FARMINGTON VALLEY MALL: AVON, CT
Mark Jones' Commentary
Posted November 20, 2006 (user submitted)
There used to be an older shopping mall in Avon, CT where Simsbury
Commons is today, one which I fondly remember in detail.
Built sometime between the late 60s and early 70s the Farmington Valley Mall (once referred to as "The Shoppes at Farmington Valley Mall" was a relatively
large sized single floored mall. The floor plan was built as an
upsidedown U shape. Its main anchors consisted of D&L (Davidson & Leventhal)
a two-story clothing store, Walgreens, Bob Stores, Stop and Shop, and
Three D Bed & Bath, which was also two floors.
Other smaller tenants included: a Pizza restaurant, Waldenbooks, a video game arcade,
and a toy store. Its architecture was relatively simple. Outside the exterior
walls were black with the upper areas covered in dark grey industrial cladding.
The first floor of the building was set in further than the upper floors, giving the outside a
small overhang. The only exception to the design was the main entrances, which were
set out slightly than the rest of the building and had black walls that were etched with lime green, pinkish red, and yellow in a sprinkle-like pattern. Inside the mall, it was quite dark.
The corridor consisted of black walls on both sides, a yellow colored brick floor (w/possibly
black floor tiles in other areas) and a dark ceiling void of skylights.
The mall used chandeliers lighted by globe lights for illumunation.
The anchor layout was basically this: D&L was located at the far right, Walgreens was
located around the middle, Bob Stores and Three D Bed & Bath were located at the far left
(Stop & Shop may or may not have been connected to the mall). If I remember correctly
the mall had several enterances.There were four main entrances, one was to the left of D&L,
another at the far left near Three D Bed & Bath, the third one from the back, and the forth
one from the middle.
Walgreens had an entrance directly from the parking lot into its store
and one into the mall. Entering from the mall entrance next to D&L, the
corridor's path angled sharply to the left. In this area to your left was
the pizza restaurant. After the
corridor's left-hand turn and a few stores down, located on the right of
the corridor was Waldenbooks and on the left was Walgreens entrance to the
mall.
Further down, the corridor widened into a large staging area for seasonable
displays and to the right was a connecting hallway to the rear entrance. At the
far left corner were (I think) the windows and the doors to the middle mall
entrance. From there, the corridor sort of zig-zagged and again widened at the
areas where the entrance to Three D Bed & Bath and Bob Stores was (there may
have been another hallway connecting to the back which used to connect to Stop
& Shop but was reconverted into another opening into/out of the mall).
As of the early 90's, the condition the mall was relatively poor. The
floors were showing their age and the lighting was less than
adequate. Many of the mall's tenants were closed prior to news of
the redevelopment plan. Around 1996, when Davidson & Leventhal went out of
business was probably when the mall started to really struggle. In 1997, it was
announced that the mall was to be redeveloped in a outdoor shopping center. Interestingly, the list of anchors to stay was the same which were: Stop & Shop, Walgreens, Bob Stores, and Three D Bed & Bath. In 1999, while the mall was in process of being converted into an outdoor plaza, Three D Bed & Bath went out
of business. Luckily, and up-and-coming chain, Bed Bath & Beyond, stepped right in to take its place.
In late 2000 to early 2001, the new plaza opened and was renamed Simsbury Commons.
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Andrea Richards Dixon’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2024There was a Bradlees on the northern side where Stop and Shop is now but Bradlees had a direct entrance to the mall. I think there was a JoAnn's Nut House in the center walkway and maybe a Hallmark store.
Shelagh Brennan’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2024There was a G.Fox at the end I remember buying school clothes. My brother then worked at a medi mart.
John Locke’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2024This was my mall of choice when I was in High School in the early 90's. Absolutely loved it because it felt like you had the whole place to yourself.
LeeAnn Frohn’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2023I remember getting beanie babies at some type of card shop. It was really dark in there and dead when I went in the late 90s.
Mark Jeffries’ Commentary:
User submitted in 2021We lived in West Hartford and I never heard of The Shoppes. I worked at West Farms Mall for a while and I believe its still there. Sorry, Mark.
Terry Sutton’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2020Went to the arcade often when I was a child, I remember the pizza place was in the open. One exterior wall from the mall still stands as part of the new shopping strip mall there. Back in the late 80's a worker at KB toystore gave birth to a baby in the stores bathroom. She then put the baby in a dumpster. Fortunately a man saved her when he thought he heard a cat trapped in a dumpster.
Jennifer Armington’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2020Was it for sure a Geno’s? The pizza place next door to Walgreens?
Mark Jeffries’ Commentary:
User submitted in 2019I worked at West Farms Mall in the 70s. Never heard of the Avon Mall.
Richard Danila’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2019Built in 1971, it was Sage Alllen beore it was D and L, Friendly's Restaurant and Geno's Pizza were inside. WT Grant's also had a small restaurant. It was orignally MediMart beore Walgreen's. No Bob's Store.
Karl Manner’s Commentary:
User submittedI guess you can't edit your posts here but I meant to add that they used to have a miniature Carnival that would come around that had two or three kiddie rides and amazingly enough actual elephant rides. If you were outside the Stop & Shop looking at the entrance they would set up over on the left hand side of the parking lot
Karl Manner’s Commentary:
User submittedI don't know why it's not letting me post so I can't reply to anybody so I guess I'll just write this here. Caldor was further down Route 44 where the Walmart is now. There used to be a Nathan's Hot Dogs in there! The Stop & Shop did not have an entrance into the mall though it did border it. The pizza shop was Luna Pizza which now has several different locations. There was also a friendlies. The toy store was KB Toys. There was an HMV CD store there which moved over towards where the Starbucks is now in the strip mall area. The weird store that sold Beanie Babies across from the arcade was called Themes. I have had no luck finding any information on store. There was also at least two Center kiosks one that sold jewelry and would pierce ears. And one that sold chocolate I believe it might have actually been Munsons but I don't recall.