Springfield Mall; Springfield, Virginia
Part of the purpose of Labelscar is to unearth and share retail oddities that we find in our travels. I’d think that the dice-like cubes that sit atop the mall entrances at the Springfield Mall qualify, wouldn’t you?
The Springfield Mall is a 1.4 million square foot enclosed shopping mall with over 230 stores in the southern suburbs of Washington, DC, near the junction of the Capital Beltway and I-95. Apart from its size, its most notable feature seems to be that it is several years past due for a renovation. This is the kind of stuff we live for.
When we (and, in this case, I don’t mean the royal “we,” because I was with my oft-sidekick, who took many of the exterior photos here and who generally dislikes being referred to as a “sidekick”) visited the Springfield Mall, I was expecting to find something a bit different. Given that the nearby Landmark Mall in Alexandria has emptied out dramatically and is slated to be demolished, I assumed that the larger Springfield Mall was the culprit. Apparently not, because Springfield Mall is pretty blandly mid-tier in its tenanting, and despite its elephantine size doesn’t seem to be dominating much of anything. It’s far from a dead mall, but it’s not the kind of regional powerhouse I thought I’d find either.
What made Springfield Mall cool–at least for me–was the notoriously dated decor. The pictures speak for themselves on this, but the cube-y entranceways and distinctly 1980s ceilings, along with the “9″ shaped floorplan, certainly made this mall stand out.
This post is more of a photo essay because I honestly don’t know much about the history of the Springfield Mall, other than that it has something of a (minor) reputation for crime, due in part to a pair of gang-related stabbings in 2005. I certainly didn’t feel unsafe in the very archetypal suburban environment of Springfield, however, and the mall was pretty sparsely attended when we swung by early in the day. In addition, I discovered that Vornado purchased the mall recently and is devising a plan to replace the mall with an outward-facing, town-center-styled transit-oriented development. I question the feasibility of this to some extent because of the Springfield Mall’s extremely suburban location, but I’ll let the developers do the developing. For now, I’ll rest on my laurels and let you, dear readers, use the comment feature to fill us in on the history/past anchor stores/etc. of the Springfield Mall. The current anchors include Macy’s, JCPenney, Target, Sports Authority, and AMC Theatres.
Prangeway
July 17th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
The best feature about this mall to me was the VDOT Connector Store which was put there to answer questions about the Springfield Interchange near there. It was on the lower level, near Target, and (strangely) had travel information for every state, as well as the official state road map of nearly every state in the nation for people to just have. It was really cool, but in May of 2006 it moved to the adjacent Metro station.
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Eric
July 18th, 2006 at 12:32 am
I haven’t been to this mall since 1983 or so. It was a very busy mall for a long time, I suspect the Pentagon Mall may have contributed to a downswing of this mall and at the Landmark mall.
I remember people telling me crazy rumors about the Springfield mall back in the mid 80s. One was that the Mob controlled it and there was a maze in the basement where “They” took care of business. Another Rumor I recall was that it was run by Drug Lords, but I don’t recall the details. Funny stuff!
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Darrin Reply:
September 1st, 2009 at 7:16 pm
@Eric,
I do remember the two pizza places were fronts for cocaine distribution.
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Bobby
July 18th, 2006 at 3:55 am
The picture between 12 and 13 doesn’t work.
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Steven Wilson
July 18th, 2006 at 7:38 am
I used to go to Springfield Mall infrequently when I lived in the DC area. I mostly avoided it because the local traffic was always a mess and the parking lot was pretty competitive. When I first visited, I remember seeing an abandoned Korvettes store in the mall. On the upper level near JCPenney was a Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour Restaurant and a Hot Sam pretzel shop. Downstairs by JCPenney was an Orange Bowl snack bar restaurant. Relatives of a friend of mine used to own the Orange Bowls at Springfield Mall and Seven Corners Center in Falls Church. Eventually, they sold them. The Springfield Mall Orange Bowl remained in operation under the name Pizza Xpress. It was offering the same recipe Orange Bowl pizza at the time of my last visit, about ten years ago. I see that Pizza Xpress is still listed on the current mall directory. I wonder if they still offer the genuine Orange Bowl pizza. If so, it may be the only place in the country that still does. Springfield Mall’s biggest claim to fame, perhaps, was the 1985 visit to the mall by Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
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Steven Swain
July 19th, 2006 at 1:39 am
I remember hearing about the Prince Charles and Princess Diana visit, and I was going to mention it. The funny and sad part is that the mall is exactly like it was when they visited, except for the replacement of the old Korvette’s with Macy’s, Garfinklel’s with Sports Authority, and Montgomery Ward with Target.
This is not one of my favorite malls, mostly because whern I head to Washington, frankly I’m looking for better shopping, but I do enjoy going every once in a while becaue it’s very interesting interior architecture and they have some really odd stores that you don’t find everywhere.
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Daniel
July 19th, 2006 at 5:32 am
Princess Diana and Prince Charles I believe visited Fair Oaks in Fairfax, not Springfield Mall, but don’t quote me on that. I know they were at a JCPenney, and both malls have one.
A lot of the problems at Springfield can be associated with the fact there’s no market for it. The mid-market dollar has flocked to Potomac Mills, about 12 miles to the south in Woodbridge, and the upscale dollar has flocked to either Tysons Corner, about 12 miles to the west, or up the road about another 12 miles to the Fashion Center at Pentagon City.
Landmark was really just in a bad location, and designed poorly from a mall standpoint. Landmark wasn’t malled until the 1980’s (originally an open-air center). Northern Virginia is very driveable, so that’s why while the population can support many malls, it really doesn’t.
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Steven Swain
July 20th, 2006 at 12:16 am
I looked it up. According to the BBC, it was definately JCPenney at Springfield Mall, which was running its “Best of Britain” promotion at the time.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/low/dates/stories/november/9/newsid_4396000/4396846.stm
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Steven Wilson
July 20th, 2006 at 12:56 am
It was definitely Springfield Mall. In 1985, I lived right near to Fair Oaks Mall and was well aware that the visit of Charles and Diana was to Springfield Mall, not Fair Oaks.
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James Noel
August 4th, 2006 at 2:57 am
It’s funny seeing old Springfield Mall on a blog. My family moved into a house across the street from the mall in 1977. It had a cool indoor fountain, 2 video arcades, one with bumper cars, as well as the Farrells Ice cream that someone else noted. I used to work in the Montgomery Wards in the 1980’s and Macys in the early 90’s. It’s definately fallen on hard times. There’s a whole shopping mecca that has sprouted up a few miles away in an area called Kingstown/Manchester Lakes. They have the usual things, WalMart, Toy’s R Us, World Market, and the endless list of womens clothing stores….. It’s funny that you mention the large cubes above the entrances. There used to be several more before renovations in the 1980’s took away alot of the outside character of the mall. Oh yeah, I was there for the Princess Diana, Prince Charles visit. My mom is english, so we had to be RIGHT UP FRONT. Yes, it was at JC Penneys. Parents still live across the street. I’m in Maryland now.
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Allan Marshall
September 6th, 2006 at 7:53 am
Awesome shots of Springfield Mall!! I really like how the entrances are numbered on cube-like shapes in big font, that’s definately a feature that’s original and unique to this mall(unlike the bland fonts I’ve seen mall entrances numbered in in other malls nationwide). Does anyone know if Vornado has made any timetable to redevelop this mall yet? I personally hope they don’t(or do so in a way that preserves most of the existing design, though I’m not holding my breath that the latter will happen), since I like the unique design of this mall, and since it seems to have a decent mix of stores. Not to mention that the British royalty visiting here in the ’80s doesn’t hurt this mall either…
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J-Man
October 8th, 2006 at 1:48 am
IIRC, the original anchors were Wards, Korvette’s, Garfinckel’s and JCPenney. Therefore, with the exception of Garfinckel’s, it had neither a major local retailer (e.g., Hecht’s, Woodward & Lothrop) nor a mid-range or upscale department store. (Macy’s came later.) Since both Woodies and Hecht’s (as well as Sears) were just a couple exits up Shirley Highway, I’m sure they saw no reason to have another store so nearby.
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V8 Interceptor
October 12th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
There was a pizza place there named “Pizza Delight”, and I heard that back in the early 80’s, it was involved in a major drug bust and that the owners had ties with the mob.
Springfield Mall was definately the coolest mall in the area back in the 80’s with the 2 arcades. They used to have great restaurants, like York Steakouse, HotShoppes Cafeteria, and Orange Bowl Pizza. Those places seemed to die out when the food court came in.
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Theodore Brown
December 4th, 2006 at 10:14 am
I don’t live in NOVA anymore but I did go to Springfield mall in June when I was visiting my dad. It does seem to have less and less people each year and they seem to be losing stores. (Linen’s and Things was closing in July) It’s not a horrible mall but honestly there are so many malls and so many upscale shopping centers in that area there’s not enough people to keep it busy.
The worst part of Springfield mall in my opinion is the horrible movie theater. For one thing it’s divided across two parts of the mall which is a real pain in the ass. Also they don’t even bother cleaning it anymore so it smells like cheese and BO and the floors are sticky. The equipment is outdated and it lacks stadium seating. With both Hoffman and now Kingstowne NOBODY goes to the Springfield Mall theater.
Hopefully in the future when I visit it will have been redeveloped into something useful. I will be nostalgic since I lived in Virginia and went to this mall for 10 years but it’s time for change. Does anyone else remember the video for the presidential fitness program they showed to us in school? Part of it was filmed at Springfield Mall in the late 80s/early 90s. You could tell because the kids were eating in the food court before the annoying playpen was installed and still had that retro food court sign.
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Brian Keller
December 19th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
I grew up in Northern VA, graduating high school in 1975. Springfield Mall was the alternative to Tyson’s Corner and 7 Corners at that time. What made it attractive was easy access (does anyplace like that exist anywhere in this area now?) and some great shops that couldn’t be found anywere else in town. Farrell’s has already been discussed but for those of you who never got the chance to experience it, it was really something out of the past. I also remember a tiny store called Needle In A Haystack that specialized in needle for record players. (I realize an entire generation has no idea what that is!) And Up Against The Wall, a jeans store that I believe was local to the DC area.
I spent many Friday and Saturday nights in that mall with my girlfriend, going to Farrells, cruising the mall area, going to the arcades.
Thanks for bringing back some memories.
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EricS
December 27th, 2006 at 4:04 am
Springfield made the news tonight, the hard way. Someone was stabbed in one of the stores. Apparently security was really slow to get there. Not the best news for the place. Hopefully they’ll get a new owner who cares about the place once the roads are done over there.
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Georgia Retail Memories
December 29th, 2006 at 11:34 am
Those cube things really crack me up. It looks like a four year old child prodigy from the 70’s was assigned the task of using his building blocks to label mall entrances.
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Steve
May 9th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Your writer up brought back great memories of Springfield Mall. Like many of the other folks, I shopped there from 78 to 80. It was very 70s at that time and very active as in the 70s kids considered hanging out at the mall a major social activity. My main memory, seeing “Animal House” at the multiplex. Is ‘Briches of George Town’ still in business or still there?
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Bruce
May 12th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
The Springfield Mall is mostly immigrants from third world countries. I see very few white people at the mall. Is this bad, no, but I wonder where they will shop when they turn the Mall into an expensive place to shop, like Tysons.
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Neil
May 30th, 2007 at 12:39 am
I remember ditching school a couple of times with friends and going to Springfield Mall to watch a couple of movies (”Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back”). After graduation, the mall was THE place to go with friends for fun, food and good times. I was a frequent customer at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour Restaurant! They had smoe of the best sandwiches of the time… and the ice cream treats were great, too! I really miss them.
I left the area in 1993, but by that time, I really didn’t get to the mall all that much. In 1996, I returned to the area for a brief visit. I stopped by Springfield Mall because I needed shoes (or some such nonsense). To my surprise, so much had changed! I had a difficult time navigating the once familiar mall and nothing seemed to be where it was supposed to be. Peoples Drug was now CVS… and the spiral staircase in front of what was once Montgomery Ward was gone! I was hit with the profound sense that life in Springfield had gone on without me.
Funny, the things you think of as being “forever” really aren’t. Thanks for the look back into the past… and a peek into the present… and future… of Springfield Mall.
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dy
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:38 am
I live in the area but go to Springfield Mall only very, very rarely. For those of you who remember it from the 80s, it definitely has deteriorated, and now, while not deserted, its customer base seems to be a lot of thugs and gang members, which doesn’t make the rest of the potential customer base feel like going there. Kingstowne, which is more of a strip mall/town center is the nearby place to go for mall-type stores and Fair Oaks and Tysons are not far, more upscale and less scary types roaming around.
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Fairfax County Master of Metal
July 19th, 2007 at 12:30 am
I still hang out at the mall. None of the gang members and thugs scare me away. I was too young to hang out there in the 80’s, but I did in the late 90’s and still do till this very day. I still wear black MEGADETH, KISS, SLAYER, IRON MAIDEN, VIXEN, JUDAS PRIEST, METALLICA, DIO, MOTLEY CRUE t shirts to the mall now in 2007 just like everyone else did over there back in the day. Standing outside the mall with my back to the wall smoking a fat one talking about metal on my cell phone with my friend. Good times. Brett Michaels has a new television show on VH-1.
Rest assured there are still kids over at Springfield mall talking trash about Bret Michaels and POISON. The only thing that has changed is the decade.
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Ashley
July 20th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
springfield mall is so ghetto. i never shop there anymore.
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Fairfax County Master of Metal
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Not ghetto at all. Just because lots of latino wannabe thug types happen to congregate there does not mean it is ghetto.
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Peyton
July 25th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
It’s ghetto and it has been for years.
I grew up in the 80s and my parents would not let me go there(my friends’ parents wouldn’t either), so it had a reputation even 20 years ago.
When it comes to my favorite store that was ever there, I have two words:
Hong Kong
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rich
July 25th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Hilarious exchange that gets to the delicate sensitivities of suburbanites and why malls die. I live in the middle of DC near what was, until recently, by all accounts (and races) “the ghetto”, as opposed to what you have in the suburbs (and yes, I’ve been to Springfield recently). The funny thing is that places like Pentagon City and Georgetown also draw wannabes–not tons but enough to bug some people, but those places have survived. Geoegwtown has even had some fairly grizzly crimes over the past 15-20 years. Wheaton Plaza has a “reputation” but still draws sizable crowds, although the white folks tend to segregate in the anchors esp. as they day wears on. The similar crowd at Silver Spring’s dead from the start City Place somehow didn’t discourage the development of new big box retail nearby, which is doing very well. And it hasn’t discouraged redevelopment of an actual ‘hood in Columbia Heights. Bottom line–there are some people who are able to deal with the real world (including shopping center developers), but the ones who can’t seem to do this have fewer places that they want to shop and, beyond oversupply of [places selling the same stuff, killing off some (but not all) malls.
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Allan
July 26th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
I’d like to ask one of the people who live in the DC area a question: Did the former Landover(sp?) Mall in Prince George’s County, MD, have some sort of ‘negative reputation’ problem, the way certain malls, such as Wheaton Plaza, Springfield Mall, etc. have in that area?
And on the Virginia side of the DC metro area, is Springfield Mall, or Landmark Mall, in worser shape, in terms of how many stores they’ve been able to hold onto?
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Michael
July 26th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Landover Mall found itself a “victim” of being located in Prince Georges County. That’s just to say that retailers didn’t feel that the makeup of the county deserved quality establishments. In its heyday Landover Mall, like Springfield Mall, was home to a branch of the upper-end DC store, Garfinckels. You could go eat at Hot Shoppes. It had great visibility from the beltway. But as Woodward & Lothrop began to go off the deep end it took its Landover store with it. Even in the early 90s Hecht’s treated their Landover store as a clearance center. I remember even in 1992 it was the only Hecht branch to not carry Clinique. But, like Hecht’s at Cloverleaf Mall in Richmond, it was a great place to find a bargain. But all things came to an end.
As far as Landmark and Springfield? Landmark is definitely more dead. The new generation Macy’s (Hecht’s) is just… Macy’s, not a top level store. Lord & Taylor is just kind of lost. Springfield is more active but quite trashy. When Macy’s had a reputation to speak of it located one of its “legacy” stores there. At first it was decent but then quickly downgraded. The mall itself is easy to get lost in and any renovations made to the mall do not get an “A” for cosmetic reasons. In their heyday, I’d go to Landmark. But if I could turn back the clock, I’ll vote Seven Corners.
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DayGlo!
July 30th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Ten years ago, I rarely drove my 11-year-old car anywhere, taking mass transit almost everywhere I needed to go. Despite living at the opposite end of the Metro system (Silver Spring), if I wanted or needed to go to a mall, I usually chose Springfield. Pentagon City was too frou-frou, everything else was too small or too rundown or in too iffy a neighborhood, and as a native New Jerseyan, I would accept nothing less than the quintessential big suburban mall. Springfield was like a childhood flashback preserved for posterity, and the numbered entrances made it even more wonderfully retro. So did the presence of local retailers that hadn’t yet been done in by the chains. Still remember the coffee place that had an entryway designed to look like a cave. The last time I went to the mall, it was gone, and that made me sad.
I wish I could say that I’m surprised to hear the mall’s not doing as well as it used to, but I’m not, and there are many reasons why. The Mixing Bowl is STILL under construction, and the exit for the mall was poorly labeled and ponderous even before that was the case. The immediate area isn’t what it used to be. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s declining, but there are newer neighborhoods and bigger houses to be found elsewhere, and some of the lustre has worn off. Other nearby areas are in decline and have developed a reputation for violent crime as MS-13 and other Salvadoran gangs have set up shop in the apartment complexes along 395 and 95. Springfield Mall can no longer count middle- to upper-middle-class shoppers from Prince George’s County as its captive audience, as retailers have FINALLY figured out that putting stores in the wealthiest majority-black county in the nation might be a good idea. However, much of this growth has bypassed the parts of the county nearest the mall, which remain testaments to urban blight. While Springfield was always just far enough from other Leviathans like Tysons Corner and Fair Oaks that it always held its own, all these factors, on top of Tysons’ substantial addition/repurposing of the old JC Penney space, have eroded its drawing power.
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Fairfax County Master of Metal
July 31st, 2007 at 10:50 pm
MS-13 is a British gang. All the original MS members from Salvador practically worshipped PRIEST, MAIDEN, SABBATH followed by SLAYER, MEGADETH, CRUE, DIO, METALLICA, AC/DC etc…
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SEAN
August 1st, 2007 at 12:18 pm
THE REAL PROBLEM IS THE DC/ BALTIMORE AREA HAS AS MANY MALLS AS METRO NEW YORK BUT 40 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION. THAT RESOLTS IN MANY MALLS IN LIMPING MODE. SOME CAN BE BIG BOXED BUT OTHERS ARE DOOMED TO DIE A PAINFUL DEATH LIKE SPRINGFIELD OR LANDMARK.
READ THE AUGUST ISSUE OF “SHOPPING CENTER TODAY” @WWW.ICSC.ORG.
“THE NOT SO BIG BOX” A MUST READ.
AS FOR ME I WOULD SHOP AT TYSONS COURNER/GALLERIA OR IN ARLINGTON DO TO IT BEING EASYER TO GET TO BY METRO THAN MOST OTHER MALLS IN THE AREA EXEPT WEATON PLAZA.
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DayGlo!
August 2nd, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Wow, Mr. Metal, I never knew that LA was in England. Who knew that one too many headbanger shows at Jaxx could bring such divine revelation?
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DayGlo!
August 2nd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Also, right on, Sean. I would go so far as to say there are probably MORE malls in DC and Baltimore than there are in the NY metro area, although I can’t be arsed to do the math.
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Rich
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:36 pm
DC & Baltimore have different issues with their malls. The Baltimore area, which is not growing, had to absorb 4 new malls in the late 80s: Marley Station, Owings Mills, Hunt Valley, & White Marsh. These all had entrenched competition, some of it rather old or in in some decline. Hunt Valley was done in by a resurgent Towson Plaza, Owings Mills all but killed off Reisterstown Road (now coming back with big boxes), White Marsh did in Golden Ring and Hunt Valley did in several smaller Glen Burnie complexes. Now Owings Mills is being hurt by development at Columbia’s mall. In the DC area, there is growth, but high land costs. The newest malls, Reston Town Center & Bowie Town Center are not super jumbos and Reston is in a growing area. Bowie absorbed some of what was left at Landover but in a more solidly middle class community. The next newest mall, Pentagon City is almost 20 years old and St. Charles is probably about the same age.
Most of the DC area malls are in good shape: Tysons Corner, Montgomery, Lake Forest & Pentagon City in particular. Time will tell how Wheaton & PG Plaza will do following renovations, but at least they draw traffic now and have major tenants. White Flint has never really regained its place, but it’s largely full and seems to do okay. The places that are doing badly are ones where you have relatively small malls and, in some cases, economic decline and these are places that have been doing badly for a long time: Landover (now dead), Landmark, Springfield, Marlow Heights/Iverson and various South PG County complexes; most of these places are largely headed for redevelopment or have had significant retenanting with different kinds of stores. In addition to the regular malls, here are signs of life in downtown Silver Spring everywhere but the mall (which failed from the start) and the Friendship heights are is doing well, except for the anchorless mall complex with the Hyatt.
Compare DC with the similar sized Atlanta area, which is filled with dying malls, yet developers keep building more of them. Cheap land prices and corrupt local politicians mean more new and dead malls. When I lived in Atlanta, the two nearest malls to my home were in bad shape (North DeKalb & South DeKalb), while one mall relatively close to my office was doing well (Lenox Square, the uper regional), and another had many problems and lots of turnover (Northlake), despite renovation.Lonox’s junior partner, Phipps plaza, has had ups & downs and seems poorly focused, yet it remains pretty full.
The New York area has density, high land costs and zoning hassles to limit new construction and have prevented overmalling, or construction of new malls that just cannibalize old ones (as in the case of Baltimore). It really can’t be compared with other cities. Ironically, LA, which lacks the densisty, also seems to have impediments to mall construction and, not surprisingly, it doesn’t have a lot of dead or dying malls.
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SEAN
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:57 am
The LA example is not a good one because most of the malls are in the OC HA HA or in Burbank & other places were densenty figures are very high. Example south coast plaza, fashon island or beverly center. LA has growth all over the metro area, on the other hand growth in dc is consontrated in poticular areas aspecialy were the metro runs & evven that is spotty at best.
CHEW ON THESE NUMBERS
NEW YORK 23 countys ny nj ct 20,000,000 people
LA 6 countys & 17,000,000people
DC 9 countys 7,800,000 people in cluding Baltimore.
They maybe aprox numbers but they don’t lie. DC is over maled dispite the population.
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SEAN
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Oh i forgot about kingstown town center, could that be what is killing sprimgfield & landmark?
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Rich
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:40 pm
LA has growth, but not mall growth. It’s one thing to turn orange groves into subdivisions, but something else to build malls. Orange County could hardly be called dense and densities in the San Fernando or San Gabriel valleys or the Inland Empire would be similar to other metropolitan areas. Unlike other growing areas like Atlanta, they just haven’t built many new malls and many existing malls like Montclair Plaza (which must date back to the 50s) are well located to growing areas. there also has been little in the construction of predatory malls, unlike, Baltimore (or more recently, Columbus, Ohio) The malls that are in trouble in LA tend to be small malls with lots of competition like Beverly Center or weak locations like Fox Hills, which is awkwardly located and those tend to be in areas you’d probably call dense. Basically, they’re the kinds of malls that have trouble surviving anywhere. DC is not that badly overmalled–the one troubled regional (Landover) is completely dead and many of the other troubled properties like Landmark or Capital Plaza or the south PG county malls have been or will be made into something else
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SEAN
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Sorry rich i was trying to compare population to the number of malls in a given metro area. I don’t know how many malls are the DC area but with nearly the same number of malls as NY & 40% of the population how of them can turn a proffit and stay open?
We forgot about laurel mall another mall on the downslide.
As for columbus 5 malls opened in the past few years. The only onethat has any wortyness is Easton town center. A mall that has everthing for everone. A good casestody for malls in the 21st century. Food fun entertainment offices & housing that is the future.
So as it stands springfield & landmark are old news, time for the recking ball.
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SEAN
August 5th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
As far as ATL goes like many sunbelt cities sprawl contributes to the population shifts. When that happens many malls can not adapt & that is why they die. Sorry rich another bad example. Look at livonia mi on this site, it will be clear about what sprawl can do to a mall if they don’t adapt.
Dayglo! you & i are on the same page.
I say it again-there are to many malls in the DC/Baltimore area based on the population. Give me a compelling reason why this is not the case.
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SEAN
August 5th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
As far as ATL goes like many sunbelt cities sprawl contributes to the population shifts. When that happens many malls can not adapt & that is why they die. Sorry rich another bad example. Look at livonia mi on this site, it will be clear about what sprawl can do to a mall if they don’t adapt.
Dayglo! you & i are on the same page.
If vornado owns springfield…OY VEY! there’s one reason the mall is in decline. Have you seen green accers & kings plaza. Enough said.
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Johnny
August 15th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Springfield Mall seems to be dying the same slow death as Landmark Mall up the road – though it seems to be hanging on better. When I moved to D.C. in 96 it was one of the best malls in the area. I even preferred going there over Pentagon City Mall. But times have changed…
Though it hasn’t gotten any new good stores, it hasn’t lost as many core stores as Landmark. Plus, the movie theater (even though it’s not very good) draws in more traffic. But I have noticed the mall is slowly losing good stores and they are not being replaced by other good ones. Springfield Mall used to have an Ethan Allen, Men’s Warehouse, A&W, Kemp Mill Music, and Linens and Things (plus a bunch of other good stores). But they are gone, weren’t replaced by anything equal, and the mall continues to be a less desirable place to go. It still has a very robust food court. The only real bright spot for the mall was the addition of a Target back in 2001.
As was the case with Landmark Mall, other new shopping centers have lured away the customer base. Kingstowne Center is a much nicer place to shop and has a better selection. Same with Potomac Yard. These new shopping centers coupled with Springfield’s declining selection of good stores has turned people away. I don’t think the crime/gangs was a problem. They were more just a bunch of wannabes walking around the mall – none of them were menacing. Pentagon City has the same problem in the evenings with ghetto kids from D.C. and MD coming over there on the metro.
It’s still a decent mall and still has some good stores, but it’s showing its age. If the theater was upgraded to stadium seating that would probably help draw in more customers.
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Bobby
August 15th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Surprised that no one mentioned the big gaping hole where a short llived Linens & Things operated…
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RR Ryan
August 18th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Rich-I see your point about LA, although I’m not so sure about Beverly Center. I think The Grove has hurt Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica more than BC. Of course Santa Monica’s problem hasn’t been helped by the fact that Santa Monica Place shopping mall is about 90% vacant pending a decision on how to redevelop it. It’s interesting too, that just recently a huge portion of Westside Pavillion’s retail space was carved out to make room for a new multiplex. Another only marginally related point: LA has miles and miles of street shopping. I live just south of Sunset Strip and can find everything I need within a couple of blocks Oh, and while I’m rambling incoherently, if you get the chance visit Fox Hills Mall. It’s seriously strange in the layout department.
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Jonah Norason
August 19th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
1) What was “Hong Kong”?
2) It seems to be of a decent class type, it has a Forever 21.
3) There’s a store called Fan Club. What’s that?
4) Why are they going to tear this down? Why not just a good renovation?
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SEAN
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:58 pm
RR Ryan; Colver City were Fox Hills is located is just as strange as the mall is.
Trust me i know from driving around trying to find MGM oh i mean Sony Studios.
Wow what a timewarp.
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SEAN
August 29th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Rich i look up when pentigon city opened. It was 1998 that makes it only 10 years old not 20.
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mallguy
August 29th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City opened in 1989, as stated in the Wikipedia entry. I also know this because I was there in 1990, as well as the fact that this was the 2nd Nordstrom location in the DC Area (Tysons Corner being the 1st). Fashion Centre at Pentagon City is quite a nice mall, but Tysons Corner is better.
With the successes of Dulles Town Center, Fair Oaks, Tysons Corner, Tysons Galleria and Fashion Centre at Pentagon City to the North and the Potomac Mills/Woodbridge area to the south, the demise of Springfield Mall, Landmark Mall were inevitable.
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Rich
August 29th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
I, too, remember being at Pentagon City in 1990 (when I move to DC the last time). You’re definitely right that the success of malls North & West of Landmark/Springfield and the Potomac Mills complex to the South have pretty much killed Landmark & Springfield, at least as traditional malls. Pentagon City has been very successful in drawing big boxes, along with areas S of Alexandria, so i think there may be some difficulties in redeveloping Landmark & Springfield. Losing one or both would not be the worst thing that could happen to Greater Washington and the land for either one could easily be turned into something else that would be an asset to the local tax bases.
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SEAN
August 31st, 2007 at 10:21 am
I don’t understand something, i looked it up in the “U S GUIDE OF SHOPPING CENTERS OF INTEREST”. It said P C opened in 1998. Is that a typo?
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Rich
August 31st, 2007 at 11:28 am
Looks that way; it would be easy for someone to transpose the digits (98 instead of 89) and who knows how they edit the thing. Shoddy editing is pretty common even in academic publishing.
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SEAN
August 31st, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I found another error in the same book a few pages over in the Town center of VA Beach, “Regal Cinemas 1, 2″. It should have read Regal Cinemas 12. Does anybody proof read before going to press anymore?
Thanks!
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a.h.
October 8th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I agree with Ashliey, the mall is ghetto.
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KK
October 17th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Springfield wasnt that bad when I was younger-I was in there last year (the first time in years i had been back there) this mall is just as bad as manassas mall. in a bad area-i think there was a stabbing there recently. parking lot very scary. JCPenney had holes in the wall and plastic sheeting everywhere. Very dark inside the mall-no good stores. Tysons and Fair Oaks are much better than this by far.
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sk8destroy
October 17th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
I love grind my skateboard on the waxed ledges in the parking garage by Macy’s. That’s the best thing about this mall. And yes, it’s ghetto. It looks like a remnant from the 80’s. A year ago, there was a big rain storm when I was in the mall, and the roof was leaking everywhere. The Target is about the only good store in this mall.
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kent rockwell
November 20th, 2007 at 2:46 am
I believe the dirty-orange shag carpeting was finally replaced at Hong Kong or whatever the hell that place was (bottom floor) that sold velvet-paintings, black-light posters and samurai swords (probably would be a winner today with the burgeoning asian pop. in springfield). Farrells Ice Cream Parlor was definitely the place to have a b-day party in the 70’s; especially if one enjoyed being serenaded by acne-riddled teenages and a big, booming bass drum. I recall the Orange bowl being similar to Orange Julius but they also had good, greasy pizza and a poster with a mustachioed man sporting psychadelic swirls where his eyes should’ve been. And of course the excellent arcades where one could while away the hours and quarters playing defender or king and the balloons.
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Pete
December 10th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
I used to go to the mall in the 80’s when I was a kid… Orange Bowl Pizza and Time Out 1&2 were awesome.. Hong Kong was a lot of fun and our family used to eat at the York Steakhouse often. I moved away from the DC area in the early 90’s right after some new sections were added – it never had the same feel after that… Anyone remember the mexican fast food restaurant next to Wards? That place sucked! As a kid in the 80’s this mall had everything we needed… Times have changed.
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Frank
January 11th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Wow – these pictures are blowing my mind. My brother & I pretty much lived in the Time Out arcades during the early 80’s – Haven’t been back since we moved in 84 – thanks for the memories.
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Mary
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:10 am
I can not get over how many people who shop at the Springfield Mall are Hispanic. It seems like nearly everyone is speaking a foreign language and I spent almost an hour in this tired old mall before I saw a white person.
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Gene
February 17th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I was recently at Springfield Mall for the first time in years and was shocked at the near-death experience. Even just outside the entrance to Target, the only well-trafficked spot, there were no open stores. The mall appears to be about 50% occupied, with the majority of those stores selling cheap jewelry for the soldiers at Fort Belvoir to give their latest girls. The strip centers that surround the mall with big box stores are many times busier than the mall itself, pointing out an important trend: malls, of all shapes and sizes, are a dying breed. People no longer “shop” a number of different stores even when they are all conveniently located under one roof. They now shop for everything at one store — a big box store.
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Frank
February 26th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Yeah, I spent many hours at Springfield Mall in the 80s and then in the 90s after they redid it. It was really nice right after the rebuild — lots of light, place was full of stores and shoppers, stores were well staffed and in excellent shape.
Now a trip back is depressing, to see how far it has fallen, and how fast. Few whites, few people at all and few of them speaking English, and now the theatres have closed down entirely.
It is almost dead except for the Target and the salespeople in the empty JCPenney’s & Macy’s.
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Tom
February 27th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
When I was a kid in Springfield, VA in the 50s and 60s, the current site of Springfield Mall was a sand and gravel pit. I watched the mall being built and went to high school across the street. At lot of us teenagers got jobs at the mall. I was there two years ago and barely recogniozed any of it; the sights, the sounds, the smells… all different.
Tom
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Jonah Norason
March 8th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
This mall is owned by Vornado…mall map shows anchors in good shape and several national chains…but there seems to be a disproportionate number of vacant junior anchors. Explanation?
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Frank
March 10th, 2008 at 8:35 am
The mall was originally in good shape. But the surrounding demographics changed (from middle class to immigrant and heavy new Section 8 apartments), and the middle class shopper is now going elsewhere.
So what you see now is slow motion decay — the big chains apparently are either locked in by their leases or hope that the mall direction might turn around. So they are still there but the stuff in-between/around is disappearing.
As someone who liked the mall as it was, I kinda mourn the slow motion death. But my family has to shop somewhere it feels safe.
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SC
March 30th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Let me start off by saying how much I love the lamentation for the lack of white folk at Springfield Mall. Commenters on this post must be REALLY old school, so sorry to scare you away.
As a non-White person that grew up on Springfield Mall offerings in the 90s that are either completely gone or not the same as the originals (Time Out, Farrell’s, Hong Kong, Another Universe (comic book store), etc.), I’m quite happy that plans for another refurbishment are in place.
In a few years the Feds are planning to drop a total of 12,000 additional employees across the street from Springfield Mall as a result of the planned BRAC location of workers away from Crystal City (Pentagton City Mall area). These new employees and attendant infrastructure are just an extension of the current Fort Belvoir proper. Vornado seems to be in a great position to leverage this guaranteed increase in daily consumer traffic for theirs and the community’s benefit, especially considering the 12,000 employees are considered middle-class professionals, regardless of their skin pigmentation.
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Frank
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:10 am
Good to hear it, SC. If the Feds do indeed follow through, perhaps real shoppers (of whatever color) that speak English will begin to outnumber the criminals and wannabees.
Until then, with an eye on reported crimes ar and around the mall and lack of interest in contributing to them, I am sure the rest of the middle class will continue to shop elsewhere.
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a traveler
April 4th, 2008 at 12:01 am
I am a recent washingtn dc visitor in 8 th grade, first when I entered the mall I though it looked small, also not to mention the big number 2 block, once. Entered and walked around I kinds got lost. I thought it was a new mall but as from my point of view the floor was old and he cieling was just plain wierd. I would have to guess that the mall was about 40% occupied, reading the comments I was shocked to read that there were actually some good stores, like ethan ellen be others. But now there’s only the food court, target and other stores but they weren’t as big as the others. Also I couldnt help but notice that there were a lot of Mexican people (not to offend). It sort of gave me a wierd vibe….
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M. Sean
April 9th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I worked in the Mall from 1978 until 1985. What a wonderful place back then! Much of the business came from the south. I think when Potomac Mills was built, it really hurt the mall’s traffic count.
Originally opened in 1973, the first stores to open were Montgomery Ward and Peoples drug store. Once the mall completely opened, it had four major entrances (with the big numbers on top, and four Anchors. The original anchors were Wards, Lansburgs, Garfinkles, and J.C. Penny. A large Raleighs was also present.
In 1975, the mall was expanded with a new wing added at the Penny’s end, and a new entrance (#5 big block). In the new wing, was more theaters, a Holiday Spa, as well as a high end Audio Store (Audio Associates).
1975 also saw the Demise of Lansburg’s Deartment store. This spot was taken by Korvettes.
The Mall also sported a three level glass sided store area in the center of the mall with a circular staircase to get to each store.
Korvettes went out of business at the end of 1980. The space was vacant for a VERY long time (years) while entangled in lawsuits. Once the lawsuits ended, the mall the made the space another wing with the food court. The only time this mall was remodled was in the mid to late 80’s.
I went back to the Mall a few weeks ago, and hadn’t been there since the late 90’s. It is sad now, not because of the demographics, but because it is slowly dying. MANY vacancies, very few independent stores.
Springfield Mall used to be a destination, a place to go. Now it is a place that happens to be where the Target or Sports Authority. It felt that the time of casual shopping at the mall is over, and replaced with purpose driven folks who get in and out.
The government move may not happen. The company that owns the Mall is more interested in making a profit on the land than the mall itself. I firmly believe the next remodel will be one of demolition.
R.I.P. old friend. Thanks for the memories.
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Frank
April 16th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
M. Sean, I for one appreciate the sentiment and eulogy to a lost place that meant a lot than just a location with stores.
On this, however, I have a somewhat different take: “It is sad now, not because of the demographics, but because it is slowly dying. MANY vacancies, very few independent stores.”
The point is, not more than 10 years ago, the mall was still in good shape — we went pretty much every weekend. The changing demographics CAUSED the dying you remark on. I didn’t realize it until the kids in my daughter’s grade-school (and later middle school) started objecting to going because it was “so ghetto”, (Hint: my daughter is not white, and neither were many of her friends, as is the norm in NoVA.)
The changed community around the mall meant that the people who always used to shop there – mostly white but our family too – were no longer the people you’d find most at the mall. Because they no longer felt it a welcoming place. The demographics changed, crime became a constant consideration, and THEN the stores began dying.
Like you, I remember it fondly – Ferrell’s, Time Out, Wards, Software Etc., and lots more. R.I.P. indeed.
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Sandy
April 28th, 2008 at 12:42 am
I got one for all of you. I remember when Frontier Drive was a dirt road. I watched them build Springfield Mall and was quite ticked off that they took away the woods I use to run around in (among other things). I had a couple of jobs in the Mall as well. Lots of good times too.
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Frank
April 28th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Wow, Sandy – you win!
To remember what was there before, miss it being gone, see the rise and now fall of the mall — now there is perspective…
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Frank
May 19th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Brookstone is closed now too.
And all the restaurants in the smaller foodcourt.
I bet Macy’s and JCPenney’s are counting the days until their leases are up.
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Ginny
June 16th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I am hoping the Vornado does something good with the property, rebuild the mall if need be…
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Will Mears
June 29th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I live only minutes away from Springfield Mall now, but have only visited a few times. When I first moved in the area four years ago the mall seemed pretty nice, but I had just moved from the Fort Campbell, KY area here Governor’s Square Mall and the Hopkinsville Mall were the only ones around. Compared to Opry Mills Springfield wasn’t too nice after all. I just took my daughter there last week and was surprised by how empty sections of the mall were. Most of the stores on the Macy’s side are closed. I noticed The Barbershop Company moved across the mall to the occupied section.
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C.H.
July 20th, 2008 at 2:43 am
The entire area changed when the Franconia-Springrield Metro opened, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t business. I’d argue there is more business to be had there than when I used to go to the mall in the 80’s and it felt like the mall was plopped in the middle of miles of grass.
Honestly, I know the demographics are a supposed issue here, but frankly, walk across the street and you have the real problem. The same problem that is going on with a lot of malls. Look at the thriving Best Buy, Home Depot, Borders, Old Navy and Staples, as well as the smaller surrounding stores. Not to mention the always busy Bertuccis and TGI Fridays. Or walk the other way to Circuit City and Barnes and Noble. I have a hard time finding a parking spot at either location during busy shopping hours. If demographics are the real issue why are places located right across the street doing great business? The fact is the big box stores that came along drove more and more business away from the mall. I know that is why I stopped going. When Target came along, what do you know, people dared to go the Target despite the fact it was part of the mall. That and the DMV location are the only times I really stop in now. It’s not because I’m afraid, it’s because the better stores are across the street. The rapid development of Kingstowne has driven even more business away. I’m sure that’s why the theater closed. Why go to the AMC with a brand new theater located 3 minutes away?
What is shiny and new, has drawn business from what is old and tired. There is still plenty of business to be had in the area, but they are going to have to do something to make the mall (or whatever they choose to do with land) worth going to again.
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Frank
July 21st, 2008 at 8:36 am
Some truth to what you say, CH. However responding to these:
Look at the thriving Best Buy, Home Depot, Borders, Old Navy and Staples, as well as the smaller surrounding stores. Not to mention the always busy Bertuccis and TGI Fridays. Or walk the other way to Circuit City and Barnes and Noble.
Almost everytime I’ve been to TGI Friday recently it has had LOTS of open tables (except Friday nights). Might have something to do with the crime around there – I’ve seen the hostesses trying to chase after people fleeing without paying.
Likewise, I was as Barnes and Noble the other day (granted, around 2 pm during a week day) – only 2 other people in the entire store!
The Staples often seems quite, quite slow.
Best Buy so far seems OK – we’ll see. Circuit City (the corporation) is about to go under, so we’ll see that spot open up soon.
To me it looks far more likely the third-world nature of Springfield mall will continue infecting the surrounding stores rather than them acting to stablize the area (much longer).
But time will tell.
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J
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Maybe a Wegmans will pop up in this new town center?
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OOhhhh
July 28th, 2008 at 10:48 am
OOOH I HOPE A WEGMANS COMES!!!! SOMEONE CALL THEM!!! They will revitalize ANYTHING!
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Jonah Norason
August 5th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Wegmans? A grocery store? Let’s back up. Why is it that grocery stores are perfectly fine in lifestyle centers but taboo in malls?
It’s common knowledge that at one time, grocery stores DID anchor malls…but with the dying malls today no longer to focus exclusively on fashion, why CAN’T we get a supermarket in our malls today? Many malls have fine Targets, which stock frozen foods and cereal, basically everything except produce.
The reason I can think of is that despite that supermarkets pull in lots of people (especially weekend mornings) except that supermarkets are low-margin profits and grocery shoppers won’t enter the mall concourse and vice versa. Unfortunately, that conclusion was made many years ago and still holds true today…does it?
What do you think?
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AceJay
August 5th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Heh, Jonah, Wegmans is not just a grocery store.
But still, I’d rather not have carts rolling through a mall.
We all know what happened when Home Depot opened into a mall, haha.
But anyway, I can see what you’re saying. But likely though, it would be people going to the mall first, then to the grocery store.
Don’t want their frozen foods melting
Also I’m laughing at the 2 Wegmans posters, ever since you guys got the new Potomac Town Center Wegmans, everywhere’s been clamoring for one.
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DayGlo!
August 10th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Went to Springfield Mall yesterday for, I think, the first time this millennium.
How depressing.
Ten years ago, that mall was the sh!t. Now? Going, going…almost gone. Macy’s has decent merch, but is rundown and neglected-looking. Target’s there, but filled with an eerie quiet one NEVER sees at a Target on Saturday afternoon. Sports Authority? Same. The pictures say a lot about the rest. I barely recognized the mall for all the empty stores, and many of the open ones were either mom-and-pop “urban” stores or aimed towards a younger demographic (Journeys, Charlotte Russe, Hot Topic). Strangely enough, the Gap is still there.
Run a search for Springfield Mall, and the term “ghetto” comes up. The mall is not ghetto, nor was it before. Fairfax County is filled, if not completely overrun, with overprivileged and overentitled members of the upper middle class and nouveau riche; it may very well have been the inspiration for this. It’s also not far removed from the “Old South” sentiments seen in surrounding counties, where the backlash against fairly sudden diversification has been extreme enough to merit national attention. These things in themselves probably wouldn’t be enough to kill the mall, and Potomac Mills didn’t kill it either. But add in the recent expansion of Tysons Corner Center and the nightmarish, decade-long construction at the nearby intersection of 95, 395, and 495 (otherwise known as the Mixing Bowl), and the death knell starts to toll.
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Tom
August 10th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Like Sandy who posted back in April, I grew up in Springfield and recall a dirt Frontier Drive and a two-lane Franconia Road. The mall’s location was previously a sand and gravel plant. My grandfather worked for the Va. Dept. of Highways and did the original surveys for Shirley Highway, precursor to I-95. (Hey Sandy: are you the same Sandy who went to Lee HS and had a sister named Debby?)
Tom
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Frank
August 11th, 2008 at 8:06 am
“Run a search for Springfield Mall, and the term “ghetto” comes up. The mall is not ghetto, nor was it before.”
Well, I agree that it was not before. However, I am not sure that the guy who was beaten and robbed at gunpoint after shopping there a couple of weeks ago would agree that it is not ghetto now.
http://www.nbc4.com/news/17014443/detail.html
And this is *far* from the only recent crime there and in the immediate vicinity. Google can help you catch up on many more
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Mike
August 12th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I wish Farrell’s & Orange Julius would come back!
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Jim Henderson
September 12th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
This was just process yesterday by Fairfax County
Building Permit Number 82540156
Date Processed 09/10/2008
Building Use SHOP
Application Type DEMOLISH ENTIRE STRUCTURE
Work Type DEMO C
Job Description ENTIRE DEMO FOR AREA L (FIRST AND SECOND FLOOR) OF SPRINGFIELD MALL
Location
Job Location 6500 SPRINGFIELD ML
Magisterial District LEE
Parcel Identifiers 0902 13 0004A1
Subdivision SPRINGFIELD MALL PCL 4A1
Contractor and Owner
Contractor OWNER IS CONTRACTOR
.
., VA 00000-0000
Owner VORNADO REALTY TRUST
888 SEVENTH AVE
NEW YORK NY 10019
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Jake
September 17th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Ouch!
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Jonah Norason
September 17th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
What the heck? Demolish the entire structure? Why? I know it’s a distressed mall and all, but…Vornado, curse you to
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Chris
September 20th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Another week, another serious crime at Springfield Mall. http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=319797&paper=72&cat=104
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danroman
September 20th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
This mall seems like a crime magnet. It’s better off being demolished IMO.
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christine
October 5th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
GOD THIS MALL HAS BEEN SOOOOOO GHETTO SINCE THE STUPID SPANISH/ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS STARTED WORKING THERE! IF THEY DIDN’T WORK THERE THEN THEY WOULDN’T HAVE ATTRACTED MORE OF THEIR GHETTO FRIENDS AND TRASHED THE MALL AND MADE IT BECOME ONE OF THE WORSE MALLS EVER! I REMEMBER WHEN THE MALL WAS NICE AND THERE WAS NO CRIME BUT NOW IT IS JUST GHETTO AND SHOULD BE DEMOLISHED!!!!!!
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kAt
October 15th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Wow, kinda cool seeing how many people are chiming in about a true landmark in my life history. My family moved to Springfield in 1978 from Kansas (where the nearest mall was about 10 miles away…a long bike ride for a kid) and loved the fact that the mall was just across the woods from our house. We lived in Springfield forest just across Frontier Drive from the mall. I even went to Forestdale Elementary my first year there…that’s the school you can see from the mall across Frontier.
I was reminiscing about malls since I was watching Valley Girl today and wondered what was happening with my old favorite Springfield.Mall. I can tell you some interesting things about it…you used to be able to get into the drainage system under the mall from the large pipes that emptied out into the woods between our neighborhood and the mall. My brothers and I went on some adventures in there. The back hallways didn’t seem to connect to any “underground” system…my brothers and I ran around back in there too. The mall was unlocked over Christmas…we used to go over there with our remote control cars and whatnot that we received as gifts and ran them around on that old dark brick floor they had at the time.
The remodelling was done in the late 80’s as a previous post said. Although, it was done in parts…there was an extension put on near the old Ward’s location with the movie theater at the end. A few years later, they continued with more to make a full loop around to another part of the mall. The only decor change in the old part of the mall interior was a new floor (over the aforementioned dark brick) and cutting open the ceiling at different points. Guess the old dark ceiling thing wasn’t in style anymore…and that mall was dark dark dark before this renovation. Also the previously mentioned spiral staircase was removed.
This was also the JC Penney’s that Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited. I was there with my Dad’s fancy Pentax camera, periscope viewfinder, etc. so I could get some good shots. Can you believe the film never went through the camera???!!! They did have a cool Rolls Royce on display inside JC Penney for a while before that was perched on tea cups (to show their strength).
Thanks for the memories…I’m enjoying all the tidbits!
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JoeJack
November 9th, 2008 at 1:36 am
I remember back in 2000, when I was living in the area, the mall was great. It was awesome, yes there was some stuff that needed to be fixed up, but other than that everything was fine. I moved away for a couple years, and came back in 2008. What thappened…the mall is horrible! I thought my old mall was horrible not having many stores, but I guess I was wrong. Most of the stores have become mall space(due to demolition), but besides that…I feel like I’m going to be murdered there. Besides for the fact that several people have been killed there, the people hanging out in the mall don’t look the greatest to be around with. So I did some research, not sure if this is a good theory or not. A bridge was made, and people have been telling me that the gang members from Prince Georges County, Maryland crossed it and ruined the mall.
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smacker
January 3rd, 2009 at 7:10 pm
http://www.springfieldtowncenter.com
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Jonah Norason
January 4th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Glad to see the mall isn’t totally being razed.
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Rex
January 9th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I live in PG County and I remember my sister used to work at Springfield mall. She worked at a candy store called Sweet Factory which was located near Sports Authority. I always loved it because many times she would always bring candy home and I always asked for Jelly Belly’s! I also remember going to the movie theater there many times and loved going to the Time-out arcades there too. Unfortunately, Sweet Factory ended up closing (I forgot the year, but it was sometime in the mid 90s), but I guess the good thing for us was that she was able to bring home a lot of the candy that was leftover when it closed, lol! Also, she brought home some leftover items/signs, etc. There was a sign in the store that said “Boss Parking Only” and I still have that hanging in my room today! Ah, the memories!
Unfortunately, I haven’t been there in several years as now we usually either go to St. Charles Towne Center or Pentagon City. That, combined with the reputation that Springfield mall’s gotten over the last several years, have made us stay away. Plus, I haven’t been to the theater in a long time, and I heard that it closed last year. I bet it mainly closed because much nicer theaters like the one at Hoffman Center and the one at Potomac Yard opened. Hopefully, these new renovations will help revitalize a mall that in it’s heyday was great!
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Frank
January 12th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I don’t believe it will be built — I think the developers will lose funding due to the continuing collapse of commercial real estate (CRA).
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Frank
January 16th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Oops, typo – meant “CRE”.
I see that Circuit City has now gone belly up, as I suggested would happen earlier. I wonder how many of the other surrounding businesses will too. Maybe one or both of the bookstores…
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Ken
January 21st, 2009 at 4:37 am
I was at Springfield mall last week.
I live near Baltimore Maryland so me and my friends would all take trips down there.
The mall was always so fascinating to us, and worth the 2 hour drive.
And its mainly because of the arcade, Time Out.
Last week while I was there, I noticed, almost every store is closed.
There is no music playing anymore throughout the mall.
When we walked in all we could hear was our foot steps and our comments on how the mall was so dead now. There was a HUGE puddle on the floor, from a broken water mane.
The 2nd arcade on the lower floor is now closed, in fact the whole wing of the 2nd food court is now all closed, boarded up like nothing was there.
There use to be a Burger king, a Pizzahut Express, and a Panda Express there before.
My 1st trip to this mall was back in 04, and oh man this mall was amazing back then.
The arcade was unreal, so many people were there having such a good time.
I noticed a high rate of Asian people there. Which was awesome, because there are so many specialty shops with imported goods still there.
The mall really left a impression on me, as being one of the last malls around with an amazing arcade and scene in it.
The next time I went back, almost a year later, almost everything was closed.
Each time, again and again, as I went back less and less was there.
So, now its to the point where the mall is one big empty cave for the most part.
The theaters has been gone.
I always found it interesting that the theaters were split on both sides of the mall.
The kiddy play place that was huge at the food court is long gone too, nothing stands in its place.
Also the carousel is gone as well.
Our major concern was the Time Out arcade, which amazingly, is still there!
We asked the guy who worked there, what was going to happen to Time Out?
He told us that the mall is being renovated from some guy who bought it from TX, that the mall is going to be “modernized” and he thought it was really stupid because the arcade will most likely close and never return at the end of the renovations.
He seemed very upset and saddened, we also told him we were very upset too.
The renovations are going to start Spring 09 and end sometime in 10.
I took a few pictures, seeing it may be the last time I see the mall in its current state.
When we left, I shook the guy at Time Out’s hand and I told him I would pray for the arcade, that it would dodge this bullet.
If you can, check out this mall before it changes forever, it truly is an amazing place that really takes you back in time.
Make sure you tell the guys at Time Out that I sent you. :]
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Jonah Norason
February 17th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Looks like in the remodel, two of the store “blocks” will be removed, forming a simple “T”. One will become a new anchor. Anyone know what?
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SEAN
February 18th, 2009 at 10:32 am
AMC Theatres perhaps?
I went to vornado’s site & saw what appeared to be a rendering of Springfield Town Center, an open-air lifestyle center wich have become popular in the past few years. There’s office space + apartment building clusters. All of this is ment to feed the Metro Blue Line.
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Jonah Norason
February 18th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Eh, AMC Theatres is possible but the pad is two-story and have four entrances. So probably retail.
And if you go to the Springfield Town Center website, at the core, it’s still a two-story mall. There’s less interior-facing retail, yes, but it’s going to remain enclosed. Sort of like how we all thought Bergen Mall would be disenclosed, except it’s really enclosed.
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Frank
February 27th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Probably won’t be built given ongoing CRE collapse, and slow-motion collapse of retail to match.
Unless it can repurposed as all government buildings.
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Meredith
April 11th, 2009 at 7:39 am
I haven’t been to Springfield Mall since 2007 or so; I used to work near Fort Belvoir so the Target and the DMV were both convenient. It was very much on its last legs then, though, so I’m not at all surprised to hear that it’s basically dead now.
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Frank
May 12th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Looks like Sports Authority has left Springfield Mall now too.
Of course, since they are planning to demolish it (if they still are), I guess everyone will fairly soon.
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Carol
July 30th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
I worked at Up Against the Wall in the Spruingfield mall back in 1973 … when that store and the mall itself were new. The checkout counter in our store was an absolutely amazing wood freeform sculpture resembling a female contortionist! It was a bit of a challenge working there though … we were expected to look hip & trendy at all times but the pay was barely above minimum. Oh well, screw ‘em – these days I’m a very well paid executive and even compensating for inflation, I probably earn many many times what the Store Manager got paid back then.
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really
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I remember when the mall had some pizza shop placed by the JCpenny store (can’t remember that well.) as well as the old food court with the Burger King, Pizza Hut, Manchu wok and Gyro. It was pretty full back in the late 90’s/early 2000s. I think its a shame I wasn’t there back in the 80’s when GNR was actually good, and rock was widespread. The only few memories of it in good conditions I have are those of Montgomery wards closing and the 2nd Time out arcade. Also whatever happened to the Brookstone store, or the ruby tuesdays, or the in store restaurants?
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Dead
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:52 pm
I was just there tonight. The FYE on the lower level is closed, the pizza place on the upper level by Target is gone, the Game Stop on the second level by Target just closed, Sports Authority is gone, and a bunch of other stores that I can’t recall. I stop in at the Target occasionally because it is convenient if I’m already out in VA. Everytime I go there, more stuff is closed.
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John
August 26th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I loved Springfield Mall as a kid. I lived off of Pohick Road all my life, and I remember before there was a Fairfax County Parkway, Hooes road was the main way down towards the mall from where I lived. I spent my time there until college in 2000, when I finally returned to the mall of my youth I saw that it had hit hard times. Perhaps the new Springfield Town Center they are building on the site of the mall now will be better…
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