tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post7586808599794068423..comments2024-03-26T21:06:08.519-07:00Comments on Sky City: Retail History: Fair Oaks Mall: Fairfax, VAJ.T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04208881715255029485noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post-61142308272127485132020-12-20T20:48:46.508-08:002020-12-20T20:48:46.508-08:00Ahh Fair Oaks was my first mall in the Northern VA...Ahh Fair Oaks was my first mall in the Northern VA area when I moved here out of college. I was just trying to adapt to all of the traffic and my brother took me here to get a suit from a men's store - who's name escapes me - which was not a chain and was my first experience with quality men's clothier. This was 1989 and they are long gone - as are most of the quality men's clothing stores.<br />True story. I was working in Crystal City in the early 90s and two of my co-workers got to talking about summer jobs. It turns out they both had worked on setting up Fair Oaks Mall back in the day on the same crew but could not remember ever meeting! Small world.sjankis630https://www.blogger.com/profile/03606022946079550865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post-91784698702680354012018-03-16T04:19:11.669-07:002018-03-16T04:19:11.669-07:00I'm really sad about the major changes. I gre...I'm really sad about the major changes. I grew up going to that mall and still go. It's really sad they couldn't just make a glass wall around the fountain. People always have to ruin things that don't need to be changed. Same with that lower sitting area. No reason at all to change it. Once again, progress is not progress.PrincessMagicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16668178212173105273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post-21918209901563895702017-12-21T18:03:49.196-08:002017-12-21T18:03:49.196-08:00The sculptures are still there.The sculptures are still there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post-27509758577526265612017-07-09T00:02:15.429-07:002017-07-09T00:02:15.429-07:00Rumor has it that the Sears is getting ready to cl...Rumor has it that the Sears is getting ready to close there. I had heard that Nordstrom was interested in one of the Macys stores there awhile back but nothing happened with it. I always thought a store at Fair Oaks was a better fit for them than their soon-to-be-closed store at Dulles Town Center - which is a rather run of the mill mall considering it's the only enclosed mall in one of the wealthiest counties in the US.Sv2017https://www.blogger.com/profile/12747020154511266512noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post-79163067309005526222017-02-21T18:09:31.769-08:002017-02-21T18:09:31.769-08:00My mom and grandma would take my brothers and I he...My mom and grandma would take my brothers and I here as young kids. I remember being fascinated by the fountains/pools and playing in the sunken seating area. It's a shame that's gone.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post-90513562096421516802015-08-05T11:33:16.980-07:002015-08-05T11:33:16.980-07:00Photos from 1981: http://www.flickr.com/photos/350...Photos from 1981: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35081637@N00/sets/72157655147804909Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post-91118553261752679112015-03-06T15:17:45.648-08:002015-03-06T15:17:45.648-08:00We moved to the area in the early 80s. The 5 pool...We moved to the area in the early 80s. The 5 pool fountain was always there - I don't ever remember a different one. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post-42596393120516020732014-12-21T16:42:14.893-08:002014-12-21T16:42:14.893-08:00Beautiful fountain, but I can see it being a poten...Beautiful fountain, but I can see it being a potential liability with no guardrails keeping wandering toddlers or inattentive cell-phone users from walking right into it. Same goes for the pit areas, which were probably utilized as smoking areas back in the day. A lot of malls banned smoking around the same time the fountains and planters started to get gutted at other locations in the mid 90's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post-28056735781521090262014-11-12T13:47:43.076-08:002014-11-12T13:47:43.076-08:00Tysons benefits from having what is probably the l...Tysons benefits from having what is probably the largest concentration of employment in the region, along with increasing amounts of housing and hotels that trail the employment. The area is expected to become more "urban" in the future with more mixes of uses and even more people living and working there with the new Metro line. Tysons has a surprising amount of unbuilt or underutilized land (small 1970s buildings, ancillary strip malls past their prime) that will enable this growth to occur. Having nearby workers, visitors to the area, and increasing numbers of people living nearby, along with Metro access insure that Tysons will survive changes in retail. Tysons also has many exclusive locations for retailer (either exclusive in the DC area or in the Virginia suburbs). Springfield's renewal remains to be seen but it happened because the mall is near a lot of federal and federal contractor jobs, with increases in employment happening in recent years and more projected for the future. OTOH, renewal of dying malls in the DC area has had limited success--Prince Georges Plaza and Wheaton Plaza both lost many of their traditional mall tenants. Wheaton still generates a lot of traffic but has had trouble filling some of its space that became less desirable when Hechts closed their store in the wake of the May-Federated merger. Prince George's Plaza has done less well, overall, but there is a commitment to make the area work better as a mixed use complex. Both of those malls have Metro access. Both seems like candidates for demalling at some point and returning to their ironic roots and well designed open malls.<br /><br />Fair Oaks is in a relatively upscale area but one that has a lower density than most of the hinterlands for malls in the DC area. There are miles and miles of retail in all directions with lots of big box retail. This, combined with increasing amounts of internet shopping, probably make it difficult for Fair Oaks to real maintain dominance even in its own area.The northern Virginia suburbs, to a greater degree than those in Maryland seem to go on forever with repeating cycles of retail.If you have to drive miles and miles in this mind numbing sameness, a trip to Tysons provides some novelty. The big concentrations of truly well-off people in the DC area follow the Potomac River with more scattered pockets elsewhere and in northwest DC--these are Tysons' local base. Fair Oaks is not well positioned to compete for these shoppers or even more middle class shoppers, especially in the absence of the intensive employment development that helps Tysons or the added benefit of tourist and business traveler trade that's important to Tysons (and even more so, Georgetown in DC). Fair Oaks seems to be a less advantaged version of Montgomery Mall. Montgomery also is in Tysons' shadow and has lost some of its luster and volume, but it is near a major concentration of federal and private sector workplaces and is a "local mall" for Bethesda, upper NW DC, and Potomac with stores that aren't represented along Rockville Pike in downtown Bethesda or Friendship Heights.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2047095566316955789.post-48999999113482743742014-11-12T07:18:08.729-08:002014-11-12T07:18:08.729-08:00This post is amazing. I can't believe they to...This post is amazing. I can't believe they took out those fountains and some of the sculptures there. Also, agree with you that it is pointless to have two Macy's stores. One should definitely become a Nordstrom.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com