Seven Corners Shopping Center was the first major shopping center to open in suburban

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It is located in Seven Corners, Fairfax County, Virginia. At its opening in 1956, it was the largest regional shopping center in Virginia. The backsplit two-story mall structure was razed in the mid-1990s and replaced with a dual ground level power center.

History

The 45-store, $25 million, center, developed by Kass-Berger of Washington, D.C., formally opened October 4, 1956, on a parcel at the intersection of Arlington Boulevard ( U.S. Route 50) and Leesburg Pike ( State Route 7). At opening, the store was anchored by Washington D.C.-based department stores Julius Garfinckel & Co. and a

Woodward & Lothrop Woodward & Lothrop was a department store chain headquartered in Washington, D.C. that began as the capital's first department store in 1887. Woodies, as it was often nicknamed, maintained stores in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Its flagship ...

. The center also included a Food Lane supermarket;

Woolworth's Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

;

Bond Stores Bond Clothing Stores, Bond Clothes, Bond Clothiers, or Bond Stores, was a men's clothing manufacturing company and retailer. The company catered to the middle-class consumer. History The company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914, when Mor ...

, Franklin Simon & Co., Joseph R. Harris Co.,

Peck & Peck Peck & Peck was a New York-based retailer of private label women's wear prominently located at 581 Fifth Avenue. Peck & Peck was known for its classic clothes. Like Bonwit Teller and B. Altman and Company's post–World War II fashions, Peck ...

, and Wilson's Mens Store clothing stores; Mayer & Company furniture;

Thom McAn The surname Thom is of Scottish origin, from the city of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Angus, and is a sept of the Clan MacThomas. Thom is also a first name variant of the abbreviation " Tom" of "Thomas" that holds the "h". People with the surnam ...

and

Hahn's Shoes Hahn's Shoes was a Washington, DC area shoe store. It was founded in 1876 by William Hahn, who had arrived in the United States from Germany in 1868 at age 15. By 1890, there were three locations: 816 7th St, NW; 1922 Pennsylvania Ave, NW; and 23 ...

;

Fanny Farmer Fanny Farmer was an American candy manufacturer and retailer. Fanny Farmer was started in Rochester, New York by Frank O'Connor in 1919, and grew to over 400 stores before being bought and consolidated. History O'Connor had previously star ...

candy; and

Western Auto Western Auto Supply Company—known more widely as Western Auto—was a specialty retail chain of stores that supplied automobile parts and accessories. It operated approximately 1200 stores across the United States. It was started in ...

as well as a Peoples Drug Store, which featured stores on both the upper and lower concourses (connected via a staircase). It also included the first cafeteria in northern Virginia, an

S&W Cafeteria S&W Cafeteria was a Charlotte, North Carolina-based chain of cafeteria-style restaurants. The chain specialized in low-cost, Southern-style food. Branches were located in the Southeastern United States from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta, Georgia. ...

. When opened, the center employed nearly 1,000. A

Raleigh's Raleigh Haberdasher, more commonly called Raleigh's, was a high end, local men's and women's furnishings store based in Washington, D.C. History The first store opened on February 16, 1911, at 1109 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, in the Raleigh Hotel. M ...

joined the center sometime after its opening, as did a Varsity Shop men's clothing outlet and a

Brentano's Brentano's was an American bookstore chain with numerous locations in the United States. As of the 1970s, there were three Brentano's in New York: the Fifth Avenue flagship store at Rockefeller Center, one in Greenwich Village, and one in Whit ...

book store. Seven Corners has always been a major bus stop and bus terminal. The stop was originally located outside the Garfinckel's on the lower level, then moved to the upper level next to the central escalators until the building was redesigned. Today, the bus stop sits near its original lower level location, at a transit station constructed by Fairfax County. The main building was shaped like an "I" with two anchors at either end and two wide promenades connecting. The center was built on a hillside in a split level design with escalators connecting the two levels. Heating and cooling were by water from an underground lake located beneath the center. The center prospered through the 1980s. With competition from a growing number of regional malls in the area compounded by the bankruptcy of

Garfinckel's Garfinckel's was a prominent department store Chain store, chain based in Washington, D.C. that catered to a customer, clientele of wealthy consumers. Its flagship store at 14th and F in the city's F Street shopping district is listed on the Nati ...

in 1990, closing of

& and

in 1995. As the indoor mall lost relevance, Seven Corners fell victim to vacancy and disrepair. Most of the original center was demolished in the mid-1990s and replaced with a big-box style power center. As a result, Seven Corners is no longer an enclosed single shopping center, but essentially two outdoor strip malls. Instead of using interior promenades, shoppers must walk along the parking lot to go from store to store. The two levels are no longer connected by escalators; there is only a narrow exterior metal and concrete stairway at one end of the complex, which is rarely used by shoppers. The Garfinckel's now occupied by a

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 ...

is the only portion of the original Seven Corners Center still standing. Once reopened, the new two level complex anchor stores included

Shoppers Food Warehouse Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, also known as Shoppers Food Warehouse, is a chain of 22 supermarkets located in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas. Shoppers has fresh produce, Swift Angus beef, Smithfield natural pork, all-natural c ...

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement r ...

, Best Buy,

Service Merchandise Service Merchandise was a retail chain of catalog showrooms carrying jewelry, toys, sporting goods, and electronics. The company, which first began in 1934 as a five-and-dime store, was in existence for 68 years before ceasing operations in 2002. ...

, and Barnes & Noble.Fairfax County EDA - Doing Business in Fairfax County, Seven Corners (retrieved Sep 2, 2008)
. Around 2003, Best Buy moved out and was replaced by RoomStore which closed in late 2012. The Service Merchandise store was replaced by

Syms Syms Corp (styled as SYMS) was an off-price retail clothing store chain, founded by Sy Syms in 1958. Its headquarters was in Secaucus, New Jersey, where it became a public company, traded on the New York Stock Exchange (SYM) in 1983. The company ...

, which also closed in late 2011. The Shoppers grocery store was closed and converted to Giant Food in mid-2019, as part of the eventual closing of all Shoppers stores. The center was the site of one of the Washington, D.C.

Beltway sniper attacks The D.C. sniper attacks (also known as the Beltway sniper attacks) were a series of coordinated shootings that occurred during three weeks in October 2002 throughout the Washington metropolitan area, consisting of the District of Columbia, M ...

in 2002. It is currently managed by Saul Centers of

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

References

{{Coord, 38, 52, 6, N, 77, 9, 7.3, W, display=title Seven Corners Shopping Center Shopping malls established in 1956 Economy of Fairfax County, Virginia 1956 establishments in Virginia Shopping malls in the Washington metropolitan area