This month was relatively quiet for business news, below is a wrap up of recent openings, closings, and other business news for Vernon and Manchester! Manchester Closings: -Fani's Kitchen on Main Street has closed. The breakfast joint was put up for sale via CTRestaruantBrokers.com . -Payless Shoesource has begun 'Going out of Business' sales at both of their Manchester locations. The location at the mall and the Parkade will close by the end of the summer. Manchester Openings: -AZ Smoke Shop has opened on Main Street. The Smoke shop opened in the former Katherine's Hair Design. -CVS Pharmacy has opened on Main Street. The pharmacy opened their newly constructed store on their former site of Carter Chevy. -Jackson Hewitt Tax Service will open a tax office in the former Sunrenity Tanning location near BJ's. -A Plus tints has opened their tint shop next door to Chez Ben in Manchester! The shop is located at 947 Center Street. -A new fish restaurant will open at the Manchester Parkade. The restaurant will be located near Anthony's Jamaican. -Code Ninjas has opened their code academy in the former Radio Shack at the Parkade. -Blue Lotus Tea Bar will open inside of Details, a boutique clothing store in the Parkade. Manchester News: -Quast Media has moved their Main Street media company to a larger space inside the Watkin Center. -Blue Moon VIP Hookah Lounge will expand their current location in the Ollie's Plaza, into the former New England Eyecare storefront. -The Children's Place LLC has become Educational Playcare. -World Championship Billiards is now The Break Room. The facility will now feature billiards, virtual gaming, among other games. -Baymont Inn & Suites has changed their banner to Manchester Inn & Suites. The change reflects a change in operating umbrellas. Vernon Closings: -Kmart in Vernon is nearing their closing date. The store will permanently close on March 3rd. -One Stop Thrift and Consignment has officially moved to Ellington, and is now called Ellington Fine Consignment. Vernon Openings: -Enterprise Rental Car has moved to their new location in the former Scranton Powersports/Santander Bank. -360 Federal Credit Union is beginning their renovation work on the former Cumberland Farms/Thornton's Service. -Verizon will open a new phone store next door to Wendy's. The building will be built on a vacant pad site, the building will be the same as the current Starbuck's building. -Annie Mac Mortgage has moved to a larger location within their current building. If you see an opening, a closings, or have any business news to share, Email US! TheManchesterScoop@gmail.com!
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The Vernon Wendy's is being accused of offering free meals to people in exchange for a positive review at the Vernon location. The Manchester Scoop has received reports from two individuals that they were approached on Tuesday February 19th inside the Wendy's after purchasing their food. The manager approached the two individuals while they were eating and offered a free meal to each person who agreed to write an 'Honest' review of the restaurant. However, this was not the case, the manager expected a positive review of the fast food restaurants. The Wendy's in Vernon has been plagued by bad service since their opening in November 2018. One individual stated "The Manager comes up to us and said if we fill out a survey, the next time we come in we'd get a free meal, and she grabbed a receipt from the back (because we never received ours), she showed us the website for reviews, and handed us a business card for her to sign after," she continued "We did the survey and just filled it out honestly, in the end we said we didn't want our (personal) information posted, then we got the code to show the manager that we filled out the survey." Their bad experience didn't end there. The manager became aware that the reviews were not positive. The individual continues "She comes up to us and asked if we said the service was slow, we said no, and she told us she asked for a positive review not an honest review, and the ones we gave were negative because her score went down. We just left after being castigated by the manager." The restaurant has seen an onslaught of negative reviews on Yelp, they have a rating of one and a half stars. Some reviews are written below: "Food is always very slow, even when there are plenty of workers on and no other customers and our order is ALWAYS missing something. We live less than 10 minutes away and yet our food is cold when we get home between waiting for them to actually give it to us and then needing to go in to have our order fixed. Very disappointed and I've given them several chances since they opened." -Carissa "Every time we go food has been forgotten,cold or just wrong on top of that your waiting at least 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to get the wrong order.went today and of course they forgot 3 different things so I go in and the manager wanna give a look like I'm just trying to get some free food after I just spent $30. I'll stick with the Manchester one never had a issue with them not once." -Jill "SLOWEST EVER! Staff is disorganized, doesn't care. I was happy we were getting a Wendy's but I won't return. After weeks they still don't have their sh!t together. It's sad that so many feel this way." -Gene The Manchester Scoop reached out to Wendy's corporate for comment, in which a representative stated 'We will alert the higher management team at this Wendy's, and will forward comments to our corporate management team.' Paying for positive review is not illegal in the state of Connecticut, although other states like New York have adopted legislation making it illegal for businesses to pay for positive reviews. Incentivizing reviews is legal, but incentives are not given based on the overall attitude of the review. It is deeply unethical to attempt to positively change their rating by paying for better reviews. The Shoppes at Buckland Hills will lose three chain stores in the coming months, on the heels of two sudden closures of two independent sores.
Buckland Hills will lose three longtime tenants after recent/upcoming bankruptcies at both companies. Things Remembered is currently liquidating their location on the first floor near Sears. The store has been located there for over 15 years. The longtime staple is closing ahead of a bankruptcy filing last week. Things Remembered is preparing to shutter at their remaining stores. Liquidation sales began last week. Crazy 8s at Buckland Hills will also close in the coming months, the store is currently under liquidation. Crazy 8s is owned by Gymboree, who filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in January 2017, and filed for bankruptcy again January 2019. All Gymboree and Crazy 8s stores will close, with Janie and Jack remaining open as a buyer is sought. Gymboree had a location near Macy's, which closed in 2017 during the first bankruptcy. Gymboree also has a location in Glastonbury and a location inside Westfarms mall in Farmington. Payless Shoesource will close their 2,300 locations nationwide after failing to find a buyer for the struggling company. Payless filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2017, emerged in 2018; and has filed for bankruptcy again. Payless has been located in the Buckland Hills mall for a long time, first being located in on the first floor near Sears (Now Dollar & Deals), before moving upstairs near Macy's where they are currently located. Liquidation of the chain started on Sunday, February 17th. Two independent stores closed inside the mall in the weeks after Christmas. Team Spirit, a sporting memorabilia store, closed on January 16th. Team Spirit closed with no warning to employees, the sign was hastily removed on January 17th. Remix, a custom clothing store, also closed on January 21st. The store was located on the first level of the mall near Sears. The Land's End store inside of Sears also closed early this year, but this is because of their focus on standalone stores, not because of a bankruptcy. Another mall staple has filed for bankruptcy protection last week, Charlotte Russe filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The chain identified 94 stores to close, with 3 in Connecticut. The Buckland location was not on this list. The chain did stress that if no buyer for the brand is found, the chain may face complete liquidation. Buckland Hills will also receive a new permanent tenant; Brick Swap USA, an authorized retailer of LEGOs,will take permanent residence in the former Belden's Jewelers. The space was last used as a pop-up LEGO store for the Christmas season. Brick Swap USA has been operating a kiosk in the former Sweet U space. Buckland Hills will also add two new restaurants in 2019. BJ's Brewhouse is now under construction in the parking lot near JC Penney. Another yet-to-be-confirmed restaurant will take residence in the former Bertucci's space. The restaurant signed the lease in early 2019 and is currently planning to be open in late spring. Closing:
-Things Remembered will close their Manchester location at The Shoppes at Buckland Hills. The store has been located there for over 15 years. The store is currently on sale, 50-80% off. -Crazy 8s will close their Buckland location. The store is currently on sale. Their parent company, Gymboree filed for bankruptcy early this year. -Express has closed their locations at Buckland Hills, but will return with a new concept later this week. -Go Calendars and Games has closed their temporary store in the former Rue21. -Remix, a custom clothing shop, closed their Buckland Hills location, the store was located near Sears. -Team Spirit, a sport memorabilia store, also closed their Buckland Hills location. -Hometown Buffet has closed their Manchester buffet, read more here. Opening: -Brick Swap USA will open a permanent store at Buckland Hills. Brick Swap USA was located in the former Sweet U kiosk; but will take permanent residence in the former Belden/Lego Pop-Up near JC Penney. -Express Factory and Express Factory Men will open in the former home of Express and Express Men. The store is receiving a renovation, new signage, and new fixtures to accommodate the new outlet format. -Orange Theory Fitness will be opening in the other half of the former Alfred Angelo Bridal space; the other half is home to Jersey Mike's. Other Buckland News: -The Pool Factory in Burr Corners has been rebranded to Buckland Billiards and Bar. -BonChon, located in The Plaza at Buckland Hills, is currently up for sale. The business is listed on BizBuySell and is still open. -Wetzel's Pretzels has upgraded their pretzel kiosk near Macy's! The new kiosk is more professional and futuristic. -Charlotte Russe filed for bankruptcy early last week. The Manchester location was not listed on the closing list, but the company stresses that if a buyer is not found the chain could be liquidated. -Sears has been purchased by former CEO and current chairman, Edward Lampert, for nearly $5.2 Billion. They plan more store closures in the immediate future to get the company to a profitable size. |
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