Valley View Mall stands on land that changed from a long-lasting city farm into a major shopping area.
The two-level mall was built on land connected to the Huff family farm. This large area stayed open inside Roanoke while development spread around it.
The family's 1981 sale, a disputed rezoning process, and almost two years of construction changed the fields and farm buildings into an indoor mall with large parking lots.
The mall opened on July 17, 1985, and was still operating in 2026. Valley View moved much of the area's shopping activity toward northwest Roanoke.
It also led to public spending on roads, gave people a privately managed place to meet, and became part of a large business area in the Lick Run watershed.
Today, the property is changing slowly, one building and one business at a time. Three department stores remain.
The outdoor District area operates beside the enclosed mall, the Sears building is empty, and an entertainment project is proposed.
From farmland to a disputed mall site
The property was once called the Barrens. It was connected to the home of Dr. Francis Sorrel and Letitia Gamble Watts.
Peter Huff bought the land in 1900, and the Huff family farmed it during most of the twentieth century.
A photograph from 1979, kept by Roanoke Public Libraries, shows the farm shortly before it was sold.
By that time, developers were already interested in the land, which sat close to major roads and the airport.
The family sold the property in 1981. Local activists and the owners of Tanglewood Mall opposed the rezoning needed for the new project.
Tanglewood already served many of the stores and customers that Valley View hoped to attract. The dispute reached the Virginia Supreme Court, which allowed the rezoning to remain in place.
Construction began in August 1983. The exact starting day is unconfirmed; August 22 is one published date.
Faison Associates developed a two-level indoor mall with five department-store anchors and space for future growth.
The design included wide walkways, open courts, escalators, restaurants, entertainment, and smaller shops. Large parking areas and a road around the property surrounded the building.
When the mall opened, the area around it was much less developed than it is today.
Opening day and the five main stores
Valley View Mall opened on Wednesday, July 17, 1985. Later store records identify the original department stores as Sears, JCPenney, Leggett, Miller & Rhoads, and Thalhimer's.
These stores brought national and Virginia department-store names together in one northwest Roanoke location. They also helped the mall attract customers from outside the city.
The opening was organized as a major public event. Xavier Roberts, the creator of the Cabbage Patch Kids, came to sign autographs. News reports said that more than 500 people waited in line.
Local hotels also reported a very busy week. They were booked for the week and turned away more than 200 guests. That figure does not represent the total number of people who visited the mall.
By 1990, the mall included a movie theater, video arcade, and restaurants.
Local reports also described large teenage crowds on weekends and a morning walking club with about 2,000 members, most of them older adults.
The indoor courts and seating areas gave people places to meet away from bad weather. This created a common mall conflict.
Management benefited when people stayed longer and returned often, but it also controlled behavior inside a building that felt partly like a public place.
A privately managed meeting place
This conflict became clear after an event in February 1990. Two teenagers fired guns in the parking lot after security guards stopped a fight inside the mall. No one was hurt.
After the shooting, police became more visible at the mall. The event also sharpened a wider debate about young people, race, security, and the lack of places where teenagers could gather.
Local NAACP leaders asked whether Black teenagers were watched more closely than others. Store employees and some visitors focused on safety and the need to keep the mall comfortable for customers.
Valley View introduced a Youth Escort Policy in 2007 and later changed it.
The policy currently posted online allows management to require people under eighteen to be with an adult after 4 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Management may also use the rule at other times.
The policy covers common areas and parking lots, but some businesses with separate entrances are not included.
The online page still lists the closed Sears store as an exception. Parts of the posted wording are probably out of date.
Seasonal events, local sellers, photos with Santa or the Easter Bunny, and newer entertainment businesses continue to support the mall's role as a community meeting place.
These activities are designed to promote business, but they also keep the mall connected to regular public traditions.
In 2017, a Roanoke College project studied the mall as part of an American material culture class.
The project examined its design, security systems, kiosks, department stores, and employee-only areas.
Roads built to support shopping
Valley View's car-based design did not open with a complete road system. At first, most drivers reached the mall through Hershberger Road and Valley View Boulevard.
As the mall and nearby large stores grew, traffic became heavy during weekends and holidays, especially near Interstate 581.
A proposed Walmart in the 1990s increased pressure for another road connection.
Plans for a partial highway interchange moved forward in the mid-1990s. Roanoke City Council approved a construction contract in October 1997.
The project created another route into the shopping area. It also included bicycle and walking improvements connected to the Lick Run Greenway.
A much larger project later completed the interchange.
On November 21, 2016, a $63.9 million diverging-diamond interchange opened at Interstate 581 and Valley View Boulevard.
It added ramps that had been missing, widened the bridge, and included a pedestrian bridge for the greenway.
Valley View operated for more than 30 years before the highway connection reached its full modern form. Mall growth helped create traffic and political pressure for major public investment.
The mall and the Lick Run watershed
The shopping area is also part of the physical history of Lick Run. The City of Roanoke identifies Valley View Mall as one of the places drained by Lick Run.
The larger watershed covers 3,747 acres and contains about 8.5 miles of streams. About 35 percent of the area is covered by hard surfaces such as roads, roofs, and parking lots.
These figures apply to the whole watershed, which includes roads, neighborhoods, airport-related land, and other businesses.
They do not show exactly how much pollution or rainwater runoff comes from the mall itself.
However, they explain why the mall building, surrounding road, and parking areas are part of the area's environmental history.
The same hard surfaces that made car access easier also changed how water moves across the land.
The Lick Run Greenway now gives people a walking and cycling route between downtown Roanoke and the Valley View area. Even so, the shopping district is still designed mainly for cars.
Store changes and divided ownership
Changes in the department-store business repeatedly affected Valley View, but they did not close the mall.
Miller & Rhoads closed during bankruptcy in 1990. Montgomery Ward opened in the same space that July.
Montgomery Ward later closed during the company's national shutdown in 2001. After that, the building was divided among several businesses.
Leggett became Belk after an ownership change in 1996. Thalhimer's became Hecht's in 1992 and later became Macy's.
CBL bought Valley View from Faison in 2003. The sale was part of a four-mall agreement worth $340 million. That amount was not the price of Valley View alone.
CBL later developed The District, a 76,000-square-foot outdoor addition in an area that had once been saved for another department store.
Barnes & Noble opened there in 2007. Restaurants and smaller shops with direct outdoor entrances also joined the area.
Published figures for the mall's size differ. CBL's current property table lists 836,445 square feet.
Another company description gives 862,497 square feet. Older figures for the full property are close to 864,000 square feet.
The sources do not explain the difference. CBL controls only part of the full site because some department-store buildings and ownership interests belong to other companies.
The different figures should not be combined into one exact average.
Sears closed in October 2019, but Transformco, not CBL, still controls the former Sears building.
The former Sears was used for a short time as a community vaccination center in 2021. However, no permanent new use had been confirmed by July 2026.
CBL can change and rent the parts of the mall that it owns. It cannot redevelop a department-store building controlled by another company without that owner's agreement.
An active mall going through slow change
Valley View remains open with Belk, JCPenney, Macy's, Barnes & Noble, H&M, restaurants, service businesses, and entertainment.
CBL reported 102 stores and restaurants and an estimated 4.77 million visits in 2025. The visitor figure is an estimate, not a count from an official entrance system.
Recent changes have included both openings and closures. Galactic Arcade opened in 2024. Other restaurants and stores have opened, moved, expanded, or closed.
JD Sports was operating by July 2026. Palmetto Moon had been announced for a later opening.
At the same time, the old Sears building remained empty, and other spaces reflected the decline of some national retail chains.
The former Macy's Home and Children's area has a more developed possible future.
CBL leasing plans show Dave & Buster's as a proposed tenant. Roanoke also received a zoning-verification form in October 2025.
No opening date had been announced, and the project had not been completed. Dave & Buster's remained a proposed tenant.
Valley View's history can be seen in the change from the Huff farm to a shopping district, the indoor courts where people met, the rules for younger visitors, the highway interchange built to handle traffic, and the water that passes through the Lick Run system.
The mall is still an important regional shopping center. Separate property owners, outdoor additions, entertainment plans, and gradual store changes are shaping its future.
Roanoke now has to adapt a working place whose private buildings, public roads, and environmental effects have shaped the city for more than forty years.
Sources and further reading
- Valley View Mall celebrates 38 years of operation - WDBJ7, July 16, 2023. Reviews the mall's July 17, 1985 opening, the Huff farm site, the rezoning dispute, and reported opening-day events.
- Brainchild or Bottleneck? Valley View: The Traffic Pattern Roanoke Loves to Hate - The Roanoke Times archive via Virginia Tech, April 13, 1997. Provides contemporary reporting on access roads, traffic congestion, and planning issues around the Valley View development.
- VDOT to Open New Interchange at Valley View Boulevard/I-581 Tonight - City of Roanoke, November 21, 2016. Documents the opening, cost, and principal additions of the diverging-diamond interchange.
- Watershed Master Plans - Lick Run - City of Roanoke, accessed July 25, 2026. Identifies Valley View Mall within the Lick Run drainage area and summarizes the watershed's acreage, streams, and impervious land coverage.
- Youth Escort Policy - Valley View Mall, updated August 28, 2020. Provides the mall's posted age, time, supervision, parking-lot, and exterior-entrance rules.
- Valley View Mall - CBL Properties, accessed July 25, 2026. Lists current anchors, store count, estimated 2025 visits, The District, and published property-size figures.
- Dave & Buster's, other new businesses coming to Valley View Mall - WDBJ7, February 23, 2026. Reports on the proposed entertainment tenant, recent store changes, and the separately owned former Sears building.
- Valley View Mall Directory - Valley View Mall, accessed July 25, 2026. Provides a first-party reference for current and announced tenant listings; opening status should be checked on individual store pages.
