4,201-square-foot sporting goods store.
The map shows a vacant 2,000-square-foot building off Town Street that is available for lease.
Previous plans for the center showed an outdoor seating area, an outparcel restaurant, a ladies fashion store, a burger and fries restaurant, a cellular store, and Aztec Sun Tanning.
In July 2011, Winstanley Associates, of Concord, Mass. bought the Norwichtown Mall for $15.75 million and announced a $8.5 million plan to downsize and renovate the mall.
In November, Winstanley purchased the 450,0000-square-foot Rhode Island Mall in Warwick, R.I. for $38 million with plans to redesign the mall’s interior to create large spaces for anchor tenants. The mall is currently occupied by stand-alone anchors Sears, Wal-Mart, and Kohls.
