January 30, 2010
January 21, 2010
List of new tenants of the Pennsula Town Center (former Coliseum Mall)
Wow, the former Coliseum Mall space is really filling up. The last time I was there was in August, and all that was there was JC Penney, Macys, B&N and Target. I’m also excited to see stores that used to be at Coliseum Mall be on the list too, like Lane Bryant and Bath & Body Works.
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New to Virginia or first retail location
Bensi Ristorante Italiano, Italian Restaurant & Bar: Bensi is an upscale modern Italian restaurant with 20+ locations throughout the East Coast specializing in classic Italian fare. Bensi has chosen this as their first location in Virginia. Its concept is “Always Fresh, All Ways Italian.”
Cinébistro & Movie, Theatre/Restaurant/Bowling: With its fourth location in the country, its first in the Mid-Atlantic, Cinebistro will offer a theater, bowling, and dining experience. The plush cinema offers full in-theater service where moviegoers can choose from a variety of cocktails, wine and beer and order from a menu that competes in selection and quality with the best of upscale casual restaurants. Each cinema features spacious leather stadium seats, including “loveseats” for couples. In addition, as a first for the 3-unit chain, Cinebistro will offer a luxury bowling facility mated to a bar and lounge.
Frank Beamer’s American Grill, American Bistro Restaurant: The classic American bistro is a tribute to Virginia Tech’s Coach Frank Beamer as player and coach. The menu will specialize in gourmet salads, burgers, pizza, and more. Beamer’s is a collaboration that includes one of Virginia’s premier multi-concept restaurant owners, Stephan Parry, former executive with Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
Huey’s Diner, American Diner: Huey’s Diner has selected this as their second location within the US. This 24-hour diner will have all the traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner favorites along with some creative Southern-influenced signature specials.
Kenji Fusion, Asian Fusion Restaurant: Kenji Fusion specializes in the high energy Teppanyaki style where skilled chefs prepare food and entertain customers table-side. In addition, the menu offers a fusion of Asian, French, Brazilian, and other cultural food offerings from around the globe.
Shoe Woo, Women’s Shoes: Shoe Woo is Jones Retail group’s latest new fun, fashionable, irresistible store concept carrying Nine West, Enzo Anglioni, Anne Klein, Bandolino, Joan & David, and Rachel Roy. This will be the fifth store in the chain in the U.S.
Vincent’s Italian Ice, Italian Ice & Specialty Food: A regular fixture of area sporting event concessions, Vincent’s has selected this as its first retail location for the Philadelphia-rooted and inspired concept selling Italian Ice and other Philly snack foods.
New to Hampton Roads
Delia’s, Junior Women’s Apparel: Delia’s, which will make its debut in the Hampton Roads area, is a multi-channel retailer that sells trendy clothing, accessories, and home furnishings to girls ages 12 to 19 (known as the Millennials) through their retail stores (approximately 100), a catalog and its website.
Q Barbeque, BBQ Restaurant: This Richmond based operation is the off-spring of one of America’s most decorated barbecue competitors, Tuffy Stone, recently featured on TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters television series. Q will bring the national award winning food to Hampton Roads in its only store in the market at PTC.
The Wine Loft, Wine Bar & Café: The cafe is opening its first Hampton Roads location, where guests will enjoy exceptional wine and food while relaxing in a unique intimate lounge setting.
Vitamin World, Health & Beauty: Vitamin World is joining PTC offering high-quality vitamins and supplements. Vitamin World manufactures over 1,000 superior-quality vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other nutritional supplements in their own state-of-the-art facilities.
New to the Peninsula:
Abuelo’s Mexican Food Embassy, Mexican Restaurant & Bar: Abuelo’s will open its first restaurant in the Hampton Roads market with a new design of its Authentic Mexican Courtyard Atmosphere. It will offer colorful creations of Old Mexico with dishes ranging from the traditional to the adventurous. It’s designed for family gatherings or celebration with friends.
Anthony Vince Nail Spa, Nail Salon: Anthony Vince Nail Salon will offer a full line of nail services including manicures, pedicures and artificial nails in an elegant environment and spa like setting.
Bakers, Women’s Shoes: Not only is Bakers opening its first store on the Peninsula, but it is also their only new store opening in 2010. In addition to the Bakers brand, the stores also offer many other brands including Ed Hardy, Jessica Simpson, Baby Phat, Wild Pair, Guess, BCBGirls, Sole Project and Steve Madden. Bakers Footwear Group currently operates over 240 stores in 37 states.
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Toys: Not only will this be Build-A-Bear’s only store on the Peninsula, but it will also be the only new store opening in 2010. They are unveiling the latest and greatest NEW store prototype. The company operates more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, including stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and France, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Founded in St. Louis in 1997, Build-A-Bear Workshop is the leader in interactive retail.
Cache, Women’s Apparel: Caché is a nationwide women’s apparel retailer of sophisticated lifestyle sportswear, dresses and accessories targeting style-conscious women between the ages of 25-45. With more than 300 stores nationwide, this location will be the first store in the north side of the market.
Charming Charlie, Women’s Accessories, Handbags, & Costume Jewelry: Charming Charlie is an exciting new emerging brand, specializing in women’s accessories, handbags, & costume jewelry. Charming Charlie is fast becoming a leader in women’s accessories business. This will be their only store on the north side of the water. Base in Houston, Texas, Charming Charlie offers an amazing selection of handbags, shoes, jewelry, scarves and more at a value-oriented price point.
Emerson’s Cigars, Cigar Store: 2010 marks the 35th anniversary for Emerson’s, Hampton Roads premier cigar shop. Emerson’s will celebrate the year by opening its only store on the north side of the water at PTC. This flagship location will carry handmade cigars and bring cigar industry aficionados from around the world to Hampton.
H&M, Women’s, Men, & Children’s Apparel: H&M is a large specialty retailer. A Swedish based clothing company operating in 35 countries and known for its fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children. Its philosophy is based on providing fashion and quality at the best price. H&M offers a broad range of choices that allows customers to find their own personal style. Collections cater to a varied clientele worldwide with the goal of satisfying different tastes and preferences. This store will be a full concept store and the first in the north side of the market.
Hollister, Unisex Junior Apparel: Hollister is an American lifestyle brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch Co. designed to attract customers aged 14-18 through its Southern California-inspired image and casual wear. With more than 400 stores in the United States, the PTC location will not only be the first in the north side of the market, but will be one of their few new stores nationwide for 2010.
JoJack’s Espresso Cafe, Coffee/Pastries/Sandwiches Restaurant: Churchland’s home-grown multi-year winner of “Best of Hampton Roads” is opening its second location, and first on the peninsula. JoJack’s offers espresso and coffee drinks and an assortment of gourmet sandwiches, pastries, soups, and breakfast favorites for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The Limited, Women’s Apparel: The Limited is an iconic fashion retailer that offers high-quality, private-label apparel designed to help the young, professional, and modern woman succeed. With over 200 stores nationwide Peninsula is proud to offer the first store on the north side of the Peninsula.
Other new stores and restaurants:
Aeropostale, Unisex Junior Apparel: Aeropostale, or “Aero,” is a fashion retail chain offering casual clothing for teens and young adults. With more than 800 stores nationwide, the company provides customers with a focused selection of high-quality, active-oriented fashioned merchandise at compelling values.
Aveda Animare Salon, Skin Care & Salon: The Peninsula’s top Aveda salon operator will be bringing the art of hair styling and spa services to their newest location. The international Aveda line known for beauty through wellness is the leader in botanically based, all-natural hair-care, skin-care, makeup, and lifestyle products.
Bath & Body Works, Beauty & Soap Store: With over 1600 stores nationwide and in Canada, Bath & Body Works has reinvented the personal care industry with fragrant flavorful indulgences, including shower gels, lotions, candles and accessories. Bath & Body Works is committed to helping consumers improve their emotional and physical well being with an extensive collection of advanced, easy-to-use personal care products.
Bo Essentials, Beauty & Soap Store: Bo Essentials is locally owned and committed to providing environmentally friendly, all natural body bath, and home décor products with custom scents the customer can select. Whether it’s soap, body scrub, lip gloss or a stylish candle, Bö Essentials brings handmade luxury to its customers.
Chico’s, Women’s Apparel: Chico’s is a specialty retailer of private branded, sophisticate casual to dressy clothing, intimates and complementary accessories. It has more than 650 locations.
Claire’s, Junior Girls Jewelry & Accessories: Claire’s has chosen Peninsula Town Center as the location for its only new store opening 2010. This will launch the new store look in the region. Since 1974, Claire’s has offered fashion accessories and jewelry for tweens and teens between 7 and 18 years of age, while also being the ear piercing headquarters. Claire’s is the destination for tweens and teens around the world for a fun environment to shop for fashionable accessories and jewelry. There are more than 3,000 Claire’s stores and 400 Icing stores nationwide.
Express, Unisex Apparel: Express is known as a sexy and sophisticated fashion brand for apparel, handbags, coats and accessories for both women and men. With over 550 stores nationwide, Express is one of the fashion leaders in the American retail industry.
Finish Line, Athletic Shoes: Finish Line, one of the nation’s preeminent athletic footwear stores, offers a broad selection of performance and lifestyle athletic products that allow customers to express their own personalities. Finish Line strives to connect to young, fashion conscious individuals in an environment offering the best selection of authentic and sport inspired products.
Forever 21, Unisex Apparel: Offering fashion and accessories for women and men, the Forever21 store will be the newest store to the Virginia market. Primarily private label apparel, the well-known retailer will anchor the apparel tenant mix at the Peninsula Town Center.
G. Bates Ltd., Home Furnishings, Accessories, & Fashion: G. Bates, based in Colonial Williamsburg, is opening their second store in the region. A home decor and accessory store, G. Bates provides shoppers with home furnishings, the finest in oriental rugs, and unique specialty gifts along with selected collections of women’s fashion accessories and brands such as Vera Bradley.
GameStop, Video Game Store: GameStop is a large video game retailer.
Gymboree, Children’s & Infant Apparel: Gymboree has been dressing children since 1986. Their fashionable clothing and accessories are designed and crafted to withstand rugged play while letting kids be in fun outfits they love to wear. Available in sizes newborn to 12 years, Gymboree closing is designed to be colorful, comfortable fabrics and detailed touches throughout. Coordinating accessories complete every outfit making Gymboree kids unique from head-to-toe.
Journey’s, Unisex Shoes: Journey’s is a destination for fast-paced footwear and accessories for teens and twenties. Journey’s retail environment is designed to reflect their customers’ style and tastes.
Justice, Tween Apparel & Accessories: Justice offers fun fashion finds and the trendiest accessories just for girls age 7-14.
Kay Jewelers, Jewelry: Since 1916, Kay Jewelers has grown from one store to more than 900 from coast to coast.
Lane Bryant, Plus Size Women’s Apparel: Lane Bryant is a recognized name in plus-size specialty apparel retail providing stylish and high quality fashions.
Mekos Surf, Skate and More, Skate Board & Surf Apparel and Skate Park: Mekos is an indoor skatepark and extreme sports store offering over 10,000 square feet of state of the art equipment, clothing, and skating facilities.
New York & Company, Women’s Apparel: New York & Company is a nationwide specialty retailer of fashionable, attractively priced women’s apparel, accessories and beauty focusing on the “must have” trends of the season.
Sports Clips, Hair Salon: Sports Clips aims to provide a championship haircut experience for men and boys in an exciting sports-themed environment.
Sports Fan, Sports Apparel & Memorabilia: The retailer offering sporting team apparel and accessories will be opening their latest prototype here. Sports Fan brings the top athletic team jerseys, hats, shoes, and more to the stylish fans of Hampton Roads.
Thaijindesu, Thai & Japanese Restaurant: Thaijindesu is the newest asian-cuisine creation from local and internationally trained chef/owner Ken Khachenrum. The finest and freshest exotic ingredients will be brought in from around the world to create an unparalleled sushi and Thai menu. Serving lunch and dinner in a sleek, fun, and fashionable setting, Thaijindesu is set to become another local favorite.
Victoria’s Secret, Women’s Lingerie & Apparel: Victoria’s Secret has more than 1,000 stores nationwide. Modern, fashion-inspired collections, prestige fragrances and cosmetics, celebrated supermodels and world-famous runway shows are the hallmark of this sexy, glamorous brand.
Already open
Bd’s Mongolian Grill — Restaurant: With 35 locations in 13 states, the nation’s largest chain offering “make your own stir fry” has opened their first location in Virginia. This prototypical store features a traditional 8-foot “shield” grill where your food is stir-fried with 3′ swords as Mongolian warriors once did on the Mongolian plains. While “Mongolian barbecue” is not new to Hampton Roads, the level of quality, service, consistency, and finish of bd’s is world-class and unparalleled in its value for its patrons. These attributes have led it to be the dominant chain of Mongolian Grills in the USA.
Barnes & Noble, Books: Barnes & Noble is the world’s largest bookseller and the nation’s highest rated bookselling brand. It has opened at PTC offering a wide selection of books, music, DVD, and magazines within a comfortable ambiance. The Starbucks café adds to the creation of a great gathering place immediately adjacent to the main Town Square.
Chipotle, Fast Casual Mexican Restaurant: The Chipotle restaurant brand is known for its large burritos, assembly line production, and use of natural ingredients making every effort to use organic ingredients.
Five Guys, Fast Casual Burger Restaurant: America’s hottest new burger chain has opened its first unit in the Hampton-Newport News market to great fanfare.
LensCrafters, Optical Store: LensCrafters offers the latest designer frames including their signature FeatherWates lenses for a complete pair of high quality eye glasses.
Mattress Discounters, Mattress Store: With over 30 years of experience, Mattress Discounters strives to perfect the way people get a good night’s sleep.
The Pub, English Restaurant & Pub: This nine unit chain of authentic English Pubs has opened at Peninsula Town Center to much success as the only unit in Hampton Roads. The Pub is known for its collection of 28 beers on tap from around the world, great collection of single malt scotches, and fine pub fare.
Copyright © 2010, Newport News, Va., Daily Press
December 30, 2009
December 19, 2009
December 8, 2009
December 4, 2009
WNYW Fox 5 New York – 1988 – Top Toys for Christmas (from deadmalls.com’s Brian Florence)
I’ve been wanting Brian to post this forever.
November 27, 2009
When the tornado demolished the WalMart in Colonial Heights, 1993
I thought I made an entry about this over the Summer, but I guess not.
I remember my mom dropped me off at my half sisters that day while she went to a doctors appointment at Langley Air Force Base. She was supposed to pick me up that afternoon. Well, that didn’t happen. A tornado hit Langley, and mom and dad couldn’t get me from my half sisters until the next day. I remember my niece and I watching this torn up Wal Mart on TV the next day with dad.
I don’t know if Wal Mart built here again or not? Petersburg/Colonial Heights people, help?
Oh, and those twins! [/Coors ad]
You can see more damage from Colonial Heights/Petersburg from that tornado from these two videos:
I read that SouthPark mall was damaged too? Although I’ve never seen any photos of it.
November 26, 2009
Black Friday ads from the past
Shoe Carnival, 2009
Montgomery ward, 1982
Gottschalks, 2008? 2009?
Bradlees, 1995
Verizon Wireless (montage), 2008.
Target, 2009 (I’m jeals of the gingerbread Target)
Wonderland Music, 1989
Macys, 1978 (its the 4th commercial–could the Texas Instruments watch commercial be the longest commercial for a watch ever? Also notice the Child World commercial)
Thanksgiving night commercials, 1989. Obligatory, “WE’LL DO IT LIVE!!” comment that one has to make when seeing Billo on Inside Edition. &ROADHOUSE
Thanksgiving Night, 1986
Zayre, 1978
Zayre, 1984
Caldor, 1995
November 18, 2009
The Associated Press: JC Penney to stop publishing ‘big book’ catalogs
JC Penney to stop publishing 'big book' catalogsAP – 11 hours agoPLANO, Texas — J.C. Penney will stop publishing its twice-yearly “big book” catalogs, now that customers increasingly shop online.Instead, J.C. Penney Co. says it will publish specialty catalogs and focus its efforts online, on the Web site jcp.com and on social networks. In part, the company says it is responding to consumer habits to view catalogs more as “look books.”The Plano, Texas, company will continue to publish its Christmas catalog and others, such as the “Little Red Book” for women's apparel and “Matters of Style” for men.Eliminating the hefty twice-a-year catalogs will cut the company's paper use by 25 percent to 30 percent in 2010.
via The Associated Press: JC Penney to stop publishing ‘big book’ catalogs.
article #2:
J.C. Penney is turning last page on its Big Book
01:10 PM CST on Wednesday, November 18, 2009
By MARIA HALKIAS / The Dallas Morning News
mhalkias@dallasnews.com
The J.C. Penney Co. Big Book is dead – a victim of shoppers’ growing reliance on the Internet.
Plano-based Penney confirmed that its fall/winter 2009 catalog is its last semiannual, telephone-book-size volume.
Also Online
Latest J.C. Penney news
Link: J.C. Penney Web site
Blog: Shopping
The Internet has made the 1,000-page shopping venue obsolete, and printing and transportation costs have been rising annually. The move also improves Penney’s environmental footprint, reducing its catalog paper use by 30 percent next year.
Smaller, more frequent mailings of specialty catalogs targeting customers’ shopping habits make more sense today, said Mike Boylson, Penney’s chief marketing officer.
“It became a very ineffective way to communicate to our customers,” he said. “It forced us to bring product in too early and locked in pricing. It was an outdated way of shopping and the last big book in America.”
Penney has catalogs supporting its large home-goods business, including its private label Cooks kitchen catalog and Rooms Babies Love. Along with several women’s and men’s apparel catalogs, the company determined that shoppers increasingly use catalogs as “look books” and inspiration for their store and online purchases.
In the last two years, Penney consolidated its buying and marketing teams, which previously operated separately for stores, catalog and Internet sales.
“We had two buyers of everything, like Noah’s Ark,” he said. “The biggest, more important store items weren’t even in the catalog.”
Big Book sales have been on a decline since 2000 as more shoppers turn to jcp.com. Penney’s online sales hit $1 billion a year in 2006.
“It has an aging customer. Younger customers don’t shop the Big Book,” Boylson said.
Once 1,500 pages, Penney’s Big Book dropped to well below 900 pages a few years ago. Since 2003, Penney has been shrinking its catalog operation, closing fulfillment centers and telemarketing operations. By 2004, about 40 percent of Penney’s catalog shoppers were placing orders on jcp.com, instead of calling an 800 number.
Sales peaked in 1999 at about $4 billion. Penney stopped breaking out its catalog and Internet sales a few years ago. Penney’s Big Book circulation topped out at 14 million. It printed 9 million copies of the final volume.
October 24, 2009
“Psycho Mall Walker” (early 90’s?)
omg. I didn’t know it was real (I thought it was a comedy bit) until I saw the discovery channel logo at 1:11.
This HAD to be a special about mental illness…
“IT’S A PITH HELMET!!”
