I remember when Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, Virginia, opened in 1980. They hired the Ellington Orchestra to play a concert (led by Duke’s son Mercer Ellington).
I arrived by chance just in time to hear a great free concert!
7 Corners shopping center was an open air strip mall and had Lord and Taylor’s just across the street. Tyson’s Corner was “too far”, and Springfield mall was where we would ride minibikes. (It was a cow pasture.) It was eventually enclosed.
Development prompted the building of Springfield and Tyson’s II then Fair Oaks. I remember when Annandale road heading out to Fairfax was a two-lane, unpaved road.