The Shops at Willow Lawn is a

shopping center A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

located slightly outside the city limits of

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

in unincorporated Henrico County. It is the first shopping center in the Richmond area. Currently, the center is entirely a strip mall now, the remaining enclosed portion having been demolished and rebuilt. The center features over 60 stores and several restaurants
Federal Realty Trust
owns the shopping center.

History

The center, originally called Willow Lawn Shopping Center, opened in 1956. Originally, the center was anchored by

G.C. Murphy G.C. Murphy was a chain of five and dime or variety stores in the United States from 1906 to 2002. They also operated Murphy's Mart (full scale discount stores), Bargain World (closeout merchandise), Terry & Ferris and Bruners (junior department ...

, Giant Food,

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 ...

, Peoples Drug,

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

, and Woolworth. Safeway later re-located to the former Giant Food space; the original Safeway was torn down for

Hess's Hess's was a department store chain based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company started in 1897 with one store, originally known as Hess Brothers, and grew to nearly 80 stores by its peak in the late 1980s. The chain's stores were closed or sold ...

. This Hess's store, over time, was renamed to Leggett, and then to Belk, which closed in 1998. In 1986, Federal Realty Trust acquired the shopping center. The middle section of the mall was enclosed that year, creating a hybrid strip mall/enclosed mall.Richmond.com / Richmond Virginia / Richmond VA - The Official Online City Portal
/ref> The enclosed portion featured several more stores, as well as a

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 ...

. Miller & Rhoads closed in 1988, and was sub-divided into smaller stores and offices. Through the 1980s, Willow Lawn lost many of its key stores as other malls opened nearby.

closed in the late 1990s and was replaced with a

Hannaford Bros. Co. Hannaford is an American supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine. Founded in Portland, Maine, in 1883, Hannaford operates stores in New England and New York. The chain is now part of the Ahold Delhaize group based in the Netherlands, an ...

supermarket, until that chain sold its Richmond locations to Kroger. Peoples Drug became

CVS/Pharmacy CVS Pharmacy, Inc. is an American retail corporation. A subsidiary of CVS Health, it is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It was also known as, and originally named, the Consumer Value Store and was founded in Lowell, Massachusetts, in ...

, which it is to this day.

and Woolworth also closed; these stores later became

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...

and Tower Records, respectively. In 1996,

Barksdale Theatre Barksdale Theatre merged with Theatre IV in 2012 to become Virginia Repertory Theatre.Prestidge, HollyRichmond Times Dispatch May 20, 2012; Barksdale, Theatre IV merging Retrieved 2012-05-27Cushing, NathanRVA News May 20, 2012; Barksdale and Thea ...

, Central Virginia's leading professional theatre, made The Shops at Willow Lawn its new home. The theatre still presents its Signature Season there today. Theatre IV, the Children's Theatre of VA, occasionally performs at the theatre.

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...

opened at Willow Lawn in 1998, replacing the former Belk. This Dillard's did not last long, however, and was closed by 2004. The former Dillard's was soon replaced with Gold's Gym and Ross Dress For Less.

, which opened in the 1990s, moved out in 2000 and was replaced with Staples.News & Features - Richmond.com / Richmond Virginia / Richmond VA - The Official Online City Portal
/ref> Federal Realty began a renovation of the mall in 2005, taking a portion of the enclosed mall and returning it to an open-air strip. Also in 2005, Ben Franklin Crafts (which was formerly an outparcel) and K & G Fashion Superstore moved into the mall, the latter replacing most of the food court. Tower Records closed in 2006 due to

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

liquidation. In 2011, Willow Lawn began another renovation, demolishing the remnants of the enclosed mall and food court. In 2012, the central section of Willow Lawn is set to reopen with new stores and an open-air courtyard. Old Navy and a few other tenants relocated to stores in other central parts of the existing complex.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shops at Willow Lawn, The Buildings and structures in Henrico County, Virginia Tourist attractions in Henrico County, Virginia Shopping malls in Richmond, Virginia Shopping malls established in 1956 1956 establishments in Virginia