Long Description:In Natick, near the town line with Framingham, is the Natick
Collection, a large indoor mall that is now the largest in New
England in a retail district that is one of the busiest in the
country.
The Natick Collection has 275 stores, as reported by Wikipedia
(200 as reported by the mall's own web site). Almost every major
retail store is represented here: Macy's, Sears, J. C. Penney,
Nieman Marcus, Nordstrum, and Lord & Taylor. Others include:
Bose, Brooks Brothers, Brookstone, Build-a-Bear Workshop,
California Pizza Kitchen, Cheesecake Factory, Crabtree &
Evelyn, Crate and Barrel, Kay Jewelers, The Northface, Tiffany and
Co., and Williams-Sonoma, to name just a few.
The Natick Collection started as the Natick Mall, when the two
stand-alone stores, Sears, and Filene's, were joined together by a
one-story hallway with stores in 1964. This original Natick Mall
was the second indoor mall in the Boston Metropolitan Area, and had
25 stores that included Woolworth's, York Steakhouse, and Boston
Baby. In the 1980s, Boston Baby and York Steakhouse closed. At that
time, the mall was expanded to eventually have 50 stores. In 1994,
the mall had gone through a major rebuilding that included a second
floor. This new configuration had over 200 stores. In 2007, the
mall had a wing added to it that housed some of the most luxurious
stores around, and the name was changed from the Natick Mall to the
Natick Collection. This expansion also included high-rise
condominiums.
The recession of 2008-2009 put the owners of the Natick
Collection in serious risk, because of the investment in adding the
wing and since the condominiums were not selling. In September
2009, there was an auction of many of the condominium units.
The mall is an interesting place to walk. The main floor is
fairly wide, though cart vendors do slow the traffic down. It is
easy to get disoriented in this mall, but there are
maps/directories at various locations to get reoriented. The new
wing is a very pleasant walk as you walk through birch tree like
sculptures, and a passing under a long skylight.
One of the serious issues with the Natick Collection is traffic
flow and parking. Though there are several parking garages, it
seems that there is traffic flowing in and out of them all the
time. Christmas time is a particular challenge.
Though not really part of the mall, the AMC Theater complex is a
short distance down Doug Flutie Pass (Get it?), which is a
connecting road between the Natick Collection and the new Shoppers
World mall.
Sources:
Web Site for the Natick Collection:
("http://www.natickcollection.com/" target="_blank">visit
link)
Wikipedia (Natick Mall):
("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natick_Collection"
target="_blank">visit link)