Deauville North Fashion Mall Spring Tx.

The Deauville Fashion Malls are a short, but interesting story from the Houston area. In the early 1980's Houston was still booming with many malls opening up across town. The Deauville company (formed in 1971) was headed by Thomas Gordon (Gordon Jewelers) opened 3 discount malls in the Houston area in 1984. Another mall was built in Kingwood in 1985-1986 but never opened for business. The malls were located in Webster, Stafford, and Spring. There were also 2 Deauville Shopping Centers, one on I-45 south of Greenspoint Mall and the other on 290 at 34th street. Deauville also proposed malls at the corner of 1960 and I-45, Will Clayton and US 59, Midland Texas, and Austin Texas. The malls quickly fell into trouble and all three were foreclosed on by 1986. Kingwood never opened and sat empty for many years until it was reopened as a medical center. The Deauville Malls opened on Sunday's when Texas Blue Laws were still in place requiring retailers to close on Sunday's. In 1985 the blue laws were repealed and many retailers started opening up on Sunday's. By early 1986 to mall dropped from 80% occupied to 50% occupied by the end of the year and continued to decline.

The Deauville North Fashion Mall at 300,000 square feet was anchored by Designer Depot and Federated. There was also nearby shopping center just across the parking lot to the North with Lowe's Theaters and Builders Square (closed) that is listed as being part of the mall property.

Over 50 stores were advertised in the mall, but I was only able to compile a very short list. If anybody knows of more please leave a comment and I will add it to the list.
Alpha Photo Lab
Antique Plus
Federated
Houseworks
Nursela's Name Brand Shoes
Rudy Carbanzo's Family Camp and Seafood Restaurant
Siegel's Fashion Station
Waterbed Mart

The original sign as it stands today.

By 1989, the mall interior was over 90% vacant and the name was changed to Spring Village Center.
 

Here are some entrances to the mall that are the same style used in all of the Deauville Malls in the Houston area.
 

This is the one section of the property that has been modified to a strip shopping center style.
The mall building currently has two tile stores, a church, Big Tyme Billiards, and Ace Mart. The interior mall has been closed since possibly the early 1990's.
 

Here is one of the untouched entrances to the former mall just behind Ace Mart. 

Here is a look through the glass door of a former mall entrance into the mall concourse. The inside mall closed sometime in the 1990's but the property never fully closed with the remaining stores maintaining exterior entrances. This is one of the least known malls in the Houston area and never had the success that the larger regional malls had.
 



Now we move onto the back entrance of the mall where the Designer Depot anchor was located.

Here are photos through the glass at the other entrance to the mall in the above photos. Keep in mind that the Designer Depot closed in early 1987. This section of the mall is a time capsule of a typical 1980's mall.

Northgate Mall Lafayette La. 2013

Northgate Mall has endured more changes since our last visit. The last original tenant Hallmark Jewelers moved out, with GNC and a few other stores closing. Albertsons and Transcom also closed in early 2012 leaving two anchors empty. Part of the former Service Merchandise/ Transcom has been filled by Planet Fitness which will bring more traffic to the mall. Stage is the main anchor now at the mall and The Home Depot which is not attached to the mall is the other major anchor. A few new shops have opened in the mall, but the mall needs to fill the Albertsons which is facing the NE Evangeline Thruway (US 167). Lafayette is a growing city with a good economy, so now would be a good time to make the most out of this property.

 

The former Service Merchandise anchor that housed the offices of Transcom which closed in early 2012. Planet Fitness has taken over some of the space which helps the mall property.
 

As of early 2013 the retro mall directory is still being used.
 

The East end of the mall features a few stores with a Stage Department store and a new Planet Fitness both of which only have exterior entrances.

 

The center portion of the mall contains the majority of the stores and the junior anchor Anna's Linens.


Here are some views of the West side of the mall. Albertsons, JCPenney, and Montgomery Ward were located on this end of the mall. The JCPenney entrance that was bricked over is the first image.

As a bonus, here is the view from the entrance doors to the former Albertsons that closed in early 2012.

Acadiana Mall Lafayette La. Pre-renovation and after renovation quick update

Here are some images of the mall pre-construction from early 2013. The renovation should already be underway and is scheduled for completion at the end of 2013. For a more detailed article about this mall check out my original post at http://southernretail.blogspot.com/2011/11/mall-of-acadiana-lafayette-louisiana.html


As a bonus, check out this retro sign at one of the Sears entrances.

Here is what it looks like now as of May 2014

Macy's corridor

JCPenney corridor

Tilt is now closed

Looking at the Food Court and FYE.

Palms Center Houston Tx.

The Palms Center (now Palm Center business and technology center) was one of the first major shopping centers in the Houston area. Located near the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Griggs Rd. in South Houston this shopping center opened in 1955 and closed in the 1980's. The center was partially demolished and renovated in the 1990's to house offices and small businesses. More information about the center is available from the Bayou City history blog by clicking the above post title.

 

Here is a view of the majority of the center which still has roughly 75% of the original buildings intact.

 According to comments from the Bayou City blog this was the former Lewis and Coker grocery store, but it looks like a JCPenney to me. Can anyone clarify what this anchor was?

The center is mostly now offices and public services such as a library and sheriff's station. In the first image you get a feel for how the center looked in the past when it was a retail center.

The center comes to an abrupt end where more shops were located such as Oshman's. The King's Best Market (former Montgomery Ward) is in the upper background of this image.

At the Southeast corner of MLK and Griggs, Palms Center is located behind this new Texans Y.M.C.A.