The Danbury Fair mall will soon add a Target to its lineup, but malls have always been about more than just the convenience of retail options. Entertainment is a key part of what draws shoppers to malls, particularly ones with historic connections to fair grounds and antique carousels at their heart. Knowing this, mall owner Macerich has partnered with Round1 Bowling & Entertainment to bring one of the Japanese company’s signature entertainment complexes to Fairfield County.
In addition to bowling, Round1 locations feature darts, billiards, an arcade, ping pong, karaoke and additional options for entertainment alongside food and drink.
“At Danbury, we have smaller forms of entertainment, but this will be a much larger offering,” said Eric Bunyan, senior vice president of leasing for the east region for Macerich. “They cater to families, they do corporate events and also birthday parties. We feel their offerings will resonate well in the Danbury market with our customers.”
“Round1 is an entertainment operator out of Japan and we’ve done a few deals with them,” Bunyan added. “We recently signed two new leases with them: one in Arizona and one in Danbury. Entertainment at our center helps round out the overall offering, and that’s our company initiative. We think of Danbury as a very strong, super regional talent center.”
Bunyan described Round1 as both a great fit and a necessary adaptation.
“At one time we had five anchors that were traditional department stores,” he continued. “Today, we’re down to two traditional department stores, so what we are seeing is that we’ve got strong demand. We’re fortunate to select best-in-class operators like Round1 and diversify our offering.”
The transition from an old anchor tenant to an entertainment complex will not pose much of a challenge for the mall in terms of construction, Bunyan added, noting the work is about on-par with what transforming any store into another typically entails— some plumbing and wiring will be required but there will be both short term construction work and new jobs brought to Danbury Fair with Round1’s arrival.
The location will also be joined by a new Target location, which will provide a similar benefit, attracting more visitors, which will benefit the mall as a whole as well as Danbury itself.
“We are a major employer,” said Maura Ruby, general manager of the mall. “We have a lot of people that work at the center, so adding another layer of employees alongside the Longhorn Steak House and Shake Shack we just recently opened is exciting. I envision that we’re going to have a lot of applicants coming in for the entertainment use. This is a great job for young kids coming and going to college or looking for seasonal work, and we constantly have tradespeople in to manage and maintain the infrastructure of our stores. It’s going to be a real great economic uptick.”
Ruby also emphasized that the demand for entertainment is high, and Round1 will fit well within the mall’s existing ecosystem.
“This really speaks to the strength of the real estate,” Bunyan added. “It’s just an extremely strong endorsement for the strength of the center and the future of the center. Think of how the market was two years ago and it’s remarkable the amount of progress we have made in that stretch of time. We’re really proud of it.”
“People are looking to get back out to our retailers and seeing and feeling their products. We’re feeling really positive about everything and are even planning on bringing programming for the mall back,” Bunyan said. “We’re excited not only to have just managed to find back fills but solid solutions that may even be dramatic improvements over prior occupants.”
While unable to go into further details about pending deals and transactions, Bunyan said that further announcements about new tenants should be expected in the near future.
