Farewell: The Military Circle Mall Tribute

Military Circle. A final Goodbye
A tribute video for everyone who remembers the good times at Military Circle Mall which closed forever January 31, 2023. When I was working on this video I would share photos on social media. The outpouring of people sharing memories compelled me to share those memories in this video. This is my tribute to those who grew up in this mall. I hope it helps keep good memories alive for years to come. Opened: 1970. Closed: 1/31/2023.
In this video I was able to get access to the Cinemark theater lobby and grab some video of the art deco fixtures the public won't see again. #Battleship #Wisconsin #Exploringdeadmalls #MilitarycircleMall #NorfolkVA

[@DyingRetail]

Harvey Lindsay, Jr. Developer of Military Circle Mall, Waterside dies at 93. Guess it’s fitting the mall is going to be demolished at time it’s developer dies. RIP www.dailypress.com/business/vp-bz-harvey-lindsay-jr-0422-20230420-rwk7gd5xzfd6hegmxsawyysypa-story.html?fbclid=IwAR0l_Lhj3tnQItHbcYdAanYMK5HZUDZBn2EMw-_GYXet3dPogZ5Vh8VItYM

[@thebeaz1]

Proof reading has it's benefits.

[@dianeclark6089]

Wow, this is sad, especially with that music, this is and was a beautiful mall .. went there a lot during 70s and 80s .. Farewell ..

[@DyingRetail]

Stay tuned for the announcement. I’ve been given a verbal permission from city to go back into the mall for one more video. Just haven’t confirmed when yet.

[@maryannfields3304]

Thank you for making this. Planned on going here one last time while on vacation, but vacation did not happen after all. Spent much time here when i lived in Norfolk from 1987 to 1990 while ex-husband was in the navy. Lot of memories here.

[@DyingRetail]

I’m glad you enjoyed. I am trying to get permission to go back in one more time. 🤞

[@DyingRetail]

+MaryAnn Fields I was able to get inside the mall for the last time. It’s very said. After today it’s my understanding it’s locked for good and fencing will go up. Then it will be demolished soon. Stay tuned. I have a lot of footage to edit.

[@christopherhoffman2515]

I also spent a lot of time here, and at Lynnhaven Mall during my time stationed in Norfolk, and Dam Neck in late 80's-very early 90's. It was a comfortable, familiar place. It sure changed a lot throughout the 90s, from pictures, and videos I've seen. Trying to relate it to how I remember it was difficult. Thanks for the video, and a stroll down Memory Lane!

[@DyingRetail]

@christopherhoffman2515 I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the video. I also got in about 4 months after it closed if you haven’t seen that one kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2nKmpZ_mL-Ho6Msi=vfjvtM0RYg7o6OE4

[@firestormthereddragongamer4539]

I USE TO GO TO THIS Mall when I was A teenager.

[@DyingRetail]

Was a fun place with Flipper McCoys and putt putt outside.

[@sandraw321]

My favorite Military Circle Mall store shopping memories , Foxmoor, Casual Corner, JC Penney, Leggets, Thalheimers, Macy’s, Hecht’s , McCrory’s, Victoria Secret, Bath and Body Works.

[@DyingRetail]

I think you covered most of the mall 😅

[@davidrobinson2323]

I explored this mall about a month ago. It's an absolute shambles. Stores flooding, mold everywhere. Ceiling falling away. I have some great footage. Wasn't easy getting in though 😂

[@DyingRetail]

I would be curious how you did get in. Is the flooding around the courtyard area outside of Macy’s? If you seen my other MCM video from May there were spots I could see through the ceiling outside.

[@liteyear76]

I worked at Champs Sports there in 1997 and I got to meet the rapper Common from Chicago! And that was my hometown. Folks split Mom remarried and ended up in Great Bridge. I worked at Walden Books in Greenbrier and Barnes and Noble by my old favorite Planet Music. Thank you for these videos. And my unbiased opinion was Lynnhaven was always the best mall in Hampton Roads. Peace

[@DyingRetail]

Thanks. I’m glad that you enjoyed. I hope to get outside of HR soon and get some more mall footage. I think I’ll head up to Richmond and get a couple of the malls there next when time will allow me to get up there.

[@cynthiakhan5483]

I grew up in Eastern NC and back in the 80s, we used to make the 2 hr drive there regularly on Saturdays. Good memories!

[@DyingRetail]

That was a long drive for you. I need to go to the eastern soon. Went to Cape Charles November 2021.

[@jefffreeman2807]

Thank you so much for your effort in producing this video and walk-through.

[@DyingRetail]

@jefffreeman2807 I am glad you enjoyed it.

[@FCSEPerson2974]

What it is it’s disappointing because malls are fun to enjoy and shop and walk around

[@DyingRetail]

Yes they were great for that.

[@toddinva]

Thank you for this excellent farewell/abandoned video. Well done. Hopefully they do something good with the property…

[@DyingRetail]

Thanks Todd. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the video. There are three proposals from some high profile people on how to transform the property. I thought one was a sure thing from how news was being reported but on the malls last day open, news stations were reporting that they were still working on which proposal to go with. Once I hear exactly which one the city has decided on I will share here.

[@laurasusanne3558]

I remember staying with my Memaw on Thanksgiving to wake up early and be at Pennys at 5am in Black Friday. She and JC pennys are just memories now 😭 I wish I could go back for a day and stroll through Penney’s with her.

[@DyingRetail]

I’m glad you enjoyed the video and it helped with good memories :)

[@jefffreeman2807]

😢 my eyes water as I watch this video.

[@DyingRetail]

@jeffffreeman2807 It’s sad seeing these places shut down after so many years. I have another one premiering Sunday evening. I think you might find the same emotions from it as I did.

[@tavius88]

😢😢

[@DyingRetail]

😢

[@eddstarr2185]

In 1975 I saw "Death Race 2000", starring David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone, at the Circle Six Theater in Military Circle Mall. What great memories! If I had a time machine I would take all of ya'll back with me to Military Circle's Piccadilly Cafeteria - better than King's Table. Great food at reasonable prices. What a strange feeling - as a teen I never thought I would outlive the world I saw all around me. A few years from now . . . only the pictures will remain.

[@DyingRetail]

Back to lower fuel prices :) That would be nice.

[@RETROGEMS]

I remember Piccadilly's SO well. Would go with my mom as a lunchtime treat when I was a little kid in the early 90s. I still remember how good their Mac & cheese, fried chicken & Mexican cornbread was....

[@DyingRetail]

@RETROGEMS the last Piccadilly in Virginia is inside the former Newmarket Mall in Hampton.

[@fingatipps6779]

still sad about military closing

[@DyingRetail]

Yes it is.

[@nans969]

I've moved to the area 20 years ago. I have no prior experience with military circle. I used to go there mostly for JC Penny's. I rarely went alone because I didn't feel safe . The last time I went there was a couple xmas before Penny's closed. It was 10am. I just went to get a shirt for my son. An older drunk guy demanded me to give him money. No weapon and he was very intoxicated. At that time I just thought he was aggressively panhandling. Apparently, after thinking about it, he was trying to rob me. I never went back. It's a shame seeing a lot of stores closing. But, not sad about this one. It's been horrible for the time I've lived here, anyway. Greenbrier and Lynhaven are the last 2 real malls left on the south side. Even MacArthur is up for sale. They haven't been doing well for a few years now. Even before covid.

[@DyingRetail]

What hurt Military Circle was the surrounding community that turned into crap. In the 80’s and 90’s it was the place to go and it was a lot of fun. The early 2000’s the surrounding community got worse and it just spilled into the mall. Macarthur lost it when you had a person murdered in the mall.

[@richardm5204]

When i got really into dead malls in 2016, this mall maybe like my mall where it had some signs of trouble but mostly was ok back then. When i watched dead malls back then i thought...never my mall, i think itll be ok. Fast forward to today, the grim reaper of malls has finally come to shut this wave of malls down, mine was shutdown in November and is set to be demolished next month

[@DyingRetail]

Which mall is that? It sucks watching them go away.

[@richardm5204]

@@DyingRetail great northern clay ny

[@DyingRetail]

Was other malls close by or are they spread out a bit?

[@gstacks814]

i moved to va beach in '07 , by the time i moved down, the mall was already in decline, but i remember there being a decent amount of traffic though. I haven't been to Military Circle Mall in about 5 years, but by the mid 20-teens you could tell the mall's time was short. It seems like it was a Great mall in years / decades prior though. Hopefully whatever they decide to build on the site can have a positive effect on the local community, as the mall once did.

[@DyingRetail]

Yeah, you were seeing it on the downward slope. To be honest, the mall probably could have done well with proper management addressing issues. Being the second enclosed mall here there’s history. Most of these outfits purchasing the malls seem only interested in using properties for collateral to get money for other projects. Found out that Elvis stayed in the hotel in 1975.

[@leandrabarnes70]

😮😮😮😮

[@DyingRetail]

Didn’t know it was closing?

[@mizFahrenheit]

Another great video, Keith! Sorry to see Military Circle go, although I don't have many memories of it not being a crime ridden shit stain, unfortunately.

[@DyingRetail]

That’s cause you weren’t here in the 80’s & 90’s. :)

[@williamhilbert8324]

Was nice back in the 90$ like the other guy said good memories of hanging out there back in the day when we would come up from NC frequently to visit my grandparents in poplar halls

[@DyingRetail]

I miss those days.

[@RETROGEMS]

So true. My family went here from the mid 80s to 2003. I was born late 1980s and started having vivid memories of MCM in the early 90s. It was an awesome place to have fun and shop back in the day! I remember !y favorite places were McCrory's (similar to Woolworth's), Suncoast video, the frozen yogurt stand, Piccadilly Cafeteria and later on the BEAUTIFUL Cinemark theater 🎥 which came after the '96 renovation. This was basically my childhood mall and I loved it. A tragedy that it collapsed into nothing.

[@DyingRetail]

@RETROGEMS we will always have the memories.

[@JDubKillinKicks]

RIP to a Hood Icon

[@DyingRetail]

Naw. That title went to MacArthur 😂

[@OLCtv]

R the doors officially closed now?

[@DyingRetail]

Yes. 1/31

[@vickieharris9834]

I remember bozo clown was there in 70's

[@DyingRetail]

Wow

[@DyingRetail]

+Vickie Harris I haven’t heard that clown mentioned in years 😂

[@thebeaz1]

Some narration would be nice.

[@DyingRetail]

That video was for sharing what people shared with me their memories of the mall. The other videos go into more of the other stuff.

[@williamhilbert8324]

Wow that's a trip seeing that mall dead

[@DyingRetail]

I did a live walkthrough yesterday on its last day. To see it yesterday to the 21st on this video got to me. Seems KZbin acted up yesterday. I had this video on premier and I was telling it to show the live stream after midnight. Something went haywire. So I’m going to download the live and clean it up a bit and put it back up in a few days.

[@bootsy7843]

😔😪🫡

[@DyingRetail]

😢😢😢