Lowe's And Behold; Appeal For An Orange Derby Shopping Center

The aging process has not been true to the terminal Orange Derby Shopping Center.

Situated on (CT) Route 34, New Haven Avenue; en route to New Haven, located in a somewhat collapsed but hubristic "Connecticut's Smallest City" of Derby (the "downtown" is in the midst of some post-war torn look), just on the Orange line. The Shopping Center, which has been a long companion of the town, at least since the 1960's, has been withering away for decades and just recently became a near ghost town when plaza anchor Big K-Mart shut its Derby location down within the 2003 wave of closings within the state of Connecticut.

The Orange Derby Shopping Center is an active example of ill-adapted shift in the retail market over the ages which inevitably finds a victim - and frankly this one that has not adapted well with the times. The plaza, heavily marred with crackled, wavy, and uneven pavement certainly doesn't invite beyond it's heavy vacancy rates, seagulls (the unproclaimed bird of "the dead mall"), and a rest stop for truckers.

Having opened with Zayre; a discount department store who later folded under once rising rival Ames, not renewing it's placement in this location in the late 1980's. K-Mart, who most recently occupied the location left by Jordan Marsh, a department clothier, who opened shortly after the demise of Zayre closed all it's mostly mall-stationed anchor stores in 1996. K-Mart, according to a reader, found sanctuary after being displaced from a fallen Ansonia Mall in nearby Ansonia. After three-plus years of post-K; deteriorating, vandalism, and graffiti at the long-stationed shopping center, once neighbored by a Service Merchandise plaza in it's heyday will soon be completely demolished for yet another soulless, cookie-cutter retail cloner, Lowe's Home Improvement.

In the retail zodiac, 2007 is the year of the Lowe's.

Lowe's Home Improvement plans to occupy space currently and soon to be no longer held by the Orange Derby Shopping Center namesake. There are no plans if the future tenants will opt to remove the antique and characteristic road pylon which has been not only greeting those passing through Derby, but also a literal beacon for the residents who live behind and around the shopping center. There's good chance the sign will not be salvaged beyond Lowe's construction.

A once housed "Garden Shop" during the Big K years.

While stats continue to show Wal-Mart to be the top retailer, Lowe's has been creeping in more so in the top ten than it's competition around Connecticut. Lowe's has been quite well known, like its fellow rising retailers, for sweeping up many vacantly troubled retail sites and shopping center in the past few years, cleaning up much of the collapses of the end of the millennium which include many now long-gone retailers of the northeast like Caldor, Bradlees and even most recently Ames.

Entrances to one of the more unusual, non-original K-Mart stores.

A now rare design leftover variant from Zayre which included an overlaping, stucco facade and a gapped central where entrances are placed.

Just recently, The Caldor Rainbow has reported numerous new Lowe's stores coming this year on a few years vacant retail sites including one in Torrington on the site of the town's oldest plaza, Meriden; on the site of a four-plus year leftover from Ames. Stores have been popping up all over the place along with other rising retailers like the continually successful Wal-Mart, Target; who's continuing it's northeastern expansion, Kohl's and Home Depot to name some of the biggest players.

A mostly silent strip of shops hurt by the closure of major anchorage.

The New Haven Register reports the property owners are hoping for two more buildings in addition to Lowe's and their accompaning garden center. Upon Lowe's announcement, late 2006 and early this year, remaining tenants have slowly leaked out within the horizon of demolition plans. The future plaza does not plan to include the current or recently vacated tenants which include Fashion Bug, GNC, and a handful of smaller-owned shops and bakery; most of which have or are in agreement with the town's mayor for relocation plans elsewhere in town.

There's also no word on what might become of the two off-plaza restaurants; Burger King and nearby (old-school) Dunkin' Donuts; both of which seem likely to not be directly affected due to their remote locations across a somewhat dreary creek, far outside the central breaking grounds. The newly-revamped site sees a fast food restaurant, which will likely gauge competition with Burger King .

Lowe's will undoubtably be getting to work very soon, after the hurdling wetlands negotiations are met so anyone who wants to see the plaza in it's last few months alive better get there soon.

The Caldor Rainbow must extend gratitude to one of our readers and New Haven area resident, Loki, who originally informed us about the plaza.

Make sure you check out the complete set on Yahoo! Photos to see more of Orange Derby Shopping Center; taken just yesterday March 12, 2007.

Torrington Parkade Hits All-Time "Lowe's"; Everything Must Go!

516 Winsted Road has been silent for years.

Ever since Ames closed all it's stores in 2002, the bizarre, three-scaffold complex with all sorts of off-colorings, possibly sealed showroom windows will soon be no more. The otherwise vital remains beside it, anchored by a Big Y Supermarket (complete with outdated "Super Big Y" road pylon) continues to see plenty of shoppers while the other side largely does not. But developers have drafted a plan to make the decades antiquated plaza, one of the town's eldest, under renovated retail sites, a future site for a more vital retail to truck along with far-off times most of the town is steeped in. Anyone who's driven down Winsted Road knows of the flair of the antique, neon-lit Torrington Parkade road sign, which has been there since the 1960's and shows it's age well in 2007.

Torrington is a town that's fascinated me for a while now. It's certainly an out of the way town, located in the Northwest portions of Connecticut near similar, further north town Winsted. The city itself is well known for its vastly antique, industiral working-class landscape with much of it's retail offerings in an interesting, equally time-ravaged position. As far as their retail goes, there's a lot of history within. The central area of Torrington, outside the CT-4 and US-202 influences of Price Chopper, Wal-Mart, and BJ's Wholesale Club, is also home to one of Connecticut's few surviving, vital "Big K-Mart" stores, an outpacel JCPenney within a blown-clad Super Stop & Shop plaza, but most of all The Torrington Parkade.

The Torrington Parkade contained two anchors beginning in 1968 with Sears and an outpacel Sears Automotive Center. Sears moved out a few short years later selling its store (likely for one at the Naugatuck Valley Mall), selling the site to discount department store, Caldor. After extensive renovations, the chain opened the store on October 1, 1971.

On the other side, the plaza was anchored by Super Big Y. When Caldor when out of business in 1999, a not-too-long succeeding discounter, Ames took over the location for a few years in their scheme to occupy a bulk of fallen Caldor locations which helped sink an overzealous retailer. Ever since then, the parcel on the furthest end of Torrington Parkade has been vacant, unable to attract even an Ocean State Job Lot into the space. But now, there appears to be a future for the fallen site, and a plan that might have some Torrington residents cringe.

Eventually, it was once said Lowe's Home Improvement was to occupy the space left by Ames to enter the Torrington market. Now it appears their agenda has gone fourth and will see to have the Torrington Parkade, as it's been known for many decades, to soon be no more. Having drafted a revitalization plan; Lowe's has negotiated to demolish the entire Parkade site, beginning with a phased repositioning of the entire plaza which will result a newly-renovated, relocated Big Y on the site of a soon-to-be-demolished Ames; which will take place before Lowe's begins it's own construction on the current Big Y property. Big Y of Torrington renovated in early 1990's dropping the "Super" addage to the building's frontal identities, while still existant on other portions, has not since updated much as it's seen other stores in the state expand and renovate.

A mysterious former anchor store occupied by Caldor in its prime; could it have possibly been subdivided into three at one point?

As a result of the draft, remaining smaller stores inbetween the anchor placements, and even those within a dilapidated miniature faux mall scape between the anchors feature quad-bench seating, otherwise distressed concrete planters, and home to much graffiti as well. These stores, including a Radio Shack, who has their old company signage around back of the store, now have an ultimatum; close or move elsewhere. Unable to determine the fate of the current smaller parcels, two locations, Jo-Ann Fabrics and Burger King outparcel among a few other dark storefronts have complied to close their stores with any certain plans to open elsewhere in town. There aren't any plans yet to include the once strip offerings in the proposal.

Jo-Ann Fabrics is wooing shoppers with rising store closure sales and informing them to shop their nearby Waterbury store. Jo-Ann, who's only occupied the space formerly occupied by the fallen House of Fabrics has seen a short-lived term in Torrington. Everything Must Go!

The largely antiquated and neglected faux indoor mall portion, located behind the strip stores, will soon go.

Behind the site is but another story; lots of dilapidated, forgotten but noteworthy leftovers from the plaza's earliest days including this since dismantled "Exit 45" signage where the former tenant displayed it's advertisment.

The franchise-operated Burger King, who recently had two locations in town; East Main Street and the now departed Parkade site on Winsted Road sought to close in lieu of Lowe's proposal. Unlike Roy Rogers, Burger King is not exactly downsizing, but it seems they have no plans to reopen a store elsewhere in town. Like a recently abandoned Roy Rogers in Newington, Burger King had been reported mysteriously vacated without warning.

Unlike most Burger King locations around the state, this particular one had much of the early decor most chains have updated since; wooden-trims and draped seating, wooden warehouse-style ceilings, brown and tad clad tiles, and even the company's 1970's-era logo on the doors which was phased out widely in the late 1980s.

The current realtors of the Torrington Parkade, Paragon Realty Group, like the site itself, has not updated their website lately, seemingly since the closure of Caldor in 1999. The plaza doesn't seem to have changed much since its origins, presumably the 1960's. Do you remember what the Parkade was like before? Judging by it's tired appearence today, it couldn't have changed too much since.

The future adaption for the site seems to follow this schedule; the first phase would see to demolish the vacant Ames, build the new Big Y in its place, demolish the current Big Y, and then Lowe's will begin its construction. A deal with the operating strip stores hasn't been determined; relocation or closure?

Paragon hopes to begin the long-planned project in April 2007.

Additional Resources

Yahoo! Photos "Torrington Parkade (3-9-2007)"

The Ames Fan Club; Ames Torrington

Facebook Photos: "On The Eights"

Most photos taken March 9, 2007.

Sundown for Roy Rogers?

"Thank You, Newington! Please Visit Us In Manchester."
is the only explanation a snowcapped Roy Rogers on the Berlin Turnpike served up last week.

So what's going on over at Roy Rogers on the Berlin Turnpike? It's not just the US-5/CT-15 location that's abrupty closed it's doors to the lunch rush along the ever-heavy Pike.

Early this year, it seems Roy Rogers will share a limited future with the state of Connecticut as it has shut down its "old-fashioned" style fast food dining along the Berlin Turnpike which has served customers for a few decades. Fellow Ames Fan Club forum posters have rung in on the shock of the sudden closure of a North Haven location as well as the Newington location, which was discovered and reported shuttered early last week upon its property not having been cleared from a wintry storm early last week.

No explanations, no appearent warnings. Signage has now been removed from not only the somewhat architecturally outdated wooden-grooved facade but also the nearby stucco-faced trashcans lining the edges of the parking lot along with the sundown-canyon logo doning its attract pylon to forecast motorists coming along the way. Some people are walking in-and-out of the place, but not serving customers any longer.

Roy Rogers, whose well known for its old-fashion, old-western way of doing things, like successful rival franchiser Wendy's and other Arby's, offers a "Fixin's Bar" which allows customers to add as many toppings or and condements "Fixins" as they pleased.

But in a more health and bacteria-centric world of today, the liberty of the idea might be host to a contributing decline of Roy Rogers. Their stores are generally left behind; distressed, often dingy, neglected, and never really on the continued zeal and edge the other fast food restaurants hold today. Ideas don't keep the company fueled or pressured to market "low-carb salad" trends which keeps them down. But some people might've liked that casual devoid-trendy-atmosphere at Roy's. Appearently, not enough.

The next phase is this; who will fight for the prime placement the fast food retailer had along the Berlin Turnpike? There's very little doubt this space won't be occupied by Summer as its location at the junction of The Pike itself, 173 and a host of prime retailers' traffic; Wal-Mart and then Lowe's behind it.

Is the company suffering? It might seem that way as we've seen the company purge locations over the years, like its once dominant placement at the Meriden Square; it was one of the first quick food places to open the mall's new food court in 1993 before it closed a few years back.

Roy Rogers now has one, remaining location left in Connecticut; Manchester is the lone, remaining cowboy in the state which shares a close proximity to the Northern end of Connecticut along the Tolland Turnpike. They also operate in many travel plazas upstate New York, which was my last outing there in recent time. Better get your "Fixins" now...

Got any memories at Roy Rogers? Will you miss them?

[Groovin'] Fox Run Mall; Glastonbury, Connecticut

They don’t quite make them like this anymore.

The fox certainly ran, at least at one point in time at Fox Run Mall. Located in Glastonbury, Connecticut; and shortly off CT-2, the town is widely known as Hartford's upper-eschelon neighbor whose town's commerce is otherwise shaped by its unique layout of geometric buildings and unusually crafted, non-pareil versions of dominantly uniformed franchise chains hearkening back to an appearent boom of sharp-angled 1970’s and all that’s come along way with it. Its developer, New Plan, has indeed a new plan for Glastonbury’s Fox Run Mall as it will soon be recognized beyond it’s once captivating, now long-outdated design when a remodel ensues with the arrival of a third Whole Foods Market for the state.

As of December 2006, Shaw’s Supermarket operated one of their more unusual looking locations on the furthest end of the strip when it succeeded an independent grocer in 1998. Following a company downsizing of Connecticut-wide existing stores, it's become vacant along with a handful of other stores in other regions of Connecticut. But the prospect for a vacant anchor has taken flight by New Plan; the proposed Whole Foods will be constructing its own parcel outside the timeframe of a decades-old supermarket of past which will begin a sweep for entire center.

Beginning with the advent of Whole Foods, the once architecturally vital center will feature more a contemporary renovation to give the once hip, brown-shingled center a refreshing, hopefully devoid of visionless, empty appearance like most shopping centers have become today for fear of bringing fourth unique presentation. As trends have changed by decade, times of past have conditioned developers today to drop importance of mere shopping centers, getting the job done constructing safety and simplicity over richly diverse style.

There was once a time when design and shopping centers were pinnacle to presentation. Back when shopping centers where in their prime, and seemed culturally and architecturally relevant, their developers had vision as centers like Fox Run show today. They were shaped by the conformity of the new age; a new frontier of design back in the 1970‘s whose peak of experimental and often eccentric science-fiction-inspired design was on high. Fox Run Mall was quite frankly the swankiest presentation around and still showcases as an outliar. While Fox Run was certainly cutting-edge then, its groovin' design tells of an appearent lost trend.

Like it windows back into a galaxy far, far away, there’s all the vestige; sloped and shingled hut roofing with other bizarre, grandiose shapely roofs makes it almost something islandic this side of Star Wars. Throw in some oddly-painted murals at the former Shaw's, brown-draped everything, Euro-aqueduct-style brick arches, and you've got a portfolio of Fox Run's richly groovy texture. There were no Ewoks to be found in the frontal facing landscaping areas, once sought to be a highlight of Fox Run's cunningly different atmosphere, which still bare foreground accentuating its strip presentation of shops.

They certainly had a thing for these Italian-inspired aqueduct archways, more or less a staple of 1970's trends.


Just one of Fox Run Mall's few time-expired tenants.

While Fox Run isn’t quite a traditional "shopping mall", given its scale, the design is certainly one that may have been ahead of its time with the regional malls (especially Westfarms). When a trend of enclosing (existing and new) malls sweeped the land in the early 70's, developers at Fox Run wanted to invite a different idea. They didn’t exceed the expectations of a regional shopping mall given their alloted space and project goal, they made something of a hybrid strip mall concept; essentially a strip mall-based center complete with some amentites of a shopping mall including (non-faux) landscaping, benching, but also a scaffold to protect shoppers from weathering all under a true blue sky to promote an outdoor feel.

Early phase of development threw in a "Mini Mall" for good measure.

The other angle to Fox Run is its traditional indoor-style; a "Mini-Mall" on the right side of the center which features a small corridor-length indoor portion catering to just a few other shops not featured along the showcased strip. It's nothing big at all, and probably something that could've benefitted from being expanded. Feeling the shadow of past today, most of those shops are now small-time community-based or within vacancy like Arrow Drug; whose Walgreens-esque wooden "mortar and pestle" logo still decors the outside. On the contra; all the strip shops are fully occupied; ranging from unique "lifestyle" shops; a bank, laundromat belonging to someone named "Luba" (couldn't help thinking "Jabba"), and unique dining like Elisa on The Ave to chain stores, like Radio Shack.

Could it be Fox Run’s space-aged design was a forecast to the sweeping “lifestyle” concept that’s embraced today? One could only hope, whatever the future brings to Fox Run, it might still retain its independence in the bland space of shopping centers.

Digest on the Yahoo! Photos-hosted photoset of Fox Run Mall. We visited it just before the big snow storm so these are freshly recent. My treat for neglecting you all this past week. Have a superb, possibly long weekend!

983 New Britain Avenue; West Hartford, Connecticut

Following our report on an uncovered former Caldor in Groton revealed by a Connecticut local, and a forecast of slow reporting this week due to ridiculously chilly weather in the Northeast which prevents me in my idle time from shooting much of anything new. So, we've decided to dig into the best of 2006 archive and introduce a segment on The Caldor Rainbow; a half-vacant site I had visited repeatedly last year.

983 New Britain Avenue is now home to fallen retail stardom. A plaza most formerly belonging to department discounter Ames has seen brighter years of the past, but not too much since. Ever since its final vacancy in 2003 the building stands devoid of retail traffic today in a mostly dilapidated area in the outskirts of West Hartford. While not originally, it's most notably known as having once been home to Caldor, which was later purchased by Ames.

Signature green of Ames logo peeks from behind the black-out.

Located just no more than three miles from Westfarms Mall, the plaza is located on New Britain Avenue, along Route 71, near some mainlines into the southern end of the capitol; New Park Avenue being one, which trails right into central Hartford, but too far off easy and/or more direct access via Interstate 84.

Apart most of West Hartford’s flourishing historic retail scapes, whether it be the Main Streets, upscale West Hartford Center, the Northernmost shopping parkades including Bishop‘s Corner, and big box areas surrounding the [Westfarms] mall, even going further into Hartford with the brand-new Charter Oak Commons, there could be more than obvious reasons why this neglected, islandic defeated property continues to degenerate into forgotten territory. It would appear the dowdy town is quite ashamed of it's Elmwood side, often times forgetting the somewhat isolated retail beyond the old railroad track underpass.

Within the lesser glamourous sectors of West Hartford, often referred as being more apart of the suburb Elmwood and bordered on the southern end of Hartford, amidst a rustic industrial landscape of the Southern tier of the town, this is an area less traveled by most anyone looking to shop. But it's got a history, maybe one that has shifted demographics over the years into a servant of scrap and alternative retailers, auto centers, government and commerce businesses nearby.

Apart from the town’s otherwise richer population on the other ends, this shopping district tends to cater more towards lower-eschelons; may it be lower-income or minority ethnic groups of the neighboring Hartford and Elmwood. Today, the location is more or less a testiment to poor location versus a sunken socio-economic consumer and collapsed retail plane dominated by big box survivors of the post-millennium. Factor that into an overall uninvitingly doomed and degenerating landscape and you're up against the current situation.

Dollar Dreams; self-proclaimed "Largest $1.00 Store in Conn." operating a former Waldbaum's supermarket.

Built in 1961, this unique structure was not quite the self it promotes today. Originally housing a local department store chain, Family Fair and in 1962 was purchased by the Star's Discount Department Store chain which hosted a Popular Super Markets within. Star's was more or less a typical discounter of its time ranging in many goods you might find at a Target today. This particular location was branded Star's Family Fair.

An elusive Star's Family Fair advertisment from the January 5, 1964 edition of The Hartford Courant (click to see full size).


An "Opening Sale" of Star's Family Fair from the September 2, 1962 edition of The Hartford Courant.

The chain, who shared it's heyday in the booming discount era of the 1960's, presumably had a few other locations across Connecticut, but fell down by the early 1970's. The building style, however, belongs to later tenant, Caldor, with once evident identical buildings in New Britain along Farmington Avenue, and Southington along Queen Street; both long-demolished homes to the mammoth Wal-Mart who was once successor who snatched up a bevy of fallen pinnacle Caldor sites around their falling.

Not too much is known about Star’s legacy, apart from being an department retailer much within it’s own time, sharing mostly forgettable, scattered history today, and was eclipsed by emerging Norwalk, CT-based discount department store Caldor, who purchased a few of their shuttering locations in the area by the early 1970’s. In its time, Caldor, like Wal-Mart currently, sprawled in the discount department store market and had the advantage for snatching up some of the best locations for retail traffic commonly located in highly visible areas which included along major routes and highways. This store wasn’t entirely the case, but in it’s own time, it might’ve been serviceably stationed for the other end of West Hartford but not less travelled areas.

The enormous pebble-faced, concrete-looking box still surely sets itself apart from a long-gone architecture with a decidedly eccentric design; namely rhombus and triangular-shaped scaffolding pillars as a frontal façade. Remarkably, the former super-sized discount store building has no easily identifyable label scarring from before Ames, whose rectangular logo shadows the bulding’s furthest right end today. It's hard to imagine any significant improvements over the years beyond a few paint jobs.

There are plenty of ghastly elemental scars from weathering, including immense amounts of water damage on the building's frontage, most likely seeing a few paint jobs and subtle patch works over the years. Today, the building can't hide its dilapidation with pockmarked walls, gaping holes, and an overall degenerating façade.

Along the sides and rear of the complex show more dire circumstances as most vacancies share; dumping grounds, graffiti-laden, and other unusual items and litter. Along with the rest of the plaza, tenants on the outskirts, all of which have fled years ago include a former Piper Brook Restaurant, and a now dilapidated vacant auto center from the 1960’s.

The remaining neighboring tenant, whose home was once a Waldbaum’s Supermarket, shuttered all Connecticut stores around the departure of Caldor, now houses a Dollar Dreams; a self-proclaimed “Largest $1.00 Store in Conn.” who's patched some local vacancies of past with other locations in New Britain and Manchester. Despite the current anchor woes, Dollar Dreams is the only one left keeping parking spaces filled - and they are in fact fulfilling the objective. Even their property has signs of elderly distress.

When both Caldor and Waldbaum's collapsed around the turn of the century, the entire plaza was soon falling into alarming vacancy rates. It wasn't too soon when an overzealous Ames snatched the site in 2000 in their attempt to house themselves in one of many various former Caldor locations, finding overspaciousness to ensue. The gargantuan complex, which housed a volumous girth, was apparently too large-scale for Ames’ stock causing them to purge unused store space by a good 25 percent.

Ames, who purchased the troubled site, eventually adopted the curse of the Caldor closure in 2003 causing the building to become what's now a borderline vacant eyesore with an equally hazardous parking lot. When last I visited Ames in the store's final week before closure in 2003, it was evident the place was destined for bulldozing. The surrounding area smelled of something rotten just within the parking lot and beside a distressed creek.

Currently the building has an owner; and one that seems to have legal troubles of their own. In 2005, the building was converted and gutted to suit a climate-controlled storage facility seeing the property had no forseeable progressive future beyond demolition. Despite this, the building resembles it's former retail occupants with no alterations done to the original exterior.

A plaza which was serviceable at one point in time seems to be living on the brink of an expired contract. The times have changed, and long beyond the years of the plaza's structures. Hindered today by it’s inability to attract and adapt to both developers and patrons. Drudgey surroundings or the lack of retail support keep it down, adjacent to a branch of the Postal Service, or beside it, Shield Street and its other commerce. Shield Street Plaza neigboring it, once a destination center, is now dominated by an alternative array of Asian commerce including an unusual ethnic otherworldly A. Dong Supermarket who might not be seek your average demographic either (like Stop & Shop of the third, alternate world).

How much longer will the plaza at 983 stick around? Perhaps until the building itself falls.

See more photos of 983 New Britain Avenue on Facebook. All pictures were taken in Summer to Fall 2006.

EDIT (July 8, 2007): Vintage advertisments for Star's Family Fair added.