University Mall in nearby Blacksburg opened in 1974 and was much smaller than Crossroads. Tanglewood’s opening crippled Towers Shopping Center for a short period, since both malls were within two miles of each other and Tanglewood was clearly the larger, fancier and more-modern center. Louis’s famed Gateway Arch as its sign along Hershberger Road.Ĭrossroads developer Steele was able to parlay his success into two other malls in the greater Roanoke area: Tanglewood Mall, built in 1973, was a larger mall located 9 miles south of Crossroads in affluent southwest Roanoke County. The mall even erected a massive replica of St. Further outparcel expansion to the west in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s included Kroger and SupeRx Drugs, a small-shop building housing a Virginia ABC store, a free-standing K&W Cafeteria, and a drive-thru for Colonial American National Bank. In addition, Woolco was added to the west end of the upper level along Hershberger Road, along with a subterranean French restaurant called Fesquet’s that was very popular. JCPenney added 25,000 square feet to its store (growing to 85,000 square feet) and a free-standing auto center. A two-screen theater was added on the east side of the mall. In 1966, Crossroads Mall was expanded to coincide with opening of I-581 which came within a mile of Crossroads via Hershberger Road. Bailey’s was on the upper level and featured a open dining room that overlooked the mall’s lower level, which featured two large fountains and park-like greenery and benches. Other original mall tenants included Fink’s Jewelers, Smartwear Irving-Saks (fine apparel), Sidney’s (women’s apparel), Thom McAn, Pete’s Deli, Cato Fashions and Bailey’s Cafeteria. Original anchors at Crossroads were JCPenney, Roses variety store, Heironimus department store, Winn-Dixie and Peoples Drug. The onslaught of new suburban retail space decimated downtown Roanoke, leading it to a slow and steady period of decline that persisted for nearly 25 years, until revitalization efforts brought it back to life, though not as a major retail destination. Roanoke-Salem Plaza, an open-air center with a long pedestrian promenade opened in 1962, three miles to the west of Crossroads. Towers Shopping Center, a two-level strip mall built on a mountain in south Roanoke featured a small interior mall with escalators to connect the two levels and opened a few months after Crossroads in 1961. Crossroads was the first suburban shopping area in Roanoke that maintained night hours (until 9 PM) from Monday to Saturday.Ĭrossroads was one of three large suburban shopping centers built in the Roanoke area in 19. Throngs of shoppers left the long-dominant downtown to stroll through a grand two-story interior shopping hall reminiscent of Southdale Shopping Center in Edina, Minnesota. Steele and his designers created a unique and popular shopping experience for an eager public. In the meantime, enjoy.Ĭrossroads Mall was only one of a handful of enclosed suburban shopping centers and the first of its kind in Virginia when it opened three miles north of Roanoke in 1961 at the intersection of Williamson Road (US 11), Hershberger Road (Route 101) and Airport Road. Brian Florence hasn't gotten around to pubishing this yet, but I'm sure he will soon. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.This is one of the "dead mall" stories I sent into deadmalls DOT com. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it.
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