So here we are for what may be our last visit to Ridgmar Mall. The mall opened on October 20, 1976. We visited this mall several years back in 2012 when the mall was doing well. The mall began losing anchors starting with Macy's in 2016, Neiman Marcus then followed by relocating in 2017, Sears left in 2018, and now JCPenney is in the process of closing down in late 2026. Ridgmar didn't have a chance to come back with the 3 department store losses so quickly. Dillards has also been a clearance center since 2016 shortly after the announcement was made for Macy's to close. with only the second floor open for customers. The mall was still doing well as late as 2015 when H&M opened a store at the mall. Even though Neiman Marcus announced their intentions to move in 2014, the mall was still doing good until it wasn't.
The property is slated for redevelopment as a logistics hub. Only the Dillard's and possibly the former Macy's/Foley's will remain. The rest of the mall including the newer Cinemark will be demolished in the current plan.
The redevelopment of the mall is part of a recent trend in the DFW area. Collin Creek was mostly demolished for a redevelopment, Valley View was completely demolished for redevelopment, The Shops at Willowbend is closing at the end of August 2026 to be mostly demolished for a redevelopment, Red Bird was partially demolished in three phases for redevelopment, and Vista Ridge/Music City Mall has been rumored for a redevelopment project as well. I know malls have been redeveloped in the DFW before, but all of these mall redevelopment projects at roughly the same time is unprecedented.
Here is the drive around tour starting with the former Neiman Marcus.
The former Macy's/Foley's is now a Free Up Storage location. After the Macy's closed, the space was initially converted to Right Move Storage which closed in 2023.
This Foley's anchor did not last very long as it opened in 1998 and closed in 2016 after converting to Macy's in 2006 along with the rest of the chain.
The former Sears auto center
The former Sears. Sears was a late addition to the mall in 1977.
The road sign with only a few options remaining on the list.
The Dillard's clearance center still had a lot of action on this Friday evening.
Macy's and Sears with the food court entrance in the middle.
Another view of the former Sears.
More of the Dillard's clearance center anchor.
JCPenney has a similar design to the now demolished Valley View Mall JCPenney location.
The former JCPenney and later Firestone auto center.
The brutalist design of the Neiman Marcus is a lot more simplistic than most of their locations.
We will enter the mall at the Cinemark entrance.
I like the way they incorporated the cinema entrance to the mall. During most times of the day this walkway will stay shaded. Even though you can find a parking spot close to any mall entrance these days, in the past this would be a good break after walking through the uncovered parking lot.
The door handles with the mall logo are a nice touch.
The Rave Ridgmar 13 opened in December of 2003. Cinemark is the owner of the cinema now and they have kept much of the original look of the cinema intact. The movie theater may ultimately be demolished as part of the current redevelopment plan.
I really miss this style of the late 90's early 2000's. Even though these are not neon lights, they still have colored covers over the fluorescent bulbs.
Here is a peak into the mall corridor.
The Hurricane Simulator, a staple of dying malls is here to the left.
This fountain was still operational. Certainly, a rare treat in malls these days.
I knew going into this visit that the mall was failing, but I was not prepared for how bad things had gotten here.
Ridgmar Mall is a massive nearly 1.3 million square foot mall. For a Houston area mall comparison, it is slightly smaller than the Woodlands Mall and slightly larger than Deerbrook Mall.
Most of the look we see today is from the major renovation of the mall that was completed in July of 2000. Unfortunately, the neon lights and many of the decorations were shut off or removed entirely since our last visit. The mall had a slight refresh in 2016 that made parts of the mall bland. Here is the former Neiman Marcus anchor mall entrance. Neiman Marcus seemed to be much more upscale than the retailers at this mall.
They really did a terrible job of covering up the entrance of the former Neiman Marcus.
A few skylights still have the clouds that were part of the 90's renovation of the mall. This is looking from Neiman Marcus into the main mall.
One of the shutdown fountains pictured below. You can also see the cluster of stairs in the Neiman Marcus court that made this area seem odd.
The second-floor area with the escalators going to the cinema. This space was probably designed for an anchor store that never opened.
I believe the H&M store was located in the space on the left side of this photo.
The former Foley's/ Macys court. A large playground takes up the lower level of the mall in front of the vacant store.
One of the issues with Ridgmar Mall is the darkness that is hard to miss now that so many stores closed. The first floor is really dark in some areas. The mall has skylights, but they are not large enough to illuminate the mall like we see in most modern malls.
I am thinking the ceiling in the photo above the escalators was where this airplane with neon was located prior to the 2016 refresh of the mall. The extra columns with the 90's colors are also missing.
Obvious old Victorias Secret.
JCPenney will close as the store turns 50 in 2026.
Looking towards the food court near JCPenney.
The food court had a few places open on my visit. Sadly, there were hardly any customers sitting down.
Here are some of the choices they had. This food court reminds me a lot of PlazAmerica's mall in the early days when only a few places were open. Ridgmar will never see the business that PlazAmericas Mall has.
As we continue in the mall, there are a few more places open in this side of the mall.
This section of the mall had the most active storefronts, but that isn't saying much.
I have a video short linked here to hear and see how empty this mall was on a Friday evening in April. This is the Sears court of the mall.
Here is what the sign looked like when the neon still worked back in 2012.
The TV's were still working but they sounded terrible. They were playing old Ridgmar Mall ads.
Looking towards the food court.
In this photo looking towards Dillards, you can really see the vintage wooden handrails.
A radio station has setup shop inside of the mall.
The Dillards clearance center that will remain open as the rest of the mall is demolished in the near future. Only the second floor is open to customers. The mall entrance appears to be shut down permanently. When we visited in 2012, this was still a full-sized store.
The Ridgmar Mall site isn't active anymore. I guess that is what is new at the mall.
We will drop down to the first floor for a look at what is going on.
In this section of the mall there were a few storefronts with permits and a little bit of construction going on. It seemed like mall management was trying to bring this area of the mall back to life, but only a handful of spaces had tenants.
An effort to light up the dark lower floors gives this section of the mall a street like appearance. It is almost a throwback to the past when malls were advertised as air-conditioned sidewalks.
The vacant Sears.
Inside of the vacant Sears. The store looks like it is still in really good condition.
Here is one of the few newer stores open in the Sears court.
Some of the mirrored ceiling tiles survived the 90's remodel. The red brick tile may be original flooring as well as it was popular in the 70's and 80's.
A former Old Navy on the left side.
Can you spot it? This space was under some sort of construction.
Yes, it is a former Waldenbooks location.
An odd wall separates the majority of the store, but we can still see some of the old book fixtures inside.
A former Champs Sports.
The grand mall entrance to JCPenney. The fountain has been shut off for a while now. The turtle on the second floor used to have a stream of water flowing into the fountain below. This was the only retail anchor to still have mall access allowed since Dillards closed off their mall entrances.
The 2012 view of the spitting turtle.
A lonely kiosk tucked away under the escalators.
SeaQuest was a 2017 addition to the mall to try and save the inevitable decline that was going on at the mall. Sadly, this chain of aquariums and this location specifically, had a lot of bad practices and controversy that resulted in the entire chain going out of business. This location made the news several times especially in 2024. PETA got involved due to the mistreatment and starvation of the animals here. Even some customers got hurt at this location from the animals. This location closed in October of 2024.
Inside of the former aquarium.
One of the ways that the mall management has tried to attract business is with these stages. I rarely see them used even in the busier malls.
Not sure if this store was still in business. A few of the stores had odd hours listed on the doors. I guess a tenant is better than no tenant, but odd hours hurts foot traffic on properties that rely on impulse buys.
This bright jewelry store really stands out in the sea of dark and empty storefronts. Also of note, check out the broken escalators.
The Macy's/Foley's court from the ground up.
An obvious former Shoe Department Encore, now being used as an R/C car track. This was one of the busiest spots inside of the mall.
LensCrafters seems to hold on to deadmalls these days, much like GNC and Bath and Body Works used to.
More shots of the mall in the Neiman Marcus and Rave cinema side of the mall.
A good view of one of the mirrored ceilings.
One last look at the mall before we head out. This is near the theater where we entered the mall.
As always there is more to come. Recently we visited the Mountainview Mall/Shops at Ardmore for our first Oklahoma Mall on the blog. We also revisited the Shops at Willowbend just in time before the vast majority of the interior mall closes on August 31. Just this past month we hit over 2.5 million views on the blog, so a big thanks goes out to everyone who reads and keeps me going. I especially appreciate everyone who comments and helps me keep things as accurate as they can be. I am not sure what I will post next, so stay tuned as always.
