Cloverleaf Mall's luck finally runs out today when its doors close to the public forever.

The mall's few remaining merchants will clear out their cash registers for the last time on Friday, ending the life of metro Richmond's first, large-scale, regional shopping center. In time, the building will be razed, replaced by a new development of housing, offices and stores called Chippenham Place.

"Cloverleaf Mall played an integral part in the community. It wasn't just metro Richmond, it was Petersburg, it was Amelia. I hear more stories from people who say, 'That's where I got my wedding dress' or 'That's where I bought my records' or 'That's where I took my wife on our first date.' You always knew Cloverleaf Mall was more than just brick and mortar. There was a real love affair in the community with Cloverleaf Mall," recalled Jay Lafler, Cloverleaf's former manager and now vice president of management and development for Commercial Properties Management.

The mall was named because of its proximity to the cloverleaf intersection at Chippenham Parkway and Midlothian Turnpike.

"It was named Cloverleaf before the cloverleafs were even completed," explained Chris Ruth, who now works in the county's public affairs department. Ruth researched the mall's history when it celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1997.

A traveling circus used to overwinter on the land before it was purchased for the mall.

The first phase of Cloverleaf opened in 1972, anchored by J.C. Penney and Sears, followed by phase two a year later, which boasted the largest Thalhimers at the time.

"Originally we promoted ourselves as 'Cloverleaf Mall, the Fashion Center of Richmond,' and the logo was a parasol - not an umbrella - because a parasol denoted class and fashion," explained Lafler.

Around 45 stores were ready for customers on opening day, including more than 20 women's apparel shops, catering to the mall's target market.

A newspaper article written just days before the mall's grand opening memorializes the words of its developer, Leonard Farber.

"I think Cloverleaf represents the most advanced kind of thinking in design and balance of merchandise presently existing in the Richmond market," said Farber, adding that the mall took a "scientific approach to leasing" so tenants complemented each other.

Cloverleaf was the 24th shopping center Farber had developed, and it was his first in Virginia. Lafler remembers the developer had a precise formula for what made a mall successful, such as installing carpeting to cushion women's legs so they could shop longer and hiding water fountains, so mall visitors would be more likely to buy a drink in the food court.

"There was never a clock in our malls," said Lafler. "He wanted them to lose themselves in shopping."

Farber died last year.

In its heyday, the mall wasn't just a place to shop. It was suburbia's version of a downtown. Family and friends met there for lunch. Teens cruised the common areas on weekend nights. Movie-goers enjoyed the latest flick. For two decades, Cloverleaf more than held its own against nearby Chesterfield Towne Center, Regency Square and other indoor malls that came after it.

But that all changed in the 1990s. Cloverleaf's best customers, women, began staying away from the mall, fearful of the youth who were beginning to congregate there.

"People started seeing kids with huge baggy pants and chains hanging off their belts, and people were intimidated, and they would say there were gangs," recalled Lafler.

Then in 1996, the rumors seemed to prove true when two clerks from the All For One store were found stabbed to death during an apparent robbery inside the mall. The murders are still unsolved.

Around the same time, Chesterfield Towne Center was undergoing a major renovation, and residential development was moving west. Shoppers began frequenting Chesterfield Towne Center, feeling it was safer and closer to their homes.

Cloverleaf's anchors, J.C. Penney and Sears, saw the trend and chose not to renew their leases. Their departure cemented Cloverleaf's fate. Without the draw of the mall's two main anchors, other national retailers also moved westward.

Over the last decade, the mall began leasing to mostly mom-and-pop establishments, drawing a more urban crowd. Tax revenues dried up, prompting the county to purchase the mall in 2004 in hopes of reinventing what's considered to be a major gateway to Chesterfield.

Little now remains of Cloverleaf's glory except the shell of its concrete building, an empty parking lot and the memories of longtime county residents who can recall when Cloverleaf was still green with cash and community-spirit.

The Chesterfield Observer recently asked readers to send in their favorite memories of Cloverleaf Mall. Here's what they had to say:

Joyce Orlando Fenner, Brandermill:
I joined my husband here in southside Richmond way back in the late spring of 1974. Now that I think about it, he bought my engagement and wedding rings at Cloverleaf Mall. We were newlyweds, getting used to each other and Richmond and annexation and such oddities (to us) as 2 a.m. Waffle House post-disco breakfasts and people saying 99 cent rather than 99 cents, Blue Laws and brown bag practices and state-run liquor stores. Bob worked at Philip Morris then and now. I worked at Joseph R. Harris for a few months. It was a ladies apparel store. It was genteel enough that we saleswomen could wear the new fashion at the time, the pantsuit, but our behinds had to be at least halfway hidden by the jacket! Cloverleaf Mall had so many things in its favor. It was indoors so Willow Lawn was forever out on a rainy day once Cloverleaf was built. The mall was prettily decorated for the appropriate season. There were places to get food and ice cream. You could go to the movies. You could gaze at fluffy cuties through the pet shop window. There was a bookstore to explore. There were benches to rest on and simply people watch. You could smoke there - for years after every other mall forbid smoking. We had a place to visit that cost nothing. Cloverleaf Mall was a cheap date's dream come true. Sometimes we would see a whole family enjoying the mall together. Couples would saunter through the corridors hand-in-hand. It was sad to see the surrounding area go slowly downhill. Cloverleaf Mall changed a great deal, but it hung on for a long, long time. She was a pretty lady in her time! I do worry what will become of her.