Another APPLE Turnover Rumor for Garden City Center

Massachusetts store moves revive long-running speculation tied to the former Newport Creamery site

The news involving a new Apple store opening TODAY in Massachusetts may help explain — or further fuel — long-running rumors about Apple coming to Rhode Island’s Garden City Center.

A key clause in the Newport Creamery lease at Garden City Center allowed WS Development — the center’s owner and manager — to terminate the lease early if an anchor tenant was secured before the December 2026 lease expiration. That clause has now been exercised.

Newport Creamery, to our knowledge, has not identified another Cranston location, though the company has expressed a desire to remain in the city.

What we do know:

• Garden City Center has secured an anchor tenant

• Newport Creamery will vacate the location by the end of December 2025

What we don’t know:

• Who the anchor tenant is

And that’s where speculation begins.

The most popular guess, of course, is Apple. That theory had been losing momentum — until today.

Why Today Matters

TODAY, Apple is closing one store and opening another in Massachusetts:

• Closing: Apple Store at Solomon Pond Mall, Marlborough, MA (an indoor mall)

• Opening: Apple Store at The Shops at Blackstone Valley, Millbury, MA — at noon

The move was first reported by the Worcester Business Journal. The two locations are about 30 minutes apart (24 miles).

Notably, The Shops at Blackstone Valley is a WS Development property.

For Rhode Islanders, the comparison is striking:

• Providence Place Mall → Garden City Center: ~20 minutes apart

In both Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the pattern is the same:
Apple exiting an indoor mall and opening at an open-air lifestyle center — both managed by WS Development.

Shared Retail DNA

Garden City Center and The Shops at Blackstone Valley share many national tenants, including:

• lululemon

• Sephora

• Ulta Beauty

• AT&T

• Banana Republic

• Gap

• Old Navy

• Sleep Number

• Yankee Candle

• Warby Parker

Applebee’s would have been another shared tenant, but that location closed following a fire and is relocating to Chapel View.

Large mall operators often negotiate chain leases regionally, not store-by-store. Their strategy is big-picture. Ours, understandably, is hyper-local.

The Parking Question

If Newport Creamery’s location wasn’t considered “safe,” what about the Garden City Gazebo?

An Apple store would bring intense traffic — far beyond what the current parking configuration was designed to handle. While the loss of Newport Creamery is deeply felt by many Rhode Islanders, the potential loss of the iconic Garden City Gazebo would be, as one local shopper put it, “unthinkable.”

What’s Confirmed — and What’s Not

There is no confirmation that Apple is opening a store at Garden City Center.

• No lease announcement

• No permit filings

• No construction notices in Cranston records — to date

While the pending demolition of the Newport Creamery site and broader redevelopment plans have added fuel to public speculation, the only Apple store expansion confirmed in the region is the new store opening TODAY at The Shops at Blackstone Valley in Millbury, Massachusetts — a WS Development property.

We’ll keep watching.

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