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:
(
visit link)
Wikipedia (Natick Mall):
(
visit link)