Military Circle Mall, known as The Gallery at Military Circle Mall from 2002 to 2015, is a soon to be demolished enclosed

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 ...

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

. The mall opened in 1970. In October 2016 the Virginia Beach City Council rejected plans for an oceanfront arena. This vote triggered discussions for the Military Circle area to include the construction of a 20,000 seat multi purpose arena. However, rising city debt and other priorities appear to negate any near-term plans for a new arena to the area. The anchor stores are

Ross Dress for Less Ross Stores, Inc., operating under the brand name Ross Dress for Less, is an American chain of discount department stores headquartered in Dublin, California. It is the largest off-price retailer in the U.S.; as of 2018, Ross operates 1,483 sto ...

Optima Health Sentara Healthcare is a not-for-profit healthcare organization serving Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. It is based in Norfolk, Virginia and offers services in 12 acute care hospitals, with 3,739 beds, 853,000 members in its health plan, ...

, and Movement Mortgage. There are 3 vacant anchor stores that were once Cinemark,

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 ...

, and

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

. The mall permanently closed to the public on January 31, 2023.

History

Military Circle Mall opened in 1970, developed by Harvey Lindsay Jr. Original tenants included J.B. Hunter (later

Thalhimers Thalhimers was a department store in the Southern United States. Based in Richmond, Virginia, the venerable chain at its peak operated dozens of stores in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and one store in Memphis, Tennessee. Thalhimer's ...

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 ...

, Smith & Welton, and Leggett (a division of

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, ...

), a Sheraton hotel, and a 6-screen

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

multiplex. Thalhimer's became

Hecht's Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores that operated mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States. The firm originated in Baltimore, Maryland. By 20 ...

in 1992, and

in 2006. Smith & Welton closed in 1990. Renovations in 1996 included the addition of

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...

s in the concourses, new entrances and a 600-seat

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. I ...

. AMC Theatres, located in the middle of the mall, closed in the mid-90s; a Cinemark multiplex opened a few years later in a different section of the mall. In 1998, Belk vacated the former Leggett building. A year later, then-owner Urban Retail began a renovation of the center, which included the addition of a

in the former Smith & Welton space, returning Sears to Norfolk after its previous store in the city closed in 1993. In 2000, an 18-screen Cinemark movie theater also opened on the site of the former Leggett/Belk.

Thor Equities Thor Equities is a real estate development, leasing and management firm, with headquarters in New York City, London and Mexico City. Thor Equities owns property in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, India and Latin America, including Londo ...

bought the mall in 2002 and renamed it The Gallery at Military Circle while continuing mall-wide renovation.

opened in 2004, taking space previously occupied by a McCrory dime store.

KB Toys K·B Toys (also known as Kay Bee Toys) was an American chain of mall-based retail toy stores. The company was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store. The company opened a wholesale toy store in 1946, and ended its candy who ...

filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

and closed in 2009, followed soon by the closing of Suncoast, and

Waldenbooks Waldenbooks, operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain, from 1995 as a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware, as well as a ...

stores. Sears closed its Military Circle store in March 2012 as part of a nationwide series of closings. The JCPenney store at Military Circle was named as one of 33 stores JCPenney announced on January 15, 2014, would close later in the year. The Norfolk Economic Development Authority then bought the vacated anchor that December so the city would have a strategic say in the future of the mall property. The Macy's store closed in early 2016. On April 16, 2015; it was announced that the entire Gallery at Military Circle property was placed under foreclosure. On July 15, 2015, the entire mall property was put up for public auction in the Norfolk court. However, the mall did not change hands. On January 7, 2016; Macy's announced they were closing the Gallery at Military Circle location and many other locations as part of a massive restructuring; one of three in the Hampton Roads region and one of 40 overall closed in early 2016. In February 2021, it was announced that the Cinemark 18 was now permanently closed.

Signage Signage is the design or use of signs and symbols to communicate a message. A signage also means signs ''collectively'' or being considered as a group. The term ''signage'' is documented to have been popularized in 1975 to 1980. Signs are any ...

was removed and a memorial for the theater was erected by former patrons in front of the theater.

Current tenants

In 2014, the City of Norfolk purchased the J.C. Penney building for $2.5 million."Development authority buys J.C. Penney building"
''Virginian-Pilot'' (December 19, 2014) As of 2018,

and Movement Mortgage lease space in that building."Optima Health Moves into part of former J.C. Penney Space"
WAVY-TV 10 (March 8, 2017)"Military Circle Mall JCPenneys announcement"
Channel 13 News (March 18, 2017)

References

External links

* {{coord, 36.852, -76.206, type:landmark_region:US-VA, display=title Buildings and structures in Norfolk, Virginia Shopping malls established in 1970 Shopping malls in Virginia Defunct shopping malls in the United States Shopping malls disestablished in 2023