Macy's has re opened and the store has been completely rebuilt. The new design is very similar to the Macy's at Deerbrook Mall that was re built after Hurricane Ike. Macy's invested a ton of money into this store, so they intend to stay.
Burlington is now open; the layout of the store is very strange. They took up a little more than 1/2 of the first floor of the old JCPenney and they only re opened one exit door facing I-45. They also only opened up half of the old entrance to leave room for another store to take the remaining space available in the old building. I am very surprised that Burlington did not take all of the space available like they did in Sharpstown Mall.
This is a photo of the corridor outside of Burlington. Steve and Barry's was located on the left of this picture.
Burlington only took up a little more than a quarter of the old JCPenney building. Here is a labelscar from the former catalog entrance.
As a bonus.
The boards have been removed from the old Circuit City and the lights are on again. There are no signs advertising the new development yet.
I agree. I'm thrilled Almeda Mall has survived and is now thriving. Some of this could be due to the Super WalMart that was built just a few years ago. Do you remember what year Almeda Mall was built?
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic and nice for once to see Wal-Mart do a rare bucking of their normal trend of building Super Wallys away from malls, and near an existing one. Decent pics of Almeda, too, and I got a good smile once I realized Burlington was in the place of it's former JCPenney.
ReplyDelete-Allan/AM
Any idea what the Ross and Steve & Barry's spaces at Almeda used to be?
ReplyDelete@TenPoundHammer The Steve and Barry's was an Old Navy store that closed in the early 2000's. I am not sure what it was before that. The Ross store has been there for several years and I do not know what it was before that.
ReplyDeleteBurlington Coat Factory does a hack job of "remodeling" most of its properties. There's a former Mervyn's that BCF moved into in Waco that actually sealed off one of its entrances.
ReplyDelete@ Pseudo3D I could not agree with you more. The Burlington at PlazAmericas Mall looks almost exactly the same as when the building was Montgomery Ward. The ceiling on the 2nd floor there is falling apart from water damage. Burlington has been one of the only retail chains growing in the recession, so they have to cut corners somewhere I guess.
ReplyDeleteOh, speaking of Burlington, there's a good history-laden strip mall up in northwest Houston.
ReplyDeleteAt 43rd Street and Northwest Freeway, a strip mall contains Fallas Discount Store (an 80's Toys R Us), a vacant Service Merchandise, and a Burlington Coat Factory which began life as a Venture (later Big Kmart).
@Pseudo3D I was at that shopping center in 2000 when Service Merchandise was clearing out all of their electronics the year before the whole chain closed. The Toys R Us there was still set up with the tickets in the aisle for video games. You had to take the ticket of the game you wanted, pay for it, and then bring your receipt to the booth for your game. That whole system was a huge waste of time. The Greenspoint Toys R Us location still had that video game setup when they closed in 2006.
ReplyDeleteAlmeda is getting a new/retro reface with new/retro graphics. There will be a new pylon sign with an EDS set in front of the mattress store pad-site. Still don't know what use all that will be... lipstick on a pig.
ReplyDeleteLook for new graphics and chucky-cheese color scheme @ almeda mall. New pylon and channel letters going up in Oct. 2011.
ReplyDeleteI have some very unfortunate news to report about Almeda Mall. I made a visit to the mall very recently and I noticed that the Piccadilly Cafeteria has closed. The storefront has been drywalled over and the vintage exterior sign near the food court has been removed. Of course, the whole cafeteria was quite vintage looking so the loss of it is very unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Almeda Piccadilly was the last remaining Piccadilly in Texas. The closure of the store is the end of an era for both Piccadilly and Almeda Mall. Hopefully something else will be able to replace Piccadilly at the mall, but I guess we'll have to see about that.
The Almeda Piccadilly was open during my last visit to the mall in May or early June so obviously it must have closed very recently. I regrettably never ate at the Almeda Piccadilly, but I did come close about 10 years ago. I was with a woman who loved Almeda Mall and we started to walk in it to eat, but she had second thoughts and decided that she wanted to eat at the food court instead of the cafeteria. I figured that I would eat there at some point, but I guess it never happened. Oh well. I'm not sure if I really missed out on anything in terms of the food there, but it would have been nice to see the decor if nothing else since it seemed quite vintage even then.
I didn't notice any significant changes at Almeda Mall aside from the Piccadilly. The clock in the Macy's wing is still broken. Perhaps it has been broken for a long time now and won't be fixed, but I don't know. It would be nice if the mall could get it going again as the similar clock at Northwest Mall is still operating. It would be a nice touch at the mall especially since that wing is doing pretty well at Almeda Mall.
Well the cafeteria lasted much longer than many anticipated, but it is not good to lose probably the last mall cafeteria in the area. Picadilly is in a bunch of malls in Louisiana, but Houston is a Luby's town and Picadilly probably was just waiting out the lease on the Almeda location. I doubt any restaurant will take its place since the restaurant space on the I-45 side of the mall has been empty for years. I do have a few pictures of the entrance to Picadilly that are from the future Almeda post. I would hope that Almeda is due for a major renovation sometime in the near future. The mall looks more dated than Northwest, but somehow has continued to do well.
DeleteI really have not thought about the current state of cafeterias at Houston malls, but you might be right to say that the Piccadilly at Almeda Mall was the last one. Luby's used to have a location at Willowbrook Mall, but that closed a long time back. I'm sure Luby's had other mall locations too, but I can't recall any of them off the top of my head.
DeleteI remember the old Memorial City Mall Piccadilly, but that has been gone for a long time now AFAIK. Houston is definitely a Luby's town now as you say. I don't think that Luby's will consider the old Almeda Mall Piccadilly location since they have a location right down the road at I-45 and Fuqua.
The old Piccadilly location at Almeda Mall probably has better visibility and traffic than the other empty restaurant spot at Almeda Mall since it is near the food court. The other restaurant spot is in a somewhat remote spot away from the main concourse and other major stores in the mall (though I guess it has better visibility/access off I-45). That said, I'm not sure if the old Piccadilly will ever be converted into another eatery. Hopefully it will be converted into something though. Although the Piccadilly storefront has been totally covered and the vintage outdoor signage near the food court has been removed, the I-45 pylon still has a Piccadilly sign on it. I'm guessing that will be removed soon.
I love the retroness of Almeda Mall, but Northwest Mall is arguably a better looking mall inside than Almeda. Certainly Almeda is doing better from a leasing perspective, but NW Mall has done a better job maintaining some more modern and some more retro features of the malls. The Foley's wing clock at NW Mall still works unlike the one at Almeda and the JCPenney wing fountain at NW Mall is still present and operating. The fountain at Almeda Mall was closed and floored over long ago. NW Mall has modern flooring tile (the tile is ~20 years old probably, but that design has stayed modern) compared to the vintage earthtone tile at Almeda Mall. I really like the retro look of Almeda's tile, but the tile at NW Mall looks nice too and it kind of brightens up the mall. I suppose an argument could be made about which tile looks better, but NW Mall does still have one retro entry wing near the antique mall that has the Almeda style brown tile. Perhaps then NW Mall is the best of both worlds. Most of the mall has the modern tile, but there is still a retro spot left for those who want to reminisce.
As for NW Mall's future, someone recently asked about renovation plans for the mall on their Facebook page. The mall responded back and said that they plan on renovating the mall, but only when construction is done or near done on Hempstead Highway. Of course, the response also alluded to the fact that it is unclear right now what exactly will happen to Hempstead Highway and when things will get done. Obviously things will be on hold until those things are settled.
I know you said earlier that you were hoping to do an Almeda Mall and Northwest Mall modern comparison post. I'd really like to see that even though I still visit both malls fairly regularly. I'd like to see your photos of Almeda Mall even if you don't do the comparison post though.
I think San Jacinto had both Luby's and Picadilly at the same time when the mall opened but I may be wrong about that. Deerbrook had the last Houston area mall Luby's. Northline and I think Greenspoint had Picadilly since there is/ was a Luby's down the street from the mall. Gulfgate also had a Picadilly and I think Sharpstown had Luby's.
DeleteSince most area malls have not been renovated in more than 10 years, Northwest does not look dated. Many of the area malls have only had one or no major renovations. Memorial City and the Galleria are the only two that have had major renovations in the past ten years or so.
I still have the Almeda/ Northwest post in my archives to post, but I want to make sure it is a great post so it will take time. I will get on the Chron archives and get some mid 1980's and early 90's info to add to what is already known about the mall. Northwest really needs to get going on what they plan on doing with the property. On my last visit, the mall had lost more stores than they had lost in a while and with the exception of the students from the medical college, there were hardly any shoppers. Maybe the mall owners will get the Macy's property to put the site together under one owner and fix it up. I think the antique store is also owned separately.
I’m sure that I knew what kind of cafeteria that Greenspoint Mall had back in the day, but I really don’t remember at this point. I believe that there is still a Luby’s just up I-45 from the mall though. I do remember Deerbrook Mall having a Luby’s pretty late in the game now that you mention it. I’m not sure when it closed down though.
DeletePiccadilly had quite a few locations here at one point if I remember correctly, but I think the former Almeda Mall location was their last location here for quite some time. I guess that Luby’s was just too much competition for them here, but you would think that Piccadilly would be at least a little bit popular with the large Louisiana population in Houston. Oh well I guess. North Oaks Mall used to have a Wyatt’s Cafeteria in the non-mall part of the center. I believe that became a Luby’s at one point, but Luby’s isn’t there either now. I believe there is a Chinese restaurant there now and a CiCi’s Pizza a couple of stores down. Wyatt’s used to be somewhat popular as well, but I guess they were taken down by Luby’s as well. Cafeterias in general may not be as popular as they used to be, but I don’t know about that. People may prefer fast food and traditional sit-down restaurants instead. Places like Luby’s and Piccadilly aren’t exactly known for healthy eating either so maybe the health conscious steer away from them. All that said, they are building a new Luby's/Fudrucker’s combo near the former Clear Lake area Deauville Fashion Mall.
It probably does not make a lot of sense for Levcor to remodel Northwest Mall at the moment. Construction in the area is impacting accessibility so some people will avoid the mall just because of that regardless of a renovation. Plus, I’m sure retailers and Levcor are waiting to see if road construction will take away any more of the property and/or impact accessibility any more than is already the case (I'm sure Levcor wants to avoid a Town & Country Mall like fiasco). There are a lot of proposals for Hempstead Highway right now, but there aren’t firm plans AFAIK. Perhaps Levcor will make their move once the question marks are taken away, but for now it is a guessing game as to whether that property will ever have a chance as a retail destination again.
I believe that Levcor purchased the former JCPenney anchor building around the time that they purchased the mall itself. The ex-Macy’s is still owned by Macy’s though AFAIK. Perhaps Macy’s is waiting for construction to end in order to make an evaluation on the viability of the property. I’m not sure what Macy’s is doing if that isn’t the case though. Hopefully Levcor can get that land if Macy’s won’t do anything with it. It’s sad to see so many retailers leave Northwest Mall, but I think Levcor is doing a pretty good job maintaining the mall all things considered so I hope that they can survive the construction period and be able to bring back retailers once things are settled. Levcor may consider razing the mall and building a power center or something once things settle down, but hopefully they’ll keep it as a mall.
I’m definitely looking forward to the Almeda Mall-Northwest Mall piece whenever you get it up. Hopefully you’ll be able to find some good information about the malls. If nothing else, you may be able to pull up some things from the Bayou City History blog pieces about the NW and Almeda malls.
The Deerbrook Luby's actually lasted until early 2012 and all evidence of the cafeteria is long gone with a ladies clothing store in its place. The Almeda Picadilly location was the last one in Texas and they only have 57 locations listed on their website with the majority in Louisiana. Cafeteria's and buffets such as Ryan's and Golden Corral have been decimated by full service chains and the fast casual brands that have been growing. I know the prices at cafeteria's can get pricey very quickly especially if you are hungry and start grabbing items.
DeleteNorthwest is in a bad position if they want to keep the mall going as is. The mall will probably have to be redeveloped as an outdoor center with maybe parts of the mall left standing but with big box stores taking the mall space. The Macy's store has no parking left on the East side of the building and it would be a bad idea to reopen the store as is without modifying that building.
I made 3 or 4 visits to Deerbrook Mall between 2010 and December 2012 and I did remember seeing a Luby's there during at least one of those visits. It was probably closed during my last visit, but maybe I just didn't notice it.
DeleteIt's been a while since I've eaten at a cafeteria. I'm not even sure when the last time was. It might have been well over five years ago. I usually got the LuAnn Platter at Luby's which kept the cost down, but even that may be expensive these days. Fast casual places like Chipotle and Smashburger are doing well, especially with younger people, and have probably taken customers away from cafeterias and buffets. Hopefully the closure of the Almeda Mall Piccadilly has more to do with Piccadilly than with Almeda Mall though, The mall seems to have a lot of shoppers so I don't think that it is obvious that the mall is struggling if that is the case (and I don't know if it is), but the Piccadilly was one of the mall's signature places so it is sad to see it go.
It's hard to say right now what can be done to revitalize Northwest Mall. On the one hand, I think a power center can do well there. There is increasing demand for shopping options for residents who live in that area. Obviously someone like Wal-Mart would not be welcomed by many of the new Heights residents if they decided to build a new store there (if there is even room to do that between I-45 and 290), but the Northwest Mall location is far enough away to not upset residents while still being close enough to attract shoppers. It would be a bit like the Northline situation I guess. Having said that, visibility and access to the NW Mall area may become difficult once 290/610/Hempstead renovations are done. Stores generally don't want to open locations in areas that are hard to get to and/or are hard to see.
One good thing about Almeda Mall and Northwest Mall is that they have some junior anchor pads that have exterior entrances. Of course, in some cases, the pads only have exterior entrances. While those stores may not be great for driving traffic to in-line stores directly, the current trend is for exterior entry stores at malls and NW Mall and Almeda are already equipped with those. That may put them ahead of the game compared to some other malls in struggling areas.
It would be huge for NW Mall if Macy's ever opened that store again. Parking would be a major concern, but the Pasadena Town Square Macy's has a similar problem and that store has survived. It would not be ideal for Macy's, but I guess shoppers could always park in the middle part of the mall or near the antiques center and then walk over to the Macy's. Macy's may not be hot about that, but the mall and their in-line tenants would love that. Anyway, I would not bet serious money that Macy's would return, but hopefully it is something still on their radar. The area probably did have too many Macy's stores a few years ago, but the closure of one of The Galleria Macy's may give NW Mall some hope.
One thing that I do like about NW Mall right now is that it has a lot of bargain stores in it. One can get a cheap hair cut there, cheap shoes, stuff from the dollar store, and cheap pizza (that is better than almost every other mall pizza) from the food court. I don't know if stores like that pay enough in rent to make the mall profitable, but I do like having a bargain mall like that for people who want a mall experience without The Galleria and Memorial City Mall prices.
Anyway, it's a bit of a miracle that the mall has held together as well as it has without having a true anchor for over five years now, with the traffic trouble, and without any complimentary retail in the immediate area. Hopefully the mall can survive the construction and bring back shoppers and retailers once things settle down. I think Levcor is doing a good job all things considered.
Walmart would probably not be interested in Northwest, they have a fairly new store right behind the Marqee Center on I-10 and Silber. Target would be a possibility there since their other stores are far enough away from the Northwest site. A few other big box stores could be lured from the shopping centers a few exits down. I wonder if the remaining mall stores could be consolidated into the former JCPenney wing with the food court and former JCPenney wing sections of the mall remaining open. The rest of the mall could be bulldozed and replaced by a line of big box stores facing 610. The West Oaks, Gulfgate, and Northline redevelopment projects all could help Northwest to revitalize the property but they can't wait too much longer.
DeleteThat's a good point about the potential for a Walmart at the Northwest Mall location. Perhaps Target would be a better fit as you say. Probably the closest Target to that spot is the one on San Felipe near 610. Putting stores facing 610 would help the visibility of the center for sure, but even the Macy's building is hard to see now with all of the new ramps that are coming up on the 290/610 interchange. Plus, access may be difficult from the 610 side depending on how construction ends up and if any changes are made to Hempstead Highway.
DeleteMy guess is that the mall will be eliminated if the property is ever significantly redeveloped. Major chains that are worth keeping that are still at the mall well, Palais Royal mainly, would be fine with opening a store in an outdoor power center. The mall might lose the antique mall and other things like that if they close the mall, but those probably aren't significant rent payers. Another option is that the property might be redeveloped into office space or a residential tower. I think access and visibility would be less of an issue for something like that and there is probably demand for housing and office space in that area.
Offices, hotels, and residential would be a good fit for the property. There are a bunch of new and renovated developments in the area so the market is definitely there.
Deletethere was a luby's at memorial city mall it was near the old walgreens was which is now old navy.
ReplyDeletefor northwest, there is a lot of options for that mall since there isn't a mall for miles to the north and even that mall is greenspoint. I think a mall rebuilt like memorial city would work well with the heights crowd. There is sears that could relocate, they can get maybe a dillard's . Then macy's might open again. I don't think it would as large as the old foley/macy's but maybe the size of almeda.
Thanks for the Memorial City information. The challenge with the Northwest site is the size of the property. Since the East side of the parking lot at the former Macy's is now gone, the chances of Macy's coming back are very slim. A hometown Sears store would be a possibility, but not a full size store since Sears is closing stores only at this point. I could see a dense open air center with retail on the first floor and town homes or hotel spaces on the upper floors happening there. The area is close to many new developments and remodeled office towers. I think the price of the land has to come down significantly for someone to take on a rebuilding project at the Northwest site. The mall as it stands right now is not a viable building and most if not all of the building will have to be demolished.
DeleteNorthwest Mall will struggle to get premium anchors like Dillard's and Macy's due to it's proximity to The Galleria and Memorial City Mall. The Galleria contains flagship stores for those chains and the Memorial City stores are near flagships. Those chains are probably content with what they have in the area already.
DeleteIt's highly unlikely Sears would relocate their North Shepherd location given Eddie Lampert's priorities. Something like a Sears Outlet might make sense for the area though. One approach that the mall could take (and I think they've gone down this path already to some extent) is to attract value type stores instead of going down the dangerous path of competing with The Galleria and Memorial City for stores.
Another option might be to offer complimentary retail to the other malls in the area ala Meyerland. This would probably necessitate a conversion to an open air mall or a power center as it would be big box oriented. I'm not sure if the demographics and ease of access would support that though. The reality of the matter is that the Northwest Mall site may be better suited for non-retail residential or commercial use with maybe some light retail mixed in. The NW Mall area has never been a retail hub even during the mall's strongest years.
You'll probably want to photograph Almeda Mall again if you can. The tiles have changed the look of the mall IMO. As for other mall developments, I noticed this week that buildings are starting to go up on the site of the Baybrook Mall expansion. This is certainly exciting times for SE Houston mall observers. I'm glad that Almeda Mall is keeping up with Baybrook Mall by doing this renovation.
I think after the construction is completed , the area will become prime again. look at what happened on the katy freeway all the properties north of I 10 use to be all industrial and dying retail and after the construction the area became prime again. especially around bunker hill. Northwest has a challenge with that large chunk of parking lost due to the highway but a garage may make sense. remember how sharpstown lost some right of way due to 59 construction and Foley's built a garage.
Deletethe biggest mistake for northwest was trying to bring the marq'e development to come to northwest back in 1999 . if that occurred I don't think JC Penney's wouldn't have left and the mall would have been way better. Also the marq'e may have not struggled as it has in the past couple years
The area along 290 has a ton of big box retail already. I am not sure if the mall would be a good site for any relocation of the existing retail outlets. Office and residential with a small amount of retail and restaurant spaces seems the most likely choice.
DeleteThe Edwards cinema and the Marq-e development at Northwest would have helped keep the mall viable. I am not sure a large scale retail development would work in that location with how the growth of the city is going.
I was able to visit both Almeda and Northwest Malls lately. I have major news to report about Almeda Mall. The mall seems to be in the midst of a pretty significant renovation at the moment. They have removed the old earthtone brown tiles and replaced them with white tiles and a few fake dark wood accent tiles here and there. Most of the mall appears to be done with the retiling, but the new tiles have not been put in the food court wing yet. That area still has unfinished concrete, but I saw stacks of tiles in that wing so I assume that it'll probably be done by the time that you read this. The center plaza between the food court and the Palais Royal still has the old brown tile. Perhaps they will leave that there, but I don't know. The former fountain area near the Burlington/ex-JCPenney now has a children's play area in it which will probably be popular. The exterior mall entrance wing near the ex-Penney's still has the old brown tiles. I don't know if the mall will keep that wing vintage ala what Northwest Mall did years ago when it was retiled or if that will be the last part of the mall to get the new tiles.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is sad to lose the major vintage aspect of Almeda Mall, the new tile does make the mall look more modern, brighter, wider, and cleaner. Hopefully the change will lead to further success for the mall. It was certainly busy during my visit. It should also be noted that the clock in the Macy's wing appeared to be repaired after being down for quite a while.
I didn't notice many significant changes at Northwest Mall to note. I didn't notice any new store closures so that is certainly a good thing. Also, a new rentable children's party room has opened in the mall.
That is good news for Almeda, I am sure that this mall will be the only one of the twin malls that survives. This is also the first major recent renovation of a mall in the Houston area in several years so maybe more will follow. This is yet another recent change to one of the properties that I photographed so looks like I will have to pay another visit there soon.
Deletealmeda mall survived against the odds of the mall failing due to JC Penney leaving. this is crazy since mall that loose JCPenney tends go south . we saw Greenspoint, sharpstown , westoaks, northwest , town and country, mall of the mainland , all lost Penney's and those malls suffer immediately. I wonder why, it is definitely an interesting trend.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit hard to explain Almeda Mall's success given the extreme competition from Baybrook Mall. JCPenney did quickly exit from many malls that they felt were going backwards. Of course, JCPenney leaving those malls didn't do much to help matters at those malls. Still, Almeda has survived and even thrived to some extent. Plus, a lot of the retail surrounding Almeda Mall moved out, but Wal-Mart did move into the area. It may go against the popular narrative, but maybe Wal-Mart helped the mall. Maybe not, it's hard to say.
DeleteJCPenney has been quicker to leave bad malls than most retailers, but some of those losses came at times when the company closed several locations due to losses. JCPenney moved to a stand-alone store when they should have stuck around at Almeda. The loss of JCPenney and several other stores has hurt, but for the most part those losses have been temporary. Even some of the closed down big box stores behind the mall have recently reopened so the area is still viable. A refreshed Almeda Mall will keep the mall in a good position for years to come.
DeleteSan Jacinto Mall currently have JCPenney but that mall is falling real hard. Thats really strange considering the other malls mentioned that lost jcpenney is suffering but san jacinto mall is the only mall suffering that has a jcpenney. It will be really interesting what happens if the day jcpenney pulls out of san jacinto mall.
ReplyDeleteI think the JCPenney at San Jacinto does well. I have been to the store several times and they always have people in the checkout lanes. It is puzzling that San Jacinto Mall has continued to stay open despite being open for more than 30 years without a major renovation and is in poor shape.
DeleteThe San Jacinto Mall is an interesting story. It's certainly lost anchors over the years, but a lot of the anchor chains that it has lost went out of business completely instead of just closing their San Jacinto locations. The chains that have stayed in business have kept their San Jacinto anchors for the most part.
DeleteI think Baytown is a viable mall location, but the San Jacinto Mall was built way too large. It probably would have done a lot better long term if it was quite a bit smaller and had fewer anchors. The mall can tear down anchors now and resize the mall a bit, but it may always have the taint that unsuccessful malls have. Of course, any revitalization of the mall would require structural repairs and a major renovation for it to have a hope of being successful. I know that Triyar has struggled to recoup insurance money from Hurricane Ike damage so that may be really dragging the mall down. It's not like Triyar invests a lot in their properties anyway.
It's a bit hard to say, but it seems that the San Jacinto Sears may be a fairly successful location. Perhaps the Baytown demographics are favorable for Sears. Google has posted new StreetView images on I-10 near the mall so I can now see the new Sears signage on the outside of the store. The favorable demographics for Sears may also be a plus for JCPenney too. I'm not sure about the Macy's, but the store does not have a lot of competition from similar level competitors in the area so maybe that helps them. It probably also means that Macy's does not have to put a lot of effort into updating that location as they know that some people will shop their by default.
As for some of the big box stores coming back behind Almeda Mall, well, I'm not sure if I can agree with that. It's still pretty barren back there unless something new has happened since my last visit during the Christmas season. That said, the area near the mall where Wal-Mart opened a few years back has been a hopping place. Perhaps Wal-Mart is bringing more shoppers to the mall.
The biggest challenge for San Jacinto has been all of the new stores that could have moved to the mall that opened in nearby shopping centers. It seems that mall management is intent on letting the mall continue to decline without reinvestment. I am surprised Macy's is still open at San Jacinto, the store is in the back of the mall and not an ideal location.
DeleteI guess the area behind Almeda is still not healthy but a couple of those big box stores have new tenants.
The Baytown area is a bit interesting in that the newer major big box developments aren't off I-10 near the San Jacinto Mall even though there is plenty of land on I-10, but they are instead a bit further south on Garth Rd. in between I-10, 146, and 330. There are more neighborhoods near 146 than I-10 so I guess that makes sense. There are some big boxes near the mall like Kohl's and Academy, but I'm not sure if those stores ever would have considered the mall anyway as they aren't typically mall anchors and land is easy to come by in Baytown. Nevertheless, Triyar probably isn't the most aggressive mall operator out there when it comes to maintaining their malls and attracting major new stores. Of course, all of their Houston malls have some pretty steep hurdles.
DeleteIt is unfortunate that San Jacinto's anchors are spread out like they are. Triyar could have closed off larger chunks of the mall if Sears, JCPenney, and Macy's were closer together, but that isn't the case. They do have the Montgomery Ward wing closed off AFAIK, but that alone isn't going to do much in terms of reducing the amount of vacancies. It's almost as if the mall needs to be rebuilt for it to succeed, but I don't see that happening anytime soon to say the least. At least the mall should be able to survive (even if it is a struggle) as long as the anchors stay.
I think the only reason the anchors are still there is because there isn't anything in the area. If a mall opened in northeast Houston . I thin san jacinto would be done and I think deerbook would be in trouble. I heard Dillard's is trying to leave deerbrook but the mall made some deal with them. to stay
DeleteThat's something I have been trying to figure out. I teach in baytown at a high school and I have some kids that work in the mall, I would love to see it come back and thrive like it did in the 80s, heck baytown is booming especially around the I-10 area, lots of new build houses going up around there, its a shame how the mall has declined over the years. As an 80s born child I have vague memories of the mall in its heyday, when would would go there instead of Pasadena town square mall (which I think is weird that the mall there has survived as long as it has, especially with the new strip places being built like at beltway and fairmont among other places). Talking with students they have said everything from they need new hip stores, such as forever 21 and such that they would love to shop at, to the fact that the owner gets a tax write off for how horrible the mall has done in the past years. I really don't understand how it has survived as long as it has, granted it is in a great location. Heck garth rd is always busy with stop and go traffic that lots of people take other roads such as main street to avoid and and being right off of I-10 is great for people heading to houston or beaumont.
DeleteThe San Jacinto Mall is how it is due to management issues and the huge size of the mall. The demographics are there to support a mall with 3-4 anchors and around 700,000 square feet of total retail space. The mall is well over a million square feet with 5 large and 4 junior anchor spots plus a cinema. The owners have kept the mall mostly the same since the opening back in the 1980's. The same floors and carpet which have been taped up or patched up terribly are still there. Several ceiling leaks, peeling paint, boarded up skylights, and other vintage empty storefronts have hurt the mall. The mall stays open because it is the only one there. People would be glad if someone would invest the money to fix it up or open a new one nearby. The mall has to be downsized and at the very least fixed up to gain national retailers such as Forever 21.
DeleteDeerbrook does very well and the place is packed on most evenings. Dillard's on the other hand struggles for three reasons. #1 the store still looks exactly the same on the outside as in 1984 when it opened except for the name change from Macy's to Dillard's. #2 The store was updated in 1997 when it became Dillard's and has not had much work done since then so the store looks old. #3 the glass doors to the mall entrances go up around 8 pm every night on the second floor and 8:30 pm on the first making the store look like it is closed for the night. I am sure this drives away shoppers from this store. If Dillard's would invest money on store remodels like they did at the Willowbrook and Baybrook stores they would get more shoppers.
DeleteIn the future, maybe in around 10 years I can see a mall near the Beltway 8 and Highway 90 area. San Jacinto would really be in trouble but I think Deerbrook would be fine. If an outlet mall comes to Northeast Houston, Deerbrook may slow down a little. Deerbrook has continued to stay nearly 100% occupied and the few store vacancies don't stay empty for long.
The the proximity to greenspoint , willowbrook and woodlands does hurt this store. Iv never been to the store so I wonder is the inside still looks like macy's. I looked at yelp and some of the pictures of the inside doesn't look like a typical Dillard's. Even if the store looked like a typical Dillard's, I don't think that would affect it since the Galleria , Woodlands, parts of first colony and even West Oaks when it wasn't a clearance store , still look nice and those store haven't gotten updates since the stores opened. Except for the ladies shoe department of the galleria and the parts of first colony (mainly the first floor) . the 2nd floor, which never got a remodel since it opened.
DeleteIf it does look like macy's inside then, I can see why the store could struggle. That seems odd that the store closes early. I wonder if its due to crime.
I think also the size( three floors) is just too big for that area. You have an the same size at willowbrook + woodlands + greenspoint . I think they intended for the area to increase in size mainly 59 to be widened in the 90's but that didn't happen until early to mid 2000's. Remember this mall never had Dillard's which I always found weird for a mall that was built in the mid 80's . At least a joske's I would think would have been there. But I think maybe since the mall wasn't successful until the movie theater came , may have been a reason for not getting a Dillard's back in the early 90's. Since that was the time they seem to add the most new stores to malls that didn't have joskes or was a completely new mall. (Westoaks, woodlands, mall of the mainland, first colony)
It seems unlikely to me that a new indoor mall will open anytime soon on the Northeast or East side of town. An outlet mall is a distinct possibility, but I think Deerbrook Mall should be okay. I really can’t imagine Deerbrook Mall fading anytime soon either. The mall may have some trouble if Sears and/or JCPenney go out of business, but otherwise it’s a pretty healthy mall. Dillard’s really hasn’t maintained their Deerbrook store as well as they have maintained many of their other stores, but I don’t see where else Dillard’s is going to go in NE Houston. If they want to stay in NE Houston, Deerbrook is really their best (and only) opportunity. Dillard’s may have played hardball with their lease, but perhaps that was just negotiating ploy.
DeleteI visited Almeda Mall last week and I have a re-tiling update. They are still continuing to lay new tiles, but most of the mall is done now and they are just finishing up the obscure corridors. The old tiles in the mall entry corridor near the ex-JCPenney/Burlington mall entrance were removed. I guess Almeda Mall will retile that corridor unlike what Northwest Mall did years ago.
Deerbrook has recently lost a few inline stores, but due to company closures and cutbacks. Deerbrook is in the middle of a trade area with over 250,000 people with decent incomes. The Humble area is still growing and only a few big box spaces (less than 5) are currently abandoned compared with around 15 back in 2009.
DeleteI still have not made it back to Almeda, but I would like to see it when it is finished.
The Dillard's at Deerbrook looks mostly generic. The store layout is not much different from the Macy's days, but the wood panels and 1980's design elements were taken out in the remodel. Deerbrook Mall struggled in the first 10 years after it opened when Greenspoint was still doing well and the population of the area was still low. The trade area of Deerbrook has nearly tripled in population since the mall opened in the 1980's. The decline of Greenspoint and the improved Highway 59 and area roads have helped Deerbrook to remain strong for possibly many years to come.
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