Freedom Plaza (Dead April 2008)

We all remember my post last year about FREEDOM PLAZA?

It’s dead. The tornado that ripped through Suffolk yesterday demolished this place.

{photos from The Daily Press, and AP}

Farm Fresh Grand Opening ad (Franklin)

A&N Going out of Business Article (From January)

I found this in my photobucket a few moments ago. I forgot to post these back in January when I originally Posted about A&N going out of business:

I have a couple of photos I’ve taken with my iPhone of the Williamsburg location (now closed and labelscarred):

This was back in January:

This was just taken 30 minutes ago:

“Closing of A&N apparel chain likened to ‘a death in the family’”

(Daily Press photo by Joe Fudge)

Closing of A&N apparel chain likened to ‘a death in the family’

Daily Press article that ran Saturday. I have the article scanned, I just couldn’t upload it to photobucket the other day, so expect an edit on this entry in the next couple of days.

But enjoy the video on the link while it is still up. The dude showing off the sweatpants he bought (around the 53 second mark) is wearing a Sanford & Son T-shirt which makes him my best friend forever. This video was filmed at the Newmarket South Shopping Center location, which is down the street from Daily Press’ headquarters. We visited this store way too much growing up. My best memory of the store was when I was 12 (1996), mom and I were looking at shoes in there (I had a massive shoe collection back then), and I saw these ancient platform Converse Sneakers. I think they were red velvet. These had to be three, four years old — and they were still on the shelf. They were barely marked down, I wouldn’t even call it clearance. We asked if there was a pair in my size (10), but there wasn’t.

So, yeah there’s my A&N story.

//edit #1//

Virginia Pilot article.

Freedom Plaza, Suffolk VA

Saw this at work Thursday and DIED laughing (to myself).

FREEDOM PLAZA?!
“A Center Dedicated to our Fallen Heroes”??

I’m all for memorials, but a shopping center?

////edit April 28, 2008////

Freedom Plaza is dead, ripped apart by a tornado.

Coliseum Mall Opening Week Microfilms from The Daily Press

When I went to the Newport News library to do research on Newmarket North/Newmarket Fair, I also did a small bit of research on Coliseum Mall the week it opened in October of 1973. I could only print a few things because my dad was getting ready to pick me up from the library, and I was mainly there to get Newmarket North stuff for a paper I was writing back in March. So I only have a few things:

From only looking at a few photos, I think that Waldenbooks moved during its tenure at the mall. The directory that was in that 1973 paper had Waldenbooks near where Korvettes/Wards/Burlington was. I remember Waldenbooks from when I was growing up until they closed in 2002 or 2003 near Rices-Nachmans/Hess/Proffits/Dillards. It was almost next to the short lived Disney store and almost across from the Coffee Beanery.“Mall Lerner’s Modern” more press releases passing for news articles like we saw in the Newmarket entry, also includes a bad photo of Coliseum’s Lerner location. I went in here when it was New York & Co. in 2002 with my half sister and the store was still pretty much stuck in the late 1970’s.

A HUGE ad for the grand opening of the recently closed and moved JC Penney. That drawing of the building is pretty accurate.

Yeah, I shoulda fixed this crookedness in iPhoto when I uploaded this months ago. This is from February of 1981, and reprinted in The Daily Press in April of 2005 when the redevelopment plans for Coliseum Mall was revealed.

MacArthur Center Opening Day Newspaper Clippings (1999)

I’ve been meaning to post these for a good long time. I have a beat up newspaper from March 11, 1999 when MacArthur Center opened up. Here are some highlights from it:

{these are in crappy condition, I know}

More Newmarket North Mall Microfilm Printouts

{The last time I posted Microfilm printouts was … hey one year ago today}

So, last weekend I was able to go out to the main branch of the Newport News library and get more microfilm printouts of Daily Press microfilms of Newmarket Fair (then Newmarket North)’s opening day in March of 1975. I also got printouts of their 2nd grand opening on July 30, 1975 when Legget and some other smaller stores opened.

So, let’s follow the seagull again (CAW! CAW!!) and look at more newspaper clippings.

A better scan of that Sears opening day ad … nice exterior shot of Sears here. This Sears and the Picadilly Cafeteria are the only store stores remaining at the mall since everything else is offices.

This was the best scan I could get of what the Miller & Rhoads looked like. This was from a newspaper ad from July 30, 1975. When you drive all the way back to the building you can still see the labelscar. This building is now home to Verizon.

“Newmarket North Draws Thousands”> — article from the March 27, 1975 Daily Press.

You guys, Hickory Farms is fond of cheese! {article and photo of Hickory Farms. This place remained the same until it closed down in I’m guessing 1994} .
“Woman Finds Advertising Difficult — I swear that is one of the headlines. Daily Press was “teh sexist” back then! Also includes a photo of Toy City and The Nautilus arcade. I remember in the early 90’s, mom took me to an arcade that had opened at Newmarket Fair (I guess it opened a year or two after the whole Newmarket North to Newmarket Fair phase) and it was near the food court and it was called Tilt.

“Project Manager Resolves Problems”. Also includes a photo of Westfields Jewelers.

Legget’s Largest Store Opens at Newmarket North (article).

Photo of the interior of Legget. I only was able to go here once when I was real little, probably six. I think it was when Newmarket North was being remodeled into Newmarket Fair. Mom wanted some Estee Lauder makeup for this vacation we were going on. I just remember how fast and scary looking the place was to a six year old since everything was so open.

Rest of the Legget opening article. Dark photos, sorry

It Used To Be Daily Show Correspondents Birthdays, Now its This

Oh I almost forgot! Today is Newmarket North/Fair Mall/NetCenter’s 32nd birthday! Yay for the dead mall turned Tidewater’s largest office building!

Saturday, dad and I went to the Newport News library so I could get more microfilm scans of the opening week of Newmarket North (I’m doing yet another school project on the place). I don’t have them all up yet (ugh, the scanner at school scans like crap, I gave up), but here’s a little sample, I suppose:

Yeah that is totally dark. It’s a photo of the Sears, that is actually still open.

Newmarket North Mall Original Tenant List (1975)

I recently brought back out the few Newmarket North/Newmarket Fair microfilm scans I could get back in January of 2006 for a paper I’m working on. I forgot I had a somewhat complete list (albeit in pieces so I can’t just you know scan it) of the original tenants on opening day (March 26, 1975). Here is the best copy I have of the directory.

(the number corresponding with the store is what space they were in in the mall)

Women’s Wear

Casual Corner -75

Foxmoor Casuals - 18

Frederick’s of Hollywood -89

Hanna’s - 96 (I believe that Hanna’s moved from Newmarket South Shopping Center along with Miller & Rhoads)

Joseph R. Harris -62

Kanter’s - 31

Lerner Shops - 44

Susie’s Casuals -5

Shoes

Butler Shoes - 8

Hofheimers - 94

Kinney Shoes - 6

Thom McAn -19 (this place was here until about 1995)

Men’s Wear

Country Legend - 92

Stiches - 47 (I had an unused notebook that was a Stiches giveaway from the 80’s that I found at the old Salvation Army on Mercury Blvd a few years ago, but its in storage now)

Jewerly

Barclay & Sons - 66 (this was still open in the mid 90’s)

D. P. Paul - 95

Gordon’s - 36

Treasure Chest - 11

Weisfield’s - 42

Gifts

O’Neill’s Card Shop - 29

Food

Baskin Robbin’s 31 Flavors Ice Cream - 34 (Lasted until about 1995)

Chick-fil-a - 33 (I think this place lasted until the late 1990’s)

Fanny Farmer - 51

General Nutrition Center - 102 (I remember going in here with my mom in 1994)

Hickory Farms-46 (closed in about 1994-ish)

Orange Julius - 73

Morrison’s Cafeteria - 54 (this place is still open but changed hands to Piccaddily in the late 1990’s)

Morrow’s Nut House - 37

Sal’s Italian Restaurant - 81 (I think my folks and I ate here when I was about 5 years old in 1989 if in fact this place was still open in 1989)

Household & Dry Goods

Singer - 45

So-Fro Fabrics - 99

Seasonal & Miscellaneous

B. Dalton Bookseller - 64

Lowrey Organ Center - 28

Nautilus - 23

Parklane Hosiery - 10 (we used to buy my pantyhose for my dance outfits here when I was 5, 6 years old in 1989, 1990)

Pearle Optical - 13

Things Remembered - 69

Tinder Box - 71

Toy City - 65

WaldenBooks - 16 (left in about 1995, 1996 sometime around then)

Wide World of Music - 17

Theaters

Newmarket North 4 Theaters - 39 (this place had to leave after 1992, ’cause in late 1992 I saw Home Alone 2 Lost In New York at this theatere)

And of course the original and only anchors the mall ever had Sears, Leggett, and Miller & Rhoads, which in 2007 are Sears, Northrop Grumman, and Verizon, and of course the mall is now Netcenter. A lot of the stores are now Amsec (my dad works for Amsec, but I don’t think he ever has to go to the Netcenter location) I keep on forgetting to mention that if you drive by the old M&R building you can still see Miller & Rhoads’s labelscar, I’ve just never been able to get a photo because Verizon employees are always standing outside.