Regional Mall Offers Variety

Nestled near the Connecticut and Massachusetts border, the Enfield Square Mall is located right off Interstate 91 Exit 47E and exit 48.

The interior mall is located in the north central portion of Connecticut and is halfway between the Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester, Connecticut and the Holyoke Mall in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

However, the Enfield Square Mall is substantially than the other two malls.

The Enfield Square Mall was built in 1971 and was once anchored by Steiger Department Store, owned by Albert Steiger Co., of Springfield, Mass., G. Fox Department Store, owned by G. Fox and Co. of Hartford, and a large JC Penney Store.

The G. Fox Store, on the west end of the mall, became a Filene's in 1993.

The merger of May Department Stores with Federated Department Stores lead to the conversion of the Filene's into a Macy's which took over the two-floor 161,270 square foot department store.

Steigers closed its store in 1995 and a 94,478 square foot one-floor Sears moved into its location on the west end of the mall.

A 10,474 square foot Sears Auto Center acts as an out parcel in the Sears parking lot within walking distance to the rest of Sears.

In 1998, a 12-screen Hoyts movie theater with 2,800 seats was built near Sears and operated until 2003 when Hoyts sold its 55,008 square foot theater to Showcase Cinemas.

Remarketing the theater as a National Amusements Theater, the parent company of Showcase, the theatre's official title is National Amusements Theaters Enfield Cinemas 12.

The theater features a 24-hour quick ticket phone service, online ticketing, an automated box office, handicap access, hearing assisted devices, and stadium seating.

I went to this theater a few years ago and thought it was a nice facility except for a confusing set of hallways resembling a confusing maze which run between the twelve auditoriums.

The theatre also has Dolby Digital sound and free parking.

It has no separate outside entrance and is accessed through a mall entrance near Sears.