(See Dec 09 & Jan 10 updates for recent updates on the ongoing redevelopment of the Sharpstown Mall into Plazamerica). The property is now rebounding and under construction.
Once a vibrant mall with Montgomery Wards, Walgreens, Foley's and Kresge's as anchors; this mall has struggled through the last decade. In April of 2009 my family and I visited this mall and took these photos. This mall lost JCPenney as an anchor in 1998, Finger furniture in 2008, Macy's in 2008, and the cinema in 2008. This was originally a one story mall that opened up in the 1960's before the southwest freeway was built. The mall had several successful years and even outlasted a second mall built two miles away called Westwood. Shortly after the mall opened a high rise called the jewelry center; it was constructed as an anchor to the mall. In the late 1970's the mall added a second floor to add to its success. In 2001 Montgomery Wards closed and was replaced by a Burlington Coat Factory. In January of 2008 Macy's and Finger Furniture announced their stores would be closing. The cinema followed suit quietly. The food court went from nearly full to only one food outlet in less than a year. Inline stores have been exiting quickly and the mall has not taken down most of the signs. Some of the closed food outlets still have their menus up as if they are only temporarily closed. Strangely there are still stores hidden in some of the areas of the mall where anchors have left. In the JCPenney corridor there are three stores still left even though the anchor has been gone since 1998. One of those stores is hidden behind a corner that you have to walk up to the closed anchor to see. The mall has several staircases that will give the shopper a workout, but navigating a baby stroller here is terrible. The Burlington and the Jewelry center seem to do well here. Outside of this mall there are two closed auto repair shops, a closed Circuit City, and a closed Big Lots which is the first Big Lots I have seen that closed. Target and Marshall's across the freeway also pulled out in 2006.
Excellent blog (though the pics are a bit on the low-res side). I've done a few adventures to Houston, submitting The Galleria to Labelscar, and I've visited a few others (First Colony, Memorial City) which I have not submitted. I'm also continuing to work on my big Post Oak Mall post.
ReplyDeleteThe only one that got away is the Town & Country Mall. I think if we submit our malls to Labelscar (me with Memorial City, First Colony, and a slim of chance of Katy Mills in the future) and you with the others, we can create a large library of Houston malls on Labelscar.
The other "dangerous" mall in Houston is Greenspoint, also known as "Gunspoint". It's also the saddest of the Houston mall stories. It had six anchors at its peak, and now it's down to Dillard's Clearance Center, Sears, and Macy's. A fitness center occupies an old Mervyn's (which was a Lord & Taylor once) and Montgomery Ward and JCPenney sit vacant.
Sorry, I did not mean say "low-res", they just look a bit "fuzzy".
ReplyDeleteI usually use my crappy cell phone camera when taking indoor pictures at malls to avoid security guard harrassment. I will try to get better quality photos for future posts. I have several more photos and stories to post on this site. I live near Greenspoint mall and I will go there in the near future for photos. I already have a write up for that mall ready to go. I also have write ups for Meyerland, Galvez, Gulfgate, and several other malls in the metro Houston area. I just need to go take some pictures of the sites that occupy those former malls.
ReplyDeleteI'd kind of like to see the stuff on Labelscar (that's where my stuff goes, unless there's already a post like on Mall of the Mainland) and I'm doing a write-up on my local mall Post Oak Mall (in College Station) which I'll submit...someday. That and West Hill Mall (Huntsville), Memorial City Mall (Houston), and First Colony Mall (Sugar Land).
ReplyDeleteI have submitted several articles to Labelscar, and they have only posted two. I am not sure what their requirements are for submission and I am sure they sift through several e-mails so some of my articles may have been deleted. I am a huge fan of labelscar, but I thought it was time to create this blog so I can post my articles. Mall History and Dead Retail have been deleted, so this site can help fill that void. Some of my older articles have been re-posted to this site that were on those sites.
ReplyDeleteI have been to all of those malls above as well. I remember when Memorial City was considered a dying mall when Town and Country was doing well. First Colony mall has never really impressed me, and the West Hill Mall is pathetic.
First Colony Mall was not ever supposed to be a big draw, it's just another mall.
ReplyDeleteWest Hill Mall is pretty sad.
Try contacting Labelscar again. Try putting the files in MS Word format and attaching a small note like "Hey Caldor, I'm just wondering why some of the things I submitted were never posted" or something like that. The other problem with Almeda Mall and Lake Forest Plaza was that they were all drive-by shots. LFM was closed and post-Hurricane Katrina, but there was nothing wrong with Almeda.
Sharpstown was Foley's first branch store which opened in the early 1960's (1963 I think). It continued to do well for many years. Several times Foley's had the chance to anchor in The Galleria a few miles away but chose not to due to their committment to Sharpstown. Foley's was sold to May Co. in 1988 after the Campeau debacle at Federated Department Stores. Under May's ownership, Foley's finally put a branch store in The Galleria with the new Nordstrom wing. Macy's took over Foley's in 2006 and promptly shut down Sharpstown.
ReplyDeleteI was at the closing sale at Macy's in 2008. I knew once they left this mall would go downhill. Foley's and later the May Co. were better at keeping commitments to their locations. I can't think of a single Foley's store that closed here in Houston.
ReplyDeleteWow, I last went to Sharpstown when Macy's (I still want to call it Foley's) was closing. I took a stroll around the mall because I figured I wouldn't be there again, even thought it's 5 minutes away from my job, because everything I went to Sharpstown for has closed over the past decade. Your pictures show rapid deterioration. One thing in your pictures that did make me smile was the old Wicks n Sticks labelscar. There's a childhood memory from when Sharpstown was full and had varied stores. -Kristin
ReplyDeleteSharpstown Center, from my I understand is under new management and has several proposed renovations scheduled here in the near future. The management team that is place reminds me of MIB (Men In Black) with their white crisp shirts and dressy ties. That is after speaking with one of their representatives. I visited the center here last week and was impressed with the current changes that have taken place. Many of the walls have been repainted with all escalator working, with the exception of one near the middle of the center. Security has been beefed up and seems to be doing a great job on patrolling the premises. I look forward to your update, since much of what is posted has changed and does not justify the direction Sharpstown Center is heading.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to hear that management has changed. The previous owners did not take good care of the mall and the new management will be busy. Hopefully they will be aggressive in getting tenants into the mall. I have updated my article to reflect the changes, so thanks for the info. If the new owners capitalize on the success of the Jewelry Exchange; the mall can rebound. The Macy's anchor would be good for a college campus or a furniture store with on site pick up. Since the JCPenney anchor is going to be hard to fill since it has been vacant for over ten years.
ReplyDeleteI remember Greenspoint Mall in the late 1970's as the place to go for everything. I remember going to Greenspoint Mall in the late 1970's during Christmas time and there was hardly any vacant parking spaces. I remember having to park almost to the freeway because the mall was so packed. I remember when they added the then Joskes wing. I remember the live tree's down the middle of the mall with lights on them and the park benches along the middle walk. I remember the Piccadilly cafeteria and having to stand in line all the way around at the entrance. I remember when Finger's furniture had just open. I remember Best store being there. I remember the Greenspoint bank at the entrance. I remember when Montgomery Wards had just open. I might be wrong, however, whenever the Metro bus line came thru the area and then later The Woodlands Mall openning is probably alot of what Killed the mall. However...
ReplyDeleteSharpstown will now be called PlazaMericas Mall and will be completely revamped. It will have over 350 stores, a church, free kids play area and a mercado which will house several small businesses. The mercado is sort of like a flea market and will allow smaller businesses to operate in this area. The demographic in this area is over 50% Hispanic so therefore mall mgmt is targeting this demographic. I do believe they are removing the old Sharpstown signs today and replacing with new name. This project should be complete within 2 to 3 years.
ReplyDeleteIt's really depressing to see that almost everything at sharpstown is closed. Last time I came to sharpstown I was 15 back in 02' and the mall was nearly occiupied.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a script from a PlazAmericas employee to me doing some lame PR. Who do you think you are fooling? Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteGood evening anonymous; you are certainly entitled to your opinion of me and my blog. This article and none of the articles are written by any PR person of any of these retail properties. Please look forward to my future posts on Texas and Louisiana retail properties.
ReplyDelete