Manassas Mall: Manassas, Virginia on DeadMalls.com

MANASSAS MALL: MANASSAS, VA

Andrew Pakula's Commentary

Posted April 29, 2006 (user submitted)

Manassas Mall, located in the heart of Manassas Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C. has been the annoying blight that refuses to die or adapt to the changing consumer landscape.

This one-level Mall opened in 1972 with a Montgomery Wards and Leggett as the main anchors along with an 8 screen cinema, it was renovated and an addition added on the western quadrant in 1986 for Sears and a Hecht's opened up on the eastern end; another renovation took place in 1997, things looked promising, and there were even rumors that management wanted to add a second story.

As the rumors persisted, the rent went up. Then the cinema went bust, and remainded boarded up for quite some time, eventually the space was chopped up and H&M moved in along with a couple other little stores. The interior is has failed to change though, sticking with the dreaded turquoise decor. When Montgomery Wards closed, the entire west wing of the mall was almost deserted after Sears relocated to the Wards space since it had the roadside appeal. The mall gained temporary new life with the addition of a Target to the mall, and recently the mall has been trying to woo Wal-Mart to demolish the west wing of the mall and put Supercenter Wal-Mart in its place. The mall still has 4 anchors, two of which are still in doubt, Target and Sears have no trouble getting customers with their proximity to the main drag Sudley Rd. While Hecht's and JC Penney's still have low sales, along with the interior stores who struggle to to just pay the monthly rent to the property management. The Supercenter Wal-Mart, if its coming will not be built until the summer of 2006/. Stores closings outnumber the new arrivals, as the mall is surrounded by outdoor strip malls with little to no vacancy issues and standalone box retailers closer to the interstate.

Viewing their website reveals the amount of vacant space, though not truly up to date, as when I last went through, I counted 26 empty store fronts and a sparsley populated food court. Even the customer service desk was dismantled along with most of the fountains and plant space, replaced by either tile floor or vending machines and kiddie quarter rides.

Links

manassasmall.com/ - Mall's website

Paul Tomaszewski’s Commentary:

User submitted in 2023

Manassas Mall has managed to chug along- the Target left, but the Wal-Mart acts as the one "anchor" remaining. Sears has closed, as Target did- but the Target space was replaced with a large resturant/bowling alley/arcade/laser tag conglomeration, an indoor go-cart track has been added, and a home goods big-box shop.

Suzanne Kuznear’s Commentary:

User submitted

I must comment about Manassas Mall in Manassas Virginia. Having read the introduction to this site I have to say that it is not correct in regards to the Anchor stores upon opening back in 1972. I lived it and worked it. The Anchor stores were Montgomery Ward and Grant's. I watched as the building constructed and finally completion. I was there the day it opened. Wards and Grant's were the 2 Anchor stores. Look it up online and you will see that I am correct......

Josh Amidon’s Commentary:

User submitted May 2014

PYRAMID MANAGEMENT GROUP SETS SIGHTS ON MANASSAS MALL

3/4/2014 - Pyramid Management Group (PMG) is pleased to announce they are acquiring an interest in Manassas Mall, a 935,000 sf enclosed shopping center in Manassas, Virginia. This is Pyramidâ€™s first shopping center in Virginia. PMG will immediately take over all leasing, operational and management responsibilities for the center.

Pyramid plans to remix the center with a well balanced mix of fashion retail, dynamic dining and unique entertainment offerings. In addition, Pyramid plans to update the shopping center with a redesigned interior –inccluding soft seating, modernized food court and other amenities.

â€œPyramid is excited to have another market to call home,â€� says Stephen J. Congel, CEO of Pyramid Management Group. â€œWe look forward to evolving Manassas Mall into a shopping center the city of Manassas and its residents deserve – a Pyramid patented mix of destination retail, dynamic dining and great entertainment options.â€�

Pyramid Management Group is the largest private developer/owner of shopping centers in the northeastern United States. Pyramid has a reputation within the industry of being on the forefront of innovation and, in-turn, has dominated the northeast retail-based tourism and entertainment industry.

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Jennifer’s Commentary:

User submitted Aug 2010

Manassas Mall opened with Hecht's as one of the anchors, not Leggett's. Leggett's didn't join the mall until the 1986 renovation which occurred right after a rain storm collapsed the roof on the cinema end of the mall. I was caught in that collapse when I was a kid.

The Wal-Mart is now in place. They took most of that wing and converted it to the Wal-Mart. It still doesn't draw people down to the stores left on that end of the mall. People just go to Wal-Mart and then leave. On the Sear's end of the mall I last counted 11 store fronts vacant that I could see from my vantage point in the front area of the Picture People studios. It is very sad because when I was a kid, this mall was the center of the community. My Mom's chorus group used to promote their concerts in the center of the mall every year by putting on a performance. Nothing like that happens now. Merchants report gang problems all the time and security doesn't do much to help.

Tedd Roseberry’s Commentary:

User submitted Mar 2007

Legget was not an original tenant of Manassas Mall (it was in a strip mall a little farther down the road) but moved there when the mall's first big expansion happened in 1986. If I remember my childhood correctly, the original mall had an anchor called Grant's along with Montgomery Ward. Manassas Mall was dark, small, and notoriously inferior to the malls in neighboring Fairfax county. I can't remember what store replaced Grant's before Hecht's took over that original space sometime in the early 80s--it may have been vacant for a while. I haven't been to Manassas Mall since the the late 80s, but since its first expansion in 1986 it bears little or no resemblance to the original mall... although I see from the current online mall directory that the Aladdin's Castle arcade still survives after all those years!

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