Newmarket North Mall/Newmarket Fair Mall: Newport News, VA

A reality that is nothing new to the residents of Hampton Roads is that the area is overmalled.  Hampton Roads can be compared in many ways to Florida in how it is basically a huge sprawing suburban cluster of cities instead of a single city making up the area.  The result is that each city attempted to carve out its own suburban realm including their own malls to pad the city's tax base.  Mall developers, eager to oblige, built and built malls until malls both major and minor were all located within 5-10 miles of each other cannibalizing each other for stores, sales and shoppers.  This became evident quickly as the earlier malls died more quickly than most and the newer, larger malls found it difficult to survive.  This was certainly the case for Newmarket North Mall.

Newmarket North suffered for a number of reasons.  One was that it was developed using apparently outdated or at least not well researched data.  Constructed by the Hahn Company, the mall was not well positioned for the time it was built: a superregional mall opening in an area that was already becoming too blue collar to support it.  Newmarket North did not initially appear to be a rotten apple.  It had solid anchors, was in a seemingly prime retail strip and it was not redundant with other area malls.  That distinction did not last very long.

Obviously the most remarkable thing about Newmarket North Mall is that despite the mall itself being demalled for nearly 20 years, Sears still lingers on with the old 1975 logo still hanging on at the mall entrance!

When the mall opened on March 26, 1975, it was anchored by Sears, Leggett and Miller & Rhoads.  All of those were prominent anchors in Virginia at the time with Sears a guaranteed draw, Leggett a desirable anchor found throughout the state as a division of Belk and Miller & Rhoads a prominent upscale department store based in Richmond.  Its nearest competitor was Coliseum Mall, which complemented the mall with anchors that included Korvette's (later Wards), JCPenney and Rice's-Nachman's.  Colliseum Mall was better positioned along I-664, but it lacked the solid anchors that Newmarket North Mall had.  The result was an expansion in 1976 that added Thalhimer's and Smith & Welton to the mall.  This honeymoon lasted a little over a decade.  Another mall, Mercury Mall, was much closer but it was a very small early mall without any major anchors and was effectively killed off by Newmarket North by the mid-1980's.

This tent-like structure was obviously added in the 1989 update

Looking opposite Sears toward Miller & Rhoads.  At this point, only the layout gives away its origins as a mall.  All of the storefronts were removed in 1998 and replaced with these walls.  However, the ceiling, rails and flooring are original to the 1989 update other than the fact the once teal blue rails are now a drab gray.

Lower level view looking back to Sears and the Sears court

In 1987, competition arrived to both malls in the form of Patrick Henry Mall.  Like Coliseum, the new mall did not initially appear to be as credible of a threat as another Crown American mall anchored by Hess's, Bradlee's and another location of Leggett.  However, changes in the retail scene were underway that would deal a crushing blow on the still-new mall.  The first was when Miller & Rhoads parent company Allied Department Stores became a victim of the financial scandals that created major upheaval in the industry.  While many Allied stores were sold to competitors, primarily Hess's, Miller & Rhoads went under.  In 1990, the store closed for good with no other department store coming to take its place.  Hess's was the logical successor, but they were not about to duplicate stores with their Patrick Henry store.

The center court update with the grand looking staircases and domed skylight were part of the 1989 update.  However, much of the color was stripped out of this scene in subsequent updates.

Despite the pending closure of Miller & Rhoads, the mall was sold to Goodman Segar Hogan.  Its new owners were still ambitious about the mall's future and immediately set forward to commence a major renovation.  The mall was gutted and redone as a lighter, brighter mall and given a new name: Newmarket Fair Mall.  Nonetheless, new tiles, paint and skylights were not the cure to this mall's illness.  The fact was that the newer Patrick Henry Mall was visible along I-64 in a better neighborhood and Coliseum Mall also expanded heavily in an attempt to compete with Patrick Henry Mall.  Newmarket North received no such expansion, and it was a couple miles off the interstate in a declining neighborhood.

About the only evidence left of a former storefront is on the left side with Miller & Rhoads behind me.

The right side of the former Miller & Rhoads mall entrance is still visible while the left side is walled off.  It is today a Verizon call center.

Diagonal escalators in the Miller & Rhoads court give the mall a DeBartolo feel.  Only the down escalator was working so as to prevent shoppers/visitors (what shoppers?) from accessing the restricted parts of the second floor.

Once a fountain, now a tacky cluster of house plants where the water used to flow.

As the 80's were coming to a close, the stores were also beginning to close.  By the early 90's the mall had a high number of vacancies, and the blows kept coming.  After Miller & Rhoads closer, next to go was when Leggett, who also had a store at Patrick Henry, downgraded their store to an outlet in 1991.  In 1992, the bridge/tunnel on I-664 to the south was completed connecting Newport News to Norfolk taking traffic off of Mercury Blvd while drawing more traffic away from the mall and to better shopping options further south and east.  By that time a new look could not restore the luster.  By the middle of the decade, the mall was half-empty and Leggett pulled out around the same time.  When the dust settled all that was left were a few stores including a Morrison's Cafeteria and Sears.

Piccadilly Cafeteria, formerly Morrison's Cafeteria, continues to serve mall walkers (and maybe workers)

Entrance wing with Piccadilly on the right and the Sears court behind me

What is strange is that despite the death of the mall as a retail center, Sears never left.  When all three malls opened in Newport News, the others failed to attract a Sears nor provided room for them to relocate.  The mall itself was ultimately repurposed as a business center in 1998 meaning that a fully functioning Sears with two levels of merchandise and a Piccadilly Cafeteria, originally opening as Morrison's Cafeteria, are all the retail that remain.  What's even more interesting is that Sears never even updated its mall entrance still sporting its red Times New Roman logo on the mall entrance!

Sears, facing east.  The logo on the exterior was, unfortunately, updated.

Sears auto center also still going strong

Former Miller & Rhoads, facing south.  It was not a terribly inviting store.

Newmarket North Mall's revival as a business center was successful, but it also looks to be winding down.  The mall has in fact survived longer as a repurposed center than it did as an actual retail mall.  However, the reality of malls as a whole failing coupled with the glut of office space since the 2008 crash has made repurposing malls less attractive with once enthusiastic tenants vying for the shared, affordable office space leaving for nicer buildings.  In addition, the mall's sole surviving anchor is today a very troubled company likely to liquidate within the next 2-5 years meaning that the unyielding survivor is basically feasting on scraps to keep the lights on and doors open.  The rest of the mall closes at 5 PM on weekdays like any other office building.

The main part of the mall includes window cuts were a brutalist brick facade was once windowless.  This is the Miller & Rhoads court entrance.

In all honesty, there is not much left to see in the mall as most of its 1980's store fronts have all been stripped away for various office facades.  Nonetheless, the building itself actually outlasted its more successful primary competitor: Coliseum Mall.  The mall today is one of many joining the chapter of failed malls since the 40 year mall boom busted including many in the area.  Coliseum Mall, now an open-air center known as Peninsula Town Center, just lost its Macy's in the former Thalhimer's and Chesapeake Square to the south is emptying out.  Several other smaller malls in the region are also long gone including nearby Mercury Mall.  How much longer will Newmarket North continue to go south before it bottoms out?

BONUS: 1988 commercial for the mall showing it in its original 1975 look.

ALSO: Further reading with historical photos on Sick Malls.

Eastland Mall (Farewell Part 1): Charlotte, NC

On June 30, 2010 one of Charlotte's largest and very first large two-level malls will be closing possibly forever and definitely forever as a traditional mall.  Much like Century Plaza in Birmingham, the mall has faded extremely fast from when it was fully successful a mere four years ago.  It is certain that the neighborhood has played a big part in its demise...a lower income neighborhood with very real crime.  This is evidenced today with the plethora of seedy apartments, trashy shops and check cashing places found a block or so away on Central Avenue.  Nevertheless, it is a sad turn of events for a mall that was once the top place to shop in the city and at one point largest in the state.  Myself, I almost missed the opportunity to catch this historic mall at its very end, but encouragement from several people led to me making the 250 mile journey to the Queen City.  I did this partly to document the faded hopes of a mall whose offbeat location in a declining inner ring suburb combined with insurmountable competition to finally bring it to its knees.

When the mall opened in 1975, it was a first for the city.  It was the first to have four anchors, the first with two levels and the first to have its own indoor ice skating rink.  Luring in Charlotte's own Belk and Ivey's, the mall was also joined by JCPenney and junior anchor Miller and Rhoads.  In 1979, Sears would also join the mall on the back side.  With so much to offer, the mall was an instant hit.  In fact, it was so popular that it even surpassed South Park Mall for nearly two decades.  The mall, however, was in a strange place.  Like South Park, it was situated far away from major interstates.  Just that alone would have made the mall easy to replace, but the city grew relatively slowly up until the 1990's and none of the malls located near freeways offered anything comparable. 

Belk here closed in 2006.  No store in the mall had a more dated mall entrance and exterior, but it was dated in a good way...I really liked both.  The first photo is of the road sign, which thanks the hoards of area residents who frequented the mall over the years. 

JCPenney, however, wrote the book on bland.  This last operated as Burlington Coat Factory, which closed early in the year.

A look at the mall outside of Belk.  

Part of the mall on the JCPenney wing.

Looking from JCPenney court.  An old Foot Locker is on the right.

Eastland Mall was a typical swanky 70's mall with fountains and trees in the smaller courts in addition to the memorable center court.  Eventually, a couple renovations stripped much of that away exposing the inadequacies of an otherwise pretty basic two-level mall.  The first renovation around 1989, however, would bring in updated fountains and a new food court.  The mall also saw two anchor changes in that period.  The first was due to Ivey's being bought out by Dillard's in 1990.  Miller and Rhoads would also depart later in the 1990's, converting to regular mall space.  However, the mall at that point also competed only with similarly remote South Park and Carolina Place Malls, which helped the mall maintain a competitive edge by being the most convenient mall in the city .  Even then, half the anchor stores at Eastland overlapped with South Park: both had Belk and Dillard's.  This would all change in 2005 with the opening of Northlake Mall, which I believe had as much of an effect in Eastland's failure as the neighborhood around it.

Northeast entrance wing from the upper level near JCPenney.  The same closed Foot Locker is on the right.  Miller & Rhoads used to be on the left.

In the same wing as above, what was this store?  I am told this was Morrison's Cafeteria.

Disney Store?

Sad.  This is on the same entrance wing as above.

Skylight detail in the adjacent court.  This was only possible due to the big thunderstorm that erupted while I was in here.

Whether anybody realizes it, probably the reason the mall lasted as long as it did was due to a rather limited selection of malls and even anchors such as Sears or JCPenney for a fast growing city.  Before Eastland Mall, the previous community type malls typically had one local department store often with a discounter such as Woolco as the other anchor.  It was hardly a proper shopping experience, and much of that was fueled by the tremendous influence of the Belk and Ivey families.  Charlotte's first mall was not even enough to lure either one: it was originally anchored by Bon Marche from Asheville.  While malls like Eastland eventually killed those centers, a better shopping experience was strongly desired, and Eastland provided that.

View from second level of center court with Dillard's/Ivey's in the background.  The "Ice Capades" are now an indoor soccer field, and the blue looks very garish next to the rest of the court.

Almost the same angle from 1989 with Ivey's in the background.  Photo by Pat Richardson.

Looking toward Sears in the center court with a better view of the skylights.

Detail of the skylights.  This is definitely an older style.  One of the nation's oldest malls has this, and another mall in Charlotte also used this style.  I like it, though.

The sun finally pops out here as I cover an angle with the east wing on the right.

Northlake pulled shoppers away from the mall right away when the new mall opened in 2006.  Not only was it in a better area, but it offered a far more attractive shopping experience with far less of a crime risk involved.  Other developments such as the stalled Bridges at Mint Hill also threatened the mall, but Northlake was the only one to actually materialize.  Northlake also has the advantage of direct interstate access, which Eastland never had.  The writing was on the wall and the changes came fast.  The first sign of trouble came in the 1990's, though, when the theaters in the mall shuttered in 1996.  Glimcher Realty bought the mall in 1998, but seemed to take no interest in the property.  By 1999, JCPenney converted their full-line store into an outlet.  Trouble was in the air as the area was declining with rents dropping on nearby apartments with the bad element settling in.  Even worse, no real investment had been made in the mall since it was built.  In fact, it appears the last renovation was done in 1989 with no other changes since it was built aside from removal of the fountains.  Not only were no anchors added, but on the outside the mall pretty much looked the same as the day it opened.

A nice shot of both levels from a smaller court area.  I believe that is the former Belk in the background.

On the lower level is a northwest entrance wing.  On the right is the entrance to the food court.  I have a closer shot, but it did not come out as well.  Was this where the theater used to be?

One of two shots of the food court area.

More of the food court.  The main mall is on the left.

1989 photo of the food court from Pat Richardson.  Note the stairs on the right down to the ice skating rink.

By 2002, the biggest sign of trouble happened when the JCPenney Outlet closed.  Burlington Coat Factory, which is typically a death sentence for most malls, took over the spot by 2005, but it too would not last.  This gave Belk and Dillard's a chance to get out of their own leases since the mall had allowed a non-traditional anchor in a department store space.  Belk closed their store in 2006, helped along by the opening of the store at Northlake just prior.  Dillard's also converted their store to an outlet.  That same year, the signature ice rink would close, though it appears to have since been used for indoor soccer since then.  The interior of the mall was also in decline as much of the big name tenants including stores like American Eagle and Hollister opted out.  Seeing the writing on the wall, Charlotte was interested in buying the mall and tearing it down, but apparently the city has made no action on doing so.

Looking northwest here with the food court entrance in the middle and the main mall on the left.

Approximate photo with one of the big chandaliers.  WHY did these have to go?

Vacant Sears is in the background from this angle.

Sears is in the background here, too...21 years ago.  Photo by Pat Richardson.

Over the next couple years, the mall would go from bad to worse.  Dillard's closed it store in late 2008, Sears departed in June 2009 and the mall's last anchor, Burlington Coat Factory, closed this year.  Anchorless and hopeless, Glimcher found it was unable to sell the giant rock in the middle of a run down area, so it decided instead to let the entire mall be foreclosed on.  On my visit, the remaining tenants were packing out and the air conditioner was shut off making a visit to the mall highly uncomfortable.  The owners made no secret the game was over.  This is why the mall will be closing down next Wednesday ending a once much happier chapter in Charlotte history.

Former Champs's Sporting Goods

What was this?

An old Athlete's Foot.

A view from the second level shows these crossbeams with plants on top.  It would be bad news if someone knocks one of those over with someone below.

With the mall dead, interest in the center still exists.  A Houston-based company known as Boxer Realty wants to buy the center converting it into a mixed-use site catering to the multicultural aspects of the neighborhood.  Boxer currently runs a place known as Plaza Fiesta Carolinas.  With this, it seems possible that the mall could become something akin to the wildly popular Plaza Fiesta Mall in Atlanta...except this would be a much larger project.  I had actually suggested such a project on an earlier post for fading Asian Corner/Tryon Mall.  Boxer's plans, however, are modeled after a dead mall they revived in Fort Worth, TX  into a Hispanic-themed center.  The company is citing its success in reviving Fort Worth Town Center into La Gran Plaza as to why they could do the same for Eastland.  Hopefully, this is genuine so that this mall does not become for the consolidated city of Charlotte/Mecklenburg County another enormous rotting corpse of a mall like Regency Mall became for consolidated Augusta/Richmond County, GA.

An original court area under reconstruction in 1989.  It looks naked without those trees today.  Photo by Pat Richardson.

An earlier view of probably the same court from 1980.  They don't make 'em like this anymore.  Photo by Pat Richardson.

I sure miss the shops with the Bavarian themes.  Photo by Pat Richardson from 1989.

Inside Lerner Shops.  Photo by Pat Richardson from 1989.

Inside Radio Shack.  Photo by Pat Richardson from 1989.

While I am hardly the first to cover it, I am glad to be able to post on Eastland Mall showing you some of my photos combined with photos of the mall at various times in its history from Pat Richardson.  Many, many people are sad about this mall departing as it was once the premier shopping destination for Charlotte.  35 years is not really long enough for a mall of this size to go from boom to bust.  It reminds me of so many malls from my childhood including a few that have gone away, so I fully understand this must be hard for many people to see how a place of their youth has come to this.  It looks as though Eastland could find new life, but never again as the way that people remember it.  However, many have come along over the years capturing photos of it in its various points in history, so unlike many other malls it will be remembered well with images preserved for years to come.