Danbury Fair

Danbury Fair Mall is an upscale shopping mall in Danbury, Connecticut. As of 2011, it is the second largest shopping mall in Connecticut as well as the fifth largest in New England. It is located off of Interstate 84 and U.S. Route 7 opposite the Danbury Municipal Airport. The mall anchors are JCPenney, Macy's, Primark, Dick's Sporting Goods, and L.L. Bean. It has restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory and Chipotle Mexican Grill.
== History ==
The mall was built by the Wilmorite Corporation on land formerly used for the Danbury Fair, which paid $170,000 per acre, at that time the highest price ever paid for land in the Danbury area. It opened in 1986, anchored by Sears and G. Fox (which became Filene's in 1993 and has since closed becoming an L.L. Bean). Macy's opened in October 1987 and JCPenney in March 1988. In 1991, Lord & Taylor and a parking garage were added. In 2005 the Wilmorite Corporation sold the mall to The Macerich Company. In 2010, Filene's broke up into Dick's Sporting Goods, Forever 21 (now closed), Brio Tuscan Grille (now closed), The Cheesecake Factory, and L.L. Bean. In 2015, Sears gave up its 2nd floor to Primark, but kept its 1st floor.
During construction it emerged that two Wilmorite executives had paid Danbury's then-mayor, James Dyer, $60,000 in cash, sometimes concealed in newspapers. They claimed he demanded the money to assure his support for the mall. The allegations contributed to Dyer's defeat for re-election in 1987. He was acquitted of corruption charges in 1990; other charges were dismissed later. Lawyers for him and other city officials portrayed the executives as willing to do anything to get the mall built.
There are 192 retailers and eateries, including the major department stores Macy's, Sears, Lord & Taylor and JCPenney. Filene's was in the mall until the 2006 Macy's consolidation. The mall is especially popular with kids, partly due to the double decker carousel in the food court and many youth-oriented events and activities the mall sponsors on a regular basis (such as "Family Fun Night"). Many of these events take place in the mall's center on the lower floor. This space changes throughout the year, and can be converted into a stage area for special events such as song and dance performances. The mall is decorated during the holidays.
Primark leases approximately 70,000 square feet on the upper level of the two-story Sears store, which the building was one of 235 properties spun off from Sears Holdings into Seritage Growth Properties in 2015.
In 2019, Forever 21 closed its Danbury Fair store as part of a plan to close 111 stores nationwide. In 2020, Dick's Sporting Goods has expanded into where Forever 21 used to be and now has a mall entrance.
On November 8, 2019, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 96 stores nationwide. The store closed February 18, 2020.
On February 18, 2020, it was announced that Shake Shack and LongHorn Steakhouse would both open restaurants at the Danbury Fair Mall, however, no opening date is announced. It was planned to open in Spring, but got pushed due to COVID-19. On November 7, 2020, it was announced that Danbury Fair would be moving ahead with the openings.
On August 2, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would be closing as part of a plan to close 19 stores nationwide. On August 27, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would be going out of business. The store closed December 28, 2020.
According to Round1's website, it was announced that a Danbury location would open, which would be the first in Connecticut. However, it has since been removed from the website, so it is unknown if the project is still active or not, or if Round1 cancelled the opening.
On November 7, 2020, Macerich, Danbury Fair's mall owner, won an extension of $191 million mortgage secured by Danbury Fair. Machrich also announced that it planned that 93.5 percent of Danbury Fair's available space leased by year's end.
In 2023 Macerich, announced that Target would open inside the former Sears store.
== Renovation ==
In January 2007, Danbury Fair began the process of an interior renovation, which was completed in spring 2008. The mall received new lighting fixtures which replaced the original globe bulb lighting, new stone style floors which replaced the original tan, brown, and green tile floors, soft seating areas throughout the mall, new stained wood accents, and new paint. The two areas that received the most changes were the food court and the center court. A newly renovated food court features a slightly curved panoramic view of the restaurant choices, which reduced the number of restaurants from 16 to 11. New banquet seating is featured in the food court. The center court includes the removal of the large scale fountains (which also doubled as event areas), and has been replaced with a Starbucks coffee bar, soft seating with tables, and a down-scaled water feature to reduce the noise level.
Every summer from June to July, a carnival opens, taking up one of the mall's parking areas. The mall refers to the event as the "Danbury City Fair" in a nod to the historic fair upon whose site the mall was built. When the mall changed companies in the mid-2000s, however, the carnival was cut back from a month-long event starting in June to just a two-week event, starting every Memorial Day weekend.
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== Gallery ==
=== Videos ===
File:Danbury Fair Mall (Danbury, CT)|Mall Tour
File:Danbury Fair Mall Parking Garage Tour - Danbury CT|Parking Garage Tour
File:Danbury Fair Mall Fire Alarm|Fire Alarms Going Off
== see also ==
* Danbury Fair/Tenants
== External Links ==
Danbury Fair Mall's Official Website
Category:Malls in Connecticut
Category:Shopping Malls
Category:Malls in the United States
Category:Largest Malls in the United States
Category:Multi-Level Malls
Category:Malls that opened in 1986
Category:JCPenney-anchored Malls
Category:Lord & Taylor-anchored Malls
Category:Macy's-anchored Malls
Category:Sears-anchored Malls
Category:Dick's-anchored Malls
Category:Primark-anchored Malls
Category:Forever 21-anchored Malls
Category:L.L. Bean Locations
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Category:Former Forever 21-anchored Malls
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Category:Seritage Locations
Category:Macerich Malls