Auburn Mall; Auburn, Massachusetts
A few days back, I posted about the now-dead Worcester Common Outlets in downtown Worcester. I feel that it’s more interesting to post about malls in metropolitan area groups, which brings us to discuss the other (less dramatic) malls serving the Worcester metropolitan area.
Except for one big “but.” The Worcester Common wasn’t exactly done in by any of its suburban cousins, because by and large the other malls are just not all that big. Depending on how you define the Worcester metropolitan area, Worcester Common was arguably even the largest mall in the Worcester area, and if not, it was close behind. Case in point: The Auburn Mall.
The Auburn Mall is a mid-sized (600,000 sqft. or so), dumbell-style mall located in central Massachusetts. Strategically located about 5 miles southwest of Worcester at the junction of interstates 290, 395, and 90 as well as MA-12, the mall (which is nuzzled in a valley between I-290 and I-90, with prime visibility from both) serves are a large swath of rural central Massachusetts and northeastern Connecticut. It is the only enclosed mall for almost 50 miles in several directions, although there are many others going east, north, or southeast.
I’m not sure of the exact year that the Auburn Mall was built, but I would wager it was constructed sometime in the mid-late 1970s. Initially, the mall’s anchors were Sears, a two-level, aged Caldor (which retained the orange, 1980s vintage logo until its death), and a junior anchor in Cherry & Webb. A rather extensive renovation in the early 1990s (Around 1994 or 1995, I believe, likely as a response to the revitalization of Worcester Common) added Filene’s as an anchor off center court. Several years after the death of Caldor, Filene’s also took their space at the Auburn Mall’s eastern end, splitting the Filene’s store into two. The mall’s anchors today are therefore Macy’s (with two spaces) and Sears. The Cherry & Webb space is today an Express.
Design-wise, Auburn won’t win much praise; it’s a functional, mid-level mall that always does great business but isn’t a destination for anyone but people who live in its immediate trade area. Its most notable features are the strangely sloped ceilings and the larger court areas, which distinctly peg the mall to a somewhat earlier era.
Recently, the Shoppes at Blackstone Valley, a large lifestyle center located one exit away on I-90, has stolen some of the Auburn Mall’s thunder, and is now the largest shopping center on the south side of Worcester. The two centers share little overlap, however, and Auburn seems to chug along just fine. The Auburn Mall is today owned by Simon, and these photos were all taken August 2006.
on September 19th, 2006 at 12:38 am
I’ve got some pictures of this mall from around August 2006 as well. Actually I remember seeing this mall on our rides up to Boston wondering if it was a decent mall. Back then, and for the longest time, It used to have a Caldor anchor operating in a really old building where the brand new Filene’s/Macy’s stands now.
I finally visited Auburn Mall this August on my way up to do some photographing in the Boston area and realized it’s a really lame, one-level mall which makes Connecticut’s Enfield Square look like a winner. It wasn’t a dead mall, just a really dry one in much need of a second level and more attraction. If you want to see something interesting here, check out the old signage off the highway - some of the remaining vestige from it’s original era.
If you’re going I-90 to Boston, I suggest you don’t miss the exit or else you’ll be backtracking (well that’s I-90 for ya) whilst realizing how much time you’ve wasted going out of the way to stop at this mall.
on September 19th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
I love the roof on this place! Gives it character.
Scott
on September 20th, 2006 at 2:08 am
Two great examples of May Company architecture here.
on November 6th, 2006 at 2:33 am
According to Wikipedia the mall was built in 1971.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auburn_Mall
Usually you would expect all single floored malls to be gone, or be largely vacated, but it seems Auburn Mall is the exception.
more rare is retro roof architecture, kind of looks like a tent.
on January 2nd, 2007 at 6:11 am
Here’s a seriously missing piece of history about Auburn Mall many here might be too young to know. The Sears anchor/Caldor building was originally a branch of The Outlet Company of Providence. Outlet Co was actually a rather large retailing (department and specailty stores) and broadcasting conglomerate based in Providence and this was one of, maybe four of their stores.
In 1980, Outlet co, who had been watching their department store profits dwindle pretty rapidly in the early 80’s recession, The Outlet Co. sold the all their chains (including Edw Malley Co of New Haven, who they had purchased in 1978) to focus more on their broadcasting division. Their new owner, United Dept Stores of NJ ended up bankrupting the entire acquisition and Outlet, Malleys and the other stores were mostly gone by by Fall of 1981. It was shortly after that that Caldor took over the space from them.
Their label scar actually lasted for many years, long after caldor took the space.
I wonder if anyone local has photos of Auburn Mall when it was built?
Happy 2007!
on January 23rd, 2007 at 3:52 pm
I have been to the Auburn Mall a few times but pass it every time I go to Cape Cod or Boston on the MassPike. Considering the mall is a little bit of a ways out of downtown Worcester and close to many small towns I think it does a pretty good business. Around the mall are the usual strip malls but there arent a ton of then which draw away from the mall itself.
Another tidbit of information for all malls in the Worcester area is that the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets which has over 170 outlet stores and draws people from all over is about 39 miles southeast of the Auburn Mall
on February 18th, 2007 at 12:02 am
The Auburn Mall’s been humming along pretty steadily since 1971. I know the food court is a semi-recent addition…it was built in space that formerly contained a Weathervane store and a York’s Restaurant. Bed & Bath was right next door, in front of that was a Dunkin’ Donuts kiosk, the only one I’ve ever seen. In addition to being located RIGHT next to the Mass Pike and the intersections of that and Interstates 395 and 290, plus US 20 and MA 12, Auburn’s the only mall serving the nearly rural northeastern Connecticut (Woodstock, Putnam, Thompson, etc.) and the reasonably prosperous southern suburbs of Oxford and Webster, plus suburbs as far west on MA 9 and the Pike as Brookfield and Sturbridge, who are slightly closer to here than they are to Hadley or Holyoke. I imagine that’s how the mall survives…I used to work at the former Barnes & Noble south on MA 12, and it seemed that the bulk of the customer base consisted of NE CT residents and people from the western ‘burbs.
on March 4th, 2007 at 3:46 am
I drove past this mall quite a few times on my way back and forth to college, and I’m quite sure that Denholm’s, a Worcester-based department store, was once on the eastern side of the mall. When the Denholm’s chain went out of business, I think Forbes and Wallace, a now defunct Springfield store, took its place. I only went into the mall once, and, like others have said, there was not much there enticing me to go back.
on June 22nd, 2007 at 1:42 am
I remember passing Auburn Mall in the 1970’s on the way to Boston from the suburbs of Hartford. I remember it being an Edward Malley, from New Haven being in the mall. Now living in CA now a very close friend shops there all the time and she informs me that is has decent choices for shopping.
on July 8th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I visited this mall every year from about 1971 to 1981 during visits to see my grandparents who lived in Rhode Island near the Mass. border. It was a great mall in its day with an incredible fountain. I took my wife and kids to see it on a recent visit to New England and was disappointed to see what had happened to it, but of course everything changes. None of the parking deck structure existed in those days. The main anchor was a Denholms which had a huge, great script logo on the building. Around ‘74 it became a Forbes and Wallace, then the Outlet, then Caldor. Heck, I didn’t even notice what it was on this last visit, the place has changed so much. In the 70’s it had an indoor Friendly Ice Cream restaurant (home of the awesome Fribble milkshakes) with a white sign and great raised gold lettering. It also had an Anderson-Little men’s store where my grandparents bought me the latest in 70’s kid fashions. Really the only thing I recognized on our recent visit was the unique curved wooden ceiling which, as your photos show, is now painted white. In the 70’s it was stained a very cool-looking dark brown. Thanks for the memories!
on July 29th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
I remember when the Auburn Mall opened in 1971. Had a pal who was a sales clerk at Denholm’s (along with a girlfriend and a cousin). We rolled Js in the parking lot near Denholms during his breaks. The Auburn Mall was a pretty cool place to shop in then - I enjoyed going there very much. They had a great Chess King store in there that sold the latest trends in young adult fashions. By ‘77 or ‘78 the decline began and it hasn’t stopped…
And the Worcester Center Galleria was also a great mall in those days. I had high hopes for the Worcester area then, but Worcester started taking an economic beating in the late ’70s that has dragged all of Central Massachusetts down…
on November 10th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
As mentioned in the Norwichtown Mall thread, this was “the” mall in the late 70’s/mid 80’s to be ’seen’ at. Warwick Mall and Rhode Island Mall in Warwick, RI were bigger, but the younger crowd (80’s mallrats, us) preferred Auburn for the cooler stores. Was rarely a Friday or Saturday night not spent here cruising and buying the latest 80’s fashions and time at Spencer’s. The parking lot was capacity (before the parking deck) and traffic was a nightmare. NE Connecticut kids were the major consumers here for sure.
on December 23rd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
I used to work for Spencer Gifts, and when I first visited this mall in the 90’s, prior to the remodel, I noticed that the Spencer store there looked NOTHING like the normal store layouts I was used to (like most retailers, Spencer Gifts models all of its stores in the same style, updating as needed). I asked my manager, and she told me it was a prototype style that they had decided not to use, and they kept the store in that style, not remodeling it later because Aubusrn Mall was declining. In the late 90’s, when the mall was remodeled, the Spencer Gifts store moved to the Filene’s court, and was designed in the normal store format.
I wish I would have taken pictures of the older weirs style store, those would be fascinating to see. I remember it had an odd (maybe red) awning in the front.
on March 7th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
DOes anyone remember if the Sears in the Auburn Mall once had a small restaurant? This would’ve been in the early 1980’s
on March 7th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
How far is it from Foxwoods?
on March 12th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Foxwoods is about 50 miles due south of the Auburn Mall off I-395.
on April 26th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
The Auburn Mall is a great place to go shopping or just looking around. It has many “peppy” stores for those girls and guys who love up to date styling as well as Macy’s, Sears, Payless Shoes, and lots more. [Abercrombie, American Eagle, Aeropostle, Hollister, The children’s Pace, Food court,Lens Crafters]
This place is a wonderful place to enjoy a rainy day. Plenty of place to park, and has daily security. Also has a photography area near Sears Workshop for guys.
on May 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 am
I shopped at the newly opened Auburn Mall in preparation for my wedding in May, 1971. Sears was an anchor store along with Denholm’s. Denholm’s main store was on Main Street in Worcester. Unfortunately, both Denholm locations closed soon after. The former Denholm location has seen many changes over the years, and is now Macy’s Home Store.
John - I don’t ever remember a restaurant in Sears.
on June 9th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Yes, there was a small cafeteria style place to eat on the second floor of the Sears store. My sister worked there for 16 years and I worked in the mall at So-Fro Fabrics for 4 years before it closed and merged with the bigger Lincoln Plaza store. The small cafeterias in Sears was mainly used by the employees and I sometimes ate there with my sister. It was however open to the public. They had awesome patty melts.