Leggett, Newmarket North Mall, Hampton, Virginia

Leggett, Newmarket North Mall, Hampton, Virginia. Escalator well, July 30, 1975. (Photo from Hampton Roads Daily Press, scanned by Anita Rose)

The Leggett department store at Newmarket North Mall in Hampton, Virginia, opened to much fanfare on July 30, 1975. At 126,000 square feet, it was, at the time, the largest Leggett store ever built and featured the latest in merchandising and contemporary design.

Unfortunately, this store and the chain it was a part of are no more. Leggett Newmarket North closed in the mid-1990s due to underperformance, and the Leggett family sold its stores to sister chain Belk in 1997. Newmarket North Mall would ultimately cease to be a retail center, and is now known as NetCenter, an office park.

Fellow mall blogger Anita Rose, of That Mall’s Sick and That Store’s Dead, scanned the newspaper article highlighting Leggett Newmarket Fair’s opening from microfilm and generously contributed the information to LiveMalls.

Thank you to Anita for this invaluable look at the past.

Leggett, Newmarket North Mall, Hampton, Virginia. Escalator well, July 30, 1975. (Photo from Hampton Roads Daily Press, scanned by Anita Rose)

Leggett, Newmarket North Mall, Hampton, Virginia. Article on grand opening, July 30, 1975. (Article from Hampton Roads Daily Press, scanned by Anita Rose)