Wakefield Mall: One of the Smallest Malls in New England

If you drive too fast through Wakefield, you will no doubt pass the Wakefield shopping mall, one of the smallest malls, less than 200,000 square feet, I have ever been to. 

In contrast, some Wal-Mart supercenters are usually between 150,000 and 2000,000 square feet. 

Much of the mall has stores only on one side with large glass windows looking out to the parking lot. 

Void of any discount or department stores, the mall is anchored by Shaw’s Supermarket on one side and Staples Office Supply Store on the other. 

While a small passageway in Shaw’s next to a shopping cart return area leads out to a small entry way corridor of the mall, it is not a pronounced entrance. 

My friend used to work at the deli counter of this Shaw’s and told me that although in the summer Wakefield and the Shaw’s, which is an average size supermarket, experience a lot of traffic from summer residents and tourists, many do not walk out into the mall. 

One could imagine that Staples has little appeal to tourists and summer residents, however I could see how stores like FYE and Waldenbooks could benefit those looking for rainy day activities. 

I and my girlfriend went to the mall in the middle of the summer on a Saturday night but the numbers of customers we saw were what you would expect for the middle of the week. 

Maybe if the mall had decent anchors, it would attract more shoppers. 

The grocery store component to the mall is nothing new, a Stop and Shop used to occupy the Staples location in the late 70’s and early 80’s. 

After a Super Stop and Shop was built on Point Judith Road in nearby Narragansett, the old Stop and Shop became an NHD Hardware, a regional hardware store chain, similar to True Value. 

NHD Hardware chain was acquired by Ace Hardware in the 90’s and the spot was filled by Staples in 2000. 

While one can see the Staples sign and windows looking into Staples from the mall hallway, it is a tease because the windows do not include a door or passageway into the store even though the registers are near those windows.