Charter Oak Mall — Local services in East Hartford

This is the Charter Oak Mall, or what I can now consider the "Charter Oak Shopping Center". Believe it or not, when the mall first opened its doors in 1976, they had anchors like Stop & Shop (was located where Big Lots! is now) & Bradlees, and Stop & Shop had a MALL entrance, yes, shoppers entered through that entrance. There were other stores like RadioShack, Papa Gino's, among others. When they decided to start the major facelift for this plaza in the 90's, Stop & Shop removed the mall entrance & relocated to the other side of the plaza and eventually, the whole mall was turned into the open-air plaza. Shortly after Bradlees closed its store during their first bankruptcy in the mid-90's, Burlington Coat Factory opened in its former store. Big Lots currently occupies the former (original) Stop & Shop on the far right side. The Stop & Shop has seen a major renovation since its relocation, but that was still a long time ago (they kept its interior look from the mid-2000s and still do!). Just across from the mall, there was a Showcase Cinemas that operated for a long time before its closure in 2006. That cinema sat vacant for around 13 years before they FINALLY demolished it just this past Fall.

Currently, there are stores in that plaza listed here. They are: -Stop & Shop -Big Lots! -Burlington Coat Factory (now simply Burlington) -Rainbow Shops -Kay's...

In disrepair. Clinging to its Anchor Stores for dear life, that recognized of those forementioned ; each is a revolting example of the chain it represents. Further the no longer showcase cinema is over grown and gross with rodents a plenty just scavenging islathe landscape of jagged bottle glass with crumbling asfalt . Dont be quick to think ppl are patrons of these establishments because their are so many other choices and this area was complete with an easy flow thru the...

You can find your everyday basic needs here. Supermarket, bank, discount store, liquor store and a large clothing store (Burlington coat factory). Just outside of this local shopping center are two pharmacies in addition to the pharmacy inside the Stop & Shop and another supermarket called Aldi. This shopping center has seen better days before the local movie theater closed down. But still remains a staple for locals to fulfill...