Chesterfield Towne Center facts for kids
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Exterior view of Chesterfield Towne Center, April 2013
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| Location | Chesterfield County, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 37°30′31″N 77°36′31″W / 37.5087°N 77.60873°W |
| Address | 11500 Midlothian Turnpike |
| Opening date | 1975 |
| Developer | Chevy Chase Land Company |
| Management | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| Owner | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| No. of stores and services | 130 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 5 (4 open, 1 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 1,019,193 sq ft (94,686.1 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 (2 in JCPenney and former Sears) |
Chesterfield Towne Center is a big shopping mall in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It's close to the city of Richmond. The mall first opened its doors in 1975. Today, it has five main stores, called anchor stores. These are At Home, JCPenney, Macy's, and a combination TJ Maxx/HomeGoods. One of its anchor spots is currently empty, which used to be a Sears store.
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History of the Mall
Chesterfield Towne Center first opened in 1975. Back then, it was simply called Chesterfield Mall. The only main store it had was Miller & Rhoads. In its early years, not many people visited the mall. Some even joked that it was like a "Chesterfield Morgue" because it was so quiet!
Big Changes and New Stores
In 1987, the mall got a huge makeover and became much bigger. It added two new main stores: Hess's and Leggett-Belk. A food court was also built, where you could grab a bite to eat. Plus, a new movie theater with nine screens opened. The mall also added a long hallway that runs next to Mall Drive.
After these big changes, the mall was renamed "Chesterfield Towne Center." It started using a diamond and palm tree design. The goal was to attract shoppers looking for more fancy items. In 1992, the Miller & Rhoads store changed its name to Hecht's.
In 1993, Hess's sold its store to another company called Proffitt's. Three years later, in 1996, that store was sold again to Dillard's.
Growing Bigger and More Popular
In 1994, a company called The Macerich Partnership bought Chesterfield Towne Center.
More big changes happened in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 1997, Sears opened a store at the mall. Then, JCPenney opened in 2001. This happened as many stores started moving away from another nearby mall called Cloverleaf Mall.
During this time, the Leggett-Belk store was taken over by Dillard's. Dillard's kept it open as a second location in the mall. Hecht's also made its store bigger. Soon, Chesterfield Towne Center became the largest mall in the Richmond area!
Recent Years and New Additions
In September 2006, the Hecht's store changed its name and became Macy's. In May 2008, both of the Dillard's stores at the mall closed down.
A Barnes & Noble bookstore moved into the space where the mall's movie theater used to be in June 2008. They moved from a separate building across the street. The mall also updated the look of its food court entrance to highlight the bookstore and a Red Robin restaurant. The North Entrance also got a fresh new look.
In November 2010, the old Leggett/Belk/Dillard's spot became a Garden Ridge store. In 2011, the former Hess's/Dillard's space turned into a combination TJ Maxx/HomeGoods store. These openings led to many other stores opening or getting makeovers in 2011. This included updates to American Eagle Outfitters and Old Navy, and a new Rue 21 store.
In December 2013, Macerich sold the mall to Rouse Properties. Many people thought Chesterfield Towne Center might struggle when two new malls, Stony Point Fashion Park and Short Pump Town Center, opened in 2003. But ten years later, experts noted that Chesterfield had done very well. It stayed popular even with the new competition. In fact, its sales in 2013 were only a little bit lower than they were in 2003.
In 2015, a popular clothing store called H&M took over the spot of Coldwater Creek. Garden Ridge also changed its name to At Home.
On November 7, 2019, Sears announced that it would close its store at Chesterfield Towne Center. This store finally closed in February 2020.
