Virginia Beach Stores, Retail, and Restaurants

[Nathan_in_DC]

Let me add to the chorus on Tupelo Honey Cafe. Great craft beer, great food, and great atmosphere. Decor is superb as well. I think this place is going to be a stand out signature restaurant for Town Center. This place is quite busy and patio is packed and it's only 2 pm. Do yourselves a favor and check it out if you haven't had the chance to.

 

The one in Knoxville is phenomenal, and every time I try to go to the one up here in Arlington I can't get in for the crowd! If it's anything like the other locations, it means that the restaurant options in TC have just pole vaulted to a new level.

[OBXastronaut]

I went by Dick's sporting goods store today and they didn't look like they doing to well. Was talking to a sales lady and they were cutting hours back for her and didn't look to happy. She said they cut their hours back right when Galayn's was bought out by Dick's. Dick's might disappear from the TC area. That is what I hate about this area. Nothing stays here. Something pops up and a year or two later its gone. That is why I never get excited about some kind of retailer coming here. I know one thing surf shops do well here.

If that Dicks closes, thats definitely not a good sign of Town Center's ability to hold big archor stores.

[urbanvb]

Hopefully this won't be the case. The posting you are referring to was added in 2005. 

[vdogg]

Lol. I can't believe this thread is 10 years old. That's insane.

[HRVT]

Lol. I can't believe this thread is 10 years old. That's insane.

I love the conversation on the first page or so talking about how awesome Brooks Brothers is but how it's a darn shame that the nearest one is in Richmond..... with the conversation turning right to "oh, and I wonder what we're going to get to come to Town Center".

[BFG]

Well at least the Dick's Sporting Goods is an exception to the list of stores that stay longer than two years haha.

[OBXastronaut]

Hopefully this won't be the case. The posting you are referring to was added in 2005. 

Whoops. That's what I get for browsing this forum on my phone. I saw the 5 at the end not realizing that was probably the first page of the thread.

Well, I guess it's a good assumption to make that the DSG there is doing a lot better now, or at least not worse. I was there myself a couple of months ago when I went to one of HRT's Public Meetings regarding the Tide expansion in Virginia Beach. If I were to estimate the amount of people in the store at that one time, I would say ~ 30. So, it's not going under. But the parking garage it's associated with was pretty empty.

Also, does anyone have any pictures of the interior of the Tupelo Honey Cafe?

Edited August 9, 2015 by OBXastronaut

[vdogg]

Craft Brewery with a focus on German beers has opened up in the Hilltop area. Having just come back from Germany I can tell you this will be an excellent addition.  Going to have to check them out.

http://hamptonroads.com/2015/08/wasserhund-brewery-brings-german-lagers-virginia-beach#_ga=1.68327704.829525846.1438141595

[urbanvb]

Amazing too that the old Lord and Taylor at Lynnhaven took over 10 years to be replaced. I think the final renovations at the mall will be nice. From the renderings it appears there will be new restaurants with patio seating which will a good addition to the mall. 

[Former Resident of HR]

So I read in the Pilot that the former Super K-Mart at Hilltop will now be a... drumroll... Super Walmart. Such great news! (puke)

I thought that there was this big rumor that Wegman's bought that property but I guess that is wishful thinking. 

 

http://hamptonroads.com/2015/08/walmart-supercenter-will-move-former-kmart-building-hilltop

[lil-bear]

Sears Holding Company is in a serious state of decline. This is a prime example. When K-Mart & Sears came together, they should have taken the best that each store had to offer and rebranded themselves. Instead they tried to compete with Wal-Mart, Target, Kohl's, JCPenney and failed. It's only a matter of time before the entire company folds and sells off it's most popular brands like Kenmore and Craftsman.

[metalman]

JPN, apparently the rumor now is that Wegman's is now gonna be in the old HQ building across from Town Center.

[Former Resident of HR]

That would be a nice location. In the renderings for the project that VB wants to build adjacent to the Norfolk Outlets they are fighting tooth and nail there was a very Wegmans looking store as well. So who knows? 

[OBXastronaut]

I'm still incredibly disappointed that the Wegman's would be going THERE. Unless it's occupying the bottom floors of a mid/high rise building, I'm going to be solely disappointed. Just considering how dense (and how tall) the Town Center development was originally intended to look like (rendering below), this, in my mind, limits the ability for Town Center to truly expand past the stigma of being a plastic outdoor mall.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

I'm still incredibly disappointed that the Wegman's would be going THERE. Unless it's occupying the bottom floors of a mid/high rise building, I'm going to be solely disappointed. Just considering how dense (and how tall) the Town Center development was originally intended to look like (rendering below), this, in my mind, limits the ability for Town Center to truly expand past the stigma of being a plastic outdoor mall.

It's almost like, a recession hit or something

[OBXastronaut]

It's almost like, a recession hit or something

It's not an excuse any more when the recession ended over six years ago.

[zeppelin14]

Am I the only one that has realized that the word "restaurant" is spelled wrong in the title of this thread?

[vdogg]

Am I the only one that has realized that the word "restaurant" is spelled wrong in the title of this thread?

Yes you are. It's been like that since 2005. Fixed.

[likeminded]

I think it'll be very long term before the Town Center area/Downtown Va Beach really begin to look anything like that drawing.  Keep in mind, too, though, that even in urban areas, there is often a mix of dense mixed-use development and more traditional locations.  That being said, I visited the Wegman's website and they seem to be denying completely any plans to come to Virginia Beach (or Hampton Roads at all) any time in the near future.

 

[metalman]

Take note to see how much comes true:

I was on the to deck of the Lynnhaven Mall parking garage watching the Blue Angels today.  I spoke with a security officer there who said they are going to knock half of the garage down (from the ramp to the mall) and build possibly "higher end" restaurants, possibly in a plaza like the "inlet" side.  (I'm paraphrasing). JC Penny wants to keep there side of the garage and sky walk, so from the ramp-left will stay.

   Has anyone heard anything similar?

[urbanvb]

I personally haven't heard of this but it sounds interesting. It's nice to have a little 'sense of place' like the inlet side instead of a sea of parking.  

Edited September 19, 2015 by urbanvb

[757Duke]

Muse Paintbar will be opening across from Tupelo Honey Cafe on the ground floor of Two Columbus Center next summer. It's a fun concept that combines a restaurant and a bar with painting.

http://www.musepaintbar.com

http://hamptonroads.com/arts/762849/2015/09/paintbar-coming-town-center

 

[HRVA]

I was looking at the October Planning Commission agenda and there's some interesting items on it.

The first item, which has been deferred, is for MGP Retail Consulting for a site next to the Kmart on General Booth.  Looked them up and they are affiliated with Lidl, a European grocer that is Aldi's biggest competition and they recently announced that they would be locating their American HQ in Virginia and expanding retail locations rapidly.

The tenth item is for Aldi (NC) LLC for a site next the the Walmart on Nimmo.  Looked them up just to make sure it's the same Aldi and found documents for a distribution center in NC under the same LLC.  Its looks like we're about to see an influx of European grocers in the market.

A couple of other items included a bounce house next to Dave & Busters and a Ynot at Landsdown Commons.

[757Duke]

The Sears building at Pembroke Mall is really starting to take shape with its facade improvements. REI's building is also coming together, and sits flush with Independence Blvd. A part of me still wishes that they had just completely leveled Sears and started anew, but I'll take it.

Edited September 28, 2015 by 757Duke

[Former Resident of HR]

I was looking at the October Planning Commission agenda and there's some interesting items on it.

The first item, which has been deferred, is for MGP Retail Consulting for a site next to the Kmart on General Booth.  Looked them up and they are affiliated with Lidl, a European grocer that is Aldi's biggest competition and they recently announced that they would be locating their American HQ in Virginia and expanding retail locations rapidly.

The tenth item is for Aldi (NC) LLC for a site next the the Walmart on Nimmo.  Looked them up just to make sure it's the same Aldi and found documents for a distribution center in NC under the same LLC.  Its looks like we're about to see an influx of European grocers in the market.

A couple of other items included a bounce house next to Dave & Busters and a Ynot at Landsdown Commons.

There is an Aldi going up in Churchland, Portsmouth right now that should open this fall. I would assume that we will be seeing a lot of them to pre-empt Lidl's arrival in the region (and US). I'd like to see Aldi go into some areas that are not well served by grocery stores in the local area as they are cheap and have a relatively decent selection. Much better than Sav-a-lot.