So, last Monday my friend Gary & I drove out to Roanoke Rapids, NC to find different sodas and drinks. He told me when he was doing research on the city that there was a mall there; Becker Villiage Mall and it had a JC Penney and a Belk. I always like to visit new malls dead or alive so I was excited about this.
I knew things were going to be bad the minute we saw the sign. That is one oudated sign!
We walked in and Gary said, “Oh.my.God” and I said, “I’m in love!!”.
There were only three, four people walking in the mall. One was a custodian.
Upon doing research, we learned that this closed in 2002–when most of the mall packed up and moved out when KMart shut down.
This place looks like it was here from day one.
Gary took this picture from the bathroom hallway. My friend Sarah saw the pic on Flickr and said, “that’s a mall? weird. it looks like the science building at my school.” She also supplied the Becker photo.
I took a picture of the JC Penney as we were driving away.
So, this place only had six stores open:
JC Penney
Belk
Clarie’s
Shoe Dept
MasterCuts
Hibbet Sports
and some generic “urban” store called Hit Wear.
The mall was small and about the size of two drugstores. When we both came home, Gary did research on the mall. Apparently KMart closing in 2002 killed this place. He found some things of interest:
totally oudated floor plan of the mall
Another article from the same paper from 2003. This one is about more stores moving out of the mall
Gary also showed me a pdf that had a picture (albeit very small) of the mall during its heyday. I don’t have the URL for it though.
My god, that’s just about the floorplan for the Lake City Mall in north Florida
Comment by Anonymous — July 9, 2006 @ 5:07 pm |
Talk about old school: I can remember when Orange Julius was that gated store on the left in your second photo, and we’d buy 45 RECORDS (I’m talking serious old-school; “The Art of Noise” and “New Kids on the Block” heh heh) at the music store down near the JCPenney end.
I’m surprised that the mall didn’t begin its death throes when Walmart moved right down the street, though it may have. I went home a few weeks ago and JCPenney’s still hanging on. There was this awful acrid, closed-in smell all around, like a furnace that’s just turned on, that hasn’t been there before. I feel a pang of sadness when I see what’s left of Giovanni’s, though…..
Comment by Anonymous — January 21, 2007 @ 7:33 am |
…forgot to add, Belk’s and Claire’s are 2 more casualties, now gone. Hibbet Sports is gone too. I think the Shoe Dept is still there, and the Hit Wear store. It was tiny and dorky, but it was all we had back in the day and most of the community was
there at some time or other.
A lot of people use it for exercise walking now.
**sigh at the memories
Comment by Anonymous — January 21, 2007 @ 7:39 am |
Refering to the sign by the bathroom hallway. Yes, Most of the stores are shut down, saving money on their electricity bill gives them good reason to celebrate!
Comment by Mike Hepp — April 21, 2007 @ 9:35 pm |
I love this article you did on the Becker Village Mall, this definately is one DEAD mall! (though I had read this article sometime ago, just had a prob w/leaving a comment, the first time I tried commenting on this article) But, I just happened to find this article today, and thought you might be interested in it(I’m not sure when it was written, as there’s no date, I only know that it was written sometime after Belk moved out, and it was written either earlier this year, or sometime in mid or late-2006):
http://www.roanokerapidslife.com/rrl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=226&Itemid=150
And btw, do you know if Premier Landing is supposed to be some new lifestyle center, power center, or something on those lines? I never even had heard of this shopping center, till seeing this article…
Comment by Allan — April 23, 2007 @ 7:30 pm |
One last goodie about this mall I found: a pdf of the leasing brochure for this mall! (from the new Charlotte company that bought the mall, Faison)
https://sec.faison.com/files/158/BeckerVillage_02-07s.pdf
Comment by Allan — April 23, 2007 @ 7:46 pm |
Premier Landing is right by I-95 and has a Wal-Mart Supercenter at one end and a little bitty Belk on the other end, with the usual suspects in between (Game Stop, Dollar Tree, a check cashing place, etc., etc.)
Comment by Dave McGrann — April 23, 2007 @ 11:29 pm |
Ahhh… Giovanni’s…. the best place in town for pizza and the friday night hangout for all of us at one time or another….. That and the pet store closed down when Robert (the owner) had a fatal heart attack….that was a very sad day, everyone knew Robert and he was a great man….
Comment by Kristen — May 30, 2007 @ 11:19 pm |
It’s sad to see Becker Village Mall the way it is today. It is half past dead. I used to beg my grandma to take me to the mall every friday. It was the hang out spot all the way up until after I graduated from high school. Giovanni’s had the best pizza! I miss the place that it used to be. The new mall is Wal-mart Super-Center.
Comment by Emmanuel — July 22, 2007 @ 10:44 pm |
Wow. That mall was the reason my Mom and I moved to Roanoke Rapids, NC in 1979. The mall was just opening then and my Mom was regional manager for a store called “Fashion Bug”. I have alot of memories from that mall as I was only 8 years old at the time, and I lived there until the age of 18, moving away in 1990. I remember walking around in the mall when it was under construction. Mom’s store was directly across from the Giovanni’s pizza spot, so I ate there alot. And there was an Arcade in the spot left of Giovanni’s. Alot of memories…sad to see that place in that condition.
Comment by Trace — December 18, 2007 @ 2:03 am |
[...] (Anita) on Becker Village Mall: Roanoke Rapids, NC (from external web site): I have received harassing emails (he’s even harassed wordpress.com — where my retail [...]
Pingback by Bellevue Center, College Hills, Becker Village, Eastland, Prestonwood Town, Tampa Bay « Minor Updates to Deadmalls.com — March 16, 2008 @ 4:47 pm |
I grew up in a nearby county and this mall just slowly went down hill until it was nothing. The people in charge of marketing and sales need to be fired. The same stores that went down the street could have been there but it just kills business. It would be better off as a flea market now. It doesnt even feel the same…Giovanni’s gone..the game room…just nothing….they needed a Target and they needed JcPenney to upgrade to one of their larger versions like they have 45 mins away in Rocky Mt.Lots of parking and nobody to park there…a shame…hopefully they will sell and someone will come in and either knock it down and start over or get some real business in there of some kind
Comment by ANGELA — April 6, 2008 @ 5:45 pm |
This mall is on a come back. Two local families have purchased it and are making it become a gathering place. Look for better days there. You may enjoy Java Junction
Comment by Jack — May 18, 2008 @ 5:43 am |
Yeah, sure.
Comment by Anita — May 24, 2008 @ 1:59 pm |
We had an indoor mini mall in Gates, NY and it was dead like Becker Village. Sadly, it was demolished in 1999 along with the strip plaza it was connected to and a newer Westgate Plaza took its place. Our mini mall was replaced with a Walmart Supercenter.
Comment by Dave — June 20, 2008 @ 8:39 pm |
Hard to believe. I knew the mall was not very busy anymore but WOW! My first job was at Giovannis. The Gold Mine right next store, Coto’s right across.. K-mart…So sad!!
Comment by bill kidd — August 4, 2008 @ 6:28 pm |
you should come back here – it’s ever more dead now
Comment by Buchanan — October 6, 2008 @ 5:03 pm |
I used to go to this mall when I was growing up. We lived in South Hill, VA and it was about 45 mins away. It was small but at least they had one, South Hill doesn’t even have one. We used to go to a mall in Henderson, NC not far away that was smaller than this…it’s about dead too if not already.
Comment by MikeinVB — November 13, 2008 @ 2:48 pm |
How sad. My son had his first haircut at that mall. We moved away in 96-97. It’s so sad to see all the smaller businesses going away.
Comment by Claudia — December 20, 2008 @ 1:33 pm |
Most of the stores have moved to a strip mall located beside walmart.
Comment by annonymous — February 28, 2009 @ 7:45 am |
I was at the mall recently, and it seems like it is really turning around. I heard it has new owners who have big plans for the mall. They must be doing a great job because there are definitely new retailers open. I especially enjoyed Country Treasures! Also, I have been out to the Wal-Mart center, and I have to say that I felt much safer shopping in the Mall where there is full-time security then I did at the Wal-Mart center. I am looking forward to what will happen at the mall next!
Comment by Lisa — April 3, 2009 @ 10:13 am |
I was in Becker Village Mall earlier this week. The Mall is coming back to life with a number of new and interesting shops. In addition to JCPenny, the Mall has Hit Wear, Bella Vita Salon, Purse-N-Alities, Country Treasures (looks better than most Hallmark Gold Crown Stores), Java Joes, Just for You, Kidz Korner, some Mall Kiosk vendors and even a dancing Easter Bunny. For you history buffs, there is a large Dallas Jones Veteran’s Museum, and some non traditional tenants like H&R Block and Health Links. Yes, the Mall is old and there are quite a few empty stores, but, this Mall is adding new stores and not fading away. Perhaps we could all consider looking at the positive side of these old community malls.
Comment by John Knibb — April 3, 2009 @ 11:03 am |
Hey, just wanted to update you on the mall.
The guy who posted before me was really recent. I now work at the store Country Treasures he was speaking of, now known as the Gift Gallery & Gourmet Shop. Now we have a martial arts studio, Curves fitness for women has moved in, and an arcade is coming back in. The worst thing that is happening, however, is Wal*Mart has purchased the old K-Mart building and is going to use it as a STORAGE WAREHOUSE. I am so angry that the owners would let them do this, instead of bringing in a real business to help out the mall.
Comment by Becky — June 30, 2009 @ 2:59 pm |
If Wal-Mart is temporarily leasing unused space in the Mall….then that means the Mall owners will have income to put into the Mall & current tenants. Income from a strong and steady source (even if temporary) will only serve to help the Mall, and therefore the stores and employees in the mall as well. I hear that several events and improvements have been planned for this mall~ and the Wal-Mart income helps support those. I think leasing to Wal-Mart is a creative way to utilize the space on a temporary basis until the national retailers start loosening their purse strings again and do some new stores. Kudos to the one who thought of it!
Comment by deb — July 9, 2009 @ 2:11 pm |
[...] suffered a slow demise over the past several years. It is even listed on DeadMalls.com and I found this blog post with photos. The post is about 3 years old, and the mall hasn’t improved much, but there a few [...]
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