Hofheimer's was a Norfolk, Virginia-based chain of shoe stores that was once a leading East Coast retailer. Victor Strasburger founded the company with the three Hofheimer brothers in 1885. [1] [2] it specialized in upscale men's and women's footwear, including Florsheim shoes for men.
One of the larger freestanding suburban stores was at Ward's Corner in Norfolk (the "Times Square of the South"), [3] which opened as the chain's fourth store in 1952. [4] The Wards Corner location was in the same building as a Rices Nachman's department store. [4] It had a children's play area and two live monkeys in a glass enclosed cage. This building was demolished in 2000, and as of 2018, is the location of a Walgreens pharmacy. [4]
Other major stores were at Norfolk's Military Circle Mall and on Granby St. in Downtown Norfolk.
Lewis D. Hirschler, [5] grandson of company founder Victor Strasburger, [1] served as president from 1974 - 1985. In 1982, [5] he sold the company to Ward White Investments, Ltd. of Northamptonshire, England. [6] The retailer began to decline in the 1990s, and the Ward's Corner store closed in 1993. [3] The company is now defunct, having filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1997 and closing for good in 1998. [2] At the time, it had 150 employees and 20 stores, including one at Peninsula Town Center and another at Patrick Henry Mall. [2]
Nordstrom, Inc. is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a second Nordstrom's shoe store opened in 1923. The growing Nordstrom Best chain began selling clothing in 1963, and became the Nordstrom full-line retailer that presently exists by 1971. The company founded its off-price Nordstrom Rack division in 1973, and grew both full-line and off-price divisions throughout the United States in the following years. The full-line division competes with department stores including Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue, while the off-price division competes with retailers including the TJX Companies and Ross Stores. Previous expansions beyond the contiguous United States include Puerto Rico (2015–2020) and Canada (2014–2023).
Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company also has stores in 27 more states; however, it is absent from the Northeast, most of the Upper Midwest, and most of the West Coast, aside from three stores in California.
Proffitt's was a department store chain based in Alcoa, Tennessee. The chain was founded in 1919 by David W. Proffitt and James Ellis. In 2006, the Proffitt's and McRae's stores were converted into Belk after Belk had acquired the two chains in July 2005 from Saks, Inc. At the time of their demise they operated 47 Proffitts & McRae's stores.
Bristol Farms is an upscale grocery store chain in California, United States. Founded in Los Angeles County, Bristol Farms operates 19 stores: 13 as Bristol Farms locations and 6 branded as Lazy Acres Markets throughout Southern California. The company is currently owned by Good Food Holdings.
MacArthur Center is a shopping mall in Norfolk, Virginia, in the center of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area.
Mission Valley is a retail complex consisting of a traditional open-air shopping mall owned by Real Capital Solutions and Lowe, and a power center owned by Sunbelt Investment Holdings Inc., in Mission Valley, San Diego. The Mission Valley East was managed by the Dallas-based Centennial. Anchor stores include Macy's Home Furniture, Michaels, Target, and Nordstrom Rack. There are 2 vacant anchor store that were once Macy's and Bed Bath & Beyond. The power center across Mission Center Road known as Mission Valley West is anchored by big box retailers like DSW Shoes, West Elm, Old Navy, Trader Joe's and Marshalls.
Pembroke Mall was an enclosed shopping mall located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. It was opened in March 1966 as the first shopping mall in the Hampton Roads metro area. It comprised more than 48 stores, including anchor stores Target and Kohl's.
Palmer Park Mall is an indoor one-story shopping mall of 457,734 square feet (42,524.9 m2) located in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The mall is located at the intersection of PA Route 248 and Park Avenue in Palmer Township, Pennsylvania.
Lynnhaven Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. It opened in August 1981. At 1,170,000 square feet (109,000 m2) of gross leasable area, it is the largest mall in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of southeastern Virginia and one of the largest malls on the East Coast. The mall contains more than 180 stores, including Dillard's, JCPenney, and Macy's as main anchor stores. Other stores and junior anchors at the mall include Apple, Barnes & Noble, Dick's Sporting Goods, L.L. Bean, XXI Forever, H&M, and Old Navy. Dave & Busters is also a recent addition to the mall and region. An 18 screen AMC Theatres complex anchors an open-air pedestrian plaza. The mall is managed by Brookfield Properties of Chicago, Illinois.
Charlestowne Mall was a shopping mall located in St. Charles, Illinois, United States. It was the second mall to serve the city after St. Charles Mall. Built by Wilmorite Properties, Charlestowne Mall opened for business in April 1991. Its original anchor stores were Kohl's, JCPenney, Sears, and Carson's. Regal Cinemas added a movie theater in 1999 which was sold to Classic Cinemas two years later, while JCPenney closed in 2000 and was converted in 2001 to Von Maur. The mall began experiencing a decline in tenancy in the 21st century due to its size, its location, and the opening of Geneva Commons in Geneva, Illinois in 2002. Although Wilmorite sold most of its shopping malls to Macerich in 2005, Charlestowne Mall was not included in the sale; it then changed ownership multiple times, with many of the following owners announcing plans to renovate it. None of these plans were executed, and many stores closed over time, including Sears in 2011 and Kohl's in 2016. The mall was entirely closed in 2017 except for the movie theater, Von Maur, and Carson's, which itself closed a year later. The vacant mall is owned by Urban Street Group.
Downtown Norfolk serves as the traditional center of commerce, government, and culture in the Hampton Roads region. Norfolk, Virginia's downtown waterfront shipping and port activities historically played host to numerous and often noxious port and shipping-related uses. With the advent of containerized shipping in the mid-19th century, the shipping uses located on Norfolk's downtown waterfront became obsolete as larger and more modern port facilities opened elsewhere in the region. The vacant piers and cargo warehouses eventually became a blight on downtown and Norfolk's fortunes as a whole. But in the second half of the century, Norfolk had a vibrant retail community in its suburbs; companies like Smith & Welton, High's, Colonial Stores, Goldman's Shoes, Lerner Shops, Hofheimer's, Giant Open Air, Dollar Tree and K & K Toys were regional leaders in their respective fields. Norfolk was also the birthplace of Econo-Travel, now Econo Lodge, one of the nation's first discount motel chains.
Patrick Henry Mall is a shopping mall in Newport News, Virginia. It is located on Interstate 64 Westbound and Jefferson Ave at exit 255A. The mall is anchored by Dillard's, Dick's Sporting Goods, J. C. Penney and Macy's. In 2017 Patrick Henry lost Old Navy - a major tenant - when it chose to leave and move to Jefferson Commons.
Randhurst Village is a shopping center located at the corner of Rand Road and Elmhurst Road in Mount Prospect, Illinois. The shopping center took its name from combining the names of these two roads.
Oak View Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located at 3002 South 145th Street in West Omaha, Nebraska. There are 104 tenant spots on two floors of this regional mall, which was built in 1991. The mall receives more than 12,000,000 visitors annually, and features a "Kids Coliseum" play area. Oak View is attributed with sparking a development "boom" in its approximate neighborhood, which now includes several major retailers, restaurants, and three national hotel chains. The mall's anchor stores are Dillard's, JCPenney and The Rush Market. There is one vacant anchor that formerly housed a Sears.
Charleston Town Center is an enclosed shopping mall in downtown Charleston, West Virginia. One of the largest enclosed malls in the United States to be located in a downtown shopping district, it has comprised more than 130 tenants on two levels at its peak, in addition to food court on a partial third level. Several vacancies in later years have led to conversion of large portions into office space. Popular full-service restaurants include Chili's Bar & Grill,and Outback Steakhouse.The only remaining anchor store is JCPenney. The mall is owned by Hull Property Group.
Rices Nachmans was an upscale department store chain that, at its peak, had eight locations in Norfolk, Virginia and the surrounding Hampton Roads area. Stores included Downtown Norfolk on Granby St. and Ward's Corner. The Wards Corner location was in the same building as a Hofheimer's shoe store. This building was demolished in 2000, and as of 2018, is the location of a Walgreens pharmacy.
Sears plc was a large British-based conglomerate. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was acquired by Charles Clore in the 1950s who expanded the company to be one of the largest retailers in Britain. It was acquired by Philip Green in 1999 who oversaw the break up of the group.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Norfolk, Virginia, United States.
College Square Mall is a shopping mall in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. Built in 1969, the mall features Ashley Furniture, Hy-Vee, Planet Fitness, and Von Maur as its anchor stores. It is owned and managed by Namdar Realty Group.