Construction, Demolition, and Renovation

Welcome to what I'm going to be calling a Retail on the Thames newsletter. Over the past month, I've discovered a few retail-related changed across eastern Connecticut. After quite a bit of procrastination, I'm ready to show these changes!



1. Norwich Chipotle Begins Construction

Plans for Norwich to get a Chipotle have gone back to late 2019, and the construction process has now started. The construction of this Chipotle led to the demolition of four houses, which is sad to see, but hopefully the Chipotle will bring in some business. According to the article I linked, Chipotle will be opening in the fall.

2. The Waterford Toys "R" Us Has Been Demolished

This is something I discovered beck in late July, but never took pictures of until August. When I went here back in late May, The property was still abandoned, but it was gated off. I predicted that the structure was going to be demolished, due to chalk writing hinting at it, and I ended up being right. I have no Idea what is going to be built on the space.

The Old Saybrook McDonald's Gets Renovated.

I'm pretty sure we all saw this coming. I was looking forward to getting a photoshoot of this recently converted McMansard, but I got a nasty surprise when I drove by the property. The building had gotten an ugly, uninspired EotF remodel. What interests me about this remodel is how they kept the roofline, but still managed to box it. My guess is that Old Saybrook has a code that caused the roofline to stay.

That's it for this one! I'll see you all next time!

-Simpsonfan311

Taftville's Completely Vacant Plaza

Welcome to another edition of Retail on the Thames! Today we're going to be looking at one of Eastern Connecticut's largest and most interesting retail vacancies. Not a single tenant is open, and the entire plaza has sat abandoned for almost 2 years


INFO: Built in 1959, this plaza is located on Route 12 in the Taftville neighborhood in Norwich, and is one of the smaller ones in town. It only had 5 tenants at the end of it's life. These were Starrwood Market, Gary's Wine and Spirits, Annie Lee's Southern Cuisine, Subway, and Core Plus Federal Credit Union. Starrwood closed in in the summer of 2018, and Gary's and Subway closed later in the year. Annie's and Core Plus had already been closed for a bit before the other tenants. Now let's get to the pictures.

PICTURES:

Starting off the plaza is Starrwood Market. I was surprised to find out this used to be an A&P a long time ago. I don't know exactly when A&P opened or closed but I'm guessing it opened circa 1959 when the plaza was built, and closed sometime before 2003. This is due to an article reporting on Starwood's closure stating that Starwood's former owner bought the building in 2003. The article also states that the property had some issues while it was open, such as some electrical problems in 2015. By July of 2018, the market had closed.

I couldn't see much of the interior due to materials blocking my view, but it looked quite empty.

Some more interesting sights here included dirty fluorescent lights and a USPS mailbox.

Now let's check out the plaza's smaller tenants.

Next up is Gary's, a typical liquor store that closed in either late-2018 or early-2019.

The interior looked gutted and gross, but that drink cabinet looked cool.

Here's Annie Lee's, which was open for a very short amount of time, and by that, I mean a few years at the most. Beforehand, this space was home to a restaurant called Open Rice.

The interior was going through renovations, but I'm unsure whether it's for Annie Lee's or a new tenant.

Subway closed around the same time as Gary's, and it wasn't a huge loss, as there's two others in Norwich. One is at the forgettable Salem Plaza, and the other is at an unnamed plaza in Norwichtown.

The interior looked like a typical Subway, and we can't ignore the random shopping cart in there.

(former Core Plus sign) 

Lastly is Core Plus, which closed in the mid-2010's. Besides the branding in the back  entrance, there isn't much to see here.

That's it for this one! I'll see you all soon!

-Simpsonfan311

Abandoned McDonald's in Westerly, Rhode Island

Welcome to another edition of Retail on The Thames! It's quite unusual to find abandoned McDonald's, but there are some sitting out there. Here's a case of a closing McDonald's that has sat vacant for a few years.

INFO: This particular McDonald's was built in 1989 in Dunns Corner, one of Westerly's more suburban neighborhoods. It was the second McDonald's in Westerly, the first one being a location near Downtown Westerly, which relocated across the street in 1996 as a very small Mansard-style building. This location suddenly closed in the mid-2010's, and has sat abandoned since


PICTURES:

Entering the location, you can tell that not much was done to it. It never received the beige painting that many McMansard's got in the early to mid-2010's. Walking to this place felt surreal. McDonald's is one of those chains you can't imagine closing locations, but it does occasionally happen. It's hard to picture one until you actually see one. It feels so ghostly. You can tell it was a McDonald's, but the red roof and the fixtures McDonald's uses gives the buildings their character. Without the McDonald's branding, they feel lifeless

This is currently the only abandoned McDonald's in the area. There was an abandoned one in North Stonington for a period of time, which closed in 2012 and was shortly demolished afterwards for a propane store that would open up a few years later.

The drive-thru sign here is one of the more unique ones I've seen.

The menu board was nothing but cables and fluorescent lighting, which looks really interesting to me.

The drive-thru side is the same as the entrance. It has grass growing in the parking lot, and the same lifeless feeling.

One of my favorite things about abandoned places is finding unique signs, such as this closing sign. It refers to two open locations that customers can go to. These are aforementioned small McMansard near downtown Westerly, and North Stonington's current location, which is an interesting looking Forever Young built in the early 2010's. I believe that it was built as a replacement to the McMansard that closed in 2012.

This is hard to see, but I also found my favorite McDonald's logo in the drive-thru. I'm unsure what it's called, but I call it the "To Go" logo. It's the golden arches riding a skateboard.

Pretty cool, right?

The building is up for lease, but as a medical space of all things. However, no one has taken the space yet.

The interior here is untouched. It feels like a time warp to when fast food interiors had light tones and swirly chairs. I never went to this location, but the interior made me feel nostalgic in the weirdest type of way. It's truly fascinating

That's it for this one! I'll see you all soon!

-Simpsonfan311

Franklin Plaza

Welcome to another edition of Retail on the Thames! Today we're crossing the state border to Westerly, Rhode Island to check out one of the more interesting plazas in town. I don't have too much background information about this plaza, so we'll be diving straight into the pictures, and I'll be explaining them as we go


PICTURES:

Here's T.J.Maxx and Pier1 Imports. Pier1 probably won't be here for much longer, as the company is struggling in general. I am aware that my photo of T.J.Maxx is blurry but it happens occasionally, and it also occurred on another photo of the plaza.

Entering the hallway, you can see a lot of cool signs indicating the stores located in the plaza. I always enjoy seeing nice little touches like this.

Here's an abandoned Payless ShoeSource. There are a few abandoned tenants here, including an abandoned Dressbarn, but I only photographed one.

Aldi, which was formerly a Shaw's. For those who don't know, Shaw's is a grocery store chain popular in most of New England. I say most of New England because Shaw's left Connecticut in 2010 when they closed their CT locations. Shaw's is still present in Rhode Island, so I'm unsure why this location closed, Maybe it was a bit too close to CT for Shaw's liking. This specific location was replaced by Aldi sometime after 2012 and before 2017. Aldi recently did some minor renovations on the facade, which formerly had two large windows.

JCPenney, which is the plaza's main anchor along with Aldi. This is one of the few JCP's in the area to be located in a plaza instead of an indoor mall. The next closest JCP in a plaza is the location at the Torrington Commons, which it Connecticut's only JCPenney on the long current closing list.

I also snapped some shots of the JCPenney signs in the plaza hallway.

That's it for this one! I'll see you all very soon!

-Simpsonfan311