When it opened in 1988, The Fort Chiswell Outlet Mall boasted 35 nationally and internationally known name brand discount outlets. With the closing last week of Kitchen Connections, the once thriving destination shopping hot spot is down to three.
I’m really going to miss this store, but I suppose it was inevitable. With the economic recession of the last few years, traffic at the mall has dropped dramatically. The property, which is owned by Worth Carter of Carter Bank and Trust in Martinsville and managed by Hall Associates in Roanoke, has been woefully neglected by its owners and is literally falling apart.
Because Wythe County has no zoning regulations, nothing can really be done to force the owners of this property to do anything about it. This white elephant will eventually lose its remaining tenants and will sit there until it is sold, which is doubtful, or it falls into a pile of rubble. On the second Wednesday of next month, Nov. 10, at 7pm, the county supervisors will begin a discussion of zoning. I urge those of you who live in the county to attend the meeting which will take place in the Conference Room of the County Administration Building, 340 South Sixth Street. Note: This meeting has been moved from Tuesday to Wednesday because of a scheduling conflict with four of the supervisors.
UPDATE: 4/23/2011
Bon Worth’s is the only remaining store. All the others are gone.
The Fort Chiswell Outlet Mall’s decline started long before the current recession. It never reached its claimed count of 35 stores and was down to 10 stores when we last visited in 2005 and wrote about it.
http://www.blueridgemuse.com/node/606
Just out of curiosity and because I still might stop by the outlet mall at some point, do you what three stores remain?
Yvonne,
The remaining stores are Bon Worth, L’Eggs Hanes Bali, and Polo/Ralph Lauren
Actually, there was a time, although it was brief, when there were 35 stores. It’s just a very sad situation, brought about by bad management and the fact that the owners never cared about the property. Many good, hard-working people lost their jobs there, including myself. Now, they are down to one store.