When the pandemic hit last March and online retail purchases began to soar, some experts left brick-and-mortar retail for dead.
Indeed, numerous major national brands including J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus and the parent companies of Ann Taylor and Men’s Wearhouse filed for bankruptcy and closed a significant number of stores.
Amid that backdrop, U.S. malls have also taken a beating, but Westfarms in West Hartford seems to be an outlier.
In fact, the 1.3 million-square-foot mall’s occupancy rate prior to and throughout the pandemic has remained at 95% and it was even able to add new retailers over the last year, despite being forced to close for two months in the spring of 2020.