Pembroke Mall

Infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Pembroke Mall


image_width =
caption =
location = Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
address =
coordinates =
opening_date = 1966
closing_date =
developer =
manager = Jones Lang LaSalle
owner =
architect =
number_of_stores = 100cite web |url=http://www.joneslanglasalle.com/microsites/retail_pdfs/factsheets/Pembroke%20Mall.pdf |title=Pembroke Mall leasing sheet |accessdate=2007-11-26 |work=Jones Lang LaSalle]
number_of_anchors = 3
floor_area = convert|623479|sqft|m2|1
floors =
parking =
website = http://pembrokemall.com
footnotes =

Pembroke Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. Opened in March 1966 as the first shopping mall in the Hampton Roads MSA,cite web |url=http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=108495&ran=223734 |title=Wing of Pembroke Mall will be razed for new stores |accessdate=2007-11-26 |last=Batts, Jr. |first=Battinto |date=2006-08-02 |work=The Virginian-Pilot] cite web |url=http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=121525&ran=100867&tref=rss |title=Pembroke Mall evolves with an eye on Town Center |accessdate=2007-11-26 |last=Garrow |first=Hattie Brown |date=2007-03-22 |work=The Virginian-Pilot] cite web |url=http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1995/vp951106/11040205.htm |title=Pembroke Mall aging gracefully: Despite the proliferation of enclosed shopping malls in Hampton Roads, Pembroke Mall - the original - has managed to keep its edge by changing with the times and aggressively recruiting the tenants |accessdate=2007-11-26 |last=Stoughton |first=Stephanie |date=1995-11-06 |work=The Virginian-Pilot] it currently comprises more than 100 stores, including anchor stores Kohl's, Sears and Stein Mart, as well as a food court, and a movie theater owned by Regal Cinemas. Pembroke Mall is managed by Jones Lang LaSalle.

History

The site of Pembroke Mall was originally occupied by farm land. Construction began on the mall in March 1965; a year later, the mall's twenty-one stores opened to the public. Sears and Miller & Rhoads, respectively the western and eastern anchor stores, opened shortly afterward; besides these two anchor stores, the mall also featured an Woolworth dime store near the middle.

A 1981 expansion added local department store Rices Nachmans as a third anchor store;cite web |url=http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1994/vp940731/07290281.htm |title=The dream is alive: Long-range plan to turn Pembroke area into gleaming central business district is turning into bricks and mortar |accessdate=2007-11-26 |last=Goldfarb |first=Greg |date=1994-07-31 |work=The Virginian-Pilot] four years later, Allentown, Pennsylvania-based Hess's acquired the Rices Nachmans chain and re-branded all stores as Hess's.

Miller & Rhoads closed its location at Pembroke Mall in 1990; within a year, the former Miller & Rhoads space was replaced with Uptons, a chain based in Atlanta, Georgia. Hess's sold its Hampton Roads area stores to Proffitt's in 1993; subsequently, Proffitt's sold all of its area stores to Dillard's in 1998. [cite web |url=http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1997/vp970112/01110742.htm |title=Dillard's prepares for regional battle where Proffitt's failed, Dillard believes it can flourish |accessdate=2007-11-26 |last=Stoughton |first=Stephanie |date=1997-01-12 |work=The Virginian-Pilot] Stein Mart was also added as an anchor next to Uptons in the mid-1990s.

By the mid-1990s, Pembroke Mall started to lose tenants, primarily to newer and larger malls in the area, including Lynnhaven Mall and Military Circle Mall (now The Gallery at Military Circle). In 1997, the entire Woolworth chain was shuttered, leaving a large vacancy in the mall; two years later, Uptons closed as well, followed by Dillard's in 2002. [cite web |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-8841922_ITM |title=Dillard's Is Latest Anchor Department Store to Desert Virginia Beach Mall. |accessdate=2007-11-26 |last=Kimberlin |first=Joanne |date=2002-06-05 |work=The Virginian-Pilot]

Redevelopment

In 2003, the mall's management embarked on a mall-wide redevelopment. New floor tiles were laid throughout the entire concourse, and several restaurants opened on the periphery. Kohl's, a department store chain based in Wisconsin, opened its first Hampton Roads location in the former Uptons space that year. [cite web |url=http://www.divaris.com/rereview/kohls04.html |title=Kohl's Brings Family Values to Virginia |accessdate=2007-11-26 |work=Real Estate Review] Other additions included a food court in the mall's southern wing, as well as several national chain tenants, such as Pacific Sunwear and Hot Topic.cite web |url=http://www.shoppingcenterbusiness.com/articles/DEC04/story11.shtml |title=A New Lease On Life: Pembroke Mall, Virginia Beach's first regional mall, is updated for the 21st century. |accessdate=2007-11-26 |last=Orr |first=Jennifer |date=2004-12 |work=Shopping Center Business] Freight Liquidators, a local furniture store, also briefly operated in the former Dillard's space.

In 2006, most of the mall's northern wing (including the former Dillard's) was demolished for redevelopment; no official plans have yet been announced for what the redevelopment will comprise.

References

External links

* [http://www.pembrokemall.com Pembroke Mall]
* [http://www.joneslanglasalle.com Jones Lang LaSalle]