Comments on: Newport Mall; Newport, Rhode Island

By: Melissa Dougherty

Melissa Dougherty — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:39:33 +0000

Caldor:

My mom went to that shopping center in the 1970’s.
It was called the Aquineck shopping center,
The stores were:

Sears
Grant’s
Woolworth’s
Stop and Shop
Pharmacy with soda fountain
Old Stone Bank
Haircut Place
She lived across and down the street from the mall

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:58:25 +0000

I just stumbled upon your blog when trying to figure out what was left out there at the old Newport Mall. I grew up in Portsmouth – and I agree it is sad that there are no photos out there of the Newport Mall when it was still a mall. I never would have thought to take pictures of a boring old dilapidated mall, but it’s pretty amazing how reading this blog brings back memories of hours spent in Record Town, Peerless, Fashion Bug, etc during middle school. I guess next time I’m out there I’ll take a photo of the big ugly Walmart, and maybe that will make me nostalgic in 20 years.

By: rpgibbs

rpgibbs — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:48:12 +0000

to respond to Max up on the first comment, you must remember the Benny’s chain of department stores throughout Rhode Island. There are one’s in Newport and Wakefield that are still open as of Mid-2008.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:27:06 +0000

Hi, I’m a Newporter and I do remember the Newport Mall. The JC Penney closed only a few days before my 7th birthday (December 30) and I do have a memory of what the stores were around 1996-97:
JC Penney, a small comic book store, a small store where people could get their ears pierced, The Chocolate Soldier, Fashion Bug, TJ Maxx, Foot Locker, and something called Jazzamatazz
then after Jazzamatazz there was about 5-15 store fronts completely vacant up until the entrance to West Marine (the only part of the original mall to exist despite the fact it was constructed only a few years before the mall went under)
During the change over to the RK Centre, they moved the Laundromat that initially by West Marine all the way to the other side of the parking lot near Motel 6.
When RK Center Opened, this was the roster of stores (right to left):
West Marine (now an outparcel), Golf Day, Woodworker’s Warehouse, Only A Dollar, Supercuts, Blockbuster, Super Stop & Shop, Harry’s Liquors, Payless Shoe Source, Dress Barn, TJ Maxx, Jo Ann’s, Sally’s Beauty Supply, Waldenbooks, Foot Locker, Wal-Mart, laundromat (outparcel).

On an outparcel was/is the 99 Resturant and Verizon and there was/is also
Shop & Shop’s Gas Station with a Mobil Station seperated by a gate.

The current stores left to right are: West Marine (outparcel), Mattress Giant, Expressions, [vacant store], Supercuts, Blockbuster, Super Stop & Shop, Harry’s Liqours, Payless Shoe Source, Dress Barn, TJ Maxx, Old Navy, Sally’s Beauty Supply, Foot Fitness (which took over Waldenbooks and Foot Locker), Walmart, Dunkin’ Donuts (inside Walmart, their former instore resurant Radio Grille was seemlessly changed to a Dunkin’ Donuts a few years ago. Interestingly, there’s a Dunkin’ Donuts across the street from there. Which kinda proves the joke that there’s a Dunkin’ Donuts within walking distance from almost any random point in Rhode Island) Laundromat (outparcel). The gas station, 99 Resturant and Verizon stores are still there. The Mobil has been demolished and replaced with a Gamestop, a mexican resturant and a pita resturant. The gate is now gone.

I actually live near the Centre and its actually done better business than the Newport Mall ever did (that parking lot is close to always being filled). TJ Maxx now remains the only original business. The Waldenbooks – despite being somewhat successful was killed along with almost every other bookstore upon the opening of a Barnes & Noble in Middletown (despite it being a few miles away).

By: Lisha

Lisha — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:43:43 +0000

I grew up in Newport but lived on Aquidneck Island as a child as well. I remember all to well the poorly thought out “mall” and I look forward to my chance to get ‘back home’ and check out the changes. I wonder if we lived there at the same time. I was born in 1965 and I lived there in the early 70’s until 1980 when I was dragged kicking and screaming by my retiring Navy Dad to Florida where I have remained suffering all these years. I enjoyed your blog and I am sure if I wasn’t already tired from a full day I (being a shopping girl) could give some great commentary on the mall and others but let’s just leave it at this.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:38:37 +0000

You forgot to mention the sewage treatment plant across the street, could smell it on ony day the wind blew across the speed trapped road. I lived there as a kid from 1980-1992. I still remember the salon pictures that hung on the outside of JCPennys. Was excited to have the Walden bookstore move in after rennovation so I could read magazines while Mom shopped. What about the strip center where where Zayres and Ames used to be. I also lived near Wakefield. Cool to reminis.

By: Caldor

Caldor — Mon, 28 May 2007 21:38:32 +0000

I forgot to also mention Apex, which I profiled on this site about a year ago. Apex was a Sears-style mid-range mall department store that sold virtually everything, and who had three stores: in Pawtucket and Warwick RI, as well as in the Swansea Mall in Swansea, Mass. (about 15 mi east of Providence). Apex closed their stores in 2001.

By: Caldor

Caldor — Mon, 28 May 2007 21:37:27 +0000

It was a FoodMart, and was referred to as such. I think it was owned by A&P even then but I don’t recall any A&P branding. There was another A&P store elsewhere in Newport at the time–it’s a Stop & Shop now.

Also you’re mistaken about the Nordstrom at Providence Place; it opened with the mall in 1999 (as its first anchor, in fact). It was the second Nordstrom to open in New England.

The (traditional mall-style) department stores in RI currently are:

*JCPenney in Westerly, in Franklin Shopping Plaza
*JCPenney in Warwick Mall
*JCPenney in Providence Place
*Nordstrom in Providence Place
*Sears in Woonsocket, in Walnut Hill Plaza
*Sears in Rhode Island Mall
*Macy’s in Warwick Mall
*Macy’s in Providence Place

In the past there were more, as you would imagine. The Federated/May merger alone wiped two Filene’s stores off the map (both became Macy’s stores, but the one in the Warwick Mall caused the Macy’s space to go dark). The Rhode Island Mall was once anchored by G. Fox and Sears; the Warwick Mall had Filene’s, Jordan Marsh, JCPenney, and Caldor; and there were standalone Sears stores in both Providence and Middletown that closed some time ago. Lincoln Mall, the state’s other major enclosed shopping mall (now mostly lifestyled) was always anchored by discounters–Caldor and Kmart were there the longest. Also, the vast majority of the old-line New England department stores were wiped out some time ago, but Rhode Island had a few of its own, including Shephard’s, The Outlet, and Peerless. Also Rhode Island was the home of Ann & Hope, the store that practically invented the self-service mass-market discount store (and which Sam Walton admittedly copied for Wal-Mart).

There have been 3 other major enclosed shopping malls in RI at one point or another: The Newport Mall (which this post is about), The Wampanoag Mall (one of the first malls in the Providence area, big boxed in the early 1990s–had Woolco-later Marshalls/Rx Place and Cherry & Webb as anchors), and the Wakefield Mall (also profiled on this site; its historical anchors were Woolworth and NHD Hardware).

Also, the Garden City Shopping Center in Cranston (which I’ll post about someday) is a large outdoor lifestyle center that originally opened in 1949, and turned out to be rather prescient. It’s still successfully operating today, and one of its anchors is a Cohoes that occupies a space that looks like an old-line department store; I’m not sure if this was something else a long time ago.

By: Max

Max — Mon, 28 May 2007 21:18:35 +0000

Caldor, was that Food Mart supermarket an A&P? (And, if it was, did people call it “Food Mart” or “A&P”?)

Also, are there still any department stores that still operate in Newport? Because, as far as I know, the only traditional department stores in the entire state of Rhode Island are the following (this list excludes a future Nordstrom set to open in Providence Place):

*JCPenney at Providence Place
*JCPenney at Warwick Mall
*Macy’s at Providence Place
*Macy’s at Warwick Mall
*Sears at Rhode Island Mall

What–and where–are the other department stores still open in Rhode Island?