2 West Hartford/Farmington Mall's Stores Close

FARMINGTON/WEST HARTFORD, CT — The Westfarms Mall located in West Hartford/Farmington is without two stores in the popular shopping destination, both closing recently.

The Vera Bradley store and the Things Remembered store, according to the Hartford Business Journal Tuesday, both closed for good this month, with Things Remembered closing last week and Vera Bradley closing over the weekend.

Vera Bradley is an Indiana-based luggage and handbag manufacturer known for its colorful, printed merchandise.

Mall visitors over the weekend were greeted with signs indicating its imminent closure, a mostly empty store and items remaining being offered at a discount.

According to the HBJ, there are two Vera Bradley-only stores left in Connecticut (Danbury and Clinton) following the Westfarms Mall's store's closing over the past weekend.

Vera Bradley items, however, are still available at several retail establishments throughout Connecticut.

The Westfarms Mall website Tuesday did not list Vera Bradley or Something Remembered on its roster of retail establishments at the mall, which is located in both Farmington and West Hartford.

Things Remembered is known for personalized gifts for special occasions like weddings, graduations and religious milestones.

The company has been incorporated into the 1-800-Flowers.com umbrella out of Jericho, N.Y., and it appears to be more of an online retailer — called a "Personalized Mall" by the company — instead of a traditional retail outlet.

This arrangement was announced by 1-800-Flowers.com on Jan. 10.

While the brand was taken over by 1-800-Flowers.com, the retail stores were not part of the transaction, resulting in their closure.

“The expansion of our personalized gifting platform with the addition of the Things Remembered brand and product offerings further solidifies our leadership position in the growing market for personalized gifts," Chris McCann, chief executive officer of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., said in a statement.

"The addition of Things Remembered is very complementary to Personalization Mall and meaningfully grows the number and expands the variety of personalized products we can offer to our customers to help celebrate every occasion with personalized masterpieces.

"This addition is a perfect example of how our e-Commerce platform was built for rapid growth as we seamlessly incorporate complimentary brands into our platform.”

For the Hartford Business Journal's website, click on this link.

For more information on Vera Bradley, click on this link.

For more information on Things Remembered, click on this link.

For more information on the Westfarms Mall, click on this link.