Retail in the Farmington Valley towns of Avon, Canton and Simsbury may never reach the scale of regional destinations like Westfarms, Blue Back Square or Buckland Hills, but those towns have made steady progress in recent decades.
Valley residents who once had to cross Avon Mountain to shop now have a Route 44 retail corridor that offers a selection of small shops and big-box retailers like Wal-Mart, Marshall’s and Best Buy.
Two Valley shopping complexes, Avon Marketplace and Simsbury Commons, have been built featuring stores such as The Gap, Bed & Bath and Ulta. And the green vista of the former Canton Golf Course has been transformed into The Shoppes at Farmington Valley, where stores include Kohl’s, Old Navy and Talbot’s.
Meantime, Simsbury’s revitalization plans got a big boost with ground broken last week for the first phase of Dorset Crossing, an estimated $40 million office, retail and housing development on Hopmeadow Street (Route 10), near the Granby line.
“The three towns integrate well and complement each other,” said Harry DerAsadourian, town assessor for both Avon and Canton. “Driving on Route 44, it’s hard to distinguish what town a business is in.”
Each town has a different flavor, he noted, and Canton has the best of both worlds, a shopping complex that meets consumer needs and a small town feel in the Collinsville section.
In a retail world increasingly defined by savings measured in time and price, Canton has proven the Farmington Valley can be a shopping hub. Now, Avon and Simsbury are redrawing zoning plans and rethinking long-standing resistance to retail development in an effort to replicate Canton’s success.
Both Avon and Simsbury laid out conceptual development plans when adopting mixed use zoning regulations for their town centers earlier this year.
The goal for each town is to recreate the villages of yesteryear where people lived, worked and shopped within walking distance, something that Collinsville already has.
That feature in today’s planning vernacular is called “walkability,” part of the development trend known as “new urbanism.’’
“We’re not trying to build a city,” said Simsbury Director of Planning and Development Hiram Peck. “But we’re using the same principles to help create a more vibrant downtown.”
While it remains to be seen what other retailers will be drawn to the town centers or to the Route 44 corridor, one planner sees potential strong entrants coming in to fill up vacancies like the former Border’s Books in the Simsbury Commons.
“What we’re seeing is that retailers are looking at those opportunities … The Farmington Valley is a strong market with its high average household income,” said Simsbury resident R. Michael Goman, principal of Goman+York Property Advisors, LLC.
He said the Valley could support another electronics store, more home décor and furniture stores, and a home improvement store, as well as fast-food and casual-dining restaurants.
“The Valley is one of the best places around to live in, and I think the future is good for future retail development,” said Karl Krapek, a partner in The Keystone Companies, Dorset Crossing’s developer. “But we’ve got to get the economy turned around. With the current lack of jobs, there’s not a lot of retail opportunities.”
New development in the three towns has not always been welcomed with open arms, and residents often have negative reactions.
For example, when the Canton golf course was sold to a developer, the retail idea was unpopular. Even though The Shoppes at Farmington Valley created change in Canton’s landscape, however, the stores have drawn shoppers to town and added to its tax base.
A development that would have brought a Target store to Canton was defeated, as was the River Oaks development proposed for Simsbury that also included a Target.
“The thought was that it would be wrong for Simsbury,” said Patrick Pinnell, who was the lead planner for the project.
Adoption of the center regulations in Avon and Simsbury did not come without debate in those towns, with commissioners and townspeople worried about big-box stores and traffic. As a result, the new codes include square footage maximums.
“Residents have a right to be scared — so much junk has been built in the last 30 years that they can’t feel confident,” Pinnell said. “The challenge now is how to identify places that are worth putting money into.”
WS Development, based in Chestnut Hill, Mass., has put its money on a series of open-air lifestyle centers like The Shoppes at Farmington Valley, which opened in 2004. It has plans for a similar center in Cheshire.
“It’s a tremendous success — the company is very pleased with its performance,” said David Fleming, corporate marketing director for WS Development. “We’ve branded it to the market and the feedback has been extremely positive.”
He said the center has benefitted from having a grocery store, which some people frequent as much as two to three times a week, bringing shoppers to other stores there.
They also continue to add destination stops, recent additions being J. Crew and Sephora.
The Farmington Valley needs to be more of a destination place, said Linda Ryder, general manager of Carmen Anthony Fishhouse of Avon.
“Maybe we could have outlet stores for retailers such as Liz Claiborne, in a complex like Clinton Crossing,” she said. “We also need more boutique-y, trendy shops.”
Susan Macko, owner of My New Wardrobe kids’ clothing store in Avon’s Riverdale Farms shopping complex, has such a shop but finds it hard to be competitive.
“People are more price-conscious today,” she said.
What helps her draw business is that the shop caters to a “niche market,” especially preteens. She also makes sure to stock items like girls’ tights that are in demand because customers say they don’t want to go to the mall, Macko said, lack of time being one reason.
Time is a big factor today for busy shoppers, one that Valley communities and retailers should leverage to their advantage, observers say.
“In focus groups we’ve done, the overwhelming theme is convenience and time; people want to get where they need to get quickly,” Goman said. “All else being equal, people will shop at a place closest to them.”
