Pembroke Square — Attraction in Virginia Beach

TLDR - Mall closing and will have renovations. Sudden, unnatural death. Heartbreaking. Granddad of Hampton Roads malls saying goodbye.

By the time you read this review, Pembroke Mall might be closed already. The interior of the mall will close the night of January 31, 2022, due to renovations to add apartments, assisted living, and a hotel. However, don't despair too much. If you're searching for Kohls, Nordstrom Rack, DSW, Fresh Market, Target, or other stores with outside entrances (except for the Halloween store in the old Stein Mart space), these stores will remain in operation. Unfortunately, the interior will not reopen until about 2024.

It's shocking that it is the end of an era. This was the first mall I visited in the Hampton Roads area after I moved to Virginia Beach 5 and a half years ago. I visited the mall for the first time in 2016. Sears and Stein Mart were still there. The mall was quiet but still well alive. I nicknamed Pembroke "the mall that would never die".

Nevertheless, the mall began to fall apart when Sears closed at the end of September 2018. Stein Mart inevitably closed in 2020 due to bankruptcy. Its decline is fast and sudden due to the pandemic.

The last time I visited this mall was January 12, 2022. The interior was clean but hollow and bleak. I knew from that moment that the mall was going to die really soon. More storefronts were empty compared to my previous visits. Signs warning the closure did not appear until after my last visit. I heard that around 40 stores are forced to close suddenly (and relocate) against their own wills. Was this a last minute notice from mall management to store owners?

I really want to rate this mall higher, but I am only willing to rate this 2 stars due to the current condition of the mall. If it was 2016, I would have...

Just a general warning to everyone bringing kids here or teens wandering this mall while being around town center- there's a little art gallery by the poke restaurant, and the guy who runs it (brown long hair, mustache) is definitely a pedofile. Me and my friend were just trying to goof off around on the kids rides right outside of it, and he was staring at smiling and said "just so you know because no one else will think or say it, you guys are attractive young women" and proceeded to keep asking if we had boyfriend's. We're 15. He would not leave us alone and I frequently saw him near us around the mall, running back to his store when customers came by. I sprained my ankle and was sitting alone on the massage chairs waiting for my family to come get me, and he was hanging around and I was terrified he would do something while I couldn't run off, and he approached me, my mom got there right on time. Absolutely by no means interact or come near this art store, I'm honestly disgusted people like this can lounge around in a mall where there are...

I miss this mall when it was in its prime. I have fond memories of this place. Now it is just sad. Barely any stores. What is the plan here? I mean it is right in the center of town center and its embarrassing. Bring back the big stores, bring back the foodcourt not just a couple of restaurants on the outside. When your in the mall and want to grab a quick bite you want it to be easily accessible. I miss sears, the pet store, payless, the chinese restaurant with the dragons, i miss the arcade (showing my age), the indoor playground that used to be across from the movie theater. I miss that theater. It was like an old time movie theater like you would see in the movies. What is being done to bring more businesses? Its just a disappointment. If you want more businesses to take a chance. Give them 6mo.-12mo. Rent free until other business move in and Pembroke mall has life again. The spaces are just sitting empty anyways. Get government grants or whatever you have to do to make this project happen. Give Pembroke Mall...