(This is my self written post that was originally posted on the now closed Mall History Site). Post updated with new information.
During the 1980s this mall had a Service Merchandise, Mervyn's, JCPenney, Sears, Beall's, Palais Royal, Foley's, Montgomery Ward, Walgreen's, Casa Ole, Piccadilly, a large food court, and a second story play area with carousel in the center court.
This mall was designed with several corridors and is very large especially for the city of Baytown that had 45,000 residents in the 1980s. The ceilings are tall with skylights and the old tiles and wood frames are still intact in the mall. The mall has not been truly remodeled since its opening.
Service Merchandise, Bealls, and Montgomery Ward all closed in the beginning of 2001. Mervyn's closed in 2006 with the rest of the stores in the Houston area. During the mall's history it has had trouble keeping stores due to its large size and small nearby population. In recent years Wal-mart, Best Buy, Target, Lowe's, and Conn's Electronics which are all located in the center of the city have opened up or expanded their locations taking away mall traffic. Kohl's built a new store directly across the street from the mall in 2008.
The south corridor is empty where the Wards and Bealls used to be. The southwest corridor where the Foley's and Palais Royal is only has a few stores left out of 15 abandoned. The north corridor where the Mervyn's and Service Merchandise closed has two out of the 20 spaces filled. The east corridor with Sears and Marshalls has seen some losses, but is about 75% full. The JCPenney and center food court have stayed nearly full at about 90% capacity. A cinema operates in the mall and is very successful. Casa Ole and the food court still makes money. There are two arcades in the center court as well. The second story playground and the carousel is still open and staffed. Only Sears, JCPenney, Palais Royal, Marshall's, and Macy's are open. Foley's became Macy's when they took over the May company in 2006. Only about 60 stores still operate in a mall built for 175+ but there is hope. The Montgomery Ward corridor is now closed off and scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt as the commons of San Jacinto. Unfortunately the redevelopment sign has been up for years without any work started.
There are also videos on the you tube site of this mall in the 1990's that are worth looking at.
Mervyn's, closed in 2006 (Check out the labelscar).
Service Merchandise, closed in 2001 (Check out the labelscar).
Sears
JCPenney
The now closed entrance near the old Montgomery Ward's
Bealls, closed in 2001
Montgomery Ward's, closed in 2001
Foley's (now Macy's)
Interior photos from late 2006
Gosh, is it really that dark at night?! The Galleria (see Labelscar) was taken at night, and at daytime, the mall is significantly brighter.
ReplyDeleteThe mall is still very dark despite their new lighting near the food court. I have some new photos that were taken there last week coming soon to the page as an update to this article.
ReplyDeleteIt is so sad to see the condition of this mall compared to how it was in the early 90's when I was into walking the mall with my friends instead of shopping. It was lively, full of brand-name stores and the place to go for everything. Today, even the stores that exist are in bad shape (Macy's for one). The Macy's wasn't remodeled after replacing Foley's and you cannot buy many brand names at this Macy's as you can at others.
ReplyDeleteMost of the stores that do exist are places you've never heard of and sell a lot of junk.
It makes me mad that the management company doesn't do something...anything with this property. I'd rather see it torn down completely so that something better can go up in it's place. It sits on a valuable piece of real estate now.
Until the mall does something, Baytonians will continue to go to Baybrook, Deerbrook, The Galleria, etc to shop. Everyone I know does...
the mall needs to shut down for good... once yall sell it then a new contractor can come and preduce a new outsanding mall to beet all other get ride of the piece of s>>>
ReplyDeleteSearch "Tears for a Mall" on You Tube and see what it used to be like....
ReplyDelete@ the most recent Anonymous; wow what a video. I wonder how they got access to the old Montgomery Wards Wing; it has been walled off for a few years now. The mall was too big for the city of Baytown and the death of Montgomery Wards, Mervyns, and Service Merchandise created the voids in those parts of the mall. The lack of investment in the mall shows and most shoppers prefer the newest and most modern centers to shop.
ReplyDeleteass mall
ReplyDelete