Build Them & They Will Shop!

Exciting times for Front Royal shoppers - the new Target store opened last week, along with its in-house Starbucks and Pizza Hut Express outlets. Also now open is Famous Footwear. Over the next week, Staples (Aug 4) and Petco (Aug 6) will open their doors. And very shortly, we will see TGI Fridays, Fashion Bug, GNC, Radio Shack, and Game Stop, among others, all in the Crooked Run Shopping Center.

On the other side of route 522, the huge Lowes store is taking shape. Beyond that, the future Wal-Mart is about to spring up from its leveled site, and the rest of the Riverton Commons infrastructure is taking shape amid a flurry of activity. I drove around there earlier today to take a couple of photos, and was running the gauntlet of many large vehicles, concrete trucks, earth movers, and swarms of construction workers, surveyors, and engineers.

On a sadder note, isn't it a shame to see what has happened to the home in the last picture below? A handsome brick colonial of over 3,000 sq.ft. on a nicely landscaped 5 acres, this home once looked out over gently rolling land and a 2-lane route 522 wandering north towards Winchester, with the mountains as a background. Now it looks down on all this development, with a bird's eye view of Lowes and a busy intersection which at one point is 8 lanes wide. I guess that's the price of progress.

New Shopping Centers for Front Royal

Anyone who last traveled route 522 north of exit 6 of I-66 a couple of years ago, will be astonished at the changes now taking shape. It started with the creation of the Blue Ridge Shadows championship golf course, now with a Holiday Inn & conference center being constructed alongside the highway. But more significantly, we are now seeing the development of two out of town retail parks, a first for Warren County.


Crooked Run Shopping Center (on the west side of 522) and Riverton Commons (on the east) have been in the development stage for some time, but will come to life with the opening of the new Target store this coming July on Crooked Run, followed closely by PetCo, Staples, Fashion Bug, Famous Footwear and TGI Fridays. By early 2008, Riverton Commons will be welcoming Wal-Mart, Lowes and others, which so far apparently include several eating places like Crackerbarrel, Chic Fil-A, Checkers and Starbucks. Yes, Front Royal, Virginia will have arrived - we will have a Starbucks

What's more, a third retail park - bigger than these two combined - is in the pipeline off Rockland Rd, a mile or so further north. I understand it will be a couple of years before we see major developments there, but you can probably begin to think of some of the major retail names who will no doubt be looking for a share of the spoils.