Where Did the Crystal Mall Stores Go? A Waterford Resident's Map of the New Route 85

The Kay Jewelers that used to be inside Crystal Mall is now across Hartford Turnpike in Waterford Commons. It moved into the former Music & Arts space next to Smashburgers. Toy Vault is a few doors down at 909 Hartford Turnpike, and it reopened there on June 25, 2026. East Side Games packed up its mall shop in March and announced it would move in with Sarge's Comics and Games on State Street in New London.

The mall closed to the public on March 31, 2026, and by then most of its tenants were already gone. WFSB covered the last day after more than 40 years in business. Six months later, the shops that stayed in the area have sorted themselves in a clear way. National chains moved across the road to Waterford Commons. Independent shops went to downtown New London or out to Tanger Outlets Foxwoods. Starting in 2027, the mall building is set to hold more weekday people than it has had in years, as Electric Boat turns it into a workplace.

The chains only moved across the street

Waterford Commons sits at 915 Hartford Turnpike, right across from the old mall. It took in most of the national brands that left. Kay is open there now, and Toy Vault opened in June. Men's Wearhouse, which had also been inside Crystal Mall, is getting ready to build out about 5,000 square feet in the former Lane Bryant next to Tractor Supply, according to The Connecticut Scoop.

The plaza also picked up stores that were never in the mall. Boot Barn opened in mid-September 2026 in the 9,880-square-foot space where Party City used to be. It is the chain's fourth Connecticut store, after Manchester, Plainville and Milford. Its hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Patch reported the plan back in January, when the space sat next to Dick's Sporting Goods and fall was only a tentative opening date. Spirit Halloween is in the former Pier 1 for the season and expects to stay through early November.

So the trip for a ring repair, a birthday gift or a suit fitting still ends on Hartford Turnpike. You just park on the other side of the road now.

The independents went downtown

Locally run businesses mostly went to New London, and a lot of them landed on or near Bank Street.

• JBS Barber Spa closed its mall shop on February 15, 2025, according to The Day. Its website now lists its New London shop at 116 Bank St.
• Memories Ink, the tattoo studio, moved to 223 Bank St. It also has a shop at Tanger Outlets Foxwoods.
• East Side Games had its last mall day on Sunday, March 1, 2026, and said it would move in with Sarge's Comics and Games at 124 State St.
• A New You Spa had moved to 351 N. Frontage Road by January 2026.
• Sakura Japan stayed open in the mall until early July, months after most of the building had closed. It then reopened at 256 South Frontage Road, in the plaza with Burlington and Staples. The restaurant used to be called Sarku Japan. It dropped that franchise name years ago, and the Sarku chain itself plans a separate location at Groton Square in the old Moe's Southwest Grill space.

Some went in other directions. Mr. Fix It, the phone repair shop, announced a move to 310 Flanders Road in East Lyme, which gives it a second store alongside its Groton location. LensCrafters announced a move to 351 N. Frontage Road in New London, into the former America's Best space. As of the latest reporting, that opening had not been confirmed.

Many of the earliest departures went east. In early 2025, The Day reported that Ice Imports had opened in Suite 570 at Tanger Outlets Foxwoods while keeping its Olde Mistick Village shop. T-Shirt World took Suite 460 at Tanger, a bigger space with room for production, according to The Day. City Tobacco reopened there in 2025. Enzo Menswear planned a temporary move to Tanger while it looked for a permanent home in the area.

The quick-reference map

Not every tenant came back. Hot Topic closed on March 22, 2026, and Victoria's Secret and Spencer's Gifts closed with no plans to reopen nearby. Finish Line was reported closing on March 31 with no other location planned, per The Day. In mid-March, WFSB reported that This 'N That planned to keep going and was still choosing a new home.

What's still open on the property

Two restaurants at 850 Hartford Turnpike are still open. LongHorn Steakhouse's official location page listed the Waterford restaurant as open with regular hours in October 2026. Olive Garden posted a host job for the same address on October 1, 2026. The town staff report on the redevelopment states that no changes are proposed for either building.

Buffalo Wild Wings is less clear. In March, The Connecticut Scoop heard it might stay open through part of the construction. The company had not confirmed a new site, though staff said nearby options were being looked at. If you're planning a game night there, call ahead.

The building fills back up on weekdays in 2027

Electric Boat bought the mall in three pieces during 2025. It paid $25 million for the main 542,000-square-foot section, $6.4 million for the former Macy's wing and $11 million for the former Sears section, CT Insider reported. The Day reported that the Sears purchase gave EB the whole 42-acre property. When EB took over, the mall was mostly empty. JCPenney, the last anchor store, had closed in May 2024, after Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas Tree Shops, Macy's and Sears were already gone.

The town application calls the project an adaptive reuse. It covers offices and research and development, private education and workforce training, plus some medical, food and financial services. Work stays inside the area that is already built. Town staff recommended approval with conditions, including yearly stormwater inspections. EB broke ground on the Waterford Campus on August 21, 2026, as the Hartford Courant reported. It plans for 4,000 to 5,000 employees and aims to open in 2027. As of October 10, 2026, company officials expected most of those employees on site by the middle of 2027. The campus is part of EB's plan to move people and materials out of the Groton shipyard so submarines can be built faster.

The state has also explained what it expects all those workers to do nearby. Matthew Pugliese, deputy commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, described it this way to CT Insider:

"We're adding thousands of workers into the area that are going to take part in going to restaurants, running errands at lunch and going shopping."

The same report notes that housing came up in earlier talks about the site but never became a defined project. EB's application to the town includes no residential units.

The first coffee line on Boston Post Road

The new businesses will likely follow the lunch hour. 7 Brew, a national drive-through coffee chain, has proposed a 510-square-foot café at 117 Boston Post Road, on parking next to the McDonald's. The Day reported in late August that a scheduled commission review had been canceled, with a new review expected in September.

That puts the busy part of the corridor somewhere new. Your errands now run from Waterford Commons over to the Frontage Road plazas in New London, while the old mall gets ready for workday traffic in 2027 and a coffee drive-through proposal moves through review on Route 1. For more on how the town spends its time outside the retail strip, the Waterford neighborhood guide and our resident's guide to a Waterford summer pick up where Route 85 leaves off.

If you live near Hartford Turnpike and want to talk through how the new campus could change your part of town, Renee McCammon follows these projects closely and is happy to share what she's seeing. Let's Connect.