04 May 2013

Regency Square, Richmond, VA

A dead mall

This mallmanac was one hell of a find. Though I never actually visited Regency Square, I was lucky enough to find this extensive brochure highlighting different stores from what was, at the time, Richmond's premiere shopping center. It was 12 full color, glossy pages of neon clothing, big hair, raised collars and empowering shoulder pads.

  
 

Regency Square Mallmanac ca. 1988. View the full PDF version here.

Regency Square came to be in 1975, just a few months after yours truly. Until the early nineties, there were few changes to the mall. JCPenney and Sears were joined by local icons Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimers at its opening. While a food court was added in the eighties, not much else was done. There really wasn't a need to; for the first couple of decades of its existence, it was the dominant shopping center in the Richmond area.

 
L- Regency Square in the late 90s and early 2000s, during the Taubman days. R- Regency Square as of this writing.

In the nineties, however, Thalhimers and Miller & Rhoads would meet their demise with Hecht's taking over both of their spots. Hecht's was then taken over by Macy's and remains in both of those anchor spots to this day.


Regency Square Mallmanac ca. 2015. View the full PDF version here.

The recent years have also brought increased competition to Regency Square, but it still seems to be doing okay. Taubman, the national developer perhaps best known for its portfolio of upmarket centers, recently sold the facility to avoid foreclosure. Hopefully, this isn't an indication of a future trend and yet another mall won't go the way of the bitchin' fashions on this mallmanac's pages.


Regency Square from above. (Source)

Regency Square official website

7 comments:

  1. This used to be my favorite mall in Richmond. It was definitely the place to shop in the 1980's; all the upscale area stores were there. In recent years, the mall has begun to decline due the opening of the Short Pump Town Center to the west and Stony Point Shopping Center just across the river. Currently, the mall has two Macy's locations; the men, children, home and furniture departments are housed in the 3 level former Miller and Rhoads location, while the ladies stores is located in the 2 level former Thalhimer's location. I would not be surprised, if sometime in the future, Macy's decides to condense to the two locations into one store.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Macy's closed both locations about a year ago and they're looking at some serious 'redevelopment' of Regency. I sure hope they figure it out, hate to see Regency go the way of Cloverleaf.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope someone can help me with my dilemma... I lived in Richmond from 1980-84 and almost right on top or Regency Square Mall. I went to O'Brienstein's very often and my favorite thing there was their chocolate daiquiri's. A hershey bar with alcohol in a glass!! Now for my dilemma. I went to the stand alone ice cream restaurant there, often, as well. I have been away from Richmond for 33 years and my 60 year old brain has seen and been through a lot since then. LOL! I have seen conflicting info about the name of the ice cream restaurant. Your page list's it as Friendly's (and I vaguely remember it as that). However, another site lists it as Farrell's. Now, it could be that since I moved away, one became the other and they were both in the mall different times. Thanks for any assistance anyone can give!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Farrell's was there. And also friendly s. If I remember correctly, Farrell's was in the original space the food court took over. So was orange julius and a piano store. Friendly s was at opposite end, I think. And stayed longer.

      Delete
    2. Farrells was the one with the old fashioned candy shop in the front. They used to host children's birthday parties and the place was quite noisy. Friendly's on the other hand, was a quiet place with dining items (I loved their clam strips). I used to run the K&K toy store in Regency Square before Kaybee Toys bought them out.

      Delete
    3. Yes Ferrels has to be the one your thinking of that was much loved by us kids. I remember Mr Dunderbachs and the Rueben sandwiches I would get for lunch when I worked across the street from the mall at Videoworld. Videoworld in Virginia...never had more fun at a job in my life.

      Delete
    4. Thanks for all of your responses!!!!! I remember the candy store as well! Also, I believe Farrell's used to be the first store on the right as you walked in the entrance, from the covered parking lot that faced Quioccasin Rd. I lived just up the street at Nottingham Apts.-- now called Nottingham Green - on England Dr. {(I remember the just being called Nottingham Apts. back then.)
      Thanks again!!
      ~ Rodger

      Delete