The Shoppes at Buckland Hills is located off I-84, near the intersection of I-291.
History
John Finguerra, with his business partner, Richard Ripps, planned the mall in 1972.[6] Finguerra worked for JCPenney, which at the time had a 2,000,000-square-foot (190,000 m2) warehouse nearby, once used for their now-defunct catalog business.[6]
Finguerra's familiarity with local economic factors led him to believe that a regional mall would be successful. The location selected for the mall was elevated and overlooked a valley, and was close to an interstate highway, which would enable traffic flow to the mall, and future developments in the corridor.[6]
The mall opened in 1990, and was called the "Pavilions at Buckland".[6] The mall was successful, and new businesses in the surrounding area developed.[7] A multimillion-dollar renovation and expansion of the mall was completed in October 2003, and the name was changed first to "Buckland Hills Mall", and then to "The Shoppes at Buckland Hills".[8]
Design/Tenants
One of the mall's entrances
The main building has an area of 1,082,708 square feet (100,587 m2) on two floors. However, the name "Buckland Hills Mall"' can informally refer to the mall plus the cluster of surrounding retail stores, hotels, and restaurants on the hill, totaling nearly 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m2) or 1/4 square mile.[8]
There are approximately 145 shops and eateries in the mall, as well as four anchor stores, including Macy's (originally G. Fox, later Filene's), Macy's Men's, Children's, Juniors, and Furniture (originally Steiger's, later Lord & Taylor, then Filene's Men's, Children's, Juniors, and Furniture), JCPenney, which opened in 1992, and Barnes & Noble with two vacant anchors last occupied by Dick's Sporting Goods (originally Sage-Allen) and Sears. In 2006, Newbury Comics opened its first Connecticut store inside the mall. There was once a D&L (Davidson & Leventhal) department store below the food court, which later became Filene's Men's Store and is now various shops and restaurants.
The dawn of the 2020s saw several storied traditional department store retailers update its brick-and-mortar formats after being encroached upon to a degree by several digital retailers in recent years
On November 13, 2020, it was announced that Sears would shutter as part of an ongoing decision to eliminate its brick-and-mortar format. Potential replacement tenants have been rumored in discussion since 2021.[9][10]
In April 2021, Dick's Sporting Goods transitioned to an entirely new store format at a nearby plaza, leaving the former anchor to be reconstructed to feature Bob's Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports.[11][12] Bob's Stores opened on November 23, 2022. However, on July 1, 2024, it was announced that Bob's Stores would close all of its locations, including the one at the Buckland Hills Mall. The store is set to close in Fall 2024. The closure also caused the Eastern Mountain Sports expansion to be abandoned.[13][14]
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