Crystal Mall (Connecticut) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Crystal Mall

The entrance for the Crystal Mall
Location	Waterford, Connecticut, United States
Address	850 Hartford Turnpike
Opening date	September 30, 1984; 40 years ago (September 30, 1984)
Developer	New England Development
Management	Simon Property Group
Owner	Simon Property Group (78.2%)
No. of stores and services	103
No. of anchor tenants	5 (3 open, 2 vacant by April 2021)
Total retail floor area	782,786 sq ft (72,723.2 m2)
No. of floors	2
Website	Crystal Mall

Crystal Mall is a large, two-story shopping mall located in Waterford, Connecticut. It's a popular spot for shopping and fun, right near the Hartford Turnpike (Route 85). The mall is huge, with over 100 stores! It's one of the biggest malls in Connecticut.

Crystal Mall serves many nearby towns like Waterford, Stonington, Norwich, Groton, and New London. Big stores, called "anchor stores," used to include JCPenney, Christmas Tree Shops, Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy's, and Sears. However, Sears and Macy's have now closed their doors.

The Story of Crystal Mall

Crystal Mall first opened its doors in 1984. It was built by a company called New England Development. When it first opened, it was the only big mall in the area. This made it a bit tough for smaller shops nearby to compete. Some smaller shopping centers, like the New London Mall, even had to change how they did business.

The first big "anchor" stores at Crystal Mall were Sears, JCPenney, Filene's, and Jordan Marsh. Later, in 1996, the Jordan Marsh store became a Macy's.

Mall Makeover: A Brighter Look

After about 10 years, the mall started to look a bit old-fashioned. So, in 1997, Crystal Mall got a big makeover! They changed the dark colors inside to a much brighter white. The area where you can grab food, called the food court, was also updated. They even improved the lights and other decorations.

There was a beautiful chandelier in the center of the mall that many shoppers loved. Even though they thought about taking it out, people liked it so much that they decided to keep it and just make it shine! Even with these updates, some people still felt the outside of the mall looked old. They also wished the mall would bring in newer, more modern stores.

New Stores Join the Mall

In 2006, one of the original anchor stores, Filene's, closed down. This happened because another company bought Filene's, and many malls ended up with both a Macy's and a Filene's. Since Macy's and Filene's sold similar things, one of them often had to close.

The big space where Filene's used to be stayed empty for over a year. But in late 2007, exciting news came out! Two new and different stores would move in: Christmas Tree Shops and Bed Bath & Beyond. They both opened in early 2008. Christmas Tree Shops took the first floor, and Bed Bath & Beyond opened on the second floor.

Changes for Sears and Macy's

In 2015, the company that owned Sears decided to sell many of its store buildings, including the Sears at Crystal Mall. Then, in October 2018, it was announced that the Sears store would be closing for good. It finally closed in January 2019.

More recently, on January 6, 2021, Macy's also announced it would be closing its Crystal Mall location in April 2021. With Macy's gone, JCPenney is now the only original anchor store left at the mall.

Main Anchor Stores Over Time

Here's a quick look at the big anchor stores that have been at Crystal Mall:

Images for kids

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  The former Sears store at the mall. It closed in 2019.