Pasadena Town Square Mall is now Plaza Paseo. These first photos were taken early in the transition of the mall.
This was taken just before the new signs were put up around the mall. The interior and exterior of the mall were repainted as part of the changeover.
The food court was the first part of the mall to get the new signs.
The Sears to Macys corridor before the changes were made.
The new large sign in front of the mall.
Ventec offices took over the former Dillards.
A look at the same entrance as above with the new signage.
We start the tour at the above entrance near Ventec.
Very strange to see this near an office space. I wonder if they soundproofed the office so you can't hear the mall noise.
Very few businesses operating in this corridor of the former Dillards. The businesses that are down here don't follow traditional mall hours.
The directory has been updated recently.
Walking towards the food court.
I like this mural, you don't see a lot of art in the more successful malls.
The main court with the fountains is nice and airy. The poles and some of the ceiling beams have been painted new colors.
Looking towards the Sears.
Looking towards the food court from across the fountains.
Another peek at the food court.
You have to like the simple detail in the main court of the mall.
The Sears corridor is a popular place to sit and watch televisions on comfy chairs. Sears is now the final large anchor left at the mall. Palais Royal is the only junior anchor left.
Walking from Sears to Macys
The Macy's corridor has a lot of empty space. Zales which was across from Macy's left once Macy's closed.
Macy's closed earlier in 2017. The store is currently vacant.
The former Anna's Linens closed several years ago and is now used for furniture storage. One of the few remaining businesses in this section of the mall sells the furniture.
The furniture store on the right is the owner of the inventory in the former Annas Linens space.
Sears mall entrance
Another photo of the nearly dead corridor going to the former Dillards.
Ventec has kept the former Dillards entrance mostly the same. The inside of the store has surely been completely changed.
Sears the lone survivor of the department store exodus. This Sears was originally located down the street on land that Walmart now occupies.
The future of the mall is very much in doubt after losing Macys. There are very few chain stores left in the mall and the food court is less than half occupied. The Sears store is surprisingly busy and the nearby Southmore retail corridor has been improving, but there are two large abandoned office buildings next to the mall. We will continue to see how things go at this mall.
Thanks for the update about Plaza Paseo. I’ve been to the mall a few times since the name change, but I think my last visit was before Macy’s closed. It’s interesting to see what has changed in the time since the Macy’s closure.
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t at all surprised when the Macy’s closed. The store was in sad shape and the Sears was much busier during all my visits to the mall. Macy’s had closed the very sad looking second floor shortly before announcing the closing of the store. Oh well.
I was surprised to see the murals painted during the Plaza Paseo changeover, but it does give the mall a unique look. As strange as a George Lopez mural at a mall is, it sure beats the wall art that the Mall of the Mainland had! Some of the new “neon” colors of the mall are an odd fit with the vintage early 1980s earthtone flooring, but at least the new owners invested some money into the mall.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the mall. If Sears closes, it’ll almost certainly doom the mall. Then again, I doubt there is high demand for the land the mall is on so it might soldier on for years as an anchorless mall like Northwest Mall did.
The Sears is certainly a big draw for the mall. This Sears is usually one of the busiest ones during my visits. I think the area’s demographics fit in well with Sears’ demographics and might explain why the store did better than the Macy’s. Also, the store is much newer than the old Macy’s and even the ex-Dillard’s. It’s probably the nicest looking Sears inside and out in the Houston area now that the Baybrook Mall Sears has closed. I’m sure the closure of the Baybrook store might send some more shoppers to the Plaza Paseo Sears, but I’m not sure if all of the Baybrook Sears shoppers will travel to the Pasadena or Mall of the Mainland Sears.
I have a few more pics of the mall that I will add later. I am still down a computer and these photos were uploaded before I accidentally broke it.
DeleteI can see the exact same thing happening here as well as with Northwest Mall. Once the area becomes desirable again for commercial business, the land value will increase and they can sell the property.
This Sears may very well be one of the last ones standing if the company falters. There are not enough quality retailers nearby so Sears benefits greatly from their location.
You're probably right that this Sears might be one of the last ones standing. The store is new enough that it probably doesn't need any significant amount of repairs to keep it going. The store does pretty good business due to a lack of quality competition in the area, as you say, and due to the blue collar demographics in the area that makes Sears a viable destination store. And, finally, the land the store is sitting on is not worth much so it's not like there will be many offers that will make Sears want to sell their store for a big payday.
DeleteI could see Plaza Paseo operate as an anchorless mall for a while if Sears goes out of business. Unlike NW Mall, however, I think it might be a while before the Plaza Paseo land ever becomes valuable. Plaza Paseo's owners should probably look at what the Mall of the Mainland has done to try to maximize the value of their unleased/under-utilized buildings. Perhaps they should try to see if a church, gym, or social services organization would be interested in getting some of the unused space.
I went back a few days ago and there are more vacancies. The furniture store near Macy's appears to have closed, their inventory is gone from the former Anna's Linens store, and a few more businesses have closed. The food court is down to 3 places now from 5 on my last visit. The fountain is dried out and may not be used anytime soon.
DeleteSears was busy as usual but they only had a limited amount of checkouts open with long lines.
The paper on the doors of Macy's is already falling off so you can see inside again.
Things sound pretty bad over at Plaza Paseo. It'll probably get even worse after the holidays. It's sad to hear about the shrinking food court and that the fountain has been turned off. Who knew that someone could operate a mall with even less success than Triyar!
DeleteThe Plaza Paseo Sears has always had long lines during my visits even when most of the registers are open. I can only imagine how bad it must have been if they had a limited number of registers open! I know I had an experience like that at the Willowbrook Mall Sears prior to the holidays where the upstairs and men's department registers were closed forcing everyone to use the women's and tool department registers. Fortunately, things were better at the Willowbrook Sears when I did my holiday shopping there this year.
Anyway, thanks for the update. Hopefully the mall will hang in there, but it does sound like it's really struggling.
I am sure the mall will continue to soldier on. They still have several chain stores and 5 of those are major shoe stores. I need to go by one weekend to see how things are going down there. I am sure the weekends are much busier.
DeleteHuh? The Sears at Baybrook is still open. Rumoured to close in Late Jan of 18th. The upstairs part of the old foley's/macys was closed 2 years ago or so. They did try to fix up the store. They had all the lights working it was cleaner then before.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update on the Baybrook Sears, they have been closing that store since late Summer it is one of the longest closing sales that Sears has had since they are still open.
DeleteThe Macys at this mall was renovated ever so slightly when they closed off the second floor, but they shrunk the inventory levels to match the size of the smaller store. Pasadena was a decent store for Macys but it was not profitable enough and was an older store that needed a full remodel.