Danbury Fair Mall Fills Forever 21 Vacancy

DANBURY, CT — The Danbury Fair Mall has found a taker for a floor of Forever 21's former storefront, and the tenant is a familiar one to Mall-goers.

Dick's Sporting Goods, a fixture at the Mall since 2010, will be expanding into the prime, concourse-facing real estate vacated by Forever 21 following that company's bankruptcy last year. The move will afford the popular sporting goods vendor a total of 75,000 square feet of space. Mall owners The Macerich Company gave investors the good news on an earnings call earlier this month.

Unlike many of its mall neighbors, Dick's Sporting Goods has continued to profit in the face of the state lockdown. Dick's stock was trading at $30.56 on March 11, when the coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, DKS stock has increased by 17.1 percent and is trading at $35.80 as of Thursday morning. The company is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on June 2.

Dick's Danbury landlord, Macerich, currently owns 51 million square feet of real estate consisting primarily of interests in 47 regional shopping centers. The company has managed to turn a profitable quarter at the end of March, with profits up $7.5 million, even as it watched its tenants begin to shutter nationwide for the pandemic. Last week the company announced that 20 of its properties were in the process of turning the lights back on, and it anticipates being able to open a total of approximately 35 centers by the end of May, with the vast majority of its centers to be reopened by the middle of June.

Macerich Chief Executive Officer Thomas O'Hern said: "Local economies depend on us, and our retailers are eager and ready to open for business in a safe, carefully planned, well-executed manner."

The Danbury Fair Mall reported an occupancy rate of 89 percent entering April.