That Mall's Sick And That Store's Dead!

Moved To Wordpress

2007-02-10T22:46:00.000-05:00

I've moved to Wordpress!!!

http://sickmalls.wordpress.com/

Coliseum Mall being demolished for 'Peninsula Town Center'

2007-01-31T12:58:00.000-05:00

{wow! the pilot is just so on top of things! [/sarcasm]}

By MICHELLE E. SHAW, The Virginian-Pilot
© January 31, 2007

HAMPTON - Tearing down Coliseum Mall was not part of the initial renovation plan.

"When we shared our original ideas with retailers, they said it wasn't enough," said Raymond Tripp, the mall's general manager. "Just remodeling wasn't going to get it done, they said."

Today, the former Dillard's department store is gone, and wrecking crews are poised to raze much of what's left of the 1 million- square-foot mall just off of Interstate 64 and Mercury Boulevard, near the Hampton Coliseum.

In its place will rise Peninsula Town Center, a network of streets and buildings featuring residential, office and retail space with a construction price tag of more than $200 million.

The town center will be more of a destination, said Justin Leyda, a development executive with Steiner and Associates, the development group working on the project with the center's owners, Mall Properties Inc.

"You won't have just a single purpose for visiting this area," Leyda said. "This will not be just a retail establishment."

Poquoson residents Richmond and Charlotte Long, shopping in the mall on a recent Monday, welcome the changes.

"It's lost its appeal," Richmond Long said.

"They have to do something to bring the people back," his wife added. "And I think this might work."

The city of Hampton certainly thinks so. It projects that Peninsula Town Center will generate $6 million a year in tax revenue once it's completed and businesses are open in 2009, said Kathy Grook, a senior development manager in Hampton's economic development department. In recent years, she said, the mall, which opened in 1973, has produced about $3 million a year in tax revenue.

"We think Peninsula Town Center will do more to establish us as a destination," she said. "We've already seen some private investment taking place as a result of this."

Before the new town center can emerge, the old mall must be torn down. Getting the mall ready for demolition is no easy task, said Tripp, who has managed Coliseum Mall for 16 years.

"Just taking the building apart is complicated," he said. "I've got water meters that need to come out and be collected, utilities that need to be disconnected. When the building was built, there were about 110 small spaces that were designed, and you've got to realize we've chopped and added and all of that, so who knows what else has to happen."

Tearing down the mall includes helping to relocate dozens of tenants, putting on a job fair for more than 50 employees who will lose their jobs and finding a place for the Mall Striders walking club to exercise, Tripp said.

The next phase of demolition is tentatively scheduled for March, but Tripp said he's got to make sure all of the tenants are out first. Even though the mall closed in mid-January, a handful of stores remain open.

"We hadn't finalized our negotiations," he said. "But now we have, and thank goodness we did, because I can't tear down a building with people in it."

One issue has been access to the mall's LensCrafters, which is tentatively scheduled to relocate in mid-February. The eyewear store's exterior mall entrance is in a construction zone, so the mall's interior is being kept open until LensCrafters' temporary location at the nearby Mercury Plaza is ready in late February or early March, Tripp said.

"We'll actually start some real hard demolition sometime in mid-March or at the end of March," he said. "It's all a matter of timing. We're going to start the first part of the demolition down by Macy's and work back this way, so by the time we get to LensCrafters we'll have them in their temporary quarters."

Other retailers still open at the mall are Barnes & Noble, Burlington Coat Factory, JC Penney and Macy's. The bookseller is scheduled to close around the same time as LensCrafters and the coat factory will permanently relocate to a new building at Mercury Plaza.

"Penney's new building is under construction where the old Dillard's used to be," Tripp said. "They will only close long enough to transfer the merchandise. Macy's however, will never close. They will remain in that building."

Even after all of the moves are made and Coliseum Mall comes tumbling down, Tripp said his work will not be complete.

"I've never de-malled a mall before, so I don't know if things will slow down or not," he said. "How about I'll let you know when it's all over."

Reach Michelle E. Shaw at (757) 446-2667 or michelle.shaw@pilotonline.com.

WVEC 13 News Report On Coliseum Mall

2007-01-17T00:29:00.000-05:00

I made a video and posted it on YouTube, this is from the January 14th news report.

I'll make screen caps of the story soon too.

Wallets Open As Doors Close

2007-01-15T10:38:00.000-05:00

Wallets open as mall's doors close
Shoppers took in clearance sales as Coliseum Mall starts to make way for a town center.
BY KIM O'BRIEN ROOT
928-6473
January 15, 2007
HAMPTON -- So this is the end of a mall.

With much of the parking lot already blocked off for the upcoming demolition, cars crammed into the remaining spaces as customers came for one last shopping trip before Coliseum Mall closes for good.

Shoppers wandered the corridors, passing by many shops already closed and shuttered. Many people clutched multiple shopping bags, having taken advantage of the clearance sales.

Sunday marked the day that most stores closed at the nearly 34-year-old mall, which will reopen in a few years as the Peninsula Town Center - an open-air shopping center that will include residential and office space.

For Michele Woods-Jones, a Hampton resident who's been shopping at Coliseum Mall for years, her visit was a bit like saying good-bye to an old friend.

"In some ways it's sad," Woods-Jones said as she clutched a large J.C. Penney bag in each hand. "In another way, you want to take advantage of the best deals. It's like my own personal way to say good-bye."

After all, it's not often she can afford silk pillowcases and leather purses for each of her three daughters, Woods-Jones added.

J.C. Penney, the only one of the mall's original big-name retailers that still exists today, offered deep discounts on Sunday. A $44 pair of Liz Claiborne pants, for example, sold for about $13.

J.C. Penney will join Macy's and Burlington Coat Factory as one of the few stores that will remain open throughout most of the construction - scheduled for completion in April 2009 - although J.C.Penney and Burlington Coat Factory will close briefly to change locations.

Barnes & Noble, Life Uniforms, Lenscrafters and Lee Nails will stay open at least through the end of the month. The free-standing restaurants - Steak & Ale, Bennigan's and Outback Steakhouse - will remain.

Lee Nails, which merged with Venetian Nails, is moving to a new location at Riverdale Plaza. Other stores are moving, too - like Kay Jewelers to Coliseum Crossing Shopping Center - but some posted signs directing shoppers to other locations.

While Coliseum's closing is a matter of moving or sending inventory elsewhere for some stores, the smaller businesses didn't all fare so well. Keum C. Hairston decided to close her kiosk, "Picture Me," for good.

Hairston has printed customers' personal photographs onto T-shirts, calendars, mugs and key chains from her kiosk for the past six years. It wasn't worth it to look for a new location, she said Sunday.

"I had a lot of customers, especially at the holidays," Hairston said as she finished transferring a grandchild's photo onto a canvas bag. "They're going to miss me, and I'm going to miss them. But I guess it's time to go."

But for Ines Ledbetter, Elena Welch, Maria Godfrey and Mercedes McHenry, a group of Hampton friends - and natives of Spain - who spent Sunday afternoon shopping together, the closing isn't a bad thing.

The four said they're looking forward to the new shopping center as well as the possibility of new nightspots.

"I think," Ledbetter said as she carefully examined the miniature model of the Peninsula Town Center on display, "I'm going to like this one better."

Coliseum Mall's Last Day Of Business

2007-01-14T19:44:00.000-05:00

{of course, click for larger}

I actually got to go down there today. My dad gave me a ride.

{I know, that's the worst picture ever}

This was one of the only mall entrances open.

I only did a walk around and a trip to Barnes and Noble. Everybody was having a moving sale except for the chain stores who I assume are just shutting down and moving.

{of course, click for larger}

That's what Bath and Body Works had in mind.

{of course, click for larger}

{of course, click for larger}

The food court was dead.

The closed Chick-a-Fila (I wish I took a pic of it now but I was scared of security) still had red Christmas garland on it, and the door to the kitchen had been taken off its hinges and it was out at the counters, and there was a sign on it about how employees would be charged with shoplifting if they were caught taking food before closing.

I went to Barnes & Noble and got a green tea frappichino (the only one I like, if I want coffee I'll get a hot cup of coffee, not some frou foru drink), a fabric stretchy book cover for my Literature book, and an old style Moleskine address book.

I took a picture of the doors before dad and I left:

{of course, click for larger}

A better photo.

{of course, click for larger}

The anchors are still staying in their spots until their new buildings are built.

I dunno about crapppy Burlington though, its rumored that they're moving piratically back to their old location.

This was the last photo I took:

----

Channel 13had a camera woman out when I was there, and I recorded the news tonight. It's gonna be a while before I can upload the video though 'cause I gotta put it on a DVD and I gotta fill up the rest of the DVD and blah blah blah. So that'll take a few days.

Coliseum Mall closing on Sunday

2007-01-13T00:58:00.000-05:00

{WAVY TV 10}

Filed by Shannon Powell

The first mall built on the Peninsula is closing its doors on Sunday. Coliseum Mall is being torn down to make way for the Peninsula Town Center. The mall was built in 1973. Over the years the structure was renovated, but owners believe it is time to update the shopping center. Some people are looking forward to the new shopping area.

"I really think it is going to be very nice. I think it's going to bring in more revenue. More jobs and make our city look better than what it looks right now, " said Mone Gilliam.

Then there are those who like Coliseum, as is.

"You become familiar with the clerks and therefore it become like a family environment around here. Now, you won't have that," said Billie Jean Neil.

"Over the 33 years, our population has started to grow, " said Coliseum Mall General Manager Raymond Tripp, "we realize we need to do something more dramatic."

The new Peninsula will cost around $200-million dollars to complete. During the construction phase, Macy's Department store will remain open. Barnes & Nobles, Burlington Coat Factory and JCPenny will remain open until the stores' new buildings are ready.

The Town Center is scheduled to open in 2009.

End of an era for local shoppers

2007-01-12T15:25:00.000-05:00

{Photo I took in October of 2006}

Most stores will close Sunday, as the 33-year-old mall gives way to the open-air Peninsula Town Center.
BY CYNTHIA H. CHO
247-4744
January 12, 2007

HAMPTON -- At Coliseum Mall on Thursday, Norma Reed peered at the miniature model of the Peninsula Town Center, which will replace the mall that would turn 34 years old in October.

Reed, who has been living in Hampton for 40 years, remembers when the mall opened on Halloween in 1973.

"It was bustling," Reed, 71, said. "Everyone was here. It was beautiful."

In two days, most of the stores that are still open at the mall will close their doors for the last time. Demolition is scheduled to begin in late February, and construction of the Peninsula Town Center is set to finish in April 2009.

Macy's, J.C. Penney and Burlington Coat Factory will remain open throughout most of the construction; the latter two will close briefly in order to change locations. The three free-standing restaurants - Steak & Ale, Bennigan's and Outback Steakhouse -will also remain. A handful of other stores, including Barnes & Noble, Life Uniforms and Lee Nails, will stay open until mid-February.

Declining sales and the growing popularity of outdoor shopping centers were factors in the decision to give Coliseum Mall the $207 million makeover, according to executives at New York-based Mall Properties Inc., which owns the mall.

Retail sales dropped from $142 million in 1999 to $112 million in 2004. In 2005, it declined further to $99 million, in part because some stores didn't renew their leases and left the mall. According to Ross Mugler, Hampton's commissioner of revenue, Coliseum Mall made up to 20 percent of the city's taxable sales in 1992. In 2005, the mall made up about 11 percent.

Local newspapers carried stories about Coliseum Mall starting in 1970, when the city announced the development. A Daily Press article published on July 9, 1970, reported: "Fully enclosed, the center will be 100 percent climate controlled." When it opened on Oct. 31, 1973, it was the biggest mall on the Peninsula, anchored by three big-name department stores: Korvette, Rices-Nachmans and J.C. Penney. About 50 stores were open on that first day. J.C. Penney is the only original retailer that still exists.

According to a Nov. 1, 1973, Daily Press article, then-mayor David N. Montague said the mall would "bring a depth and diversity to shoppers who previously have turned to out-of-town suppliers for special items."

The mall was a popular site for community events throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Art competitions, health fairs, bird shows and cake-decorating contests all were held at the mall during its first decade. In March 1978, there was a rock-a-thon - with rocking chairs - to benefit the Hope Haven Children's Home in Virginia Beach.

It had some rough times, too. There were lawsuits, broken water pipes, power outages and complaints about traffic congestion. And the opening of each stage of development was delayed.

On Thursday the gates were down and the lights were out at many of the mall's stores. Earlier this week, the mall's general manager, Raymond Tripp, said 33 of the 100 or so stores were open for business. Tripp has been the mall's general manager for the last 16 years.

"Every day, it's less and less," he said Thursday, walking through the mall.

"It's kind of like going away to college," Tripp said of the mall closing. "You leave behind a lot of good friends, good memories. You're excited about where you're going, but nervous."

Many of the stores at the mall were offering steep discounts to move their remaining inventories.

"Some people say this is eerie-looking," Tripp said, passing by a row of empty stores. At best, there were a handful of shoppers at any given store on Thursday.

Reed, the 71-year-old Hampton resident, felt a little nostalgic. She remembered when the parking lots were full and the mall's walkways were crowded. "I'm of the older generation so I don't like change," she said. "But I know things have to change. And it's a little sad."

----

There are also some photos, hopefully they'll stick around the DP site long enough for everybody to look at them

The Big List Of Coliseum Mall Tenants Past And Present

2007-01-12T01:59:00.000-05:00

I've also copied the final list of tenants on the Coliseum Mall website. I need to straighten them up before posting them though. One day this past summer I wrote down every tenant I could remember as well, I need to type that up. If no date is mentioned for the anchors, that means I need help with it.

Anchors

J.C. Penney (1973-present)

Thalhimer's/Hechts/Macys (1973-present)

Korvettes (1973-early 1980's)

Smith & Welton

Rices-Nachmans

Hess's [in former Rices-Nachmans place]

Montgomery Ward [in former Korvette's place] (1985 or 1986-2001)

Children's Palace Toy Store [former Smith & Welton location](I know this place closed up shop in about 1992)

Proffits [former Rices-Nachmans and Children's Palace](early 90's-1996)

Dillards (1997-2003)

Barnes & Noble (2002-ish to present, slated to come back when Peninsula Town Center opens)

Burlington Coat Factory (2003-present)

Tenants:
{no specific order}

Steve and Barry's (opened 2003, closed 2006)
Lane Bryant (lord knows I gave them thousands of dollars though the years)
Rave
Bath & Body Works (another store I gave gobs of money too)
Disney Store (closed in either 1999 or 2000 or 2001)
Hallmark
Life Uniforms
Spensers Gifts
Clare's Boutique (closed 2006)
Lens Crafters (this and Bath and Body works were the last places I ever went to at Coliseum)
Legends
The Sports Fan
The Gap
Ashley Stewart
The Icing
Fredrick's Of Hollywood (closed 2007?)
Victoria's Secret (closed 2005?)
Lerners
New York and Co.
Sunglass Hut
Shoe Dept.
Deb
Stewart's/Stewart's Plus (gave this place money in middle school and 9th grade, closed in 1997)
Everything's A Dollar
A Dollar
Wilson's Leather
Foot Locker/Kids Foot Locker/Lady Foot Locker
Ingle's Nook
K&K Toys/Kay Bee Toys
This End Up
Waldenbooks
Camelot Music/FYE
Casual Corner
Afterthoughts (closed 1999?)
Chic Wigs
American Eagle
Payless Shoes (right next to Wards I remember!)
Trade Secret
Carlton Cards (closed 2006)
Up Against The Wall
Glamor Shots
Raw Blue
Vitamin World
GNC

Eateries
Corn Dog On A Sick
Cinnabon (closed about 2003)
Chick-a-Fila
Sabarro
Orange Julius (closed about 1996)
Wendy's
Dairy Queen (opened in about 1997 or 1998)
"The Sandwich Shop (I didn't see it when I visited in 2005)
The Coffee Beanery (closed 2005?)
Piccaddily Cafeteria (closed 2004?)
Mrs. Fields Cookies
Blimpie

***I know there are many more! Please help me add them to the list!****

John's Coliseum Mall Updates (January, 2007)

2007-01-07T13:12:00.000-05:00

So the funeral for Coliseum Mall starts:

Demolition begins in February on the rest of the mall. What people are calling demolition is actually deconsturction of the parking surface on the old Smith & Welton side (Children's Palace/Proffitt's/Dillard's for Men) where they are preparing to start construction of the new parking garage and the new JC Penny building.

Last saturday I walked through for probably the last time. Steve & Barry's is closed ("Please visit our Lynnhaven location" the sign reads); Kay's is moving on the 10th to a storefront beside Ross'. The tailor is moving in February. Carlton Cards is gone. Claire's is gone. Many places had their closing dates posted as Jan 4, Jan 9, Jan 10, and Jan 14. One place (I can't remember which -- I know it wasn't Frederick's, which is going out in mid-January) has a sign up announcing "Mall Closing Sale."

The Nail shop beside where Carlton Cards was (in the Hecht's wing, almost directly across from the now torn-down DIllard's for Men) has a sign stating they are open and will not be moving until Mid-Feburary.

Personally, I can't see people visiting an empty shell of a mall to get their nails done, but then again, who am I?

Gent's was still open, but Rainbow is having the "everything must be sold to the bare walls!" Zale's didn't have a closing date posted, or a location where they would be moving to. No word on where Barnes & Noble Booksellers would be located (or if they were simply going to close up shop and build a new building -- the Daily Press confirmed they would be back, but could not give specifics as to where the new store in the "Peninsula Town Center" would be).

There had been a number of rumours that Burlington was staying (which would be a major mistake, in any Dead Mall fan's book), that Burlington was moving into the old Hill's/JM Field's/Lionel Play World/Mr. How's/Builder's Square location at Riverdale (also not confirmed), and the rumour that Burlington was going to move back to the original location at what is now Power Plant. That's the least likely, as there are two hotels going to be going in behind Cracker Barrell and Texas Steakhouse.

I'm happy I didn't get the chance to go to Coliseum mall recently. It would be too sad. I still have the creepies from watching Newmarket Fair empty out through the years.

Holiday Parade Marks Transition of Coliseum Mall to Peninsula Town Center

2007-01-06T01:14:00.000-05:00

{this is old, I know}

{If anybody has one of these Christmas Ornaments and they don't want it, I'd be your best friend "foreverz"}

Even the Chick-Fil-A cows were on hand to celebrate the final Holiday Parade at Coliseum Mall, a milestone that in many ways marks the transition to The Peninsula Town Center, a $200 million mixed-use redevelopment of the vintage enclosed mall in Hampton, Va.

The cows served as Grand Marshals of the 7th annual event, which was held on Nov. 18 and attracted a crowd of more than 12,000 people. In addition to the Chick-Fil-A cows, the parade was attended by Santa Claus, festive floats, marching bands and other entertainment.

"We know that the community loves the parade in its existing form, and the parade will be bigger and better when it returns," says Raymond Tripp, General Manager of Coliseum Mall and the forthcoming Peninsula Town Center that will take its place. "And this is symbolic of the larger transition taking place. Area residents love the Coliseum Mall, and we recognize that, but they will love even more the bigger and better Peninsula Town Center when it opens in 2008.”

To commemorate the holiday event, Coliseum Mall designed and produced a holiday ornament that features the original Coliseum Mall logo from 1973 on one side and the current Coliseum Mall logo on the other .

The 2006 Holiday Parade at the Coliseum Mall paraded down Hampton Roads Center Parkway to Coliseum Drive and ended on Von Shilling Drive. The parade went through the construction site for The Peninsula Town Center, which consists of two phases, including the pad for a new J.C. Penney's store. This week, Steiner expects to deliver that pad to the department store chain, which will likely begin construction of its store soon after the pad is delivered.

In addition to the pad site work, Steiner + Associates began demolition of one wing of the mall in early September. About 25 percent of the existing mall has been demolished to make way for the new town center, which will encompass 800,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, 100,000 square feet of office space, and 150,000 square feet of residential space, situated around a town square. "Our goal is to actually blend into the community as it revitalizes itself around Peninsula Town Center," Tripp notes. "We've taken great pains to extend the street network to and through our project so the community parks and public space within the center will anchor the project."

The Peninsula's public space will eventually house the Annual Holiday Parade, Tripp says. "We expect that the Center will be the hub for the community, where the Christmas tree and Santa Claus will entertain shoppers and residents for many years to come ."

(originally posted here)

goodbye Mervyn's

2007-01-01T01:05:00.000-05:00

goodbye Mervyn's
Originally uploaded by TheDamnMushroom.

{this is from one of my Flickr friends}

The Mervyn's chain of department stores has stopped operating in the states of Washington and Oregon as of 12/31/06. I was in the Puyallup store when the death knell sounded -- a bouncy male voice which had previously told us EVERY item of clothing in the store was 50¢, then 25¢, then 10¢, announced that everything had been sold except for the fixtures; so long, it's been great to know ya.

Since I've always been adverse to shopping at Mervyn's -- too many horror stories in youth from school shopping and in my adulthood from my mother's birthday and Christmas gifts -- I was there to check out the nonclothing items. I was interested in display cases but as a member of the unemployed work force I lack that kind of coin; I considered getting a 3' tall display from the shoe dept for use as a TV stand and the price was good, but it didn't really go with the rest of my livingroom so passed; the 'lectronics were priced close to that of new so I said noooo way; I was tempted by this flocked narrow 7' Christmas tree for $99 but again I shouldn't be spending that kind of cash (yeah, never mind that I just bought a $250 chainsaw and $330 mattress/boxspring)...

This left the office supplies. The compression date stamp has years from 1988 to 1993 (and universal others in that column like "REC'D" and "ANS'D") but is stuck on JUN 18 1992. The "All Sales Final" stamps must have been used extensively this month, and only came in a two-bundle (and I can't return one because, you know, all sales final) so I'll likely recycle the wood block of one of them with something from my growing stack of unmounted rubber.

Yeah, that's right, I go to a store closing where everything is 90%-95% off, then liquidating for spare change, and I'm buying the only things which are still the marked price. (Anita: A dead Mervyns looks just like a live one, but with less signage.)

1990 TNT Gone With The Wind Commercial Break

2006-12-31T01:08:00.000-05:00

I got a DVD recorder for Christmas, so I made a 90's commercial DVD and I ripped some chapters of it to my computer using Handbrake and I'm slowly uploading them to YouTube. Only a few (and I mean few!) have a local flair though. Like this one (I bolded the ones with the local flair):

1990 TNT Gone With The Wind Commercial Break

This was the first (and last!) time my mom ever recorded something way back in 1990. I remember my dad leaving her a how-to note on how to use the VCR. This and that Troop Beverly Hills tape are the only tapes we still have that we recorded from the TV in the Hampton house. Dad got rid of a bunch of tapes when our first VCR broke in 1995 and we were VCR-less for 2 years. He probably just left all the tapes at one of the firehouses he volunteered at or something. We lost everything, movies like Home Alone 2 (for some reason, Aladdin, Home Alone, and like Christmas With Gumby didn't get given away), Gumby the Movie (it sucked anyway, I couldn't get past the first ten minutes!), Wayne's World, Mrs. Doubtfire, Batman, and I think some Simpsons tapes.

Commercials Included are:

-Mastercard Master Values ("it's saaannntaa!!!!!!")
-TNT Gone With The Wind Making Of Special (one of those people who audtioned for Scarlett sounds like Molly Shannon, lol)
-Cheer Free (one of my favorite 90's ads for some odd reason)
-Greta Garbo day promo
-Food Carnival (a local grocery chain [I think Farm Fresh owned them?] that went belly up in like 2 months, the location in Hampton turned into a Rack N' Sack and is still vacant after 10 years)
-Pennsula Auto Dealers (profiled - Bowidtch Ford)
-Pay Per View (Bad Influence - "you're going to die with your mouth shut!")
-The Pay Per View ad cut off the NFL Films Tape commercial

Hess's Department Store Tablecloth On eBay

2006-12-20T22:41:00.000-05:00

Man, I'd kill for this. The Retail Dork in me wants this.

Woolworth

2006-12-16T22:23:00.000-05:00

Woolworth
Originally uploaded by englishkris.

{my friend made this screen cap}

Who wants Curtain Rods for a Christmas present?

Oglethorpe Mall Snoopy (80's? 90's?)

2006-12-10T00:35:00.000-05:00

I picked this up at the thrift store sometime in the mid 1990's. Then I totally forgot about him for years. I found him earlier this week in a garbage bag with some other stuffed animals that was in the basement of our old house.

This Snoopy with Christmas Tree ... swimtrunks? I assume they're swimtrunks since they have a tie....comes from Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah Georgia. I guess its sorta like the Macy*s Snoopy Giveaways, you spend a certain amount of money, you get a Snoopy for like $15 or something.

Newport News, VA Hills (Closed 2000)

2006-12-09T19:34:00.000-05:00

This is something I scanned way back in August, but I lost the main photo. I found it the other day on my dad's computer where I do my scanning at. It is about how the Hills in Newport News will be redevloped. According to the article this Hills closed in 2000, when the chain folded.

{1, 2, 3}

The main entry about the Hampton, VA Hills.

WTKR 1992 News Update With Jane Gardner

2006-11-27T00:17:00.000-05:00

(I'm not going to embed this b/c I have dial up and I HATE it when people enbed youtube files)

1992 WTKR (channel 3) News Update With Jane Gardner. Jane brings up a fire at "a busy shopping mall". I can't figure out what mall this is. It might be Newmarket Fair--but really, I don't think that Newmarket was that busy by 1992. But those empty hallways and esclators sure look like Newmarket!

I Made It So I'll Post It Here

2006-11-26T19:51:00.000-05:00

Franklin Plaza Sign Dead

2006-11-24T02:03:00.000-05:00

The Franklin Plaza Sign (Franklin, VA) died last week during a windy weekend. It was a sign that had to be from the 1960's. The only pic I have of the sign right now are these, you can barely see it in the background. (1, 2)

I did take a pic of this sign with my film camera late this summer, but I haven't used up all the shots on the roll yet. I'm heartbroken over this sign getting demolished. I always liked it.

-----

I ordered my Macy's Snoopy tonight! I bought a bracelet for my mom and a tube of MAC Mascara for myself to qualify for him. So that makes up for not being able to go out later on today. Growing up, we'd watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I'd be jealous of those Noo Yorker Kids holding their Christms Snoopys from Macys. Now I finally get one! The Macy's site is godawful to use on a Mac [computer], though. I had to use my AOL Browser. I really need to get Tiger for this computer one of these ... eons.

Mauling of the malls brings tear

2006-11-23T01:27:00.000-05:00

(My "deadmalls.com Boss", Brian Florence is mentioned in this article)

MIKE HENDRICKS
The Kansas City Star

Separate proposals to flatten two more area shopping malls surfaced last week.

And just the month before, the owner of two other enclosed shopping centers announced that those properties were slated for extensive makeovers that would render them unrecognizable as traditional malls.

Yes, the trend away from big, climate-controlled malls continues unabated in Kansas City and across the nation.

And so arises this inevitable question:

When all the malls are dead and gone, will anyone give a flying food court about it?

Or at the other extreme, might we one day read that a historic preservationist chained himself to an abandoned Orange Julius stand in hopes of keeping the surrounding mall from being demolished?

It seemed like a timely topic as many of us get ready to embark on that awful chore.

The annual holiday spending spree.

It used to begin and end at the mall. Not so much anymore.

These days we also crowd into box stores, warehouse clubs and “lifestyle centers.”

The climate-controlled malls once heralded as “the new downtowns” are fading.

Not all. Those area powerhouses, like Oak Park Mall and Independence Center, will be jammed as usual come Friday.

But in the past couple of years, Blue Ridge Mall was flattened. Mission Center is gone, too.

Last week we learned that Indian Springs and ------ Mall also were being considered for redevelopment.

Metcalf South and Metro North are in line for extensive makeovers.

What a change, given that most of us grew up going to the mall.

Malls were to us what downtown shopping districts were to our parents and grandparents.

Pop culture glorified mall culture as recently as the 1980s.

But now Jeff Spicoli and his fellow mall rats in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” wouldn’t recognize their former hangout.

A recent makeover of the Sherman Oaks Galleria left little of the original mall intact.

“I have not heard of anyone who is interested in preserving the shopping mall,” said Kathy Daniels, curator of collections and exhibits at the Johnson County Museums.

I got a similar answer from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, though Jennifer Sandy in the Chicago office said it was likely that a mall preservation movement would spring up someday.

That could be a while. The minimum age is 50 for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. And the first fully enclosed shopping mall, Southdale Center in Edina, Minn., only recently passed that mark.

“If you look at the average age of enclosed malls, it’s 28 to 29 years old,” said Patrice Duker, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Even so, mall nostalgia is already taking root.

Mall lovers post their mall memories, as well as theories on what killed or is killing their favorite malls, on the Web site www.deadmalls.com.

With a name like that, I half expected a snarky send-up of malls as trash culture.

However, the site is anything but, co-founder Brian Florence told me in a phone conversation from his home in upstate New York.

“We all went to malls growing up, going to the arcade and stuff,” he said.

Perhaps he sensed I wasn’t buying it, so he explained further:

“When a mall closes, you lose a piece of history.”

At that point I got sort of weepy myself.

Oh, not because I mourn dead malls. It’s just that I’d begun thinking about my very own holiday spending spree.

Be it caused by a trip to the mall or not, a bare bank account always brings tears to my eyes.

To reach Mike Hendricks, call (816) 234-7708 or send e-mail to mhendricks@kcstar.com.

Buy My Fresh Market Crap!

2006-11-23T00:59:00.000-05:00

{This photo is off their website. I never took a photo of the place.}

I never mentioned that I used to work at The Fresh Market. I worked at the Williamsburg store as a courtesy clerk (aka a third class citizen) from May of 2004 to March of 2005, and then I told them that I really needed to go back to school so I was a seasonal worker until July of 2005 when my folks and I moved to Franklin.

I was at their site tonight and I saw that they sell the popular items from the store on their website now.

It's the only job I ever had (I'm in school now).

Suffolk Best Western Fire

2006-11-08T22:00:00.000-05:00

Suffolk Best Western Fire
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

This happened back on Thursday the 2nd. I think someone at AmeiGas was filling up ... something? And there was a spark and a boom? I heard about it via the students in the Suffolk campus (My literature class on Tue and Thur evenings is taught via the television).

The parents and I decided to stop at the Hardees across from here for dinner Saturday and I got a picture.

Coliseum Mall and KMart, Hampton, VA

2006-10-29T20:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, here is the picture post that I was so excited about. Yesterday dad and I went to Coliseum Mall so I could go to Lens Crafters because I needed new lens for my glasses. So of course I took a ton of exterior photos.

{There are also two photos of the Langely Air Force Base parking lot where the commissary is}

| | | | | | | |

Somebody drove into this KMart {and walked out of their car and tried on womens shoes--and this was a guy back in August and they still haven't fixed the doors!

Kitchen's Market Demolished Sign Closeup

2006-10-21T17:56:00.000-04:00

Kitchen's Market Demolished Sign Closeup
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

The purpose of this closed down store is now the newsstand. Three newspaper vending machines are still being used in front of the store. That's how I got this pic, dad parked here to get a Daily Press.

Earlier photo

Whaddayaknow? column: Bookstore will return

2006-10-18T18:55:00.000-04:00

I was taking a break from searching on finditva.com for Christopher Smart stuff:

Daily Press, Newport News, Va., Whaddayaknow? column: Bookstore will return; Daily Press, Newport News, Va.
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News 09-20-2006

Q: Will the recently built [[2003]] Barnes & Noble bookstore at the Coliseum Mall be demolished? If so, will it be rebuilt in the new Peninsula Town Center?

A: To answer, yes and yes. Coliseum Mall manager Raymond Tripp says the current Barnes & Noble store will remain open until early 2007, though the exact date has not been decided. It will be torn down, and a new Barnes & Noble will be built. Tripp says, "With the new layout [of Peninsula Town Center], we moved them in front of where the existing mall is now."
Something been puzzling you? Drop us a line at answers@dailypress.com or call 757-247-2830.

The 1983 JC Penney And Sears Christmas Cataloge Project

2006-10-08T00:32:00.000-04:00

(This was originally posted in my blog during the summer and fall of 2005)

In 1983 (the year I was born) my mom saved the 1983 Sears and JC Penney Christmas catalouges. We thought we lost them when we moved to Wakefield in 2000, but when we were moving to Franklin last summer we found them again. They were severely water damaged though, hence these images being taken with my digital camera instead of scanned (and, my dad's PC [my eMac is too new to use the scanner with] was dead at the moment).

So here are the links to those crossposted entries:

And here are some recent ones:

Coliseum Mall Website ScreenShots

2006-09-23T23:44:00.000-04:00

Just for prosperitiy's sake, I made screen shots of the Coliseum Mall website:

{1, 2, 3}

Boris Z's Coliseum Mall Photos

2006-08-31T21:27:00.000-04:00

{The original Coliseum Mall entry}

Starting last week, the old Dillards at Coliseum Mall was in the process of being torn down, and the Hechts sign was taken down and replaced with a Macys sign. After Christmas, parts of the mall will be torn down and the Pennsula Town Center will be in the process of being built. The only building that will remain will be the Hechts/Macys...but I still think that Hechts/Macys will have a new building.

Here are Boris' photos:

1 - Dillards being town down.

2 - Dillards being town down.

3 - The old Food Court ("Food Place") entrance.

4 - The new Macy's sign on the Hechts. Honestly? Looks a lot nicer than the old (probably rusty!) Hechts sign.

5 - The always sad, "Yes! We're still open!" sign. That makes me sad. Coliseum Mall's sign will always be stuck in 1990.

6 - The new Macys entrace sign. Looks nice.

7 - Another tear down photo of Dillards.

Boris also has a photo album on Flickr if you want to add comments to his photos.

Man drives into Kmart, then tries on some women's shoesMan drives into Kmart, then tries on some women's shoes

2006-08-21T14:34:00.000-04:00

WAVY-TV

A car comes crashing into a Hampton Kmart, and the driver was just getting started.

Early Saturday morning a loud crash shattered the silence and the front window at a Hampton Kmart. The damage was extensive.

The 20-year-old driver is facing several charges, including driving under the influence of drugs. But it doesn't end there.

Police say Bryant Weiford drove through the front window, then got out of his car to try on clothes, perhaps taking shopping to a whole new level.

"The guy just drove through the front of the store with a car!" said store employee Jeff Ray.

Workers took stock of the mess early Saturday hour after a Kmart store off West Mercury Blvd. had closed. Police say a 1986 Pontiac driven by him crashed into the Kmart.

"I heard a loud crash. I thought it was a shelf falling, but then I heard car music and I knew somebody was in here" employee Vernita McClaurin told us.

Rey says he confronted Weiford.

"When I came over to ask him the first time, he kept walking to the shoe department and he changed his shoes and I said, what are you doing? He said, 'I'm just having fun', and I said, 'Well, I'm calling the police'"

"He went on to the women s shoe department and started trying on some women's shoes" Rey chuckled as he told the story.

"Then he went to the sporting goods department, looking for a gun" said McClaurin. "The police said he said he was going on a shooting rampage. Good thing they got him".

Weiford is being held in the Hampton city jail.

A spokesperson for Kmart declined to comment.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14440080/from/RS.3/

----

Driver crashes through Kmart entrance before calmly shopping

06:09 PM EDT on Saturday, August 19, 2006

WVEC.com

A man drove his car into the front of a Kmart early Saturday morning.

Police say Bryant Weiford of Hampton drove through the main entrance of the K-Mart on Mercury Boulevard before workers said the 20-year-old hopped out of his car and started shopping.

Shoppers were told to watch for shattered glass and wet floors as the walked into the store Saturday morning.

"They said be careful the floor is wet, and I was looking and I didn't see water or anything so I was just wondering what happened," said K-Mart shopper Everlean Borden.

The store was closed, and only three employees were inside the building when the car came bursting through.

"I heard a loud crash, I thought it was a shelf falling so I stopped for a moment, but then heard car music," said K-Mart employee, Vernita McClaurin.

Employees said they say saw the driver get calmly out of the car, and he began snooping around the store.

"He was trying on women's shoes, women's shoes." said another K-Mart employee who said his name was Jeffrey.

"He kept walking to the shoe department and kept changing his shoes. I was like what are you doing. I said 'I'm calling the police’, so I called the police and he came and got him," said McClaurin.

Police did come and arrest the man.

Employees and customers said they have never experienced anything like this before.

"He drove clean in here, got out and started walking around as if it was nothing," said McClaurin.

Weiford faces several charges including breaking and entering and driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

----

Well, he couldn't pick a crappier KMart to do it in.

A Skinny Boy In Pink and Black Shoes

2006-07-30T20:41:00.000-04:00

{This side of the mall is fenced off now.}

{another shot of the dead Dillards [died in 2003]}

So I probably took my last trip ever to Coliseum Mall in Hampton today. Mom and I needed our eyes examined and Lens Crafters is one of the places our insurance lets us go to. So we drove all the way there. I didn't need new lenses (that was surprising) and nothing was wrong with my eyes, but she did tell me to stop sitting in front of the computer all the time. Mom was there for-EVER though. 'Cause she needed new lesnses, new frames, everything. So I went to Lane Bryant, returned a skirt, tried some clothes on (it feels good to have money again) but all I bought was a blouse. And then I went to Barnes and Noble and I bought a Moleskine Plain Reporter. And I had a Green Tea Frappichino (the ONLY Frappichino I will drink, other than those ones you buy at the store) and an icky sugar cookie while I waited, and waited and waited for mom.

Oh, but before I got to B&N, there is a display a little mock up display of what Coliseum Mall is going to look like a few years when the tear parts of the mall down and it will look like a downtown shopping area. So I saw this older couple looking at the display and they were reaidng the fake stores in the display. They actually believed that stores like "Bookstation" and "Pillows Galore" was going to be in this new setup for the Hampton Town center whatever its going to be called.

Hecht's/Macy's* is pretty much dead. I saw a poster to sign up for a Macy's charge card. The store was totally empty. Just like 10 shoppers and a few workers. Maybe two people getting off the esclator. I got a cell phone call so I left the store and didn't get a chance to go back in and take another look.
*you know, I like the way that sounds, "Hecht's-Macy's". I know Macy's tried doing that a few years ago with some stores they bought (like "Rich's-Macy's" and "Bon-Macy's") but it didn't turn out.

I didn't go to Penneys, but it seemed to be doing briskly like it always does. I was afraid to go into Burlington Coat Factory and Steve and Barry's.

While mom and I were waiting for LensCrafters to make her glasses, we went back to B&N and I was at the cafe getting an Italian Soda and these two "pretentious" people (I didn't know they still existed in Hampton!) were ahead of me and one guy was a stocky, early 50's guy and he had one of those trillion dollar digital SLR cameras pasted to his side (I wonder if he went around the mall with that thing pasted to his side, I'm sure security would've stopped him in a Don Johnson Heartbeat) Anyways, he was talking to the pretentious lady and she was whining about how her roomate or friend or something had a family member die last night and she was up until like 3 in the morning with her. And she said, "you know, we did the drinking, watching cheesy old movies kind of thing". It just sounded so fake. Like something you'd hear on a TV show or a paperback.

It felt like a breath of fresh air when we drove into Franklin.

"In southern Isle of Wight, some dream of a grocery"

2006-07-29T18:02:00.000-04:00

My newspaper ran an article about the empty Airway Center in Franklin a few days ago.

Scans of article:

{1}, {2}

An article from almost 11 years ago saying that it was making a 'comeback'

That Mall's Sick And That Store's Dead Ohio Style (December, 1982)

2006-07-24T22:55:00.000-04:00

I found this Ohio paper from 1982 in my dad's office. I know where it came from. It was my parents first Christmas together and they went to Ohio to see my dad's parents. My mom was pregnant with me. My dad must of brought this newspaper back home with him. I believe the date was December 17th, 1982.

Rink's newspaper ad
(sorry that is so small. Photobucket resizes things and I didn't want to put these on my flickr)
I've seen pictures of Rink's and they look like they could've been quite possibly the nastiest store ever. But I could be wrong.

Videodics and videodisc players for sale at Bill Schwartz's Home Entertainment Center! Northgate Mall in Cincinnati isn't on deadmalls.comso I guess its alive and well. Yeah, apparently its 90% occupied.

McAlpin's ad

McAlpin's was eaten up by Dillards (along with six kajillion other stores) in the late 1980's. Make sure to check out the TV set near the bottom of the ad!

Drunk Redneck Truck Drivers Want Beer

2006-07-24T18:53:00.000-04:00

Drunk Redneck Truck Drivers Want Beer
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

I was leaving Food Lion today in Courtland and I saw this. A few months earlier the stop sign next to this sign was mowed down as well.

They'll Never Forget The Christmas When They Had To Clean Up Popcorn Puke

2006-07-15T00:30:00.000-04:00

You guys remember last summer when we moved and my dad found those 1983 JC Penney and Sears catalogs my mom saved for me to look at when I got older? And I'd post them here and make fun of them? {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}

Sorry the little boy with his toy hair dryer is on the crease of the page. I think the 70's and the 80's were the only times that blow dryers were in toy grooming kits.

Sweet Christ No! I so remember the page devoted to marionette dolls and "old timey dolls" in the JC Penney and Sears catalogs. I always thought, "No who buys those for their kids?". I didn't know any kid who got a Howdy Doody or Bozo doll for Christmas. This must be the "toys for adults page" in the cataloge. Although I am kinda crushing on the Bozo doll. I wouldn't mind having one today. Oh yeah, and what's up with the Huck Finn Doll?

I have wanted a Mickey Mouse phone since the beginning of time. They're always so expensive though. Like almost a hundred bucks. Even at antique stores they're like $50-$80. The Kermit phone is interesting as well. I still haven't found a photo of the Olive Oyl phone that I want so badly. When I was five, we'd go to this Salvation Army thirft store and they had a red rotary phone, and Olive Oyl was laying on the cradle. This phone was not for sale.

If every family didn't get these in the 1980's then they shure did in the 1990's. Almost every year I would always get a popcorn tin from mom. I threw out all the other ones but kept a Peanuts one that I keep my old newspaper clippings in.

Of all the promo crap they made for the remake movie last year, I wonder why they didn't make a kiddie bedspread set.

This is 1983, correct?

Kitchen's Supermarket (Ivor, VA. Closed 2005?)

2006-07-08T20:47:00.000-04:00

Kitchen's Supermarket (Ivor, VA. Closed 2005?)
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

We lived in Wakefield (the town past Ivor) for 5 years but never once did I have the balls to go in here.

The place probably closed because it was so filthy! Or they finally wern't making money.

Yeah, I think that sign collasped in the recent storms we've been having.

Becker Villiage Mall (Roanoke Rapids, NC--Dead Since 2002?)

2006-06-28T19:25:00.000-04:00

So, last Monday my friend Gary & I drove out to Roanoke Rapids, NC to find different sodas and drinks. He told me when he was doing research on the city that there was a mall there; Becker Villiage Mall and it had a JC Penney and a Belk. I always like to visit new malls dead or alive so I was excited about this.

I knew things were going to be bad the minute we saw the sign. That is one oudated sign!

We walked in and Gary said, "Oh.my.God" and I said, "I'm in love!!".

There were only three, four people walking in the mall. One was a custodian.

Upon doing research, we learned that this closed in 2002--when most of the mall packed up and moved out when KMart shut down.

This place looks like it was here from day one.

Gary took this picture from the bathroom hallway. My friend Sarah saw the pic on Flickr and said, "that's a mall? weird. it looks like the science building at my school." She also supplied the Becker photo.

I took a picture of the JC Penney as we were driving away.

So, this place only had six stores open:

JC Penney
Belk
Clarie's
Shoe Dept
MasterCuts
Hibbet Sports
and some generic "urban" store called Hit Wear.

The mall was small and about the size of two drugstores. When we both came home, Gary did research on the mall. Apparently KMart closing in 2002 killed this place. He found some things of interest:

totally oudated floor plan of the mall

An article from June of 2002 about renovations to the mall--sorry, I did not see any renovations to this mall. it seemed pretty dated.

Another article from the same paper from 2003. This one is about more stores moving out of the mall

Gary also showed me a pdf that had a picture (albeit very small) of the mall during its heyday. I don't have the URL for it though.

Chuck E Cheeses (1994?) Hampton, VA

2006-06-17T15:20:00.000-04:00

11th birthday? (1994?)
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

This was the last Birthday Party at Chuck E Cheeses ever. Unfortunately I can't remember what birthday this was. I'm thinking maybe it was my 11th in 1994 because those shoes look like the shoes I wore to my 5th grade "graduation" a few days prior. But I also remember having a birthday party at my house with a couple of friends from school. Maybe I did both? Yeah, I think I may of done both. I'm not sure.

I look miserable. And that dress is like 2 sizes too small.

This Chuck E Cheeses moved to another shopping center in Hampton a few years ago.

From The April 6, 2006 Daily Press

2006-06-09T22:20:00.000-04:00

This has been on my desktop since like April 8th. I have a "browken" computer at the moment [just look up "emac freezes up" on google and you'll know why] and things fall by the wayside.

Abandoned Junior High (forgot name!! Franklin, VA)

2006-06-01T18:48:00.000-04:00

Abandoned Junior High (forgot name!! Franklin, VA)
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

I know, its not a store, but my car has been broken for a month now and I haven't been able to go anywhere to take pics of abandoned stores and such:

I had a job interview at the Martin Luther King center across the street from this place. It just blew my mind that Franklin has an abandoned school. I was with my dad so I could only take one pic. I wanted to walk across the street and take a walk around the building. I wonder when it shut down. (well, it probably moved)

//edit//

It's Hayden Junior High , built in 1953.

Winn Dixie (Franklin, VA; closed Spring 2005) Revisited

2006-04-25T20:12:00.000-04:00

The last time we visited Winn Dixie was May of 2005

I had to turn my car around somewhere and I figured what the heck and I turned it around in the vacant Winn Dixie parking lot and took some pics from my car:

This one is kinda hard to see, so here is the super duper large version as well.

Krispy Creme, Mercury Blvd. Hampton, VA

2006-04-19T20:42:00.000-04:00

Krispy Creme, Mercury Blvd. Hampton, VA
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

I took this pic during the fall of 2002 I believe. I think Krispy Creme was planning on tearing this one down and rebuilding it. Last I saw it was in 2005, and it was still up. I think plans fell through for redoing it.

You Would Never Beleive Where The Keebler Cookies Come From---a girl in DECA in high school!

2006-04-19T20:41:00.000-04:00

You Would Never Beleive Where The Keebler Cookies Come From---a girl in DECA in high school!
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

I was at the Commissary at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, VA in 2003, and this girl who was in the DECA program for her high school had to dress like a Keebler elf and pass out samples of cookies. Her DECA teacher wanted to take a pic, and I asked if I could too. I saw the girl an hour later and she told me "This is what I look like without the costume!"

The Commissary is alive and well, this is just a picture of the interior.

Who Comes To Fix The Carts

2006-04-19T20:19:00.000-04:00

Who Comes To Fix The Carts
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

I saw this in Smithfield Shopping Center (?) in Smithfield, VA near the Farm Fresh in late 2002. It was something I didn't see every day.

"I Saw A Blimp Once!"

2006-04-19T20:12:00.000-04:00

"I Saw A Blimp Once!"
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

(I took this pic in October of 2004)

A blimp I saw flying around Jefferson Ave area of Newport News, VA. I caught a good pic of it as I was getting out of my car at Target--this Target is alive and well. Just a storefront picture for the archives.

Pope's Market Where The Pope Would Shop

2006-04-19T20:09:00.000-04:00

Pope's Market Where The Pope Would Shop
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

(I took this pic in March of last year)

Popes Market in Wakefield, VA. This building as always been shuttered since we moved to Wakefield in 2000. There used to be a Pepsi mural pained on the side of the building, but it was pained over a few weeks ago.

When I worked at a courtesy clerk at The Fresh Market, I was carrying out a couple's grocery cart, and some reason I told them I lived in Wakefield and they started to tell me about the market they owned : Pope's Market. I told them that the store was pracically in my backyard, and they instantly knew where I lived.

Bill's Ollie's Photos #4

2006-04-16T19:46:00.000-04:00

DSCF0632
Originally uploaded by wh59162.

Before #1 (Toys R Us going out of business--taken by me January, 2006)

Before #2 (closed Toys R US--taken by Bill)

Bill's Ollie's Photos #3

2006-04-16T19:44:00.000-04:00

DSCF0633
Originally uploaded by wh59162.

Before #1 (Toys R Us going out of business--taken by me January, 2006)

Before #2 (closed Toys R US--taken by Bill)

Bill's Ollie's Photos #2

2006-04-16T19:40:00.000-04:00

DSCF0635
Originally uploaded by wh59162.

Before #1 (Toys R Us going out of business--taken by me January, 2006)

Before #2 (closed Toys R US--taken by Bill)

Bill's Ollie's Photos (1)

2006-04-16T19:38:00.000-04:00

DSCF0636
Originally uploaded by wh59162.

Before #1 (Toys R Us going out of business--taken by me January, 2006)

Before #2 (closed Toys R US--taken by Bill)

Sanrio Surprises, Diamond Center Mall, Anchorage Alaska

2006-04-06T19:18:00.000-04:00

Sanrio Surprises, Diamond Center Mall, Anchorage Alaska
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

This was from the 2nd time I went to Alaska in 1996. This was my 13th birhtday.

I don't know how Diamond Center Mall is doing. This mall is freakin' huge. It has an ice rink, several floors of office buildings, and it had a Hello Kitty store!

I looked it up on the mall's website and the store is no longer open.

KMart (Hampton, VA 1988)

2006-04-06T19:08:00.000-04:00

KMart (Hampton, VA 1988)
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

I thought we had lost this forever until I found it today!

When I was taking dance classes at this one dance studio in Hampton (Northampton Dance Studio) we always had to march in the Christmas parade that went down Mercury Blvd. Everybody always met up in the KMart parking lot.

I'm the green elf in the pigtails that has her head turned.

That KMart is miraculously still open (since 1975) . I don't know why either.

South Park Mall; Colonial Heights, VA (3/30/2005)

2006-04-02T16:52:00.000-04:00

I never posted my pics from when I went to South Park Mall with my half-sister last year. I had been by this mall in 2000, and thought that on this visit five years later, that it would be a dead mall, but surprisingly it wasn't. As of March of 2005, this mall had a Sears, Hecht's, JC Penney and a carosouel. The mall is one story.

My sister and I passed by this closed down ETel Superstore on the way out. I wonder why all the old cell phone posters are all ripped up?

Mall's website

Like Pool Cues?

2006-03-29T21:59:00.000-05:00

Like Pool Cues?
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

In August of 2005 I did a quickie soda finding misson to Murfreesboro, NC.

I didn't know what the store actually was though. I don't think the store inside was called Magic Cue though.

Microfilm Photocopy Scans Of Newmarket North / Newmarket Fair Mall

2006-03-29T21:37:00.000-05:00

I got these at the Newport News public library main branch in February when I was doing research on a speech about the mall for my public speaking class:

{Opening day tease ad that was in the newspaper leading up to the day the mall opened.}

{Newmarket North Mall's original logo.}

{B. Dalton Bookseller advertisement. At the time of opening, Newmarket had two bookstores; a Waldenbooks (stayed open until 1995) and a B.Dalton (stayed open until 1991 I believe)}

Most of these are kinda big for a blog, so here are the links to them:

Sneak Preview of the mall a couple of days before it opened in March of 1975

Interior shot of the upper level of the mall

An original floor plan to the mall

Miller & Rhoads moving ad (M&R was in the shopping center across from Newmarket originally

Upperlevel Sears entrance. As of 2006, it still looks like this. (Sears owns their own building, so it did not move out when Netcenter took over the mall.)

The day I went to get these microfilm scans, I also went to Sears and I went upstairs to the plus size department and you can still see in the mall and it was funny to see people working at desks instead of stores.

Poor quality image of the upper level of the mall

Better quality image of the upper level of the mall. In this pic you can see the B. Dalton

Miller & Rhoads interior shot. M&R closed in 1990, and now Verizon owns the building.

I drove around to the Verizon building 2 months ago and you can see the labelscar from M&R still.

1990 remodel (November 11, 1990 Daily Press)

Mall Manager Deborah Moreau in front of the new skylights.
This is a photocopy from a newspaper article the Newport News main library had. I wish I could've taken a picture of this pic in color. Deborah was wearing all turquoise, and turquoise was one of the mall's new colors. She dressed like the mall! As you can see, the mall's xmas decorations were up aleready. I think by 1995, they stopped putting them up.

The OMGZ glass enclosed elevator, I've only ridden on this 2 times maybe? The last time I did was in 2002 when I went to Verizon for a job fair.

The unfinished food court that was basically a flop

The scary merrygoround. All those horses looked so angry. I always had a hard time getting on the horses. This one time when I was about 9, I was wearing a pair of shorts, and I got on the merrygoround with my mom's help, and my legs stuck to the horse. I think I screamed as I was trying to get off of it. Mom yelled at me the whole way home I think.

1994 How's Newmarket Fairing? Article

By 1994 the mall was dead:

Scan of Daily Press headline

Empty Stride Ride Bootery shoestore. My parents would take me here for my shoes growing up.

Back In My Times It Was All About The Dress Codes?

2006-03-26T19:03:00.000-05:00

I got an e-mail tonight from a Crystal A. who went to my high school (Kecougthan High School) in Hampton, VA and the school newspaper ran an article about Coliseum Mall:

“Reconstruction of Hampton continues with Coliseum Mall updates”
By Jessica Bailey

“Shop till you drop” is a concept that many people live by when let
loose in
shopping malls.

Hampton has the 33-year-old Coliseum mall off of Mercury Blvd. as its
shopping mall. It turns out that the mall’s sales have dropped from
just
under $140 million in 1999 to about $112 million in 2004. Along with
declining sales, the Coliseum Mall has faced stiff competition from
other,
newer shopping areas.

Now, Hampton officials and Coliseum Mall owners are trying to establish
a
deal that will eventually transform the old mall into a new and
hopefully
improved “town center”.

It will include city blocks, parking spaces, and multistory buildings
with
offices, apartments, and retailers. Steiner developers are calling the
new
mall the Peninsula Town Center.

“New York-based Mall Properties would like to use the concept that was
first
laid out in 2004,” said Howard S. Struletz, the company’s Vice
President.

These plans could cost more than $200 million in changes, with $65.5
million
generated through special taxes on the new center.

Council members were set to vote on Feb. 8 to decide how they will pay
for
the cost of the town center. They could choose to create a special
authority
that could sell bonds and set special taxes in the mall area to help
pay for
the high costs expected for the construction.

According to Struletz, Mall Properties would like to start construction
work
this summer and open the new center by fall of 2008. However, the plans
for
construction are still being discussed, but it is certain that they
will
require closing large sections of the mall at a time.

The only buildings that will stay a part of the new center from the old
mall
area are the Hecht’s, which will become a Macy’s, and the three
restaurants
along Coliseum Drive – Outback Steakhouse, Bennigan’s, and Steak and
Ale.

Tenants and owners of stores at the Coliseum Mall are aware of the
likely
changes, but few know any details. Struletz claims to have talked to
many
tenants, but only on general terms.

Even though the improvements sound like they will improve sales for
Hampton,
many people will lose jobs while construction is going on. However,
once the
new center is opened, more jobs will be available to those looking to
be
hired.

As far as shopping during the construction process goes, local shoppers
will
just have to go to the nearby Patrick Henry Mall or even to other malls
across the water.

Ollie's Bargain Outlet coming to Hampton Roads

2006-03-25T21:16:00.000-05:00

Ollie's Bargain Outlet coming to Hampton Roads

The Pennsylvania discounter sells liquidated and overstock items.

BY JOY BUCHANAN
247-4744

March 25 2006

HAMPTON -- Ollie's Bargain Outlet, a discount store chain based in Pennsylvania, will move into the building on Mercury Boulevard that Toys "R" Us left in February.

Ollie's sells overstocked, liquidated and salvaged goods. The new store is expected to open May 18, according to the company.

Another location in Virginia Beach will open May 17 and a third will open in Norfolk in June, according to the Web site. There are 42 other store locations, primarily in Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania.

One of the reasons the company is expanding into Virginia is because it is partially owned by Dollar Tree, which is based in Chesapeake and operates 2,914 stores nationwide.

"NOW HIRING" is printed in bold, black across a white banner hanging in the empty store's front window. The company needs to fill various positions including cashiers and store managers.

The Toys "R" Us store closed its doors in February after a liquidation sale that began after Christmas.

It was one of 75 stores in the United States the company announced it would close. The Hampton store's 29 employees learned of the closing in December and since have either moved to other locations, including the Newport News store on Jefferson Avenue, or received severance packages.

The four other Hampton Roads locations for Toys "R" Us - Newport News, Chesapeake, Norfolk and Virginia Beach - will remain open.

Copyright © 2006, Daily Press

The Deadmalls.com Rules Of Submission

2006-03-24T23:39:00.000-05:00

I am a "content selector" at deadmalls.com and I read every.single.e-mail that comes through. 80% of the time its junk. I got fed up and sent Brian (the main webmaster) some suggestions:

Suggestions For Good Deadmalls Submissions:

We love nice, long submissions. Three or four paragraphs are good. What we really want to know is:

When the mall opened

The original anchors

What store replaced what anchor when it shut down (if any!)

If you remember, a nice description of the other tenants of the mall

The moment when the mall started to go downhill (when an anchor shut down, when a new mall down the street opened, those sorts of things)

What tenants were left when the mall closed, or if it is still open, what tenants are left now. If you don't know the names of the stores, its ok, just say "there's about 10 stores left"

What NOT to do:

We're not looking for Harvard applications, just make sure you don't type submissions in ALL CAPS, and make sure to use punctuation, and space thoughts with paragraphs.

Don't restate something that is here already. We know the anchors of Mall Of Memphis and 90% of the other malls on the site already.

Don't send us one sentence e-mails. For example, we won't post anything that says, "_____ Mall has been torn down this summer". We probably won't post that.

Please don't make a submission that is just the tenants of the mall. Like I dunno, here is an example of what NOT to do:

This mall had:
"Dillards, Montgomery Ward, JC Penney, Musicland, Lane Bryant, a pet store that I don't remember the name of, an Italian restaurant I don't know the name of anymore, a women's clothing store, 2 shoe stores, a waldenbooks.." you get the idea. I mean if you're writing about other aspects of the mall putting a list of tenants is fine. But if you're just sending me a list of tenants and nothing else? No deal.

DON'T HARASS US IF YOUR COMMENTARY DID NOT GET POSTED. Chances are, your submission was bad. It probably broke several of the rules.

Ok, we're good? If you got a great submission, send it in.

KMart & Waldenbooks?

2006-03-16T19:31:00.000-05:00

I think I made this up, but in the late 80's or early 90's did KMart (when most of them got
remodled in the "K" format -- the store signs were changed from the K M a r t to just "K"
wtih "Mart" scrawled in the middle of the K) have some sort of partenship with
Waldenbooks where there was a small book section in each store?

I remember the book section at the Hampton, VA store (which is surprisingly still open, it
opened in 1975, a few days after the Newmarket North/Newmarket Fair mall opened in
Hampton) was between the health and beauty section and the registers. The section was
mostly bestsellers and kids books. I remember about once a week mom let me get a
Babysitters Club book from that section of the store. For some reason I think I remember
seeing the Waldenbooks logo somewhere in that section.

The book section faded away sometime in the mid 1990's and the last time I went to this
KMart in 2002 or 2003 the book section was just an aisle, and of course it was messy and
cluttered.

Christmas Eve and Christmas, 1973

2006-03-12T00:06:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve and Christmas, 1973
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

This was the shopping center across the street from Nemarket North Mall . (well, the photo was taken before the mall was opened)The shopping center is still open, but it's kinda seedy now. None of the original tenants remain.

He Didn't Get Stolen!

2006-02-27T22:10:00.000-05:00

He Didn't Get Stolen!
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

This picture is from Decmeber of 2004 when Spongebob Squarepants first graced the roofs of Burger Kings. This Burger King is in Smithfield, VA.

I learned from Gary's flickr album that he is back on the roofs of BK's.

That Dollar Tree in the background used to be an Eckerd until it moved to a free standing building next door to the shopping center.

Wal Mart Buys The Paint On Clearance?

2006-02-16T22:45:00.000-05:00

Wal Mart Buys The Paint On Clearance?
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

The Wal Mart in my town is getting a remodel, and the outside of the building was painted with a fresh coat of something that looks like it came off of the "whoops! We made a mistake!" clearance shelf. I dunno what's worse, the old grey, white and blue motif, or that new color.

This past week they finished painting it, and its that "bleh" color on top and its still grey on the bottom. And the blue parts are still intact.

Bill's Vacant Toys R Us Pictures

2006-02-16T20:16:00.000-05:00

Bill has been keeping a good eye on the now vacant Toys R Us in Hampton for me.

The whole shopping complex that it was in was formely a GEX store for Government Employees only. Bill's commentary:

GEX went out of business sometime, I believe, in the early 70s. The membership concept was totally abandoned during its last years of business.

Someone tried, and failed miserably, to reopen GEX under the same name a few years later.

When the concept didn't appear to be working, the store was remodeled and given a new name--GEX General Store. That went over poorly as well, and the entire complex folded except for GEX Automotive. It remained open, selling tires at heavily discounted prices.

Toy's 'r Us was definitely open by 1980 or so. I used to go in there and browse their selection of Atari 8 bit computers and software, which were in many department stores at that time.

--

Bill says that there are " have been workmen inside of that Toys 'r Us every day that I've been by since the store closing--even Sunday!" I wonder if the store is being reformatted into a Babies R Us. Or simply, the Toys R Us corporation has to gut out everything after a store closing.

Going Back, Preppie?

2006-02-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

Going Back, Preppie?
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

This is an ad for the Leggett at the old Newmarket North/Newmarket Fair Mall. It closed in 1994.

I love the prep illustration ad. He just looks so stuck up! I believe this is as from around 1985.

He's like an arch nemisis in a Revenge Of The Nerds movie or something.

That Devilish Orange Julius!

2006-02-11T19:16:00.000-05:00

So yesterday, I drove out to Newport News to do research on my speech I'm doing about Newmarket North Mall/Newmarket Fair Mall. I went to the big main library, and they have this big room just full of old phonebooks, microfilms, files of old newspaper clippings, it was my dream come true. I told the woman there what I was looking for, she turned away from me, walked a few feet, opened up a file cabinet, and she gave me a folder with a few clippings on the mall from The Daily Press (photocopies of the mall on opening day on March 26, 1975, newspaper clippings about the mall's disastrous remodel in 1990, a 1994 article on "How's Newmarket Fairing?" -- get it? Newmarket Fair = Newmarket Fairing, hehe lame deadmall geek joke). So since we found the date the mall opened while looking through the clippings, she showed me how to use the microfilm (Yeah, I'm 22 and I'm just learning how to use Microfilm) and I could've been in there for hours and hours looking at old microfilms. I did find a microfilm of the day before the mall opened, and I can finally get a clear image in my head of what the mall looked like when it opened. I have no memories of the mall before its disastrous remodel. I call it disastrous because the mall really took a nose dive after the remodel, and the color scheme of the mall -- gray, fushica, turquoise, yellow, light blue was outdated 3 years later.

I'll you guys some of the scans from the microfilm copies: (they're kinda big, so I have to give them the 'link' treatment)
{1, 2, 3}

Picture #1 is from 1990 when the mall got a remodel that Debbie Gibson would've loved, picture #2 is right before the mall opened, and picture #3 is a picture of the old Miller & Rhoads store that I never got to see growing up (it closed in 1990). I "dyed" the scans colors because I'm putting them in a power point slideshow, and it looks better than just b&w scans.

----

I also went to the ex-Howard Johnsons that is now a Chinese restaurant in Newport News as well yesterday. It looks really nasty on the outside, but its beautiful in the inside. It's this huge buffet place, and almost everything in the place is brand new, and they had some unique stuff that I have not seen at a Chinese buffet (at least not out here) like oysters, and stuffed mushrooms, and scoopable ice cream (not soft serve [although I do love soft serve] like at Ryan's -- is that place defunct? The Ryan's in Newport News and Suffolk closed a couple of years ago) If only they'd do something about the outside of the place. It's not in a great part of town either, I came in at the tail end of lunch time, and the Rouse Tower workers were getting ready to leave and the crazies were getting ready to come in. This old man who had ordered take out was saying that he was buying Chinatown out or some crazy stuff.

Worlds Largest Fireplace .... and Candlesticks?

2006-02-08T19:11:00.000-05:00

I totally forgot to post these when I took them back in December. They're of Patrick Henry Mall's (Newport News, VA) new renovations:

I understand the new fireplace in the Patrick Henry Mall's new foodcourt ("You understand the fireplace? koo-koo!" [/Franklin Sherman]). That's great.

What I don't understand is the HUGE candlesticks! Why?!?

I was too scared to take a pic in the new mall wing (that's not finished yet), so I took them through the doors.

They finally covered up the old movie theater marquee at Patrick Henry Mall.

The movie theater probably closed in the mall in the late 1990's. I think an old Navy is there now? I think the movie marquee was also the Mall's entrance sign.

This is the new Borders. I wasn't too impressed with it.

The new Borders (in the former Dillards Mens/Kids building)

Here is a picture of the store while it was being built.

Here's a pic when it was just a skelton of the former Dillard's mens and children's department.

From a big-box mall to a 'town center'

2006-02-08T19:01:00.000-05:00

From a big-box mall to a 'town center'

Hampton officials and the owners of the Coliseum Mall are planning its transformation.

BY PATRICK LYNCH AND KIMBALL PAYNE
247-4534

February 8 2006

HAMPTON -- Hampton officials and the owners of Coliseum Mall are nearing a deal that would transform the 33-year-old indoor mall into a "town center" with city blocks, park space and multistory buildings with offices, apartments and retailers.

Facing years of sharply declining sales, a bleak future for traditional enclosed malls and stiff competition from newer retail centers, New York-based Mall Properties wants to pursue the town-center concept first laid out in a 2004 master plan commissioned by the city, said Howard S. Struletz, the company's vice president.

Plans for potentially more than $200 million in changes - with $65.5 million generated through special taxes on the new center - would build an outdoor shopping district similar to those that have emerged across the country to compete with indoor malls. Public squares and street-level parking combined with restaurants, stores and apartments would convert the boxy mall and sea of asphalt into several city blocks that the developers are calling the Peninsula Town Center.

"If the city hadn't come to us we would have gone in a different direction. I don't think we would have instigated something this dramatic," Struletz said. "We want to get to what it was when it opened in 1973 - the place to be. This is a very big vision. But it's a very doable vision."

Mall Properties and Hampton officials have not reached an agreement on how the development would take place and how it would be paid for. But getting to that point hinges on a City Council vote scheduled for tonight.

Council members will vote on whether to create a Community Development Authority that could sell bonds and set special taxes in the mall area to help pay for an expected $65 million in costs for land, public spaces, parking garages and roads. Early in 2005, mall officials said the redevelopment would cost about $200 million, but with the final details still in the works, Mall Properties would not confirm if that number still stands.

In the past, the City Council typically signed off on a broad agreement and then left the specifics to staff, according to Councilman Randy Gilliland. He said that this time around the most important vote would come when council signs off on a detailed contract with Mall Properties and the Community Development Authority. "We're going to say grace over the development agreement - deal point by deal point," Gilliland said. "We're being a lot more hands-on ... there basically will not be any public money."

The Community Development Authority would be a City Council-created entity, but the city would not be responsible for the debt created by the bond sale. The authority would pay off the debt by setting special real estate and property taxes on tenants within the redevelopment district - essentially, the current 76-acre mall property. City officials could also agree to dedicate a percentage of sales, meals and amusement taxes generated in the mall district toward the debt. But the details of that proposed tax structure have not been made public.

Several City Council members expressed tempered support for the deal. "Business is a cash cow, but you've got to invest in infrastructure," Councilman Rhet Tignor said. He said the deal would not resemble the city's $24 million investment in the Power Plant. "It's a very different animal for the city."

The mall's sales and vacancy numbers in recent years pointed toward the need for changes.

More than 40 percent of the mall's retail space stands vacant today. Attempts to lure stores such as Kohl's, Best Buy and Stein Mart to the vacancy left by Dillard's closing all failed. More than 100 tenants have left over the past five or six years, and only half have been replaced. As for overall sales, they've dropped from just under $140 million in 1999 to about $112 million in 2004, according to data from Mall Properties and the city's Commissioner of the Revenue office.

"You're talking about the city of Hampton's largest taxpayer," Hampton Economic Development Director Jimmy Eason said. "We've got to pay attention to that."

Struletz said Mall Properties wants to begin construction work this summer and open the new center for business by the fall of 2008. The construction plan also remains up in the air, but will require shutting down large sections of the mall at a time. Based on current plans, the only buildings that will be part of the new development would be the Hecht's, soon to become a Macy's, and three restaurants along Coliseum Drive - Outback Steakhouse, Bennigan's and Steak and Ale.

Store owners and tenants at Coliseum Mall are aware of the pending changes, but few know any details. Struletz said he has spoken to tenants, but only in general terms.

Dan Kelleher, executive director of the Coliseum Central Business Improvement District, said retail owners in the district "resoundingly support" the concept of redeveloping the mall.

Copyright © 2006, Daily Press

(first article about it from 2005)

"Buying a camera required getting film."

2006-02-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

I got this e-mail in my deadmalls box, and I wanted to share the news story about it:

Here is an article
I did on this topic. I compared some malls in Texas and
Tennessee from Christmas 1993 to 2003. A bit dated already but an interesting
read!

Devin Greaney
www.devingreaney.com

Every Fur Must Go...To The Thrift Store 10 Years Later

2006-01-29T17:18:00.000-05:00

Every Fur Must Go...To The Thrift Store 10 Years Later
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

This is one of the old Miller & Rhoads ads I found in newspapers my dad kept from the 1980's. I took this back in March of last year when I started to do research on Newmarket North/Newmarket Fair mall.

High Schoolers Will Take Pictures Of The Entrance Sign For Eons

2006-01-29T17:13:00.000-05:00

There's finally a replacement for the empty barely built KMart in the Power Plant in Hampton, VA:

Page 1, Page 2.

Unfortunately, the building is too big and BJ's has to tear it down before they start building.

The Real Risk? The Celing Caving In

2006-01-19T23:11:00.000-05:00

I wrote Joy Buchanan over at The Daily Press (Hampton Roads' newspaper) early last week about the the Toys R Us in Hampton, VA closing, and an article was finally written about it Tuesday:

http://www.dailypress.com/business/local/dp-56062sy0jan17,0,1898130.story?coll=dp-business-localheads

Toys 'R' Us closing Hampton store, 74 others

The local location will end its sale Saturday and close its doors in early February.

BY JOY BUCHANAN
247-4744

January 17 2006

HAMPTON -- The Toys "R" Us store on Mercury Boulevard will end its liquidation sale Saturday and the store will close in February.

The location is one of 75 Toys "R" Us stores in the United States that will close permanently, while 12 other locations will convert to Babies "R" Us stores, according to an SEC filing dated Jan. 9.

The company, which became private last year, said the closings were the result of a comprehensive review and evaluation of the American stores over the past few months. But the company identified "principal challenges and risks" to the company as increased competition from discount retailers Wal-Mart and Target, declining video game sales in the stores and increased competition with specialty retailers such as Electronics Boutique and Gamestop.

The employees at the Hampton location were notified in December that the store would close, but the company didn't announce the closings until last week. The Hampton store began its sale after Christmas.

The four other Hampton Roads locations - Newport News, Chesapeake, Norfolk and Virginia Beach - will remain open. The Hampton store's 29 employees are moving to other locations, including the Newport News store on Jefferson Avenue, or receiving severance packages, said Kathleen Waugh, a company spokeswoman.

A yellow banner announcing the sale hangs over the Hampton store's logo on the front of the building. Many of the windows are taped over with signs announcing markdowns of up to 70 percent. By Monday, the remaining inventory had been put in the front of the store, leaving the aisles and shelves in the rear empty and blocked by yellow caution tape.

A recorded message blared over the intercom system, announcing that the fixtures were on sale. Bikes, stuffed animals, candy, videos and electronics, including video game console accessories, were marked down 50 percent or more. Signs also warned shoppers that the store no longer honors coupons or promotional ads because of the large discounts.

The liquidation will cost the company about $155 million, including $45 million lost to inventory markdowns and fees, according to the filing. The closures are also expected to eliminate 3,000 jobs nationwide.

Copyright © 2006, Daily Press

----

I wonder why the sale is ending Saturday, but the actual store isn't closing until February. I guess because of the fixture sale. Too bad all they are really selling is cash registers and shelves. I want a shopping cart or the aforementioned doormat.

Untitled #4

2006-01-14T21:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's Find Of The Day on foundmagazine.com has Geoffrey and Baby Gee from Toys R Us in it!

Toys R Us Going Out Of Business Sale (Hampton, VA)

2006-01-13T15:21:00.000-05:00

The Toys R Us in Hampton, VA that I lived in until I was 10 is going out of business along with 70-something other locations.

This store is in pretty poor shape (it's been a Toys R Us since either the late 70's or early 1980's) but I always held my breath every time Toys R Us did a massive closing, but this one just didn't make it this time.

Geoffrey telling us where to put the carts at for the last time.

A busted up plastic cart (most of the carts in the store were the old timey metal kind) sitting next to the store. Mom and I always parked on the side of the store. I still remember every detail when we parked and walked up the sidewalk to the store.

This broke my heart the most. When I was little mom and dad would take me here about 3 times a month, we'd always drive to the back of the store to get out of the shopping center, and I always looked to see if the big Toys R Us truck with Geoffrey painted on it was there. 'Cause Geoffrey was my freakin' idol growing up.

I almost cried when I saw it was still parked back there.

The anc-ient Hampton Plaza sign advertising Toys R Us as its main anchor. You know, I highly doubt that something will take this buildings place once it closes shop next week. (the signs on the windows said, "Last 10 Days!")

And this was the last thing I'll ever buy from the Hampton Toys R Us, a sunbleached Frank Grimes Simpsons playset:

The fixtures were also for sale in the store, and I asked if I could buy the doormat with Geoffrey on it, but the manager said it was not for sale because the store's name was on it. I think some of the workers (who were in surprisingly good spirits, they must of gotten a great severance plan) really wanted me to buy it. There was even one guy who worked there who was riding a bike around the store. I wish I could've gotten a pic of that! As I was driving away from the store I waved "bye bye" to it and this woman crossing the street probably saw me and thought I was batshit insane.

Book Haven Going Out Of Business Sale (Franklin, VA)

2006-01-09T21:05:00.000-05:00

Book Haven Going Out Of Business Sale (Franklin, VA)
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

No wonder this place is going out of business, its out in the middle of nowhere. The only way I found it today was when I drove around the the back of this shopping center in town.

It seemed to have a following though, judging by the books on the shelves this place has had to be here for fifteen years or more.

Angry Man Build Mall Soon To Be Dead Mall With Retro Wards

2006-01-08T03:19:00.000-05:00

Oh my god, I just got this e-mail in my deadmalls.com inbox, so funny (ok, at least to me):

NAME: Grafwritah (.com)
EMAIL: grafwritah@-----
FROM:

Subject: A pic...
Mall(s): Regency Mall / Augusta GA
Message Type: Submission Existing
===========

This is nothing exciting in regards to mall architecture but something perhaps
you could add "just because". Besides, it puts a face with one of the masters
of mall creation.

And I'd say you're researching, no?

link.

That is a link but I don't know that you will be able to pull it from that. If
you can't, I can send it to you if you want it.
----

PIC: Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. at Regency Mall Opening Photograph
This 7.7" by 10" (19.8 by 25.4 cm) image depicts Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. The
photograph was taken at the grand opening of the Regency Mall in Augusta,
Georgia in 1978. DeBartolo was a Youngstown business leader who amassed one of
the nation's largest business conglomerates. He constructed the early malls and
shopping centers in the suburbs around Youngstown, to which some attribute the
demise of downtown Youngstown. Twice Forbes magazine named him the wealthiest
man in Ohio.

Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. in the Smokey Hollow section of Youngstown, Ohio. His
father, Anthony Paonessa, an immigrant from Bari, Italy, died two months before
he was born. In 1914, his stepfather Michael DeBartolo started a construction
company in Youngstown, where Edward worked from an early age. He graduated from
South High School in Youngstown in 1927 and from the University of Notre Dame
in 1932 with a degree in civil engineering. In 1935, he began building a series
of innovative single-family residences in a Youngstown suburb. After serving in
the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, he married Marie Patricia
Montani and founded the Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation. By 1949, the company
built the first shopping plaza in the greater Youngstown area, the Belmont
Avenue Shopping Center. Boardman Plaza, an Austintown shopping center, and
Southern Park Mall followed. DeBartolo also developed properties in Pittsburgh
and Akron. In 1976 he opened the world's largest mall at Richmond Park, near
Cleveland.

In 1987 DeBartolo bought the Higbee Company for $165 million and Federal
Department Stores, Inc. a year later. In 1994, the DeBartolo real estate
investment trust, DeBartolo Realty Corp. made its debut on the New York Stock
Exchange. Edward DeBartolo also owned sports venues and teams, starting with
Thistledown racetrack near Cleveland in 1959. Balmoral, outside Chicago, and
Louisiana Downs in Shreveport followed. The company added the Pittsburgh Civic
Arena, three professional sports teams in Pittsburgh, the San Francisco 49ers,
and 52 video game parlors.

Date:
1978
Author/Creator:
Unknown
Collection Name:
Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. Photograph Collection
Subjects:
Business and Labor; Shopping centers; Stores & shops; Rites & ceremonies;
DeBartolo, Edward J.
Places:
Youngstown (Ohio); Mahoning County (Ohio); Augusta (Georgia)
Rights:
Online access is provided for research purposes only.
Contact:
For more information, duplication requests, or to see the item or full
collection in its original (non-digital) format, please contact the
contributing institution. Contact information is provided below.
Contributor: Youngstown State University Archives & Special Collections
Address:
One Youngstown Plaza
Youngstown, OH 44555
(330) 941-3487
Contributor website:
http://www.maag.ysu.edu/archives

Paper Bag Walls!

2005-12-30T22:52:00.000-05:00

Paper Bag Walls!
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

I took this pic at a shopping center on Warwick Ave in Newport News back on August 21st. I don't know what it used to be.

D, (e), F....

2005-12-27T21:07:00.000-05:00

I get all the e-mails that come through on deadmalls.com and I got this link (from Lyme Waxster) of pictures of Pennsauken Mart a huge junk shop flea market looking place that recently closed.

'Sad thing is? I actually want some of the wigs in that wig shop and I know that bra shop would have my size!

In Paper

2005-12-22T19:52:00.000-05:00

{1989 or 1990}

Ward of the Court

2005-12-15T23:45:00.000-05:00

Mall-aise : Shopping Mall As Seen By Herman Krieger

That Cold

2005-12-08T22:48:00.000-05:00

This past week, our newspaper The Daily Press has been doing reviews of sorts for the shopping areas in the Hampton Roads area. Tuesday they did a short rundown on Coliseum Mall. I think they were a bit too nice.

I scanned this from the newspaper, sorry for the quality. (1, 2)

Casual Corner closing all 525 stores

2005-11-25T00:16:00.000-05:00

ENFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Casual Corner Group will close or sell all 525 of its stores in 42 states and Puerto Rico, the company announced Wednesday.

The Casual Corner, Casual Corner Annex and Petite Sophisticate stores will begin closing sales on Friday, the company said in a news release.

"However, we continue to examine the long-term strategic options for the Casual Corner Group stores, including the search for investors interested in continuing the Casual Corner/Petite Sophisticate brands and operations," said Malcolm Sherman, the company's chief executive officer.

Casual Corner, a women's clothing store, was founded in 1950 in West Hartford. It employs more than 9,000 people.

Susan Cronan, a spokeswoman for the company, would not say what led to the decision to close the stores or answer questions about the closing.

"We are extremely grateful to Casual Corner Group's associates, vendors and customers for their loyalty throughout the years," Sherman said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Oh, Hills!

2005-11-23T20:27:00.000-05:00

I found some info on the long-abandoned (since 1997) Hills store in Hampton:

>
> Work has been in progress at the Hampton Hills for a couple of weeks -
> drywall work and so forth. I have driven by at night to find the
> lights on and the butcher paper at the doors removed. Boxes are here
> and there - I think right now they are using as a drop off for
> Hurricane relief, but not sure of further plans.
>

----

I bet its just going to be a Salvation Army headquarters for the holidays. I can't imagine a new store coming to Hampton that needs that much room. The only store I can think of is Kohls? But they just built one in Newport News earlier this year.

as Lindsey realizes she is the last one.

2005-11-22T18:06:00.000-05:00

I filter though the submissions at deadmalls.com and I got this in my inbox:

Hello there
love your site
so we created a special film and gallery for you guys
for an absolute dead mall in our area
"Windsor Park Mall" - San Antonio, Texas.

Thanks

any questions
let me know
we have more pics coming soon too!

bye!

I like the pic of the old skool Waldenbooks. I've never seen that old Waldenbooks logo before!

"Orange Julius is closed?" I asked, with mock astonishment.

2005-11-21T16:48:00.000-05:00

Omega Julius Man: Xmas Redux>

a blog entry writen by someone who went Christmas shopping in his (unnamed) dead mall.

Where Do All The Signs Go?

2005-11-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

I got a quick question. Which dead store chain do you wish would come back?

My answer would be Hills. We had a Hills in Hampton, VA from October-ish 1995 to January of 1997. I liked that store, but Hills was on its last legs when it finally opened up in Hampton Roads and it failed, miserably. The store is still vacant.

My second answer would be Afterthoughts, it was a Clarie's knockoff, but with stuff that was a little more mature. I'm pretty sure they all got boarded up in malls in the late 1990's or early 2000's. I haven't seen one in years. There used to be one at Coliseum Mall right before you got to Wards.

My third answer? Caldor. We didn't have them in the South, but from what I hear they were pretty popular up north. They went out of business in 1999 I think.

Plug It In Like A Toaster

2005-11-15T19:58:00.000-05:00

I got some old Time Magazines at the library where I volunter at today. This was an ad inside one of them from the early 1980's. I remember Newmarket North/Fair Mall had an AT&T Phone store in it in the late 1980's/early 1990's.

Gonna Be Your Crate In Motion

2005-11-14T17:13:00.000-05:00

I found this old newspaper ad from the mid to late 1980's a few weeks ago.

...Back in the 80's they had (pauses) stores that catered to furniture made out of crates. And that shit wasn't cheap either.

You can't even find this furniture in the thrift stores.

Dorky Ass White People!

2005-11-12T17:48:00.000-05:00

That's Why The Mall Died!
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

Just by running that ad, people thought that Newmarket North Mall was full of nerdy white people such as the ones in the ad! That's why the mall died! (ad circa 1989, probably done a few months before the mall wes remodeled into Newmarket Fair)

Ok, I kid. But that's a pretty lame ad. Sorry about it being all wrinkled up. But the paper was in pretty bad shape.

Pretty ghastly interior

2005-11-08T21:45:00.000-05:00

MOTEL HELL!!

Them Two Round Buildings!

2005-11-01T21:22:00.000-05:00

My mom and I were looking through some old photos today, and I found this random photo she took in the movie theater she worked at. I forgot the name of the theater, but it was behind Newmarket South Shopping Center in Hampton, VA. I'm guessing here, but maybe they were called the Newmarket Theaters? And like the title implies it was two round buildings. She worked there in the late 1970's into the very early 1980's.

The two movie theaters closed in the early to mid 1990's.

I had another pic of my mom in the theater, but it got put in storage.

All Yellow. All Commuter.

2005-10-13T22:15:00.000-04:00

Patrick Henry Mall's renovation is coming along swimmingly:

{I took these in September}

{That's the entrance I usually use}

Here's a pic I took in June of the renovatons the old Dillard's Mens and Children's Department:

Here's a really bad pic I took in August of one of the entrances:

It's Worse Now

2005-10-13T21:21:00.000-04:00

Now I have known Brian at deadmalls.com for about six months now. Little did I know he had crappy photos of one of my dead malls; Coliseum Mall in Hampton, VA. I asked him if I could have them and he said yes.

Here is his story on why they look so bad:

I had a digital camera that crapped out . I couldn't download the pics off the camera, so I took pics of them on the crappy display screen on the camera, then brought the camera back. It was a 1 MP camera from target I got on clearance for $16.

These are from May of 2002:

{this is Wards that isn't there anymore, a Burlington Coat Factory is where Wards was, and the stores next to it are now Barnes and Noble and Steve and Barry's}

{this is practically the only time that I've seen a "modern" Wards fixture in a dead mall. Most dead malls that had Wards were using the 70's or 80's signs until Wards went bankrupt. I also forgot about the ghetto painted palmtrees they had up when Wards closed}

--

My "main" Coliseum Mall blog entry.

Robots To Clean Rooms With

2005-10-13T21:19:00.000-04:00

I found a BEST store ad on Retrojunk.com.

I saw that robot in the ad at a thrift store in 2001, and I almost bought him. One half of me wishes I did, but the other half doesn't. He'd be in storage right now anyway.

"BTW, whatever happened to Geoffrey's family? Divorced? Kids in jail?"

2005-10-11T14:24:00.000-04:00

From a recentl x-entertianment.com blog entry about an old Halloween Toys R Us ad from 1980:

But yeah, I hear TRU is in trouble, which makes me sad. I think they went downhill when they got rid of those totally ginchy rainbow wooden plank exteriors, if you ask me.

Word.

Newmarket Fair Mall Santa! (1989)

2005-10-09T16:46:00.000-04:00

Newmarket Fair Mall Santa! (1989)
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

There's this website/blog called Santa & Me and I sent it along to the guy who works on the site.

I was six in the photo. I remember my dad took me that night to see Santa while mom went Christmas shopping at Sears---this was back when Newmarket actually had stores, you know?

When the mall got remodeled in 1990, the "Santa Wonderland" (it wasn't called that, but that's what I'll call it) had like these 40 foot wooden turquoise and teal solders, and like an 18 foot tall teddy bear. I wish I had photos of it.

Where VA Diner Signs Come To Die

2005-10-09T15:36:00.000-04:00

Where VA Diner Signs Come To Die
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

This garage was next to my old house in Wakefield where the VA Diner packing plant is. It's the parking sign for the Virginia Diner, a very popular eatery for tourists.

I swear this sign had just been taken down within the last year, but dad says its an old sign.

I took that pic back in May.

Mobil Gas Station (closed Oct. 2005) Franklin, VA

2005-10-02T20:27:00.000-04:00

I swear I saw this place open Friday when I passed by it, and it was closed Saturday morning.

I also spotted a newly renovated Shell station in Suffolk, VA that had recently closed, its gas pumps taken out.

///edit -- October 9, 2005///

Apparently the people who own this gas station is changing it over to a Sunoco. It will open early next year. If I can remember, I'll take pics during the changeover.

Oh, Hills!

2005-10-02T17:57:00.000-04:00

I went by the dead Hills in Hampton again Friday. This place closed in January of 1997.

The cars in the parking lot are either for the shoe store nearby or the postoffice.

Someone Hand KMart The Last Nail

2005-09-26T18:52:00.000-04:00

I had a thought, I hope I don't offend anybody.

I'm sure everybody here has seen the new KMart ads with the country song, "I F_o_u_n_d L_o_v_e At A K_M_a_r_t S_t_o_r_e" (I garbled up the title of the song so I won't get burned at the stake by fans of that song googleing it) song in the background, right? Does anybody think that this is the last nail in the coffin for KMart? Do you think that using a country song and country line dancing in their ads just drills in people's heads the stereotype that only bumpkins shop at KMart even more? It seems that KMart is going in the wrong direction in trying to "woo" customers back into their stores.

I won't step in KMart because the stores out here are just junky. (Newport News and Hampton, VA). I'm sure Hampton only gets about 20 customers a day.

Eastland Mall - Tulsa, OK.

2005-09-24T15:25:00.000-04:00

08
Originally uploaded by Lost Tulsa.

A flickr photo set that I found about Eastland Mall in Tulsa.

No Senior Discounts!

2005-09-20T19:09:00.000-04:00

No Senior Discounts!
Originally uploaded by Look In The Tunk.

Another entrant in the "Death Of Newmarket North/Fair Mall" newspaper ad series.

This was when Miller & Rhoads left Newmarket North mall (this was before the mall was renamed "Newmarket Fair" in 1990). When they left the mall started its death. Right after the store was closed, the remodel of the mall began without one of their anchors.

The building that M&R was in is now a Verizon call center.