Virginia Center Commons (VCC) is the Richmond area's third newest mall and the last to be built indoors to date (opened 1991). It is located in northern Henrico County along U.S. Route 1 near the intersection of Interstate 295. VCC is the closest mall to many parts of the Richmond region, such as Mechanicsville, Ashland, and the city of Richmond's North Side. Its anchor stores are J. C. Penney, Sears, Burlington Coat Factory, and American Family Fitness.
Simon Property Group owned the mall until 2014, when it was split off to Washington Prime Group. In January 2017, the mall was sold again to Kohan Retail Investment Group.
History
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When VCC first opened, it siphoned off a significant amount of business from 3 other area malls: Azalea Mall, Fairfield Commons (formerly Eastgate Mall) and Willow Lawn. In the case of Azalea Mall, it took enough business away to relegate that mall to "dead mall" status and Azalea Mall was subsequently closed and demolished. It took the Sears anchor away from Fairfield Commons and sent it almost to the same point. That mall closed in 2015 for redevelopment into a smaller open-air mall. It also took the JC Penney anchor away from Willow Lawn and led Willow Lawn to eventually reposition itself as more of a community shopping center than a regional shopping destination.
Stores
Among the mall's original anchor stores were Proffitt's and Leggett, a division of Belk. These stores both became Dillard's in 1997 and 1998, respectively. In 2011, Dillard's closed the former Proffitt's store, which became a Burlington Coat Factory, and downgraded the former Leggett to an outlet store before closing it later in 2011. The former Leggett is now occupied by American Family Fitness.
As part of a nationwide closing of 36 stores, Macy's has closed its former Hecht's store at Virginia Center Commons in spring 2016.
References
External links
- Virginia Center Commons
