Steven Swain's Commentary:

Tanglewood Mall opened in 1973 on the southwest edge of Roanoke, outside the city limits. Local developer T.D. Steele built Tanglewood as a modern compliment to his Crossroads Mall, nine miles to the north. Original anchors were JCPenney, Leggett (now Belk), Woolco, Miller & Rhoads, and G.C. Murphy, with a convenience center located to the east of the mall featuring Kroger, SupeRx Drugs, and General Cinema (added in 1975). Endowed with upscale demographics and a great location, Tanglewood was the most successful shopping center in Southwest Virginia for over a decade. Even when Murphy's pulled out in 1979, the mall was able to recycle the sprawling five-and-dime as additional specialty store space and the region's first food court. Further, when Woolco closed in 1983, Tanglewood brought in T.J. Maxx and a Brendle's catalog showroom, keeping momentum even during a recession

The original mall design represented the height of mid-`70s retail fashion. With three large fountains, dark-stained wood parquet floors, and a plethora of whiz-bang striping, funky lighting and tinted glass, there was little else in Roanoke like it. Even today as the inside is radically different than 1973, the outside still is authentically "Me Decade," and while not fashionable, still quite nice.

Tanglewood featured over 120 specialty stores at its peak in the mid `80s, mostly regional chains like Davidsons (menswear), Sidney's (ladies' wear) and Hofheimer's Shoes, but also some national retailers like Hallmark, Waldenbooks, Kinney Shoes, and The Limited. It even featured a "mini-mall" within the mall called The French Quarter with a contrived French village theme and a dozen or so boutiques, including a gourmet restaurant and market.

Tanglewood has suffered a slow slide into obscurity since the arrival of its most serious competitor, Valley View Mall, eight miles to the north. Valley View opened in 1985 and quickly eradicated two large shopping centers (including Steele's Crossroads Mall) within a three-mile radius. The better-managed, larger, and more fashionable Valley View at first happily coexisted with Tanglewood, especially after a major interior renovation at Tanglewood that added softer colors, an elevator and Mediterranean tile accents in 1985.

Tanglewood was sold at least three times over a fifteen-year span, with each owner adopting a conflicting retail philosophy. At first solidly middle market, various management companies tried to take the mall upscale, downscale, and several variations in-between to compete with Valley View. No strategy fully worked, although the mall gained a 10 screen Carmike cinema, Applebee's, Mac & Maggie's restaurant, and a Barnes & Noble in the process.

Even with the gains, the mall lost a number of key tenants, including Miller & Rhoads (1989) and Brendle's (1996), and even axed The French Quarter for Goody's Family Clothing in 1995. The ever-changing marketing and increasingly odd tenant mix confused and disappointed formerly loyal shoppers. There was also a misguided effort to rid Tanglewood of the crowds of teenagers that gathered on weekends. Of all the strategies tried in this era, this one worked_too well. Teens favor Valley View these days, and their parents (and their parents' money) followed suit.

Even after a rather tasteful renovation in 1996, Tanglewood Mall continues to suffer. Brendle's closing left 50,000 square feet of empty space that has yet to be permanently filled over eight years later. The food court has only three restaurants, down from eight at its peak. The Roanoke market has taken strongly to discount retailers (especially Wal-Mart) and trendy shops, of which Tanglewood has few and Valley View has in abundance. Belk has largely downscaled its merchandise mix and appears ready to pull out of the mall at a moment's notice. The largest crowds come from mall walkers who congregate and leave before the stores open. Non-traditional tenants, such as a rescue squad museum, a rescue mission art store, and dinosaur exhibit from the Virginia Museum of Natural History take up prime retail space.

National retailers are much more selective with their locations these days, meaning that less successful malls in small markets have to rely on a dwindling pool of tenants. As Tanglewood limps through its third decade, there are about 50 retailers including Foot Locker, Bath & Body Works and Stein Mart, but the mall is steadily losing stores, with few prospects for new tenants. The only thing keeping Tanglewood Mall from outright failure is the strength of the remaining anchor stores (especially JCPenney, T.J. Maxx, and Kroger) and restaurants (including a wildly successful K&W Cafeteria). In this uncertain retail age, those variables can change overnight, turning Tanglewood from a dying mall into a dead mall.

Links:

www.shoptanglewood.com - Mall's official web site
Wikipedia has an official entry about this mall, stating major renovations taking place to bring this mall back.

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