Greenbrier Mall is a nearly regional mall in

Chesapeake, Virginia Chesapeake is an independent city in Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,422, making it the second-most populous city in Virginia, the tenth largest in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 92nd-most populous city in the ...

, United States in the

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

metropolitan area. The mall has a hillside terrain, with entries on both upper and lower levels. It serves communities on the East Coast in the states of Virginia and

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The mall currently has 114 retailers, three anchors (

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company a ...

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

, and

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

with one vacant anchor last occupied by

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 ...

), several eateries at the mall's food court, though

Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A, Inc. ( , a Word play, play on the American English pronunciation of "wikt:filet#Pronunciation, filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain and the largest chain specializing in Chicken burger, chicken sandwiches. Headquarter ...

moved across the street to a larger location that was formerly Wells Fargo, several restaurants including Smokey Bones,

Olive Garden Olive Garden is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. It is a unit of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in Orange County, Florida. As of 2022, Olive Garden restaurants accounted for ...

Red Robin Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., more commonly known as Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews or simply Red Robin, is an American chain of casual dining restaurants founded in September 1969 in Seattle, Washington. In 1979, the first franchised R ...

, Black Pelican Seafood (formerly Friendly’s), and Cinema Café dinner movie theater. The Abuelo’s Mexican restaurant has closed.

History

The mall's original anchors were

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 ...

(sold to

Hecht's Hecht's was an American department store chain founded in 1857 by Samuel Hecht, Jr. It was headquartered in Washington, D.C., and operated in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southern United States. The family business was acqui ...

in 1990),

, and Leggett, a division of

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 ...

Hess's Hess's, originally known as Hess Brothers, was a department store chain based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company was founded a single store in 1897, and grew to nearly 80 stores by its commercial peak in the late 1980s. The chains stores were ...

was added in 1987.

Proffitt's Proffitt's was a department store chain based in Alcoa, Tennessee. The chain was founded in 1919 by David W. Proffitt and James Ellis. In 2006, the Proffitt's and McRae's stores were converted into Belk after Belk had acquired the two chains in ...

, which acquired the former Hess's in 1993, was sold to

in 1996. The Leggett store briefly operated as Belk before it was traded to Dillard's in 1998 as part of a mutual exchange. The former Belk became a men's and children's auxiliary store. In 2003, Greenbrier Mall underwent an extensive renovation. Dillard's consolidated both stores to the former Proffitt's at the east end with a reconstruction. In addition, the mall received a new color scheme and its current "G" mall logo, and the former Leggett/Belk/Dillard's building was converted to

. In April 2004, during the renovation,

CBL & Associates CBL Properties (previously CBL & Associates, Inc., then CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.) is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers and owns shopping malls, primarily in the Southeastern and Midwestern Unite ...

acquired the mall from Gregory Greenfield & Associates, Ltd. for $102.5 million. A year later, the new JCPenney department store was completed, and officially opened at the north end of the mall. In 2006, as part of a nationwide transition, Hecht's was rebranded as

. In 2015,

Sears Holdings Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-l ...

spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Greenbrier Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties. On June 28, 2018, Sears announced that its store would be closing as part of a plan to close 78 stores nationwide. The store closed in September 2018. In 2019, Gameworks, formerly Jillians, announced it would move to MacArthur Center by spring 2020. However the plans were shelved due to the closure of all (except 1) of their locations. In 2020, a Rosie's Gaming Emporium, a bar, four restaurants, and a hotel was proposed to take the lot formerly occupied by Sears. On September 15, 2020, Chesapeake City Council withdrew the proposal because of traffic concerns on two intersections along Greenbrier Pkwy, Crosssways Blvd, and Eden Way North. On March 10, 2022, the mall was placed into receivership with CBL & Associates anticipating returning the property to the lender. The property officially transferred to the lender in October 2022. On February 27, 2025, a three-day action began for Greenbrier Mall. On April 4, 2025, Michael Sifen through Sifen’s company, Sifen, Inc, was announced as winner of the auction.

References

External links

Greenbrier Mall
official website {{Shopping malls in Virginia Shopping malls in Virginia Shopping malls established in 1981 Tourist attractions in Chesapeake, Virginia 1981 establishments in Virginia