Welcome to Framingham/Natick Retail. This website is designed to provide news updates and historical profiles of retail shopping centers in the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle is the densest area of retail in the state of Massachusetts, consisting of the land within the triangle created by Route 9 (Worcester St./Rd.), Route 30 (Cochituate Rd.), and Speen St., in the towns of Framingham and Natick. This site describes the changes that that this area has undergone since the construction of Shopper's World in 1951, from the developments of the 50's and 60's to their replacements during the 90's and today. To start, please select one of the defunct facilities from the bar on the left to see how it has evolved with the times and became what it is today. If you have any comments, memories, or questions about the site, you are welcome to submit them using the feedback box, a link to which can be found on the left bar. Thanks for visiting, and enjoy the site!

Headlines

A few updates...
Written by Justin on August 2, 2009 at 3:43PM

• I'm taking care of the feedback backlog this afternoon, so I've made a number of updates (thanks to readers) to several of the pages.
• There is one optimistic piece of retail news this summer. In June, Nordstrom announced that a 40,000 sq. ft. Nordstrom Rack store will open at the former Linens 'N Things in Shopper's World next spring - the second in the Boston area. And there's somewhat of a back story, too - in September 1989, Nordstrom tentatively announced plans to open a full-line store at a proposed replacement for the original Shopper's World, to have been operated by Simon Malls. Those plans stalled, and Shopper's World was ultimately redeveloped as a "power center." This announcement finally brings a Nordstrom property to Shopper's World and Framingham, 21 years after it was announced.
  

"Where did you go!"
Written by Justin on March 15, 2009 at 8:30PM

• Sorry about the lack of updates lately. I've been extremely busy with a number of other projects over the past few months, so Framingham/Natick Retail has been somewhat on the back burner. At the same time, with the retail picture turning grim, perhaps it is fitting that a website that glorifies shopping centers in the area sits idle.
• Regardless, all of the pages for the shopping centers have been updated with store closings that have taken place, and obviously there have been more than a few. Linens 'N Things, Circuit City, and Filene's Basement have together abandoned nearly 100,000 sq. ft. of retail in the Golden Triangle over the past few months, along with a number of other closings in the upscale wing of the Natick Collection. Stay tuned to F/NR for more details on what giants will fall next.

Your suggestions, comments, memories and questions are always welcome on the Framingham/Natick Retail feedback page.

Framingham/Natick Retail updates from last month and earlier can now be found in the News Archive.