THE REAL TOURS: #54 Patrick Henry Mall - Raw & Real Retail

This is the 54th tour of our series, THE REAL TOURS, in which we provide an in the moment glimpse into a place with off-the-cuff commentary completely intact! No research, no script, just RRR letting you in on their insights and observations walking the malls.
The Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News, VA is a pretty nice mall built by the Crown American Company, but you wouldn't know it just walking around. Opening in 1987, it was one of the later Crown American properties, and as such, the architecture is quite different than one would expect from that developer. It serves the area well, has decent occupancy, and doesn't seem to get hurt too much by the retail apocalypse affecting so many other malls, not just in the area, but nationwide. Plus it has a cool fireplace at one end of the food court, which is always a classy touch when a mall has one.
This tour was filmed on August 11, 2024 at around 1pm.

[@denverleatherboy]

I grew up in Denbigh. My father sold furniture at Sears downtown and moved to Newmarket Malll. I also remember when Colisseum mall was THE mall. Newmarket had that awesome old 70s brown brick interior. Sadly, when Patrick Henry opened it quickly made Colisseum the "junky" mall. Newmarket made an attempt to remodel and add a carousel, but LOCAITON was everything. Patrick Henry, IMHO had a better vibe before. They took out the fountains and the grey 90s tile when they added the fireplace in the food court. I am glad to see it's still thriving as a mall. But, it also couldn't be more bland. I'd love to see you guys show what's left of Waterside!!

[@denverleatherboy]

I also sold paint at the Sears at Newmarket (So my father and I both worked there many years apart, butr people remembered him). And, I worked for Verizon FiOS in the old MIller & Rhoades building. My grandmother LOVED Morrisons that lasted quite a while as the mall died.

[@7JCDiva]

I grew up going to PHM...I have not been in years but I am glad it is still around...I remember Coliseum and Newmarket and miss them...thanks for coming

[@BlackArroToons]

The squirrels outside the mall would be hungry for the giant Acorns at 7:02. An interesting warm tone mall, thanks for the tour. I like those ceiling designs. The arcade, I wonder if the bright lights were already in there when they moved in? A DQ ice cream shop, that's good to see.

[@denverleatherboy]

When the mall opened, the was the location of the AMC Theaters. They moved to a 24plex nearby. This is the result of when THIS was the location of OLD NAVY. Tilt is just filling dead space to make the mall less empty.

[@BlackArroToons]

@@denverleatherboy Thanks. A good thing they were able to fill that spot with some fun video games to play for those interested.

[@denverleatherboy]

@@BlackArroToons And I'm sure as soon as PHM finds another higher paying tenant who wants that space they will pack up and move to some other empty slot in the mall. It would look terrible to have this large of a space empty at the end of the food court. I can't blame them for not spending a lot of money to convert it.

[@toni----]

The “acorns” were a PREIT thing. It was part of their corporate logo.

[@harryayness133]

Nice to see a healthy mall for a change. Thanks!

[@PaleOpal21]

I know this mall is very beige, but with all the malls closing these days any mall that is open is a good mall.

[@george.h5530]

Great video, thank you!

[@BoratWanksta]

For 3:15 , the Dick's originally was Hess when the mall first opened. It later became Profitt's in 1995(when Hess sold their store here), then in 1998 Dillard's turned this space into the Dillard's men's store. Yes, Dillard's briefly did a double anchor setup here. In 2004 Dillard's consolidated their operations into the Leggett anchor space, and Dick's opened in this space sometime around 2005 or 2006.

[@sandblast5636]

You two must be Democrats with two banks full of money.

[@RawRealRetail]

What do you mean by that? You couldn't be more wrong actually.