Fair Oaks Mall - breaking ground and opening in 1980
The first Fair Oaks Mall signs went up in the summer of 1980, when Fairfax was still filling in with new subdivisions and chain restaurants.
For months, the site looked half-built, a maze of concrete and scaffolding waiting for glass.
When Fair Oaks Mall finally opened on July 31, 1980, the mall stretched over 1.4 million square feet, a size that seemed oversized for the early traffic that reached it.
Hecht's, Sears, JCPenney, and Woodward & Lothrop opened together, their storefronts bright under new skylights.
By August 21, Garfinckel's joined them, and the following spring, Lord & Taylor completed the set of anchors.
Nearly two hundred stores were filled in over the next year, from Conran's furniture showroom to smaller local tenants.
The polished marble floors caught the light from the atrium glass, and on weekends, the parking lots filled as soon as the doors unlocked.
Fair Oaks came along as more than a mall.
It was about giving Fairfax a shape, something solid in the middle of all that suburban drift.
The sound of the crowd carried up through the escalators, into the wide space overhead, until it became the everyday music of Fairfax commerce.
Experiments and civic add-ons in the 1980s
By the time the 1980s were underway, Fair Oaks Mall had become a regular stop.
A few years earlier, in 1982, Sears had done something out of character, leasing space to Allstate, Dean Witter, and Coldwell Banker.
Between picking up clothes and hardware, shoppers could check on policies or stock portfolios.
It faded quickly, but it proved how the mall could bend to new routines.
A few years later, one of the original anchors began to fade.
Garfinckel's lost ground as old department stores started closing around the region.
Its display windows went dark, and that part of the mall stayed quiet for months.
But the rest of Fair Oaks stayed full.
Families still came to walk the wide hallways, stop for lunch, or browse on weekends.
By 1988, Fair Oaks had picked up a few extra purposes. A library branch opened inside, and later a DMV office joined it.
People could renew a license, check out a book, and grab a sandwich before heading home.
It shouldn't have worked, but it did.
Names change, spaces move, anchors trade places in the 1990s
By the 1990s, Fair Oaks Mall was aging into its second version.
Garfinckel's had already closed, and Woodward & Lothrop filled its space with a home furnishings showroom that smelled faintly of carpet and varnish.
Shoppers could walk through model living rooms under soft lamps instead of display racks.
But the stability didn't last. Woodward itself went bankrupt, and its doors shut for good.
The openings didn't stay empty long.
In 1998, Lord & Taylor took over the old Woodward box, while Macy's moved into Lord & Taylor's former location.
For the first time, Fair Oaks had two Macy's signs glowing over different entrances.
Each switch came with a few weeks of plywood walls and construction dust, and then a new layer of gloss appeared where another had worn off.
Inside, stores changed faster than you could keep track.
The small, local spots gave way to chains, all selling the same jeans and perfume.
Mastercraft furniture came and went before Forever 21 took over.
Entrances rebuilt and interiors refreshed in 2013-2019
By 2013, Fair Oaks Mall had reached the point where everything familiar needed updating.
Construction walls went up around the entrances as crews began a full renovation that stretched into 2014.
All five entryways were rebuilt, and a new grand entrance rose along Route 50 with a tall glass front that caught the sunlight across the parking rows.
It was the mall's first full exterior redesign since opening.
Inside, workers replaced old tile and bright brass fixtures with softer finishes.
Warm lighting and wood furniture took the place of the hard benches from decades past.
The children's play area was rebuilt too, using padded flooring and low barriers instead of the older plastic structures.
The changes made the mall quieter in color but more comfortable to walk through.
As the remodel wrapped up, a few new tenants arrived.
In 2019, a 39,000-square-foot Dave & Buster's opened in a two-level corner once known for its quiet.
The new arcade and restaurant pulled families in after dark, their laughter and the sounds of machines carrying into the halls.
The project didn't change the structure, but it made the mall feel young again.
Plans widen to mixed-use and new retail joins, 2021-2023
By 2021, Fair Oaks Mall had begun preparing for its next form.
Fairfax County approved a redevelopment plan that opened the door to mixed-use construction around the property.
The plan allowed up to 4.8 million square feet of new space, including about 2,000 housing units, office buildings, a hotel, and a central plaza surrounded by public walkways.
Renderings showed wide, open-air streets replacing part of the parking lots, lined with stores, trees, and apartments.
While zoning shifted, new retail tenants filled empty storefronts inside.
Between 2022 and 2023, Ardene, Lovisa, Showcase, and Miniso opened, adding youth-oriented fashion and accessories.
A company called Movement announced plans for an indoor climbing gym with a fitness and yoga center, repurposing a former big-box area.
The changes gave the mall an active tenant list while long-term redevelopment stayed on paper.
Through these years, Fair Oaks looked familiar but felt different.
Its corridors stayed bright, but new logos and signs hinted at broader change ahead.
The mix of shoppers and early construction meetings made the mall feel like two versions of itself - one still intact, another quietly being drawn up nearby.
Management and marquee tenant changes in 2024
In 2024, Fair Oaks Mall entered a new stage of ownership and tenant turnover.
On April 10, Olshan Properties secured a long-term loan extension and took over full management of the property.
The change gave Olshan direct control over daily operations, replacing Taubman's role after decades of shared oversight.
The refinancing stabilized the mall's financial structure as redevelopment planning continued.
Late that same year, one of Fair Oaks' most recognizable tenants departed.
The Apple Store closed on November 7 after nearly two decades in its spot by the main concourse.
Two days later, Apple reopened at Fairfax Corner, ending a long run that had made its minimalist storefront a local landmark.
The move left a high-profile vacancy inside Fair Oaks, one of the few visible shifts in an otherwise steady directory.
Elsewhere in the mall, most anchors remained.
Macy's, JCPenney, and Dick's Sporting Goods continued operations, while newer tenants like Dave & Buster's helped sustain nighttime foot traffic.
The changes of 2024 didn't alter the mall's shape, but they rearranged the names on its map, setting the stage for a quieter period before the next transition.
New food, a high-profile safety case, and a planned grocer in 2025
By mid-2025, Fair Oaks Mall had reappeared in local headlines.
In July, a new Shanghai-style restaurant called Ugly Dumpling opened on the upper level in suite G-213, taking over a 6,700-square-foot space once occupied by On the Border.
The opening added a full-service dining option to the food mix, one that drew steady evening crowds from surrounding neighborhoods.
That same month, a high-profile safety incident unfolded in the mall's children's play area.
Police released surveillance footage showing a toddler being taken by a man who was later arrested and charged.
The case drew regional coverage and prompted new attention to mall security.
Daily operations continued, but the story placed Fair Oaks at the center of public discussion through the summer.
In September, new ownership news returned Fair Oaks to the business pages.
The grocer Fresh World entered a contract to purchase the long-vacant Lord & Taylor building, with plans to convert roughly 80,000 square feet into a supermarket.
If completed, it would bring the site's last unused anchor space back to life, adding groceries to a property that began with department stores nearly half a century earlier.
The Fair Oaks Mall Carnival
Each year, Fair Oaks Mall turns part of its parking lot into a fairground.
Steel frames and colored lights rise over the asphalt, bringing a traveling carnival that has become a familiar local marker of spring and fall.
The midway takes shape in a few days, with portable rides, ticket booths, and food trailers parked in neat rows.
Power cables and fences line the perimeter before the first visitors arrive.
The spring 2025 run opened on May 8 and ran through May 26.
Crews built the site in early May, setting up the Ferris wheel and carousel near the mall's outer loop road.
Later in the year, the Fall Carnival returned on October 1, running into mid-month with another round of rides and games.
By dusk, the parking lights blend with the carnival glow.
Visitors move between the tents and the mall entrance, crossing from shopping bags to prize booths, the same pavement hosting two kinds of crowds within a single property.
Hardly any dedicated men’s fashion stores in the mall. Mostly women’s clothing and cosmetics. Anchor stores are always a mess looking like a rummage sale bargain basement with limited stock. Do better….
You're right to call it out. A mall can't thrive on cosmetics counters alone - it needs variety and a sense of care in presentation.