Dying Retail

Part one - Pictures of MacArthur Mall in Norfolk, VA. 27 years and promise is gone. This mall was supposed to be the crown jewel of Norfolk's downtown revitalization efforts. Even with voices saying the mail should not have been built. That a suburban designed mall in a downtown would not spill out and cause growth in the surrounding area. The city went ahead with the project anyway and Hampton Roads got the Taubman treatment. A mall that reminded you of being in Atlanta or some other larger metropolitan areas of the country. Bringing in retail that was new to the area as well.

Then one after another, those businesses started to leave, not seeing the growth and opportunity that was expected.

Nordstroms came and found themselves being caught in the local politics and being pressured to hire employees from the surrounding low income community. After a period of time, they announced they were no longer going to try and hire from the low income areas because they were not getting the qualified applicants to provide the service they were known for. Then. They left leaving Dillards as the remaining anchor.

The mall started showing more wear and tear. Covid came and the lockdowns didn't make things better. Around this time you had the defund the police fights across the country. The city pulled their police presence from the downtown areas and crime increased, especially in the mall. A few instances of gunfire in the mall, with one resulting in a death in the mall, created the stigma that the mall was unsafe. Several stores closed the mall location, most notably, Apple, saying the safety of their patrons was their prime concern.

Shortly after, the city had a more noticeable police presence downtown. Violence overall went down, especially in the mall. Did not matter. The damage was done. Word spread fast you were not safe in the mall.

The writing was on the wall.

Dillards finally closed their east coast flagship location leaving no anchors. The City of Norfolk purchased the store and had total control of the mall.

Now the final curtain call has been made. June 27th, MacArthur mall is going to close for the final time. The area is going to lose what can be described as the most beautiful retail structure in the 757. The downtown dream was not fully realized.