Military Circle, Norfolk, VA

A dead mall

-UPDATES BELOW-

7 January 2015

22 September 2023

20 December 2025

(Source)

Norfolk's Military Circle Mall exemplified the modern and radical elements of retail facilities designed and built during the early seventies. This was best displayed on the façade of the massive JCPenney, making their example the most memorable part of an otherwise inconsequential building. All of the plaza's anchors were housed within shells of dark, coffee colored brick that contrasted sharply with the lighter earth-tones encasing the common areas.  But what gave JCPenney its unmistakable personality were the grandiose and imposing white concrete porticoes marking each entryway. Perilously hanging from the ceilings of each of these structures were a series of massive cylindrical light fixtures, all contained within an enclosure of yellow tinted glass. If an architectural style were ever inspired by the leisure suit, Military Circle wore it proudly.

-UPDATE- Military Circle lease plan ca. 1971. View the full PDF version here.

Our suburban dwelling family never had much of a reason to venture out to Military Circle. We were by no means regular patrons at any of its anchors and knew that we could find the same selection of smaller shops at closer destinations, so we usually passed it up. The only time we ever ventured into the immediate area was to browse the extensive hardware selection at the antiquated Montgomery Ward outlet of the JANAF (Joint Army Navy and Air Force) Center located across Virginia Beach Boulevard. I remember being fixated on the hulking structure lying in wait just beyond the busy ten lane thoroughfare, beckoning me to explore the brutal monolith punctuated by the out of scale anchors and a high-rise Sheraton Hotel.

Military Circle soon after opening in 1970. (Source for all)

During that bygone decade of feathered hair when we were living in the southeastern Virginia region, Military Circle and Lynnhaven Mall were locked in a struggle for market dominance. The latter destination, in the midst of the explosive growth of Virginia Beach, was preferred by the suburbanite and the younger crowds, while Military Circle catered more to the urban and more established populace.  But as the years passed and the hair metal of the eighties was exchanged for the grunge of the nineties, Military Circle's once contemporary and cutting-edge edifice was showing its age and vulnerability. Lynnhaven had long since proved victorious in the war for shopping supremacy while the older center was finding itself in a long running fight for relevance against lesser opponents such as Chesapeake's Greenbrier Mall and the beach's Pembroke Mall. And it was losing.

-UPDATE- Military Circle lease plan ca. 1991. View the full PDF version here.

Military Circle Mall opened in what was then the suburban environment of southeastern Norfolk in 1970 as the Southside’s second enclosed shopping mall. It was plotted just a few miles west of Pembroke Mall on the very same east-west boulevard, bringing with it the fear that it would destroy its merely four-year-old competitor. But despite opening with three major department stores, JB Hunter, JCPenney and Norfolk-based Smith & Welton, none overlapped with Pembroke’s offerings, leaving the two facilities to complement each other. Eventually, however, the newer destination emerged as the region’s preeminent retail corridor.

Military Circle Mallmanac, ca. 2000. View the full PDF version here.

Through the eighties and most of the nineties, despite increased competition, Military Circle was able to hold its own. But the late nineties and the new millennium brought numerous changes to the market. Smith & Welton closed in 1990 and remained vacant until 1999 when Sears constructed a smaller "infill" store on the site. But further retail rivalry was to come as the lavish, triple-tiered MacArthur Center opened that same year in central Norfolk.  The new entry’s impact on the extant center was downplayed, however, as MacArthur was expected to attract a more regional, upscale clientele, with Military Circle's remaining focused on a more proximal and middle-class urban target. Thus far, the two have been able to coexist as one rarely pulls from the other's demographic.

-UPDATE- 1- One of the early, basic mall entrance signs off of Military Highway.  2- A rare shot of the original yellow glass portico of Penny’s.  3 & 4- Shots of Military Circle’s original, austere interior concourses with neither skylights nor their natural lighting. (Source for all)

The construction of the MacArthur Center has brought a plethora of new growth to Norfolk, mainly in its central business district. Unfortunately, little of that reinvestment has made its way to the area surrounding Military Circle. With the shuttering of Sears in 2012 and their space's remaining unoccupied, the old classic is again at a crossroads. It could see either a resurgence or a retrenchment at this point. Will it continue to survive on its own locally based demographic, or will even those crowds move on as Norfolk's oldest extant mall remains stagnant? Only time will tell.

The Gallery at Military Circle lease plan, ca. 2011. View the full PDF version here.

-UPDATES-

-7 January 2015

(Source)

Not long after Sears’ truncated tenure was ended at the inner-ring complex, the last anchor to debut with the rest of Military Circle at its 1970 opening is calling it quits. JCPenney, billed as the retailer’s largest location within the region, shuttered in 2014. Its iconic, oversized porticos with huge, dangling cylindrical light fixtures precariously suspended behind yellow tinted glass have long been gone, now the entire store is just another memory. Macy’s stands as the sole remaining anchor at the declining center, which seems to be going the way of regional peers Newmarket North and Tower Malls.

-UPDATE- 1- JCPenney, an original anchor.  2- Sears, added in 2000.  3- Ross Dress for Less, added in 2004.  4- Macy’s, added in 2006. (Source for all)

-22 September 2023

(Source)

Military Circle has moved on to the giant parking lot in the sky.  The mall, once labeled as Hampton Roads’ most popular, ended its more than half century run on 31 January 2023.  After Sears and JCPenney’s departures, the Macy’s, which was first a JB Hunter, then Thalhimer’s, and a Hecht’s following that, mercifully called it quits two years after JCPenney in 2016.

1 to 3- JCPenney’s, Sears and Macy’s vacated spaces.  4 to 7- Inside Military Circle’s common areas.  8 to 10- The food court. (Source for all)

Anchorless and rudderless, the Tidewater's very first regional-sized enclosed shopping mall struggled on as the neighborhood just beyond its ring road deteriorated.  Optima Health converted the massive Penny’s building into office space and the former Macy’s even served as a vaccination center during the Covid 19 pandemic.  But even then, Military Circle’s existence as a retail facility had come to an end.

The Gallery at Military Circle site plan, ca. 2011. View the full PDF version here.

Ross Dress for Less is the lone remaining store, though it has only exterior entrances.  What’s next for the hulking monolith at the intersection of Military Highway and Virginia Beach Boulevard?  No firm plans have been finalized, but there was talk of building a new arena on the site after Virginia Beach voters rejected an oceanfront complex of their own.  For now, we’ll just have to wait and see as the rest of the mall crumbles.

(Source)

-20 December 2025

There was a brisk westerly wind as I approached the one remaining retailer located at Norfolk’s Military Circle Mall- a Ross Dress for Less carved out of the shopping mall’s common areas next to the former anchor space once housing J.B. Hunter, Thalhimer’s, Hecht’s and finally Macy’s.  The asphalt beneath me was battered by the elements and a weathered fence made much of the car park inaccessible.

1- Military Circle’s entrance between Macy’s and JCPenney.  2- The Ross Dress for Less store is the lone remaining retailer.  3- The common area between Ross and Sentara offices.  4 to 8- The expansive building formerly housing JCPenney.

There was a scattering of cars in front of the store, which had yet to open, with even more in front of what was once the largest JCPenney outlet in Hampton Roads.  But their owners weren’t there to shop or to play, but to work.  I sighed.  Even though I was never a regular patron of the seventies classic even in its heyday, it was tough to see Military Circle in this state.

All access to the interior concourse was restricted more than two years prior to my visit.  This wasn’t a huge loss as over the years those corridors had been renovated to be indecipherable from any other enclosed shopping complex of the early millennium.  Luckily for me, I always thought that Military Circle’s greatest assets were located on its exterior.

1 to 7- The former Sheraton Hotel and western mall entrance between JCPenney and the Cinemark Theaters.  8 to 10- The structure once housing the Cinemark Theaters.  The lot was occupied by Leggett previously.

I walked past the overwhelming entrance porticos highlighting the building whose only retail tenant was JCPenney.  I could still imagine the long hanging pipe shaped lights located just beyond yellow stained glass separated by square shaped columns.  It was all tied together with the department store’s groovy seventies Penney’s logo situated just above.

I always loved how the lighter tones highlighting the exterior of the common areas contrasted with the much darker brick dressing each of the anchors.  All four sported elements of brutalist concrete over their entranceways, framing their corners and edges or sometimes serving as backdrops to their nameplates.  Even in their decayed present day state, it was still a joy to see.

1 to 6- The Military Circle common area and food court entrance between Cinemark and the former Smith & Welton.  7 to 10- The vacant Sears store was built on the space once home to Smith & Welton.

I continued my counter clockwise hike just outside of the fence separating the building and its parking lot from my position just beyond Military Circle’s oval shaped ring road.  The first landmark was hard to miss.  The high-rise once playing host to a Sheraton Hotel stood like a sentinel over the low slung complex, itself as worn as the facility over which it watched.

This was the most impressive part of Military Circle for proto-me.  I couldn’t believe that a shopping mall had an actual hotel right in it!  But by this visit it was a monument to broken windows and waterlogged ramparts.  It had been all but abandoned for years and was most likely anything but luxurious in the years leading up to its eventual closure.

Military Circle lease plan, ca. 2021. View the full PDF version here.

Continuing on, I passed the shell once housing the Cinemark Theaters.  Decades earlier, the same plot of land had housed an outlet for Leggett department store, its façade highlighted with the same dark brown brick and stained, concrete trim.  It was the first part of Military Circle to be demolished, unfortunately soon to be joined by most of the remaining structure.

A few steps past, I was facing the eastern façade.  Sears basic template of an exterior stood empty on the plot once host to Smith & Welton.  The Chicago-based one-time retail behemoth occupied the space for a much shorter time than its predecessor, closing after only a dozen years on the tenant list.

Military Circle’s common area entrance between Smith & Welton and Thalhimer’s has a completely different looking nameplate and logo as those at the other entranceways.

Even further down on Military Circle’s northernmost point stood the mud colored slab carapace that was most recently home to Macy’s.  Its brutalist entrance verandas, though much less imposing than those at its neighbor Penney’s, were always rigidly graceful in my eyes.  And each was accompanied by an oversized, rectangular concrete monolith jutting out from the flat wall that once served as frames for each occupant’s logo.

At the end of my walk, there wasn’t a noticeable increase in cars parked in front of Ross even though their doors had been unlocked at some point during my exploration.  I took one final long shot of the endangered classic, with full knowledge that this would be the last time I would ever lay my eyes on it.

1 to 4- The eastern face of Military Circle with the former Sheraton turned Doubletree Hotel rising above.  5 to 10- The former J.B. Hunter, Thalhimer’s, Hecht’s and Macy’s store on the north end of the facility.

A few minutes later I was seated in the rear of my Uber driver’s sedan on my way to Lynnhaven Mall.  “Doing some shopping today?” the young lady in her early twenties asked.  I told her that I grew up in the area and I was visiting some old haunts.  I then lamented on the state of today’s Military Circle.  Through her rear view mirror, I could see a puzzled look on her face.  “This used to be a mall?” she asked as we turned onto Military Highway.  I nodded before sighing silently to myself and watching the old place fade into the distance.

Military Circle on Wikipedia