Virginia Shopping Map

Adam Garrett
Feb 8, 2024
3 min read

Updated: Jan 22

Locations to Shop in VA are most impacted by population density first and second by income levels of those areas. Locations in large heavily populous areas (especially the DC area, Hampton Roads, & Greater Richmond) will tend to have the best and most shopping, whether you're looking for high end or low end shops of various kinds. The hours also tend to be longest in more populous locations.

Best Places to Shop & Most Options in Highly Populous Areas

Below is a map of some of the main shopping areas of VA, including parts of NC & DC, & even elsewhere, that helps showcase where the higher-end grocery stores & well-rated shopping areas are. With shopping important for where you purchase for many, it's helpful to know your options. Even if you're grocery shopping online, you'll find the most options in higher population density locations. This map is best viewed on a desktop or laptop.

More Low End Locations Also in Heavily Populated Areas

While the higher end locations are shown above, it's important to note that the above is simply an indicator of shopping concentrations in general as well due to population density. For instance, in my "Free or Heavily Discounted for Disabled &/or Poor" map below, the vast majority of thrift stores, food pantries, and other forms of low cost options are present in highly populated areas:

Map of Food Pantries, Thrift Stores, Etc. in the "Free Things to Do & Other Resources" section of my Homeless Resources page

Finding Shopping Locations Elsewhere via Tripadvisor

TripAdvisor is a solid resource for finding shopping malls, though keep in mind that their definition of "malls" is pretty broad, and in some cases includes a single store. On the other hand, some significant locations that could be considered an outdoor "mall" like City Center of Newport News, aren't even listed.

City Center of Oyster Point - Image by Adam

To locate shopping malls, Tripadvisor has a section on the subject, with the following sequence as an example:

United States

2. Virginia (VA)

3. Things to Do in Virginia

4. Malls in Virginia

That said, it's not so easy to actually find what I found, on the app and on the desktop version, unless you do a Google search instead. With a Google search, the best view shows. The app version will steer you towards identifying a specific city/county, even if you don't want to.

Shopping Malls in Virginia, Per Tripadvisor

Finding Shopping Locations Elsewhere via Google Maps

While you miss the ranking of Tripadvisor with Google Maps, you do get expanded content, such as that City Center of Oyster Point example I mentioned that TripAdvisor doesn't mention. Also, The map is better in a sense on there as well. Tripadvisor has a map view, but I like Google Map's map view better in some cases. However, Google Maps does fall a bit flat when you are attempting to search for the best shopping malls throughout VA. It's better when you're trying to identify some of the best shopping in a smaller area, like in Hampton Roads. If you try to zoom out and search for shopping malls, you may find that it just hones in on your location, as it did for me even in incognito mode.

In this case, clicking on "search this area" didn't help much at all to ameliorate that issue:

Grocery Store Brands

According to Mashed (June 1, 2023), here are the best & worst grocery stores to buy organic:

Best:

Alberstons (no VA locations)

Aldi

Costco

Fresh Market (not included in Mashed article, but present in VA, & highly ranked elsewhere, including #1 grocery stores in this USA Today article, with organic foods being 1 of the reasons why) Kroger

Harris Teeter (not included in Mashed article, but present in VA)

H-E-B (no VA locations)

Publix

Safeway (not included in Mashed article, but present in VA, but not present in SE VA)

Sprouts Farmers Market (located in VA only in Herndon & Manassas)

Trader Joe's

Wegmans (not included in Mashed article, but present in VA, & highly ranked elsewhere, with high marks for organic options)

Whole Foods

Worst:

Dollar Delight (not included in Mashed article, but present in VA)

Sam's Club

Target