New Comers In Newington

The last year has seen a load of change along the Newington side of the Berlin Turnpike. Many sites along the traffic flowing Routes (US) 5 and (CT) 15; both historic and long-troubled vacancies will see a brigher, prospective near future. Some of those historic sites; including one Hartford Drive-In theater, totaled for housing and now, across the street at one of Connecticut’s oldest McDonald’s restaurants which will finally undergo a much needed renovation plan. The project includes building a new super-sized restaurant on it’s former site and the one of a neighboring years vacated Dunkin’ Donuts, which will include a Playplace, a staple attraction at most restaurant and something this particular location hadn’t featured before.

McDonald's future site has a long way to go but the outcome will apprechiate the ever-changing Turnpike.


A former Dunkin' Donuts; long vacant, now demolished, will soon host a larger, more suitable McDonald's for today's generation.


May 4, 2006 - The Hartford Drive-In, even in it's vacancy, was a monument of Hartford county's history along the Berlin Turnpike.


July 5, 2006 - The end of the Hartford Drive-In, the end of an era, and history along the Berlin Turnpike.


July 5, 2006 - The last hurrah for the Hartford Drive-In.

The Newington Fair

Another site which will see future traffic is the troubled site of the former Caldor department store on the Berlin line along the Turnpike, in the Newington Fair shopping plaza. Newington Fair never really gained footing and throughout the years has seen next to nothing but struggle apart from various other plazas along the Berlin Turnpike.

Caldor, built as one of the original store's locations in 1994, saw a closing after the entire chain folded in 1999. After seven long years, Stew Leonard’s, a local fresh farm market owner, will build his fourth Connecticut store along the mighty Berlin Turnpike which is slated to open in Spring 2007. After both Caldor and Service Merchandise went out of business (Service Merchandise actually still fronting on the web), the Newington Fair has been kept on life support by the somewhat struggling Toys R Us, which has held up very well in lieu of various plaza anchor vacancies including the Stickley, Audi & Co. furniture store which took the place of Service Merchandise in it‘s 2002 closure. Beginning next year, the Newington Fair will have it’s revival with Stew Leonard’s, and plan to revitalize the plaza including alternate access routes, repaved lot, and a prospect to relocate Sam’s Club onto the wasteland lot beside Caldor which will restore order to a long troubled, and undeveloped shopping center.

The notorious former Caldor in an early destruction phase (July 1, 2006).

Caldor in it's vacant form; earlier this year (March 29, 2006).


Former Caldor in it's mid-destruction phase (September 25, 2006).


The "C" of Caldor signage, now gone.

Also seeing a new adoption will be the former site of newly built Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Coffee which is to become Newington-branch CitiBank after only a few years of operation. Stores in Milford and Uncasville (Mohegan Sun Casino) still exist.

The short-lived Krispy Kreme of the Berlin Turnpike which opened in late 2002, as well as Connecticut's third store, soon to be a CitiBank.

I'm sad to see this McDonald's go, as it was one of my favorites in the Hartford area, but will be even sadder to see the Unionville one which is happening sometime soon (or never).

McDonald's photos taken October 7, 2006.
All photography credit, editing: Nicholas M. DiMaio (XISMZERO).
Photo editing: Picasa.

Two New Targets

Big box retailer Target will open two new store locations in Connecticut on October 8, 2006 which include Windsor and Waterbury. The distinct discount department store chain, which has a few nearby locations in Manchester (along I-84, beside Buckland Hills [Mall]) and Enfield (along I-91, inside Enfield Square [Mall]) will celebrate the opening of two brand new stores this Sunday which seem to eclipse other Connecticut locations in size and store design; especially the Windsor store. A few weeks ago, passing through Windsor, I captured some shots of the store nearly ready for business. Having come from the site of a Big Kmart on Kennedy Road in Windsor, Target will surely succeed in it's all-new infrastructure.

A new Target store set to have a grand opening on Sunday, October 8 in Windsor, Connecticut.


Target of Windsor offers one of the most grand-scale designs of all the Connecticut locations.

While I haven't made the time to travel upwards near Waterbury, I visited the site May of this year as it was in the skeletal stage of construction. Built on the former site of a years vacant Bradlees department store, following their 2000 closure, and adjacent to a somewhat time-warped plaza anchored by a brown Super Stop & Shop, the advent of Target might see an onward movement as well as improving Waterbury's retail landscape along Chase Avenue.

May 4, 2006 - A banner announcing Target's coming October 8 in Waterbury, Connecticut along Chase Avenue.


May 4, 2006 - The early stages of Target in Waterbury, Connecticut


May 4, 2006 - Vestige of the former Bradlees which exists no more. This long outdated pilon has also been replaced by it's new Target identity since.


May 4, 2006 - While the building is no more, Bradlees final hurrah in the form of this spent road pilon no longer vacantly fits the scope of drivers along Chase Avenue.

Seeing my recent [lack of] camera problems, it appears I'll be unable to document the opening days of either store, which I had hoped. I might be up there, especially if they'll consider giving away some opening day goodies...

Death of a Camera

This weekend, while in New Hampshire, my camera has delved deeper into damage. It can now be declared, as in the movie Back to the Future Part III, past the "Windmill".

Back in August, while Renee and I went to Syracuse for The Great North Adventure, I had dropped my camera on our way out of the hotel room. No more than a minute later, not thinking anything of dropping it, I flipped it on and saw nothing but a white wall of imagery on the LCD. After that, I assumed the camera was broken. Finished. Beyond repair.

On the way home that day, we stopped at a Ritz Camera store for some B-grade answers inquiring about possible repair costs. Turns out the camera would cost, and you'll like this Sony-sanctioned robbery, almost the price of a new camera to repair at around $250 according to Ritz repair cost catalog. The DSC-T7, is, also one of the few Sony digital cameras which costs far above the quality it delievers while costing almost doubled the repair costs of other Sony cameras. Distraught, as if I had lost a member of the family I believed there was no hope. When I got home, I decided to take it inside and fool with it some. After smaking it around, the camera took a radical turn.

It magically operated as if the last half of the day never happened. It was like a black cat floating in blue sky.

Days and weeks pass and just from recreational use I'm just noticing little things that just don't operate properly. Just this weekend, at Target, the camera is dropped yet again (after a few times before it). It's done. Now, the camera is playing a wildcard game and if you tilt it a certain way, it goes all pyscho-delic on you. You can still manage to squeeze out a perfectly fine image, but the camera is certifiably damaged.

A neo-"psycho"-delic Renee produced by my now damaged DSC-T7.

After some shaking, the image is clear; nonetheless unpredictable.

While the camera has certainly served me well through thousands of mixed bag of pictures, I've read too much into Sony's steeply-priced electronics apart from my personal history with mediocre Sony quality. I won't blame Sony for my dropping my camera numerous times, and remarkably, surviving quite well through those many times, but I think it's time to look elsewhere.

I'm on the path to getting a new camera, decidedly, moving to the realm of Canon and their acclaimed products. I've done plenty of research and I'm pretty set on getting a Canon Powershot SD600.

Do you know the exact problem with the wronged image here? If you do, lay down a comment and maybe you'll get a Watermelon Blow Pop.

Westfield Shoppingtown Meriden; Meriden, Connecticut

By the time I was in kindergarten, my mom dragged me to just about all the malls across the inter-Connecticut area. While most of the time it was at the Westfarms Mall, one of the alternatives was the Meriden Square in Meriden, now known as Westfield Shoppingtown Meriden.

Westfield Meriden current anchors Macy's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Best Buy, JCPenney and SEARS, and soon Borders.

Located strategically on the brink on Meriden (near the Berlin townline) Chamberlain Highway (CT-71), and on the other side, outside the city limits, stratled between I-691 (formerly the extension that once was CT-66), and Lewis Avenue, property owners had truly seen prospects for a mall which they hope will serve consumers nearby. Also located on 71, but built before Westfarms Mall’s 1974 conception, saw it’s own playing field having no major malls or shopping centers for many miles. It’s closest piece of competition was the already troubled nearby Meriden Mall (later renamed "Hub") located just a few miles away in the downtown area.

Like most JCPenney stores, this one also probably hasn't changed too much since it's 1971 opening.

When the Westfield Group opened the Meriden Square, the nearby Meriden Mall faced a further plunge; scowering to the two-leveled, one-corridor, air-conditioned, indoor shopping center. For many, Meriden Square was a shopper’s delight seeing as there was nothing of a threat nearby to compete with it. Even when the Westfarms Mall opened in 1971, distance kept Meriden Square perched above the I-691 edge and long down 71 enough not to collide with each other.

Most formerly Filene's, and what was originally G. Fox now Macy's.

The Meriden Square Mall opened in 1971, by the California-based Westfield Group was originally host to a two-leveled shopping center with a few well-known anchor stores; G. Fox and JCPenney. The mall later faced a humble $5 million renovation in 1989 with proposal to add a grandiose new two-leveled wing, a bunch of new shops as well as a much needed food court, and new anchor; Sears which opened in 1993. Throughout the changes in the early 1990’s, G. Fox soon became Filene’s.

SEARS at Meriden, opened as part of the mall's first major expansion wing anchor in 1993 and is probably one of the nicer stores from the exterior.

Many things changed at the mall around 1997 as the Westfield Group came through putting fourth a $38 million revitalization and expansion plan into effect which included adding a new May Department Store anchor, Lord & Taylor, which opened in 1999 with a slew of new shops in it‘s wing. In addition to the celebratory new anchor, a parking garage was also set to be built beside the Sears on the Lewis Avenue facing end of the mall.

The newer side of the mall featuring Dick's Sporting Goods, and Best Buy after Lord & Taylor's short-lived tenancy at the mall.

Unfortunately, Lord & Taylor didn't see a future at the mall. After only a few years, the store drew cutbacks, mainly in part of the May to Federated buyout and which caused a closure of many stores all over Connecticut. Westfield quickly moved on with the vacancy by bringing two winning anchors to the mall's newest wing, big-box electronics Best Buy; which filled the space vacated by urban clothing store EbLens and sporting goods chain Dick's Sporting Goods which moved right into Lord & Taylor's sizable store.

Designed originally for Lord & Taylor, Dick's parking is on top of the very foundation.

The staple of the Meriden Square-era geodesic dome which is the only source which sprays natural light into the mall.

Along with the expansion plan, the Meriden Square was also planning to become rebranded as Westfield Shoppingtown Meriden, stripping away the Meriden Square name we once knew as part of a sour effort to uniform Westfield-owned malls. After facing much critcism, the Westfield Group detached the queer “Shoppingtown” addage to most of their malls in 2005, even though the mall still features it on most of their plaza signage.

Veteran patrons might remember this perched former Meriden Square sign, since rebranded as Westfield Meriden.

After some trouble with mall security about photographing in the mall, I managed to make away with some decent interior photos displaying both old and new contrasts to Westfield Meriden.

The newest wing of Westfield Meriden, aside the construction of Border's.

Best Buy at Westfield Meriden, facing Dick's.

The sleek looking newer wing of Westfield Meriden.

Vestige of an older mall; CVS seeking the need to
renovate in the original upper corridor of the mall.

JCPenney, which might not have renovated it's store since the 1980's.

The JCPenney side of the upper corridor of the mall and a
dollar store which was, at one point, a Sam Goody.

Tiles of the remaining Meriden Square-era in the original mall parts.

Meriden Square-era center court, possibly
unrenovated since the late 1980's.

SEARS mall entrance.

In the SEARS wing, across the food court.

One of the last remaining Software Etc. stores which hasn't faced
the uniform "GameStop" treatment in the SEARS wing.

Cafe Square, the food court, which no longer features one of Meriden Square's original (fast) food restaurants; Roy Rogers and home to one of the smallest freestand-style Dunkin' Donuts ever.

The future of Westfield Meriden hopes to include another much needed anchor store; Borders book store to open aside Dick's and Best Buy in the new wing of the mall, which will open early 2007. Here are some construction photos of the store being built now.

Some of my memories of the (Westfield) Meriden Square are favorable. I've been there since even before they added the Sears wing and remember it quite well. At the time, all there was to get a good quick eat was Roy Rogers, situated on one of the mall's wings. When the expansion went ahead, Roy Rogers moved into the food court.

I still call it Meriden Square (I was confused when Westfield did the silly "Shoppingtown" thing), and believe it's most certainly one of Connecticut's most underrated, small-time charm malls left. Enfield Square (formerly owned by Westfield) tried to mimick it, but never quite evolved. While various expansions at Meriden's have made it more "big box age", it still feels like a quaint place that has repeated success time again.

Meriden Square always been the alternative mall to visit if you didn't want to enter the bombastic Buckland Hills and it's overmalled atmosphere or the ordinary local (for myself), upscale Westfarms Mall. Meriden Square is a mall that serves well to take a drive to pass time, especially if you want to avoid traffic taking CT-372 to 71-A to 71 to get there (a well-rounded relaxing drive). It feels like a different mall against the hyper nature of most of Connecticut's malls, and for that, makes it feel good in it's own place. I do, however, consider this mall a daytime-only mall - if you've ever been here after dark, it's overwhelming and crowded as it's still a tad too compact to hold many people.

The mall has successfully evolved throughout the course of time and continues to add useful stores (Best Buy, Dunkin' Donuts, two gaming stores in one mall are good examples) and expansion ideas that fit right into the concept of the mall (even if that meant ousting the Time Out arcade). While the city of Meriden is otherwise avoidable for shopping (generally due to the grimey nature of the area) and the properties surrounding the mall are at best underdeveloped (for better or worse - with only a Target across the street), the Meriden Square is one of those smaller feeling malls that is not as grand as the others.

Photography; "legal or not", taken August and September 2006.

The Other Lost Cunningham

Just when you thought Tom Bosley and Marion Ross kept no more secrets, it would appear there's another which has been unveiled just today. While Richie Cunningham went to go make films, Joni, well who cares about Joni because the boys didn't, and Chuck Cunningham was "the lost one" and Fonz who secretly wanted to be a Cunningham under his 40 year-old frustration with high school chicks. Enter Lewis Cunningham, a most likely sheltered cast member now an unhappy and bitter lack-of-stage-time pion, went ahead with his malsuccess trying to subvert the spam filters on my Yahoo's bulk inbox as seen here...

Bad spelling or con-artist? Oh Lewis, the other lost Cunningham, we never knew ye.