By Hannah Feakes
The Marketplace at Hamden will be adding two new stores this coming fall.
Ulta Beauty is moving its location from North Haven, replacing the current Modell’s, and Orangetheory Fitness is moving into a vacant space between T.J Maxx and Plato’s Closet, according to Dale Kroop, Hamden’s director of economic and neighborhood development.
Mayor Curt Leng said that new stores moving into Hamden plazas are a great sign for the Hamden economy in a recent article published by the New Haven Independent.
Quinnipiac University graduate student Kimmie Ellsworth is looking forward to buy makeup in town.
“It’ll be great to have Ulta because there is no place to buy quality makeup around here,” she said.
Along with the arrival of Orangetheory Fitness, there are two other private gyms in the immediate area, Edge Fitness and LA Fitness.
Professor David Cadden teaches in the entrepreneurship and strategy at QU. He says that Hamden’s economic and community development organization has been proactive and successful in attracting businesses to Hamden.
“Today’s retail market is highly competitive and new businesses are always looking for areas of growth,” Cadden said. “One of the things they look out for as where are all the businesses going. Bringing several businesses into a community in a short period of time as a multiplier effect.
Cadden says that when businesses open up multiple locations in a community it extends the tax base and offers more job opportunities to the residents of that community.
“Hamden seems to have been very successful on both counts,” he said. “I am sure that (they) are happy to welcome businesses that would be used by Quinnipiac students.”
QU student Peter Labbe thinks that Ulta Beauty will do better than Orangetheory in the area.
“There are already a lot of gyms and Ulta doesn’t really have much competition,” he said. “Retro Fitness and one of the Planet Fitnesses closed last year because they couldn’t compete with Edge fitness and and LA Fitness, I don’t know how Orangetheory is going to be able to do it.”
Cadden does not think that the arrival of Ulta Beauty and Orangetheory Fitness will hurt the business of other stores in the area.
“It’s difficult to ascertain the extent to which these two enterprises would ‘damage’ any other existing stores or exercise facilities,” Cadden said. “It seems to me that orange theory and offers a unique service that may not be competitive with the other large gyms in Hamden.”
QU students expressed interest in the new additions to the town of Hamden.
Senior Meghan Thorogood could hardly contain her excitement when she found out Ulta Beauty would be moving closer to campus.
“Ulta and Orangetheory will be awesome additions to Hamden!” she said. “Quinnipiac students will frequent these locations because of their close proximity to campus and student owned housing. I honestly think having more than one option for a gym is nice for us, we get a choice in which gym we want to pay for.”
Photo via Jess Ruderman