New Stores, Restaurants and Experiences Coming to the Danbury Fair Mall
It was creativity and ingenuity that piloted the Danbury Fair Mall through a nasty pandemic. Retailers have noticed that Danbury Fair is among the best centers in the state and they want to be a part of it.
Site construction is underway for Shake Shack and Longhorn Steakhouse, two restaurant chains that are brand-spankin' new to the Danbury area. According to westfaironline.com, the mall welcomes the new women's clothing store, Athleta, along with the women's accessory store, Charming Charlie.
Later this year, Danbury Fair welcomes Fitness Evolution, Newbury Comics, and Urban Outfitters which will fill Microsoft's former spot. WCSU marketing professor, A. Ben Oumlil told Hearst Connecticut Media that for malls to survive in the land of online shopping, they need to be innovators by adding restaurants, gyms, medical centers, innovation centers, and office space.
Maura Ruby, senior property manager for the Danbury Fair Mall was proud to say that retailers, despite the pandemic, had a strong 2020 holiday season because the mall made it easier to shop, offering expanded hours, curbside pickup, shopping by appointment, buying online and pick-up in store.
On October 4, 1981, the Great Danbury State Fair opened for the last time. It was the oldest continuously-operating annual fair in the country. Months after it closed its gates, the Leahy family accepted an offer of $24 million from the Wilmorite Corporation for the land where the fairgrounds stood.
Wilmorite soon began the massive process of clearing the land to build the largest shopping mall in the State of Connecticut at the time which opened in 1986.
Remembering the Great Danbury State Fair (1869 - 1981)
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