Patrick Henry Mall, Newport News

IT WAS GREAT TO EAT FOOD I HAVEN'T HAD SINCE CHILDHOOD!! JAZZYS BOUTIQUE HAS ALL THE GREAT OILS TOO, AND SHE SHOWED LOVE!!!

Ok crazy how things have changed. As a teen everyone was always at the mall. That was the in thing. It was always packed. You're like a sardine swimming against the salmon flow. We popped in to get my son's eyeglasses fixed bc they were the optical shop open on the weekend. And a bit later on a Saturday afternoon, the mall was deserted. Those that were venturing into the mall were like us. They consulted the info board, found their location, made a route, and beelined their destination, and headed back out. They didn't hit all the shops in between. They didn't shop just to shop. The parking lot was full. We had to park quite a ways out. So I can only imagine that everyone was eating or there had been a mass ailen abduction earlier... since I didn't see anyone except a few wandering aimlessly around. I think they were employees or survivors. Some elderly persons were just sitting in massage chairs. It was so surreal almost spooky. You could almost see the different stores music notes, like a siren's call, floating out into the main passage waiting for passing ears to lure would be shoppers into stores but only finding emptiness. Bright lights, and busy signs advertising promised sales and discounts for no one to see. I give it 3 stars bc it was clean on the first glance but when you looked it really was not. Despite no parking though and my thinking it was going to me the nightmare fuel of my teenage years, it was the complete opposite that was a plus. It was worth going just to get a reality check on the changing of times how everything has moved more to online markets and smaller shops. If you're worried about it being crowded it wasn't, maybe during winter holidays but I'm thinking those crowded mall times of yesteryear have gone by the way side. We did find a bathroom back by the optical shop but it's was not vented well and dirty. So the 6 shoppers that were in the mall all had the urge at the same time and descended on this one bathroom, so if course there was a line for the couple of stalls... It's how it goes. That a difficult. The set up makes it hard to get in and out of that bathroom. So at the end of the day even though the mall isn't crowded and we were able to get in and out in under 10 min. I'm not really a mall person. Although the cerebral experience for me, i applaud them. During the week, they have community groups come through to help encourage and enable persons with all levels of abilities to interact with your "typical"community members. This training helps prepare them for a job when they are capable. I applaud anyone helping anyone!