Newmarket North Mall, Hampton, VA

A dead mall

-UPDATES BELOW-

17 February 2023

(Source)

Newmarket North Mall in Hampton was another one of those malls that existed beyond my limited teenage realm.  Even though we lived in the same metropolitan area as the two-level monolith, our actual residence was located quite far away, over the infamous bridge-tunnels, while this destination existed in a mysterious land called the Peninsula.  In contrast, although Coliseum Mall was located in the same general area, it was right off of a major freeway.  Therefore, every time we whizzed by on I-64, I got a good look at the seventies sprawl center.  But for Newmarket North, it was years before I first laid eyes on it.

-UPDATE- The Newmarket North Grand Opening pull-out from The Daily Press, 1975. View the full PDF version here.

By the time that happened, it was in the process of being re-christened Newmarket Fair.  Apparently, by the late eighties the mall was languishing.  And when taking into account its location, it’s not exactly a mystery why.  We were driving west on Mercury Boulevard, Hampton’s main retail corridor, toward the James River Bridge on a family outing.  I noticed that the commercial space on either side of us was aging rather un-gracefully, but I was still excited knowing that I would finally set eyes on the final Hampton Roads mall that I had yet to see.  I gazed out of my window waiting for the brown brick block to appear before me.  And even with eyes like a hawk, I almost missed it.

1- Newmarket North Mall at its opening.  2- NetCenter at its opening.

But there it was.  I was hoping for an elongated, glorious shop-oplis, but all I saw was a bland, low-profiled and very seventies modern, Sears.  Beyond it, I could see a boxy structure stretching away from Mercury Boulevard into innocuous neighborhoods around it.  I could just make out the main entrance and a few skylights, but all too soon it was out of view.  "Why the hall would they build a linear mall  perpendicular to the main highway,” I thought to myself.  It was hidden and rather unremarkable.  I always thought that this was just one of the many factors that led to the demise of what, by design, should have been a very successful retail facility.

Newmarket North’s strange location along Mercury Boulevard, facing mostly subdivisions with little frontage along the main avenue. (Source)

Newmarket North Mall opened in 1975 as Hampton Roads’ first fully bi-level shopping mall.  Regional names Miller & Rhoads and Leggett were joined by Sears as anchors.  Though located just a few miles down the road from Coliseum Mall, the two seemed to co-exist pretty well throughout the seventies and most of the eighties.  But, as time went on and the surrounding neighborhood declined, so did Newmarket North.  To hasten its demise, a new retail destination, Patrick Henry Mall, was opened in 1989 in neighboring Newport News.  These factors, as well as its distance from major freeways and dubious visibility, led to its first renovation and renaming in 1989.

-UPDATE- Shots of Newmarket North Mall's interior from a late 80s advert. (Source)

Despite the renovation and moniker of Newmarket Fair, the commercial complex continued its descent.  Then in 2000, several investors purchased the mall, in which Sears remained as the only anchor, and patterned a project similar to one in Tampa where an old mall was turned into a large office facility.  The place was renamed for the third time, this time to NetCenter.  With Sears and a few retail establishments remaining on the south end, the rest of the mall was converted into connected and cutting edge (for the early 00s) commercial space, with companies such as Northrup Grumman and Verizon moving in.

NetCenter lease plan ca. 2000. View the full PDF version here.

I last visited the mall in 2001, while it was still in the process of being converted.  I drove in from the east side of the monolith, through neighborhood back roads, and entered the parking lot facing the shuttered remains of Leggett.  Its black glass adorned entrances remained, with the dark brown brick placed in geometric patterns around all of the mall entrances.  I took a short walk through the two floors, and there it remained in all of its eighties pastel glory.  It didn’t look worn or tattered, just empty.  Like all I was missing were the crowds, a Benetton shoppe and Tiffany performing in center court.  I will always regret not taking pictures, but at least I have the memories.

A bird’s eye view of the brown, low profiled block of shops. (Source)

-UPDATE-

-17 February 2023

Now known as The Offices at NetCenter, the facility seems to be doing well enough in its new position as a full-on business center, although Newport News Shipbuilding, one of the facility’s largest tenants, departed in 2015.  The retail portion has mostly moved on as Sears, the only location on the Peninsula, closed in 2018.  But at least the rest is still there.  And I hope it sticks around for a while; even though it no longer serves as a retail hub, at least it can still be seen and felt.  Unlike so many other malls that are lost and gone forever.

Sears just after closing in 2018. (Source)

The Offices at NetCenter official website

Tower Mall, Portsmouth, VA

A dead mall

I was a weird kid. Chubby, ungainly and awkward, though I loved to play outside, I could never keep up with the other kids. I couldn't climb trees with them or swim across lagoons with them. When out causing mischief I was always the slowest one on retreat, usually leaving me as the one to get caught. Accordingly, a lot of my interests were of the non-physical nature. I loved airplanes, super sentai and writing awful pre-teen poetry. There was also, of course, this strange affinity for shopping malls.

-UPDATE-  Tower Mall lease plan ca. 1975.  View the full PDF version here.

My dad was one of the best. A career navy man, he loved his Oakland Raiders and his Olympia beer. He was your typical Irish-American Catholic family man who never once made me feel abnormal for having all of these strange hobbies I clung for dear life to.

1- Interior picture of the groovy center court skylight.  (Source)  2- The exterior of Bradlees, originally J.M. Fields. (Source)

I know you're thinking.  That's all nice and dandy, but what the hell does that have to do with Tower Mall? I'm getting there. Chill. Anyway, it was my twelfth birthday, which just happened to fall on a Saturday. After a day involving more than an adequate amount of cake, my father asked me what I wanted to do. It was an extraordinary request, but I had no problem taking it. I wanted to visit a couple of shopping malls that I had not yet had the opportunity to see. The first was Chesapeake's Greenbrier Mall. The second was Portsmouth's Tower Mall.

-UPDATE-  Tower Mall lease plan ca. 1988.  View the full PDF version here.

We had sped by the low profiled, dusty brown brick single level enclosure of Tower Mall as we had passed by on I264 many times. There was a Montgomery Ward on the south end abutting the freeway, but I couldn't see much else through the trees. So, on that Saturday night in the late eighties as we pulled into the half-filled parking lot of the only enclosed retail facility ever to make its home in Portsmouth, I couldn't be more excited. Forget the presents I had opened earlier in the day; hell, I have no more recollection of what I found in those colorfully wrapped packages. But what I do remember clearly is my first time in Tower Mall.

1- Tower Mall from above.  2- Victory Crossing from above.  (Source for both)

We parked on the back side of Montgomery Ward, and there to our right tucked inconspicuously into a forgotten corner of the back of the mall was a small sign in a very recognizable font. Miller & Rhoads, it said. The store was tiny and seemed almost to be an afterthought; it was less sizable than even the miniscule Hess's at Lynnhaven Mall. We entered the mall's wide corridors through Ward's and there I experienced the three key elements that I will always remember about the old place- 1) It was dark as hell in there, but somehow not uninviting. 2) There was a sunken seating area covered in dark tile at center court, and 3) The flags. The ceiling and skylight at center court were surrounded by all of these dusty, fading rectangular swaths of cloth. It was really the only color outside of the many shades of brown to be found inside the place.

-UPDATE-  1 to 3- Inside Tower Mall in 1981, including the Montgomery Ward mall entrance.  (Source for all)  4- Christmas time at Tower mall in the eighties.  (Source)

Tower Mall opened in 1973 in the city of Portsmouth, Norfolk's neighbor just across the Elizabeth River to the west. It was named after the water tower located in its front parking lot facing Victory Boulevard. The third mall to open in the Southside of Hampton Rhoads, it was also the smallest. Montgomery Ward and JM Fields were the original anchors, with Hess's and Miller & Rhoads added later, while Bradlee's replaced JM Fields. As the sole enclosed retail facility in the western end of the Southside, it enjoyed success until the late eighties when crime steadily rose in the area and a new competitor, Chesapeake Square, opened not far away in the neighboring town.

Aerials of Tower Mall’s front and back.  (Source for both)

I loved what I saw in Tower Mall on that cold winter evening when I turned twelve, but its great distance from our home made it an impractical place to frequent. The only other time I remember going there was when Montgomery Ward was having their store closing sale and my dad went crazy on their tools and hardware. Even though I thought band saws and wrenches were the most boring things in the world, I had to go just one more time to see the old place.

Victory Crossing pamphlet ca. 2011.  View the full PDF version here.

Tower Mall met its end just after the turn of the millennium. It was replaced with a power center of sorts called Victory Crossing. Towards the end, Tower Mall could aptly be described as scary, dangerous and run down. But that place sure as hell had some character. A whole hell of a lot more than any old power center.

Victory Crossing on Wikipedia

Greenbrier Mall, Chesapeake, VA

An extant asset

-UPDATE BELOW-

30 June 2024

(Source)

In the Norfolk metropolitan area during much of the mid-eighties, South Hampton Roads featured five enclosed shopping malls. Lynnhaven Mall was big and modern, popular with the younger crowd and the mall rats. Military Circle had a bit of age and establishment, making it attractive to folks like the parents of Lynnhaven patrons. Pembroke Mall was the antique. Portsmouth's Tower Mall was kind of run down. And Greenbrier... Well, it was just kind of there. All of the other facilities had their own individual distinctions while Greenbrier seemed to suffer from an identity crisis of sorts.

Greenbrier Mall advertisement ca. 1989. View the full PDF version here.

Greenbrier Mall was the second closest major shopping center to our location in the Princess Anne area of Virginia Beach, but we rarely ever went there. It was a mystery to me; one I wanted to research and get to the bottom of. I remember as we would approach the Greenbrier Parkway exit on Interstate 264, I'd struggle to see the slightest segment of the mall as we drove past. Alas, even though the super-regional was located right next to the freeway, I don't remember ever getting more than a quick peek of its white washed walls from my back seat vantage point. It seemed like it was trying to obscure itself from me.

The evolution of Greenbrier Mall.  1- 1983.  2- 1987; Hess’s has been added.  3- 1989; Leggett has been added.  4- 1999; Hecht’s has taken over Miller & Rhoads while Dillard’s has taken over both the former Hess’s and Leggett stores while they expanded the former Hess’s building.  5- 2010- The final layout before Sears closure.  JCPenney has taken over what was originally Leggett while Macy’s took over and expanded what was once the space for Hecht’s.

The first time that I did get a good look on what the interior of Greenbrier had to offer, it was actually on television. WAVY TV10 News was doing an entire broadcast from a location in five of the major cities of Hampton Roads. Their Chesapeake location was to be Greenbrier Mall. Even though, at that age, I thought that the news was the most monotonous and mind-numbing experience outside of long division, I couldn't wait for six p.m. to arrive that evening. I remember focusing on the corridors and mallways located just behind Terry Zahn as he reported on another savings and loan scandal or the cold war, whatever was big news back then. From our 27 inch wood console tv, Greenbrier looked immense. The skylight feature over center court seemed to go on forever and the place looked like it was three levels. Three whole stories! I had to see it for myself.

-UPDATE-  1 & 2- Pics from Greenbrier Mall’s opening in 1981.  (Source for both.)  3 to 6- The newly opened shopping center in the mid-eighties.  (Source for 3 to 6)

I have to admit that when I finally did visit Greenbrier Mall I was a bit disappointed. My expectations were set rather high, and I was hoping to experience a monstrous monument to capitalism. But what I found was a simple two level facility (albeit the only fully double-tiered enclosed concourse in South Hampton Roads at that time) with only two anchors and not a whole lot more. What I did like was that the mall was on a graded piece of real estate; entrances were accessible on both the first and second levels while some portions of the building were "buried." In addition to that unique element for the region, Greenbrier Mall was rather bright for a mall designed during the late seventies. There were the standard wooden floors beneath wide ceilings with wooden accents, but that abundance of timber was in the burnished and lighter shades of the pine variety. I also remember the food court was kind of hidden in a small cubby hole on the second level outside of the massive center court. But I'm not completely sure if I'm remembering this correctly as, on my next visit, it was actually located closer to Sears.

Greenbrier Mall Mallmanac ca. 1999. View the full PDF version here.

Greenbrier Mall opened in 1981 as the growing bedroom community of Chesapeake's first enclosed shopping center. At that time, it had only two anchors, Sears and Miller & Rhoads. There was clearly room for two other majors to be added later, and it wasn't long before they were. First, around 1987, a Hess's was erected at the building's southeastern end. I remember the Virginia Pilot's printing a big write-up on the new outlet, one that was much larger than the average Hess's venue. I rode my bike all the way out to the still mysterious mall one summer day just to finally see the neoteric novelty with its new-store smell and my favorite nameplate. I'll never forget how the escalators were encased in glass while multi-colored lights enhanced the experience. It was the closest my underage mind had ever come to trippin'. Just a year or two later, Leggett built one of their trademark diamond-shaped emporiums on the northeastern pad, giving the mall the footprint it has to this day.

Greenbrier Mall Mallmanac ca. 2000. View the full PDF version here.

There was a little anchor shuffling as the years passed. Miller & Rhoads first became Hecht's before being taken over by Macy's. Hess's was eventually lost to Dillard's while Leggett's tenure at Greenbrier was short lived. Dillard's took over their space, using it as a second location while they expanded their original pad. When they consolidated into one location, JCPenney used that opportunity to join the tenant list. Sears, in what seems to be the norm for them, remains the oldest extant anchor.

-UPDATE-  Greenbrier Mall during the 2017 Christmas season.  (Source for all)

Greenbrier continues to serve its market well, although still not with an identity that its area retail peers seem to enjoy. But even as Tower Mall has faded away and Military Circle as well as the younger Chesapeake Square struggle to remain relevant, Greenbrier continues to hold its own in a crowded market.

-UPDATE-  Greenbrier Mall Mallmanac ca. 2015. View the full PDF version here.

-UPDATE-

-30 June 2024

(Source)

In news that was a surprise to absolutely no one, the oldest extant anchor at Greenbrier Mall, Sears, exited their final remaining full size location in the southside in 2018.  The other three anchors still reman and seem to do pretty well, while the mall itself still boasts a rather robust list of tenants.  Its only competition in the municipality, Chesapeake Square, while still open, has seemingly thrown in the towel and seems to be headed for a full redevelopment, so its good to see that the older Greenbrier still draws in the crowds.

Greenbrier Mall lease plan ca. 2021. View the full PDF version here.

 An entertainment complex which was to include a hotel, several bars and restaurants as a gambling parlor known as Rosie’s Gaming Emporium was proposed for the former Sears space but traffic concerns scuttled the idea.  Today the nearly 200,000 square foot building hosts a temporary location for Dick’s Sporting Goods while the bottom tier remains unoccupied.

1- JCPenney’s exterior.  (Source)  2- Sears former building.  (Source)  3 & 4- Macy’s and Dillard’s façades.  (Source for both)  5 & 6- The interior of Greenbrier Mall today.  (Source for both)

At this point, as MacArthur Center and Chesapeake Square circle their respective drains ready to join Pembroke, Military Circle and Tower Mall in the great parking lot in the sky, most predict that South Hampton Roads can support only one major enclosed shopping center by the time the dust settles.  By most accounts, the lone victor will be Lynnhaven.  This doesn’t bode well for Greenbrier, the forgotten, anonymous white walled monolith of Chesapeake.  I hope we’re all wrong.

Greenbrier Mall Mallmanac ca. 2024. View the full PDF version here.

Greenbrier Mall official website