Bristol Mall was the only regional

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

serving

Bristol, Virginia Bristol is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,219. It is the twin city of Bristol, Tennessee, just across the state line, which runs down the middle of its main street, State S ...

. It opened in 1975. Former anchors included

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

Belk Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, ...

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

, and a movie theater. With Bristol being the home of

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, long before

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, for many years there had been a museum at the mall, showcasing the legacy this left to the area. In April 1999, Bristol Mall was sold to Aronov Realty Management of Montgomery, Ala., from an affiliate of Urban Retail Properties, Chicago, for $25 million. The mall was sold to Bristol Mall Acquisitions LLC in 2006 for $18.3 million. On August 3, 2015, local news station WCYB reported that Bristol Mall had gone into foreclosure and would be put up for auction. After an unsuccessful first auction, the mall was ultimately purchased by a family-owned real estate investment group, Sunstar Keshav LLC at a second online auction. Representatives from the company stated that they were committed to revitalizing Bristol Mall and again making it a viable retail complex. The mall closed again on August 31, 2017, after the last remaining store closed. The mall's website was taken offline after this closure. In April 2018, the Bristol Mall was listed as back on the market for $2.9 million. On May 28, 2018, a pharmaceutical company revealed its plan to buy the vacant property and convert it into a

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production plant. The company, Par Ventures, said it would create around 500 jobs. On June 6, 2018, Par Ventures finalized the purchase of the property. The property name changed to "Bristol Industrial Mall."

Stores

The mall's original anchor stores were Parks-Belk, Miller's and Sears. Bristol Mall had the usual mix of restaurants, mall services, fast food, and other typical mall stores, as well as a movie theater. There were also eight food establishments including

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. In 1992, Miller's was acquired by Proffit's Inc. and the name changed to Proffit's. An 86,000 square feet JCPenney store was constructed as an addition to the mall in the mid-1990s. In conjunction with the JCPenney addition, the mall underwent a complete interior renovation. In 2005, Belk Inc. purchased the Proffit's chain and the Proffit's location was converted to a second Belk location in the mall, with the men's, home and children's departments relocating from the original Belk building to the former Proffit's store, which was rebranded Belk Men, Home & Kids.

Piccadilly Cafeterias Piccadilly Restaurants is an American chain of cafeteria-style, casual dining restaurants in seven, mainly southeastern United States with the majority located in the Gulf Coast region. They are owned by Piccadilly Holdings LLC. In addition to ...

, an original Bristol Mall tenant since the mall's opening in 1975 closed on May 23, 2011, when its lease expired. JCPenney closed in May 2014 as a part of a nationwide closure of 33 under performing stores. Later that same year, Belk announced it would be closing both of its anchor locations at the mall and consolidating the two stores in 2015 into one newly constructed store at The Pinnacle, a large lifestyle center under construction near Interstate 81. On January 4, 2017,

Sears Holdings Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-l ...

announced that the Bristol Mall Sears location, including its Auto Center, would close in 2017. On March 26, 2017, Sears closed its doors leaving the mall without any anchor stores. On February 20, 2017, local news station WCYB reported that

Game Stop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operates 4,5 ...

would close on Monday, February 20 and that Misty Mountain Designs would close on Sunday, February 26. On June 3, 2017, Bath and Body Works officially closed their Bristol Mall location. Bounce Bristol announced on their website that they had temporarily closed their store. On June 23, 2017, it was announced that Belmeade Formal Wear is also closing leaving only one store left in the mall, KSS Instructional Aids. Ultimately, on August 4, 2017, KSS Instructional Aids announced that their Bristol Mall location would be closing on August 31, 2017, thus leaving the Bristol Mall without any tenants.

References

External links

Bristol Industrial Mall Website

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{{Shopping malls in Virginia Shopping malls established in 1976 Shopping malls disestablished in 2017 Shopping malls in Virginia Buildings and structures in Bristol, Virginia 1976 establishments in Virginia 2017 disestablishments in Virginia Abandoned shopping malls in the United States