Norwich — The big green “Dollar Tree” sign and a couple of shopping carts tied to a red ribbon in front of the main entrance signaled that the newly renovated Norwichtown Commons had welcomed its first new tenant.

Several city officials Saturday doubled as eager shoppers in the brightly lit Dollar Tree Store, as the chain store’s district manager Mike DiColella led them on a tour of the 7,000-square-foot store.

Months of renovations that converted the former mall into a shopping center with exterior store entrances are nearing completion, as freshly painted store facades take shape and stores place “coming soon” signs in front windows.

Dollar Tree was the first to hang its permanent store sign above and swing open its front doors. Several customers arrived just as Mayor Peter Nystrom was cutting the ribbon and were invited to join the festivities.

Patricia Reynolds of Baltic came with her 9-year-old daughter Hope, 19-year-old son Thomas Connors and their grandmother.

They had shopped in the old, much smaller Dollar Tree in the former mall and wanted to check out the new store as they shopped at the Stop & Shop supermarket at the far end of the plaza.

They didn’t expect to be invited into the official ribbon-cutting photo.

“We saw the ribbons because we were shopping,” Reynolds said.

Stop & Shop and the adjacent Dress Barn store, both of which already had front entrances, remained open throughout the renovations. The rest of the mall building was gutted down to support frames and was rebuilt, with new facades and store layouts.

The large former Caldor department store at the right end near Dollar Tree is still under construction.

That big box area will be converted into two smaller store spaces.

Winstanley Enterprises LLC of Concord, Mass., purchased the mostly vacant mall from Edens & Avant Investment Limited Partnership for $15.75 million in July 2011 and received permit approval a month later for the $7.5 million reconstruction plan.

Fancy Nails and Hair Cuttery have signs in windows of their new spaces, and the owners last spring announced that PetSense and a Chinese restaurant also would move to the commons.

When Dollar Tree closed for the renovations, the store moved to the Marcus Plaza on West Main Street near the ShopRite supermarket.

DiColella said Saturday that store will remain open as well.

“We love that location,” he said. “We love Norwich.”

c.bessette@theday.com