Lynnhaven Mall, Virginia Beach, VA

A mall of my youth

-UPDATES BELOW-

7 January 2015

17 December 2023

11 April 2026

At age ten, our six year stint in paradise had ended. The Navy was transferring us across the nation all the way to the East Coast- Virginia Beach, Virginia, to be exact.

Lynnhaven Mall as I remember. 1- From the front. (Source) 2- From the rear. (Source)

After spending less than a year in the Orlando suburb of Winter Park, Florida, we moved into our new house in the Princess Anne area of the city. One of our first reconnaissance missions was to find ourselves a new place to shop for our school clothes, dad’s tools and mom’s sewing equipment. It wasn’t long before we found that place in the second of the Malls of my Youth- Lynnhaven Mall.

The main entrance atrium. (Source)

Lynnhaven Mall, from the exterior, could not contrast more severely from its pleasant and airy sounding name. The mall was a straight up, dark brown, minimalist as Leningrad in the 50s, monolith. It was a wall of large mud colored bricks with sharp angles and unforgiving monotony. This sea of bricks was only interrupted by the occasional black tinted glass element over the anchor and the main mall entrance. And what a main mall entrance it was; the two main corridors were at a right angle to each other and at the inner crux of where they met was the mall’s two level, bulging black glass focal point- The Atrium. It was an imposing half cube of dull, lifeless mirrors. I loved it. This mall had personality.

-UPDATE- Lynnhaven Mall lease plan ca. 1981. View the full PDF version here.

The interior of Lynnhaven carried on the motif of earth tone extremism displayed prominently on the exterior. The floor tiles alternated between dark beige and dark brown; the small box skylights located in the wide corridors were accented in bronze and wooden tones, counteracting the already limited natural light filtering in. There were large sunken seating areas just outside each of the main anchors that were almost maze-like and obscured enough by their high walls and abundant greenery to encourage engagement in any number of deviant activities. It was the perfect place for an eighties teen to hang out.

1- The front exterior of Lynnhaven Mall just before its opening. (Source)  2- Pristine center court at the mall's opening, including the fountain and sculpture thingy. (Source)  3- Victoria Principal at Lynnhaven's opening.  (Source)  4 to 6- Thalhimer's, Leggett, and Miller & Rhoads mall entrances at Lynnhaven Mall's opening. (Source)

The facility was mostly one level except for the center court area running from the Atrium, through center court, to Leggett. And what a center court it was. It was very large in area and underneath an expansive glass canopy that flooded the area with direct sunlight. It was the only bright place in the mall. The court’s base was sunken a few feet below the rest of the mall with a wide walkway traversing it diagonally. On one side was the obligatory fountain while the opposite half was home to a stepped area perfect for loitering and a unique modern art sculpture.

Lynnhaven Mall Mallmanac ca. 1984. View the full PDF version here.

I don’t remember much about the fountain, but that sculpture sure was unforgettable. It was like a piece of stretched white Laffy Taffy twisted into something of a loose figure eight. Like so much of the mall, it far surpassed normal human scale. Somehow, though, it seemed appropriate for the place.  The food court took up almost the entire second level. It surrounded a mezzanine overlooking center court and had about twenty or so different places to waste your money on fattening, nearly inedible but tasty slop. The seating area overlooked that sculpture and made a good vantage point for people watching below (we threw more than a few French fries from up there.) Upstairs were also the two best places to hang out- Mother’s Records and Aladdin’s Castle.

Lynnhaven Mall pamphlet ca. 1985. View the full PDF version here.

Lynnhaven Mall also had the best Christmas decorations during the mid-eighties. They had what must have been a forty foot tree in center court with mechanized elves and reindeer in every corner. I particularly remember one highlight to the main tree. There was a ladder reaching to the top of the artificial spruce with an elf hanging precariously to the top rung. The ladder swung back and forth as if it were losing its stability, and that poor elf just hung there, all Christmas season, never able to regain his balance. Unfortunately, by the late eighties, those automated harbingers of the coming Christmas madness had been replaced by predictable strings of hanging white lights and oversized floating ribbons, decor that seems to follow the basic mall holiday template to the smallest conforming detail.

Lynnhaven Mall Mallmanac ca. 2000. View the full PDF version here.

The mall remained essentially unchanged during my entire time in Virginia Beach. When I left the area at age 15, though, many changes were already in the works. Miller & Rhoads, Thalhimer’s and Leggett would soon be gone. Specialists in modern 90s interiors couldn’t wait to get their hands on the earthy slab and pastel-ize all personality out of the place. It was more than a decade before I visited the mall again, and I didn’t even recognize the place; I didn’t want to. It went from being a cool, leather clad morose character to a pre millennium Stepford mall. Gone were the wood and copper; the seating areas and the sculpture. Gone was everything that made Lynnhaven, well, Lynnhaven.

Lynnhaven Mall lease plan ca. 2011. View the full PDF version here.

The exterior wasn’t spared this treatment. Only JCPenney, the last remaining original anchor, retains its original outward appearance. Miller & Rhoads, later Hecht’s then Lord & Taylor (now vacant) was whitewashed into invisibility while the old Thalhimer’s, with its signature “turret” on the left side, was replicated into a tedious Dillard’s stucco clone. Leggett had been demolished and replaced with an outdoor plaza called The Inlet containing two restaurants and an AMC cineplex. This is one of the few changes that I really do like.

1- The glorious Atrium in all of its glorious glory.  2- The former Miller & Rhoads being rebuilt for the arrival of Lord & Taylor.  3- The pastelized center court after the refresh.  4- Inside Lynnhaven in the mid-nineties. (Source for all)

Lynnhaven remains extremely popular and relevant thirty years after its opening, and I still think of it as THE main Mall of my Youth. Its design elements shaped and defined so many of my future architectural staples. But no matter how many shades of white that they indiscriminately slap on the floors and the walls, Lynnhaven will always be that gothy place that I fell in love with so long ago.

UPDATES-

-7 January 2015

Lynnhaven Mall lease plan ca. 2014. Notice that there is no longer a second level indicated and the food court is now at the back of the mall near The Inlet. View the full PDF version here.

My two favorite Lynnhaven features- the dark and brooding main entrance atrium and the spacious, yet perhaps oversized, upper level and its food court, have been unceremoniously removed. In addition, the structure that originally housed Miller & Rhoads but left vacant after Lord & Taylor left the market has been demolished to make way for a, wait for it, outdoor lifestyle element. But what has been inflicted upon the interior of the place that really shaped my idea of what a classic mall should be is criminal. Lynnhaven has been modernized to being unrecognizable.

Lynnhaven Mall Pamphlet ca. 2015. It presents a really good comparison of Lynnhaven Mall before and after the mid-2010s rebuild. View the full PDF version here.

-17 December 2023

Still the best performing mall in all of the Tidewater area by far, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Macy’s and Dick’s remain as Lynnhaven’s anchors.  About half of the parking deck, the northern section of the span, was also removed in the 2014 renovation, leaving only the portion front of JCPenney.

Lynnhaven Mall Mallmanac ca. 2022. View the full PDF version here.

The loss of the main entrance atrium still hurts, but at this point I’m just glad that Lynnhaven is still doing well.  Its peers Military Circle and Pembroke Mall have closed, the former with an uncertain future, while MacArthur Center and Chesapeake Square are circling the drain.  Only Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake still seems to be going strong itself.  Hopefully these two, opened within months of each other in the early eighties, will last.

-11 April 2026

Seeing a lot of the malls that I grew up with in the Hampton Rhoads area at my age was a punch in the gut.  While it was difficult seeing the fence surrounding a crumbling Military Circle, that half of Chesapeake Square no longer standing and even the nearly complete elimination of Pembroke Mall, the feeling I was left with when leaving this still successful Mall of My Youth was in many ways nearly as glum.

1 & 2- The corridor just inside the main entrance.  This and over center court served as the upper tier of Lynnhaven Mall.  3 to 8- The expansive center court was even more impressive from the second level, which is now entombed behind the lofty walls surrounding the skylight.

I was well aware of the many changes that had come to Lynnhaven Mall over the years.  The signature, dark stained glass atrium leading to the enormous second level food court overlooking the expansive water feature and sculpture thingy had been removed years prior.  It wasn’t until I saw it for myself that I realized that nearly everything that made Lynnhaven what it was had been also taken away.

1 to 4- The newly located food court next to the exit leading to The Inlet.  5- The massive walls nearly hide the entranceway to the southern concourse.  6 to 8- The corridor leading to Dillard’s, originally Thalhimer’s.

The main entrance replacement for what was once the atrium, with its second floor mezzanine and colorful kites sold from an adjoining kiosk filling the grand space, was even more disappointing in person.  To me, it was reminiscent of seeing an old familiar face, only with the nose completely lobbed off and chucked in the bin.

What was once an impressive center court at the meeting point of the two main concourses today is nothing more than a flat open area.  The expansive skylight still hung nobly over the space, but the bland, double height walls whose upper portions hide what was once the second floor balcony made the space seem even more disconnected and sparse.  I definitely had a lot of opinions about it.

1- Dillard’s mall entrance.  2 to 4- The southern concourse between Thalhimer’s and Hess’s.  5 & 6- Express and H&M now occupy the space once home to Rices Nachmans before Hess’s.  7 & 8-  The mall entrance to JCPenney.

The once mighty food court, meeting place for everyone from Bayside High School and Salem Junior High School all the way to Birdneck Elementary was reduced to less than a dozen booths tucked into the butt end of the building.  Decorative quadrilaterals hung from the lofty central walls and the main skylight lending the facility a little color and texture, though every shade of white seemed to be the overall motif of this new Lynnhaven.

1 & 2- The front mall entrance next to JCPenney.  3- H&M mall entrance where the Hess’s logo was once displayed.  4 to 8- JCPenney’s front and side façades.  9 & 10- The flanking side of Penney’s.

The main corridors seemed less open and the ceilings sunken as the owners decided to go all in on the recent trend of curved panels along the interior canopy, bringing them noticeably closer to the floor.  The only positive was that more scopious skylights had replaced the simple tinted boxy glass from Lynnhaven’s youth, allowing me to more easily shake my fist and yell at the clouds just outside.

Lynnhaven Mall Mallmanac ca. 2024. View the full PDF version here.

I exited next to that old standard of an anchor, JCPenney, and was able to smile again.  The only department store still wearing its original façade of mud colored brick while sporting its darkened glass entranceways, it was a joy to see a recognizable face.   To my delight, most of the common areas exteriors between Penney’s and what was Thalhimer’s in the beginning had also changed little.

1 to 3- The backside of Lynnhaven Mall between JCPenney and Dillard’s.  4-  Dillard’s expansion and standard façade surrounding what was once Thalhimer’s.  5 to 8- Between Thalhimer’s and Leggett, which was demolished to make way for the Inlet outdoor element of today.  The walls of the former upper level can be seen over the center of the building.

Walking toward and through the rear facing Inlet outdoor plaza, I was focused on the central areas of the 1981 structure where the now single level complex once hosted its second floor.  I could see the walls once housing the United Artist Theaters, the twenty-five food stalls and the double tiered entrance to Leggett.  It would be cool to see what’s occupying all of that dead space now, but I think I’m better off not knowing.

1 to 5- The Inlet outdoor plaza, home to the AMC Theaters.  6 to 8- Lynnhaven Mall’s rear side between The Inlet and Macy’s.  The former Forever 21 is where United Artists Theaters Cinema 1 to 5 was located.

I made my way further past the new Macy’s building, the only added anchor store, around the barely recognizable former Montgomery Ward and toward the second demolished anchor, the former Miller & Rhoads/Hecht’s/Lord & Taylor spot now home to a new mall entrance and a scattering of outdoor shops headlined by L.L. Bean.

Lynnhaven Mall Mallmanac ca. 2025. View the full PDF version here.

I lingered again at the main entrance looking closely for those hidden and forgotten elements that made Lynnhaven Mall an early eighties classic.  And I could see them in the beveled brick roofline, the sharply angled walls where the glass of the atrium once met the main structure and the stepped brick façade abutting what was once Miller & Rhoads.

1 & 2- Side views of the now vacant Forever 21 and the AMC Theaters.  3 & 4- The exterior of Macy’s, still unchanged from Hecht’s template.  5- The flanking side of the former Montgomery Ward.  6 & 7- The front side of the former Ward’s.  It was the first anchor position to be vacated and was subdivided to smaller spaces.  8- Looking toward Lynnhaven Mall’s main entrance from Barnes & Noble.  This is where Miller & Rhoads store once stood.

I know that while this isn’t the most upbeat or cheerful update on this site, I am truly happy that Lynnhaven Mall seems to be the victor in Hampton Rhoads’ battle royale of enclosed shopping centers.  But with almost all storefronts spoken for and all anchor spaces filled, it leaves me perplexed that the iconic second level, representing even more gross area to be leased, was erased.

1 & 2- The newest outdoor element at Lynnhaven Mall build where Miller & Rhoads once stood.  3- Where the atrium used to stand.  4- The high walls indicate where the upper tier used to be.  5 & 6- The new Lynnhaven Mall entrance.  Sigh.  7 & 8- Looking up toward the former second level location of UA Theaters 6-11.

Not more than a few minutes later I found myself again on Lynnhaven Parkway with the old brown monolith serving as the second Mall of My Youth in the rear view mirror.  It was almost as tough seeing what Lynnhaven Mall has become as it was to see the rubble where Madison Square once rose from the cotton fields.   I just dread the inevitable day when the announcement is made that it’s being reimagined as something like the Oceana Towne Centre…  Sigh.

Lynnhaven Mall official website