Ridgeway Shopping Center

I recently made a blog post about the Cortlandt Town Center, and in that blog post, I said that it is what is referred to as a power center, or a shopping center with 250,000 to 600,000 square feet that contains three or more big box anchor tenants and several smaller retailers. This research brought me to Wikipedia, where I found out about other power centers, including another one that is nearby that I have been to several times and will be the focus of today’s blog post, Ridgeway Shopping Center in Stamford. 

Ridgeway Shopping Center in Stamford is a 365,411 square foot shopping center that has five anchor tenants as well as a variety of smaller retailers. In this post, I will be discussing its history as well as all the tenants there, in hopes that it will convince all of you reading to go there. 

The center itself was originally designed in 1946 by designer and architect Alfons Bach, and opened on March 26, 1947, with a few retail tenants opening as well. A few years later in 1951, Bach added a three-story office tower and a Sears department store that my dad said he went to and had a basement as well, with a six-story office building being added in 1956. In 1958, the center experienced another expansion, which saw the opening of Saks-34th, which was described as an upper-middle-market, yet value-conscious sibling of Saks Fifth Avenue. The addition of this store also made it the largest retail center in Connecticut. When the center was sold for $5 million in 1960, it had 367,000 square feet of gross leasable area and parking for 1000 cars. 

As I already said, the shopping center today has five anchor tenants and several other smaller tenants. I will now go over all of them, in hopes that some or all of them will interest you. While there are quite a few empty spaces at the center, I feel that there are enough tenants here that make the center worth a visit.

The first tenant at the center is local wine and spirit chain BevMax.

The next tenant there is a store that I’m sure all of you reading have set foot in at some point during your lives, grocery store chain Stop & Shop. 

The next tenant there is smoothie franchise Robeks.

The next tenant there is one that I went to many times when I was younger, popular video game store GameStop. 

The next tenant there is an interesting one, a hobby store called Warhammer. This store is centered around the fantasy game of the same name, where people can collect, paint, and game with their own figurines.

The next tenant there has a unique name, Gofer Ice Cream. While it is self-explanatory what they sell, I initially did not understand their name or why their mascot was a gopher. It was only when I went to their website that I understood their name was supposed to sound like you were saying “go for ice cream.”

The next tenant there is a salon chain called European Wax Center. 

The next tenant there is a medical spa called Ideal Image. 

The next tenant there is a clothing store that sells clothes for kids called Carter’s.

The next tenant there is popular discount store chain Five Below, which I have enjoyed going to in the past. 

The next tenant there is a store that I remember going to many times when I was younger at its Mount Kisco location, office supply chain Staples.

The next tenant there is one that is going to open by the end of the year that I have also been to several times over the years, Party City. This business has an interesting history at the center, as it used to have a store there for many years that closed in July 2023 following the chain filing for bankruptcy, and now it’s going to be there again over a year later in a different space at the center. 

The next tenant there is popular beauty salon chain Ulta Beauty.

The next tenant there is one that already had another location in Stamford, popular clothing retailer Burlington. I think that its location here is better than its original location as I remember it as being unnecessarily big and being covered by scaffolding outside that seemingly wasn’t going anywhere.

The next tenant there is a clothing store that I have seen at many other shopping centers and malls, Old Navy. I’m a little shocked that its Stamford location is here rather than at the Stamford Town Center, as I have often viewed it as a mall store.

The next tenant there is a shoe, streetwear, sportswear, and designer clothes store called Snipes USA.

The next tenant there is called Traditional Martial Arts.

The next tenant there is a massage parlor called Golden Leaf Spa.

The next tenant there is popular clothing chain Marshalls. 

The next tenant there is a store that I have been to several times, Michael’s Arts & Crafts.

The next tenant there is a store that I have seen in many towns and cities, AT&T.

The next tenant there is a business that can be found anywhere in the world, Starbucks Coffee.

The next tenant there is an orthodontist called Diamond Braces. 

The next tenant there is a store that I have seen many times in the state, partly because it has a location in Mount Kisco, Mattress Firm.

The next tenant there is a jewelry store called Marco Jewelers.

The next tenant there is an optometrist called Stamford Eye Care.

The next tenant there is a nail salon called Floris Nails & Spa.

The next tenant there is popular gym chain LA Fitness.

The final tenant there is a bank that you can probably find anywhere in the area, Wells Fargo.

Overall, there are a lot of tenants that make Ridgeway Shopping Center worth a visit the next time you go to Stamford. So, go ahead and check it out and go into whatever stores interest you!