The lights at 2300 Dixwell Avenue now stay on until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Ross Dress for Less opened in the former Joann Fabrics space at Hamden Mart and held its grand opening on October 10. Its hours run 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and to midnight on weekends, according to The Connecticut Scoop. The store fills 25,491 square feet. Over on Whitney Avenue, the newest opening in town is a bagel counter.
Those two openings show how Hamden is changing this fall. On Dixwell Avenue, the two big plazas are being rebuilt in large blocks of space on schedules that run past next Christmas. On Whitney Avenue, the changes are small food spots that open one at a time and fit into a regular morning or after-dinner routine.
Hamden Mart is in the middle of a rebuild that runs into late 2027
Ross is the first finished piece at Hamden Mart, not the biggest. The Scoop reported that it is the second Ross in Connecticut, after the Trumbull store that opened last year. When the store was still in permits back in March, the same outlet put the fit-out cost at $1.2 million.
The larger project is next door. CT Insider reported in July that the Walmart at Hamden Mart will expand into part of the former Bob's Stores space. The expansion adds about 63,000 square feet to a store that is now 87,800 square feet. That puts the finished store at roughly 150,000 square feet. The extra space adds up to about two and a half Ross stores. With it, the store becomes a Walmart Supercenter, which means a full grocery store inside.
The timeline matters for anyone who shops this plaza every week. Steve Fontana, Hamden's economic development director, said work was scheduled to begin in mid-August. A Walmart spokeswoman told CT Insider the expansion should be finished in late 2027. At that pace, construction at Hamden Mart lasts through this holiday season and all of next year.
Here is where each space on Dixwell Avenue stands as of mid-October:
| Business | Location | Space it's filling | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Dress for Less | Hamden Mart, 2300 Dixwell Ave | Former Joann Fabrics | Open; grand opening Oct. 10 |
| Walmart Supercenter expansion | Hamden Mart, 2300 Dixwell Ave | Part of former Bob's Stores | Scheduled to start mid-August; completion expected late 2027 |
| Five Below | Hamden Plaza, 2100 Dixwell Ave | Plaza storefront | Open since Nov. 21, 2025 |
| Wonder | Hamden Plaza, 2100 Dixwell Ave | Plaza storefront | Open since August 2026 |
| Panda Express | Hamden Plaza, 2100 Dixwell Ave | About half of former Panera | Planned; no opening date announced |
Hamden Plaza is filling its gaps with chains
Across the road at Hamden Plaza, the turnover has been steadier and smaller. Five Below opened on November 21, 2025. Wonder, the delivery-focused restaurant concept, opened in Hamden as part of a group of Connecticut locations that The Connecticut Scoop covered in August.
The newest name is Panda Express. On October 12, The Connecticut Scoop reported that the chain plans to take roughly half of the former Panera space, the end-cap unit. The other half, about 2,500 square feet, is listed for lease. Hamden would be the chain's fourth Connecticut location. The others are at Foxwoods and a Milford travel center, with Southington and Hartford in the works. No opening date has been announced.
The same report lists the plaza's other tenants added over the past year or so: Robeks Juice & Smoothie, Shah's Halal Food, Mathnasium and Rainbow, along with Five Below. Almost every name on that list is a regional or national brand moving into a space built for a regional or national brand.
Not every Dixwell address is gaining a tenant. Mighty Donuts, which moved from 1166 Dixwell Avenue to 1700 Dixwell in 2025, has closed for good, Hamden Patch reported in July. That leaves a gap for anyone who started the day with a donut on that stretch, and it's one of the few small-shop changes on the Dixwell side this year.
On Whitney, the new openings fit behind a single counter
Whitney Avenue is changing at a very different scale. Instead of 63,000 square feet, the new spaces are counters.
Bagel Bagel opened on Whitney Avenue in late September, Hamden Patch reported. It took over a former hair salon, and plans for the shop were first announced the previous October. That's 11 months from announcement to opening. The project was smaller than anything at Hamden Mart, and it still took most of a year.
According to The Connecticut Scoop's opening report, the bagels are large, crunchy outside and chewy inside, and made without preservatives or animal products. The opening lineup was plain, everything, cinnamon raisin, multi-grain, poppy and pumpernickel. Schmears include scallion, jalapeño, hot honey bacon and maple walnut. Cold brew, nitro and draft latte are all on tap. Bagel flavors, schmears and latte flavors rotate, so the menu will keep changing. The shop's own menu page has the current lineup.
Frisbie's Dairy Barn is coming to 3311 Whitney Avenue, inside a Noble gas station. The Frisbie's Hamden page describes an indoor walk-up counter with handmade ice cream, signature flavors, seasonal flavors and dairy-free options. The page still lists the opening as fall 2026. The Connecticut Scoop reported that the same company is putting another ice cream counter in the new Noble station in Orange and expects to keep that one open nearly year-round. An ice cream shop opening going into November would be unusual for a seasonal stand, and that year-round model may be part of the reason.
One familiar Whitney Avenue name is staying put. Ray & Mike's Deli announced a second shop at 112 New Haven Avenue in Milford, and Hamden Patch reported that the Hamden shop on Whitney will remain open. This time a Hamden business is expanding into another town.
Where the late-fall calendar lands, road by road
The event calendar for the next few weeks spreads across both roads and a few points in between. The events below come from the Hamden Patch calendar and the Best Video Film & Cultural Center events page.
On or near Dixwell Avenue, at Miller Memorial Library, 2901 Dixwell Ave:
- Tuesday, October 27, 6 p.m.: "Kratom: What Is It and What Should We Know?"
- Saturday, November 7, 10:30 a.m.: "Mythic and Powerful Women in the Classical World"
At Best Video Film & Cultural Center:
- Thursday, October 29, 8 p.m.: Light Upon Blight, a Halloween live film score
- Saturday, October 31, 10:30 a.m.: Robert Messore's Halloween sing-along
- Wednesday, November 4, 7 p.m.: Movie trivia with Michael Domangue
- Saturday, November 7, 7 p.m.: Anne Marie Menta Band with Inner Groove
On Whitney Avenue, at Columbus Lodge, 2630 Whitney Ave:
- Saturday, November 14, 2 p.m.: Love Your Cookies
At Quinnipiac University, 275 Mt. Carmel Ave:
- Saturday, October 24, 2 p.m.: The Myriad Project: Fable & Fantasy
Halloween week is the busiest stretch. Best Video has two Halloween programs two days apart, one for an evening crowd and one at 10:30 on Saturday morning. Saturday, November 7 is the fullest day, with a library talk in the morning and live music at Best Video that night.
You could easily spend a weekend morning this fall at a Whitney Avenue bagel counter, with an afternoon errand run to Hamden Mart, which will be under construction until late 2027. The Dixwell projects have the square footage and the longer timelines. The Whitney openings are small, and two of the three are ready to visit now.
When the Walmart expansion is finished and Hamden Plaza's open spaces are leased, the errand map along Dixwell Avenue will look different from today's. If you'd like to talk through how these openings line up with your own corner of Hamden, Schuyler Goines keeps a running list of these openings. Let's Connect.
