Virginia Center Commons

Virginia Center Commons (VCC) is the Richmond area's third newest mall and the last to be built indoors to date (opened 1991). It is located in northern Henrico County along U.S. Route 1 near the intersection of Interstate 295. VCC is the closest mall to many parts of the Richmond region, such as Mechanicsville, Ashland, and the city of Richmond's North Side. Its anchor stores are J. C. Penney, Burlington Coat Factory, and American Family Fitness, with two vacant anchors last occupied by Sears and Macy's.
Simon Property Group owned the mall until 2014, when it was split off to Washington Prime Group. In January 2017, the mall was sold again to Kohan Retail Investment Group.
== History ==
When VCC first opened, it siphoned off a significant amount of business from 3 other area malls: Azalea Mall, Fairfield Commons (formerly Eastgate Mall) and Willow Lawn. In the case of Azalea Mall, it took enough business away to relegate that mall to "dead mall" status and Azalea Mall was subsequently closed and demolished. It took the Sears anchor away from Fairfield Commons and sent it almost to the same point. That mall closed in 2015 for redevelopment into a smaller open-air mall. It also took the JC Penney anchor away from Willow Lawn and led Willow Lawn to eventually reposition itself as more of a community shopping center than a regional shopping destination.
== Stores ==
Among the mall's original anchor stores were Proffitt's and Leggett, a division of Belk. These stores both became Dillard's in 1997 and 1998, respectively. In 2011, Dillard's closed the former Proffitt's store, which became a Burlington Coat Factory, and downgraded the former Leggett to an outlet store before closing it later in 2011. The former Leggett is now occupied by American Family Fitness. 
As part of a nationwide closing of 36 stores, Macy's has closed its former Hecht's store at Virginia Center Commons in spring 2016. 
On November 8, 2018, it was announced that Sears will be closing their location at Virginia Center Commons in early 2019 as part of a plan to close 40 underperforming stores. 
Virginia Center Commons was sold for $8.3 million in early 2020 to VCC Partners LLC and Shamin VCC LLC.
On July 31, 2020, JCPenney put 21 stores up for sale, this one included.
In January 2021, demolition began on the former Macy's and Sears anchors to make room for an indoor sportsplex.
The JCPenney building was also acquired in January 2021, and it, alongside the rest of the mall (excluding the American Family Fitness anchor), is planned to be razed and replaced with a mixed-use development anchored by the mentioned sportsplex and a hotel owned by Shamin Hotels.
On March 24, 2020, it was announced that JCPenney would be closing as part of a plan to close 18 stores nationwide. The store will close by May 2021, which will leave Burlington as the only traditional anchor left.
Category:Shopping Malls
Category:Malls in the United States
Category:Malls in Virginia
Category:Malls that opened in 1991