Cloverleaf Mall; Richmond, Virginia
Hey there everyone! Thanks for your patience over the past few weeks/months… it’s been a pretty crazy one. I just spent two weeks out on the west coast for the first time since the 80s, and I even got to visit a few malls while I was out there, and look for them to appear on the site soon.
Labelscar gets a lot of great contributions from readers, and here’s one from Michael Lisicky, who has helped us out many times in the past. If you’ve contributed something and haven’t seen it posted yet, don’t worry: we’ll get to it eventually. This is a pretty time-consuming hobby but we greatly appreciate all your help, and you will see the fruits of your labor, we promise! Now, over to Michael:
“If there was ever a mall that I could nominate for a “Labelscar Hall of Fame”, may I respectfully submit the Cloverleaf Mall in Richmond, VA? (I still would hope for the grand prize winner to be the Regency Mall in Augusta, GA! Nothing tops that one, at least to me.) Cloverleaf was built in 1972 as Richmond’s first large scale indoor mall. Its anchors included Sears, the East Coast’s largest JCPenney (at the time) and a 1 story Richmond-based Thalhimers, tucked away in the back. Thalhimers had actually wanted its rival, Miller & Rhoads, to join them at Cloverleaf but a lease restriction at M&R’s Southside Plaza location forbid them from opening another store within 5 miles. (Southside Plaza was just over 4 miles away.)
“Cloverleaf Mall quickly became “The Shopping Center of Richmond”. Its early success encouraged Thalhimers to add a second floor. Cloverleaf was not a large mall, but it did have over 75 stores and was quite active. It was the destination for Southside shoppers. Every Richmond- based and national-based chain wanted to be there.
“Cloverleaf always had its share of controversy. Located just over the Richmond City border, Chesterfield County officials refused to let city buses into Cloverleaf’s lot. Buses were forced to drop city residents off at a nearby K-mart, leaving the inner-city shoppers to walk across parts of the “cloverleaf” just for the opportunity of shopping at the mall. After years of countless fights in and out of courts, Chesterfield finally allowed the buses into the parking lot. 1996, two women were executed while working after hours at the All- for-One dollar store in the mall. This brutal crime was highly publicized and stayed in the media for months, and shoppers stayed away in droves. Also, the media was quick to point out the increase in gang activity at the center.
“Change always happens. In 1992, Thalhimers became Hecht’s and the store began its downgrade. In fact, it ended up being a regional dumping ground for other Hecht’s stores. But it became the best kept secret for Richmond shoppers. A large section of the mens’ department, known unofficially as “The Pit” was a bargain-hunter’s paradise. Change also meant that residents were, and still are, moving farther away into the county. Chesterfield Towne Center became the mall to be in. Located 5 miles away, it became the ’safe’ place to shop. And Cloverleaf’s retailers knew it.
“First, Sears reduced its store to 1 floor, albeit refurbished. JCPenney simply announced its closing in 2000 as it prepared to move to Chesterfield. By 2002, Sears also would leave its store for Chesterfield. With its two large anchors that faced Midlothian Turnpike vacant, the writing was on the wall for Hecht’s. Saying its store was still profitable, it remained, tucked into the back not far from the decaying movie theaters. But in July 2003, that would end, and as Hecht’s and many remaining mall stores fled, 2003 was to be the death of Cloverleaf Mall.
“But it is still there. And open, with about 7 exciting retailers. In 2005, a large African-American church offered to buy the mall and turn it into a multi-purpose facility, with the former JCPenney store becoming a 5,000 seat sanctuary. That was not what the county wanted. Remember, they didn’t even want the buses! So the county purchased the mall, including the company-owned Sears building, for more than it should. The church fought the purchase and brought charges of racism.
“But today, Cloverleaf still has its doors open. Plans are for it to become a mixed development of shops, offices and housing, anchored by a Kroger. Today, once you enter the structure, which few seem to do, you are greeted by security guards wondering why you are there. I snapped as many photos as I could. The silent fountain. The leaking roof. You are not allowed to walk past the guard stand. “Nothing’s left to see.” But I disagree. Eventually I get stopped and I leave. At least I have some memories on film.
“What finally happens to Cloverleaf Mall may be anyone’s guess. The guards in the mall don’t feel that anything is going to happen any time soon. And since Hecht’s and everyone else left in 2003, things are moving slowly at Cloverleaf. However, even in its ghostly state, its Foot Locker store shines bright.
“The most recent sign for the Cloverleaf Mall used to say “If you haven’t see us lately, you haven’t seen us at all.” I guess they’re right.
on November 26th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Passed by that mall on a recent trip to Richmond and wanted to stop, but I was not in the driver’s seat. May have to go there again before it’s history.
on November 26th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Hmm, that looks pretty nasty.
What is the building all the way in the back corner of the mall lot? It looks like it might have been the Sears’ Auto Center.
on November 26th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
That odd looking child with the bowl cut doesn’t look too happy.
on November 26th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
The sixth picture doesn’t work.
on November 26th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Y’know, if Miller & Rhoads would have been allowed to open at Cloverleaf Mall, the store they opened further out on Midlothian at Chesterfield Mall (now Chesterfield Towne Center) may never have happened, which could have led to that mall never being built. Richmond retail history could have been very, very different.
Other than remarking about the butt-ugliest JCPenney I’ve ever seen, there’s not a lot I have to say about Cloverleaf Mall. I went once or twice in the ’90s, and I remember going to Hecht’s and JCPenney. Neither were particularly distinguished stores, but they were decent overall. The inside of the mall seems to be in good shape, and the outside is a little Brutalist, but not that bad for that era.
on November 26th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
I made a map of the mall from around 2000, based on some ancient data still hanging around on Storetrax:
http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u68/TenPoundHammer/?action=view¤t=cloverleaf2000.jpg
Storetrax says that at the time, the mall was owned by Zamias; they tend to be a bit of a mall slumlord. None of their properties are in very good shape (but not nearly as bad as, say, Sherman Dreiseszun properties).
on November 26th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
The seven retailers left include: Shoe City, Foot Locker, and very likely GNC.
on November 26th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
I remember this mall too…with Regency Square, Short Pump and Stony Point doing pretty well, Cloverleaf didn’t have a chance.
on November 27th, 2007 at 12:04 am
Sorry, no GNC here anymore. Yes, there was Shoe City and Foot Locker. (Foot Locker is preparing to move across the street to Beaufont.) The remaining stores were Lim’s Clothing, two jewelry-type stores on the center court and one other ‘urban’ clothing store. Very creepy.
on November 27th, 2007 at 12:36 am
I actually like that JCPenney…it’s very evil looking and imposing like a lot of the creepier architecture of the 70’s. The store entrance to the Sears isn’t too bad either. Now when it comes to the Thalhimer’s…the obvious cut where they added the second floor and it’s severely stripped down exterior design makes it the ugliest department store I’ve ever laid eyes on. It looks like the roof caved in on it and took the overhang with it.
Inside, blah. It’s less than inspiring…it’s the typical tacky late 80’s overhaul that is hardly memorable. I tended to think that dark, moody colors and earthtones sometimes made a place look more classy and spacious, but the palms and clad pinkish peach floors make it look like an outlet mall. While some truly inspiring modernist designs did sometimes make their way to malls in the 70’s, this was definitely not one of them. I’d save the freaky ass Penney’s (with new paint and replacement of the lost panels) and demolish the rest.
on November 27th, 2007 at 3:28 am
If you liked the JCPenney, J.T., you’ll love the “mini-me” JCPenney Auto Center out front. It’s got the same creepy qualities in a smaller size.
For a store that was synonymous with elegance, the Thalhimers suburban branches tended to be very, very ugly. There were rare exceptions, like the Friendly Center store in Greensboro, but most of the Thalhimers built before Carter Hawley Hale took over are very cheap looking outside.
on November 27th, 2007 at 10:06 am
I forgot one more store, DTLR. Downtown Locker Room is still open, between Shoe City and Foot Locker.
on November 27th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
There was a period in the early/mid-70s when JC Penney built really ugly bunker block-looking stores. Then they tried for something more depratment store-like and a bit softer. The former South DeKalb JC Penney outside Atlanta has the same “riot-proof” look as this one. The mall is really no uglier than most live or dead malls from that era–it was from a time where malls had become very cookie cutter in their execution and very utilitarian in appearence. You had a lot of development by outfits like DeBartolo that had no imagination–previously there had been more local development of malls and not so much on a regional or national scale.The malls from this era look plain and non-descript when occupied, but empty the parking lot and remove the signage and they look horrible. It was out of the post-urban riot era. Urban high schools and other public buildings of that era often had the same concrete menace. It’s interesting that shopping malls picked up on this–they must have figure that it would add to the aura of safety that malls tried to convey. Now, it just makes the place look cold and a bit sinister.
The Pepto-Bismol pink interior is kind of interesting and looks like a rehab. In the 70s, it would have been white everywhere; or neutral cheap terrazo-like floors to balance the heavy wood/brick motifs. The pink seems to match the “Cloverleaf” entry with Shoe City. That looks 90s.
on November 27th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
There are some great pictures of the original mall interior floating around in local “civic pride / history / advertisements masquerading as local history” books that Richmond had back in the ’70s and ’80s. As I recall, the center court was very moody and dark, dramatic in its own way.
The remodel happed sometime in the late ’80s/early ’90s, as it looked that way when I went in the mid ’90s. In person, with all the stores and lightbulbs in, it looked a lot better than it does in its abandoned state.
Penneys does look like a bunker. To its credit, the wall lamps do help the looks some, as I’m sure the showcases did back when they had them. Sears, however looks very Miesian around the entrances. The pole lamps soften the hard edges of the design.
on November 27th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
That most white, minimalist anchor with the (metallic?) entrance treatment is somewhat appealing. A series of oversized fashion posters along the facade would humanize it for me a bit.
As for the corridor high-voltage power lines streaking through the parking lot: they remind me of the ones marching through the surface lots of Springdale Plaza here in Mobile. Too bad they both aren’t ‘aesthetically’ appealing.
on November 28th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
If we had more info on the demographics, it would be easier to better understand why there might be opposition to the church taking the place of this mall. From a financial standpoint, the County probably doesn’t want to lose prime land near a freeway interchange from its tax duplicate. In addition, megachurches often wind up looking like 70s malls (it’s unclear whether they’d do much remodeling) and these churches often have a lot of dead time which makes an unattractive area seem more forbidding, because of the empty parking lot.
Compared to the other stores at the mall, the Sears looks almost elegant esp. when also compared to some stores they built in this era (my hometown mall Sears from this period was/is an ugly mass of dark brick). The beams around the doors do give it a Miesian touch, although Mies would never want the rounding.
on November 28th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
The demographics of the area where Cloverleaf is located is a case study in itself. The area is located right at the edge of Chesterfield County at the City of Richmond border. It is mostly lower middle class homes that surround the area. But not all. Actually, Stony Point Fashion Park with its Saks, Betsey Johnson, Coach, etc. is located just a couple of miles away on Chippenham Pkwy.
Back in 2004, Faith Alive Ministries offered a $4 million bid for Cloverleaf. The hope of the church was to keep the structure as is and work within the walls. Enter Chesterfield County officials. Though the once-flourishing Cloverleaf is located in a forgotten, unwanted part of Chesterfield County, county officials did not want to see an urban-based church purchase the structure. All of the sudden a new plan came forward. The county would redevelop the site, prep the site as a mixed use complex, bring in Kroger and call it “Chippenham Place”. The cost to do so would more than double the church’s initial offer.
Why did this happen? Some say that Chesterfield did not want a certain type of church to locate not only in the county, but especially at its entrance. And of course, the church would not produce the income revenue that some other type of mixed-use structure would produce.
And of course, it’s all much more complicated that what is written above.
on November 29th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I’ve sort of been waiting for this article to appear. Nice job!
I’m a lifelong Richmonder, particularly of the “neighborhood” of Cloverleaf Mall; in fact, my first job was there less than a year after the mall opened.
Having lived here for a while, I can state that it is completely out of the ordinary for Chesterfield County to get involved in property development like they have with the remains of Cloverleaf. But Cloverleaf is just one center in an area that has several dead or near dead shopping centers. The County decided that the mall property was the keystone to “saving” the whole area - and having a property tax-exempt church wasn’t going to cut it.
Did race play a factor? I really don’t think it did in the long run, but the County has a knack for making things look racially-charged when they’re really not. Same with the bus line (however, I don’t believe that the bus controversy actually went to court as stated in the article).
Most things written about Cloverleaf state that Thalhimer’s was an original anchor. It was not. The original mall ended where the food court is, which is also where the movie theatres originally were. The wing leading back to and including Thalhimer’s opened a couple of years after the mall originally opened.
The building tucked away in the back corner of the parking lot is the “new” movie theatre building. The former JCP auto center is still in business as a Firestone store, and the Sears Auto Center still stands as well.
The JC Penney exterior looks exactly as it did in 1972. It’s never been restyled or had its color changed. So does the Sears for that matter.
As far as Chesterfield Towne Center (originally Chesterfield Mall) killing Cloverleaf, well, Cloverleaf “killed” Southside Plaza., so I suppose what goes around comes around. Ironically, Southside Plaza is still there and with a lot more shops than Cloverleaf.
on November 29th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Hi!
I read about Zamias being a slumlord. Right you are; they own the Galleria in Centerville, GA near me and it has tenants come and go. Yes the anchors are still the same but with a Kohl’s being build down the road I can see the center hurting. It spent eight or ten years in the process of being built and still had vacancies.
Not having an urban megachurch at Cloverleaf was a good idea. Having any church to take over a mall is a gamble. Reminds me of what my dad’s cousin said; that she’d like to rent to a liquor store owner than a preacher (she’d get paid). The county did the right thing in refurbing the center; yes it’ll cost more to refurb than to sell to the church. But it will generate more revenue for the county. Expect cries of racism when crybabies in urban America don’t get their little toys.
KT
Macon, GA
on November 29th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
That is one of the nicest looking Sears I have ever seen. Looks a lot more upscale than most Sears stores and the brand itself.
I just did a msn map search to get a bird’s eye view of Cloverleaf Mall. The results of the search gave me a map, but the name of the mall on the map was called Greenbrier Mall. So I clicked the bird’s eye view button and the mall that came up clearly was Cloverleaf Mall. All the pictures of the bird’s eye view matched the pictures above. You can clearly see the name Cloverleaf on the main entrance, and can also see the Firestone name on the former JCPenney auto center. So I did a yahoo, google and mapquest search and got the same results, a map of Greenbrier Mall. Why is this mall called Greenbrier Mall in these maps? Was it called Greenbrier Mall at one time? Or is this just an internet map “printing” error?
You can get bird’s eye views of many major cities, and some smaller cities and towns as well on msn maps. I always check the msn map of malls to see if a bird’s eye view is available for the city they are in. Most of the bird’s eye pictures seem to be taken very recently. The pictures of Cloverleaf Mall look very recent because there are only a few cars in the parking lot near the main entrance, most of the parking lot is empty.
on November 30th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Google maps have lots of problems. The last time I used Google for directions, they would have sent me to the middle of a housing subdivision in Alexandria, VA, on the wrong side of the I-95 from where I needed to be (which was a furniture store in the middle of an office park).
on November 30th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
So are you going to fix that six th picture?
on November 30th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Yeah, the church shows that they are whiny rascists when the county refused to the offer.
What it is with rascism and malls?
on December 2nd, 2007 at 4:17 pm
I’m not the most religious person in the world, but I can certainly think of worse things to put in a mall besides a church.
I want to know why the county had a problem to put a church in the mall? Obviously the church saw there was a need to serve the community…
I’m certain the church would’ve spruced up the area a bit, rather than have the property further degenerate into an eyesore.. I’m thinking it would’ve been a megachurch if they were going to use even a part of the property, and given that this is Virginia, megachurches are pretty common there (although not as much as where I live in Georgia)
on December 2nd, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure the county felt that they could make more money doing something else with the property rather than give it to a church that wouldn’t provide the county with much tax revenue (if any at all).
And I’m not going to touch on the thinly-veiled racial comments some of the posters are leaving either.
on December 5th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I don’t know what the mapping problem is. Cloverleaf has always been Cloverleaf, though I do remember that it was an azalea farm before the mall was built.
Frankly, from the standpoint of the county, replacing a shopping mall with a church is quite possibly the worst thing that can happen. No real estate taxes to collect, no sales taxes, no income taxes, not a lot of jobs created.
on December 9th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I have lived all over the country and visited 4 or 5 of the now dead or almost dead malls on this website. I lived right behind the Cloverleaf Mall in 1983-1984 in the Cloverleaf Lake apts (wonder what they are now?) and the decline of some of these malls is almost a metaphor for the changes that have taken place since then. I was at the Bannister Mall in K.C. when it opened and now it is closed probably way before its’ time. Is the Beaufont Mall still open? Did they ever find a tenant to fill the vacancy left by the closure of Best? It would seem to me that the Cloverleaf and Beaufont Mall’s fates would be inseparable.
on December 14th, 2007 at 4:26 am
Cloverleaf Lake is still Cloverleaf Lake. Beaufont Mall is still there, though named Beaufont Center or something like that. The manager of Beaufont used to manage Cloverleaf..
The Best Products store at Beaufont is still vacant. They have filled in some of Beaufont with tenants such as a call center for an advertising agency and a Wawa training center. The former A&P, which had been vacant for a long time, was taken by Dollar Tree a couple of years ago, and the Foot Locker from Cloverleaf has gone to Beaufont.
Beaufont Mall is a classic example of the practice naming a regular shopping center a “mall” that was so popular in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. When Cloverleaf is gone, it will leave only Southpark Mall in Colonial Heights as the last mall in the area that still dares to call itself a mall.
on December 17th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
A recent issue of the Chesterfield Observer community newspaper states that Beaufont has a developer looking at it as well. There are 41 undeveloped acres behind Beaiufont backing up to The Boulders office park. The potential developers say they’d like to attract a grocery anchor and are targeting Ukrop’s, Food Lion, and Wal-Mart. I don’t think that any of them will want to locate a store at Beaufont, as the location is close to existing locations of all three.
The fate of the former Best Products appears to be demolition. The store is 65,000 square feet, and has two stories. Since Best used the upper floor as a warehouse, it has a concrete floor supported by numerous pillars on the first floor, so the space is not attractive to potential tenants.
The article states that the traffic count by Cloverleaf and Beaufont is in excess of 100,000 vehicles per day. Everyone in the development business seems to like that fact. They all seem to want to try to get supermarkets to locate there as well. It’s interesting to me to note that on Midlothian Turnpike there are no supermarkets on it’s entire length until you reach the Chesterfield Towne Center area (there is one Food Lion a block off of Midlothian) - and there were as many as ten along that stretch at one time or another.
on January 15th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
l remember this mall. l can’t believe it turned out this way! l hope one fine day someone will make this mall the mall that it was 20 something years ago. l think a lot of people that had gone to this mall would love to see it gettin remodeled.
on January 16th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I still live a few miles up the road from this mall. I drive past it whenever I’m getting on Chippenham Turnpike. It’s been a shame to see it die off the way it has. All the ancore stores and the cinema located behind it.
I have so many great memories of this mall. Going to the food court, catching a movie at the cinema’s. We would spend hours there, grabbing a bite at the Ruby Tuesday’s there was always a treat. Most of my teenage years were spent there. It’s a shame my kids will never know this mall the way I did.
on January 18th, 2008 at 10:12 am
FYI, Cloverleaf will close on February 29, 2008.
on January 19th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
From my understanding, Chesterfield County did not want Cloverleaf Mall *until* the pastor of the African American church called up county officials and told them his church was purchasing the property. Cloverleaf sat unwanted for years. I even think it was suggested from the beginning that Chesterfield buy the mall but they claimed they didn’t have the money to do so *until* the black church wanted the property. Chesterfield called up whoever the church was buying the mall from and outbidded the church. And they did pay far, far more for the property than it was worth.
A small, regular church would sit unused most of the week but not these megachurches. There’s always something going at those megachurches 7 days a week.
I think the money/tax issue played a larger part in Chesterfield’s decision to buy Cloverleaf, but I also think race played a big part too. I don’t think if Grove Avenue Baptist Church decided to buy the property Chesterfield would have been that opposed to it. Then again, Grove Avenue Baptist Church wouldn’t have wanted a property that sits mere footsteps from one of the crummiest, slummiest parts of Richmond, either. No one did, that’s why Cloverleaf sat unwanted all those years.
on January 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
What will replace cloverleaf mall when it gets demolished in Feb? lm shocked that it still survives to this day! btw what happened to the Kmart that was near there? and that other store that was once like some sort of craft store by it? please email me at hotlunkan2@yahoo.com
on January 23rd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
The Kmart is still there and still open. The Old America Store part has been vacant for years - it was originally a Kmart Foods. Kmart may be using the Old America space for storage.
Cloverleaf is to be replaced by 540 residential units and 200,000 sf of retail, of which 100,00 sf will be Kroger. The proposed developer, Crosland, hasn’t signed off on the deal yet. The county Board of Supervisors is meeting today to finalize various aspects of the transaction.
on January 23rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I’m a native of Chesterfield county and grew up looking forward to Friday night outings to Cloverleaf Mall. It was once THE place to be, but sadly that’s not been the case for many years. Knowing that the mall is to close in about a month I dragged my husband with me to see it one last time on Monday. It’s a ghost town and looks so much smaller than it did when it was full of stores and shoppers. It did bring back fond memories of Thalhimers, dinners at the Picadilly Cafeteria and first Ruby Tuesday’s in the Richmond area, and the first Limited store I ever remember shopping at. Go see it one more time, but don’t go alone since it’s really not a safe area anymore.
It’s sad that Chesterfield has taken this long to even think about redevelopment. And I agree they really only got ’serious’ about it when they saw someone else was interested. I live in the Chesterfield Town Center area now and I fear someday it will meet the same fate. Development continues to sprawl west with Watkins Center when there’s already a glut of retail space in the county. When will the county realize that it’s slowly rotting from the inside out?
on January 29th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
hi all
thanks for the stories! i went there today to take a look at it, and you could walk past the guard stand. the place smells like an old closet with mildew and looks like its on its last legs. The mall really deserved a better ending than this, but thats what happens. anyway, i put some pics up on my myspace that has cloverleaf in them, also, i went to what remains of azalea.ill publish those later.
i think ill try to get the guards to let me into an old store or something with my dig. camera before its closing time for good.
on January 30th, 2008 at 12:46 am
in other news, does anyone know where the all for one dollar store is/was in the mall?
on February 1st, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Seeing these pictures breaks my heart. I was a teenager when this mall opened and I spent a lot of time there probably most of every weekend. Really wish they would preserve it in some form rather than tearing it down. But I guess that would not be progress. In it’s heyday it was the place to be.
on February 1st, 2008 at 6:27 pm
The All for One Dollar store at Cloverleaf was located just 2, possibly 3 stores in from JCPenney on the Midlothian Turnpike side. There was a record store next to Penney’s and I don’t think the dollar store was exactly next to it. The double murder there pushed Cloverleaf over the edge, among many other things. Good luck taking pictures. It’s a real no, no there.
on February 5th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
The original record store tenant next to JCP was a Harmony Hut, with Fine’s Mens Store either next to it or one more space down. People’s Drug was in that row, complete with a lunch counter and outside entrance into the parking lot.
For a couple of years after the mall fist opened, there were still blue laws in effect preventing most Sunday retailing. People’s Drug, Piccadilly Cafeteria, Lord Hardwicke restaurant (where Ruby Tuesday eventually ended up), and Bresler’s Ice Cream were the only tenants besides the twin cinema (in the approximate location of the food court) were the only places open on Sundays.
After around 3, it was just the Breslers and the cinemas. I worked at Breslers and it was pretty strange sitting there in a completely deserted mall and being essentially the only place open.
on February 5th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I also found it strange that when Peoples Drug closed the Cloverleaf location around 1992, it then became Standard Drug. Within a year or so, Standard was bought by CVS/Peoples Drug. So, it became a Peoples Drug again. Then very quickly Peoples Drug took the CVS/pharmacy name. So now the 2nd coming of Peoples became CVS/pharmacy. But the pharmacy didn’t remain open very long so it was removed. Then it just became CVS and the parking lot entrance was closed. CVS lasted until shortly after 2000. Weghh! That took longer than I thought.
on February 12th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Charles Gibbs, whats your myspace address? how can l see those pics of cloverleaf mall? l wish l could go see it before its gone! l live all the way in Florida! l thank you to those who keep the memorie of cloverleaf mall alive.
on February 17th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
between birth and about 10 or 11 years old (1999, 2000) i went there ALL THE TIME. i lived down chippenham turnpike and that was the place to be! i saw santa there, shopped there, ate there, even went to that weird tucked back movie theater. i agree, the outside of the sears and jc pennys was creepy. sometimes i had bad dreams about it, oddly enough, and being stuck inside that huuuuge building after closing.
i miss it though. i do plan on going back inside before it closes. that place has a lot of memories for me. i really want to peek in the windows, if i can, see if i can see anything. who knows.
ill be sad when / if it gets torn down. itll be just like azalea mall.
on February 19th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
www.myspace.com/arrestafieldsucks is the myspace…
i was taking pics there just fine..they didnt care, guess they were sorta like, eh screw it were losing our jobs neway.
on February 21st, 2008 at 5:43 pm
yeah, i went there today and they didnt care, kind of nice
i got the sign off the old sears building that says something about no soliciting (theres two, one facing midlothian turnpike and one on the back where one would pick up orders, i got the one back there)
its pretty sweet
i took about 110 pictures, so ill scan through them and send the good ones
on February 21st, 2008 at 7:17 pm
i will correct that, i took 132 pictures, not 110
on February 22nd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
cool send them to me! i will give the email if you wish
on February 25th, 2008 at 11:54 am
charles, the myspace page said that u had to add me on as a friend so that l could look at the pics. Kristen, can you email me pics too? my email is jessluvsjonas@yahoo.com
on February 25th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
id be glad to send them to both of you
whats your email address charles?
if you want to give it to me by email, my email is kmlaser@gmail.com
on February 27th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
In 1979, I opened a store across the street from Cloverleaf Mall in Beaufont Mall. Back then, the area was the place to be. You couldn’t get a parking space at Cloverleaf between Thanksgiving and New Years. I dated a girl that worked in a restaurant inside the main entrance on the right. I think the place was called the Lord Hardwicke Inn, or some such. I went back two years ago in a rental car and it looked like a scene out of some post-apocalyptic movie: a few cars, some possibly no longer running, scattered around the parking lot with seedy looking characters leaning on them and eyeing me as I drove by. Beaufont had mostly empty stores, trash blowing around and a few windows were boarded up. Very sad.
Tom
on February 28th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
i remember beaufont very well. my mom bought me clothes from the kids r us before that left (and it was a cute looking store too!), i got my first 2 wheel bike from hills for dirt cheap because it was a going out of business sale, and we shopped at best all the time. oh, and peaches! that wasnt technically part of the strip, but that was a cool place.
at least theyre trying to revamp it now, though its still pretty dead around there.
it is sad to watch it go like that.
on March 13th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I just have one more thing to say. Do not like the plans for the Cloverleaf Mall land. What don’t we have enought office, retail and residential areas. It’s one on every corner. But, I guess it is up to the county. Some way to have preserved this building would have been nice or something that remotely resembled the mall would have been great. Glad I do not live in Chesterfield.
on March 23rd, 2008 at 8:16 pm
The Chesterfield board is very very aware that the eastern Midlothian corridor is dying. The new development at Cloverleaf and the rebirth of the Beaufont Center are an attempt to stem the tide and stop the rot. An urban megachurch would have done nothing to improve the area’s commercial prospects.
Since I live less than a mile from the site, we are looking forward to the new Kroger.
on March 27th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
DEAD DEAD DEAD Thank Goddess The Beast Is Dead, but really i liked that entire are when it was still alive i mean i’d bug my parrents to drop me off there on the weekends i’d go through the mall to um tracks records waldenbooks, out across to beaufount mall to peaches records.
on March 28th, 2008 at 2:12 am
oh my god, i loved peaches! i have one of each of those crates theyd sell for cassettes, cds, and records hahaha theyre quite handy
on March 30th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
was the Thalhimers store originally one level ?
on April 1st, 2008 at 1:50 am
Yes, Thalhimers was originally one level. A lot of their suburban stores were built with the second story unfinished, so that if business warranted an expansion, they were ready.
BTW, Pleasant Family Shopping has a great shot of the older, better center court at Chesterfield.
http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com/2008/03/searsizzle.html
on April 14th, 2008 at 11:42 am
I went to Richmond last week, when I noticed that the mall was closed…where are the other stores that were recently inside of there. I saw Shoe City across the street, but the other stores?
on April 20th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
most moved further into the midlothian area i think… i know the oriental trading place did, but i dont know for sure about the others…
on May 30th, 2008 at 5:52 am
Wow, It’s interesting to see how many people wax nostalgic about Cloverleaf. I worked for the mall as a teenager, walking around all day with a broom and a walkie talkie. I got the job because I was hanging around early one Saturday morning, my mom worked at Sears so I went to work with her that day. I was walking down the hall on my way to Harmony Hut to eyeball the guitars they had in the front of the store when a security guard who appeard to be 100 years old approched me and asked if I wanted a job. I was a little more than wierded out as he seemed like some kind of perv but I took the job, started 10 minutes after being asked, and worked there for 1½ years before going to work for the movie theater. The security guards name was Gillette and he was actually a pretty cool cat. If I ever had to be chased he would be the one I would want chasing me as he smoked about 10 packs a day I worked in the mall from 76 until about late 78 to 79. The movie theater was one of my all time favorite jobs the lady that was the manager was the best and it was a great job for a teenager to have to meet girls. Can’t say I was crazy about the bow ties though. Though it was pretty cool when the original Superman movie came out and we got to wear the tee shirts with the big “S”!
on June 11th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Thanks for the info and the pics….this was the place to be…I graduated high school in 78 and when this opened it was all the rage….great times…great friends…great times….so sad to see it go….
on June 29th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
My sister got her first job there, and I took my wife to the theater there on one of our first dates. I have some good memories of the mall, but my high school years coincided with its last good days and I was far too busy to bother with the mall at the time (unlike most high schoolers, I guess). I do have one story that Dwayne reminded me of. It as probably around 1997 or so and I was carrying a pistol openly as state law allowed me to. I was pretty young (18 or 19) and a security supervisor approached me to ask me to leave. e started talking and he offered me a job working security (unarmed, of course). I declined the offer.
As for the shopping center across the street, my family used to go to Best and would eat at the Western Sizzlin’ occasionally. I also remember going to the Hills that opened in the mid-90s before closing shortly after.