Charlottesville Fashion Square is a defunct regional

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

, United States, located about one mile (1.6 km) north of Charlottesville city limits on

U.S. Route 29 U.S. Route 29 or U.S. Highway 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida, to Ellicott City, Maryland, just west of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, in the Eastern United Stat ...

in unincorporated

Albemarle County Albemarle County is a United States county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Ch ...

. Fashion Square opened in 1980 and was renovated in 1990 and 1999. In 2021, its owners filed for bankruptcy, and in January 2025, the mall's management terminated the leases of all interior stores, leaving only a

Belk Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, a ...

anchor and a yet-unopened

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., often referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportat ...

anchor.

History

Construction of the mall by the Leonard L. Farber Company began in early 1979, with an opening date set for March 1980. By February 1980,

Miller & Rhoads Miller & Rhoads was a Virginia-based department store chain. Throughout its 105-year lifespan, the store played an active role in the Richmond, Virginia, community, along with its friendly cross-street rival Thalhimers. The Richmond flagship loca ...

J. C. Penney Penney OpCo LLC , doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalyst Brands portfolio along ...

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

, and Leggett had been announced as anchors, with seventy-five other interior tenants already confirmed. The mall opened on March 5, 1980, drawing a crowd of four thousand. At opening, the mall had only two anchors, with Leggett not set to open until March 26, and J. C. Penney not expected to open until March 1981. In January 1990, Miller & Rhoads closed its location at the mall, with merchandise being shipped to other stores recently purchased by

The May Department Stores Company The May Department Stores Company was an American holding company of department stores founded in 1877 by David May. It operated several regional department stores throughout the United States, which were managed as distinct business divisions ...

. The mall was renovated in 1990, coinciding with the opening of several new tenants such as Gap Kids,

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing and beauty products, beauty retailer. Founded in 1977 by a Stanford graduate student and his wife, Roy Raymond, Roy and Gaye Raymond, the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Les Wexner i ...

, and

Express Express, The Expresss or EXPRESS may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''Express: Aisle to Glory'', a 1998 comedy short film featuring Kal Penn * ''The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'', a 2008 film starring Dennis Quaid * The Expre ...

. In 1996, the mall was purchased by Shopping Center Associates from previous owners CFS Associates Limited. The mall was renovated again, beginning in 1999 and finishing in 2002. The $8.5 million renovation improved lighting and seating within the mall, added decor intended to give the mall a more modern feel, and removed umbrella motifs dating to the mall's opening.

Decline

On December 28, 2018, Sears announced plans to close its Fashion Square anchor. The store closed in March 2019. In February 2020, analysts reported that the mall was facing "imminent default" on $45.2 million of loans. This followed an increasing number of store closures in the mall, as well as the mall being downgraded to a "non-core" property by owners Washington Prime Group. On August 20, 2020, J. C. Penney announced plans to close its anchor that November, leaving the two Belk stores as the only anchors. On June 13, 2021, Washington Prime filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

, citing the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

as the main reason. The mall was auctioned to a local lending company that July for $20.2 million. In August 2024,

acquired and began redeveloping the former Sears building, announcing plans that November to open July 24, 2025. On September 16, 2024, Belk announced the September 20 opening of a Belk Outlet in the former location of its Men's and Home Building. Three months later on December 16, they announced that the outlet would close in January 2025. The main Belk store was not affected, and the outlet was supposed to be replaced by a

Hobby Lobby Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly Hobby Lobby Creative Centers, is an American retail company. It owns a chain of arts and crafts stores with a volume of over $5 billion in 2018. The chain has 1,001 stores in 48 U.S. states. The Green family fo ...

. In January 2025, Fashion Square's management terminated the leases of the few remaining interior store owners and ordered them to leave by January 31, 2025. , Belk continues to operate its anchor. The Home Depot is delayed until August 28, 2025.

References

{{Authority control Shopping malls in Virginia Defunct shopping malls in the United States Buildings and structures in Charlottesville, Virginia Shopping malls established in 1980 Shopping malls disestablished in 2025 1980 establishments in Virginia 2025 disestablishments in Virginia

History

Decline

See also

References