Summer 2013 update

We have some great new posts on the way listed below with some teaser photos. Updates on all older articles will start at the beginning of the new year. The updates on the older articles will add more information to each post and make corrections if needed. Some older posts will be consolidated to eliminate redundancy.

Here are some projects in the works, feel free to comment below and send over information about these properties.

Almeda/ Northwest Mall update and mall comparison

Buyer's Market Mall Fry Road

Deauville Mall Kingwood/ Northeast

Deauville Mall Southwest/ Stafford

Former Pasadena Kmart now Alco

Lake Charles Kmart update and a new Dicks Sporting Goods at Prien Lake Mall

Memorial City Mall Houston Texas

Montgomery Ward Spencer Hwy Pasadena Texas

North Oaks Mall Houston Texas

Parkdale Mall Beaumont Texas update

Rivercenter Mall San Antonio update

A major project in the works is a mega-article on the Mall of the Mainland Texas City.

Some articles that could use more information such as store lists are the Buyer's Market Mall and Deauville Mall. Both of these malls have very little information about interior stores available online.

Gulf Deauville Mall Webster Tx.

The Gulf Deauville Mall opened in 1984 with spaces for 40 inline tenants and was anchored by Houseworks, Builders Square, Lowe's Gulf Cinemas (2), Federated, and The Fair. Designer Depot may have also been here as well, but I could not confirm this. This center was 458,000 square feet and the largest Houston area Deauville Mall. 

The Deauville Malls ran into trouble in 1986 and were foreclosed on by First City Bank throughout the year. This mall was foreclosed on again in the early 90's before it was purchased and redeveloped. 

Interior stores

 (If anybody knows the names of any more comment below)

Nursala's Name Brand Shoes

Siegel's Fashion Station   

In 1992 the mall property was sold to Levcor Inc. and the interior mall was gutted and divided into 8 big box store portions. As you can see some of the big box stores take up more than one portion. The new store spaces were gobbled up quickly by Best Buy, Leaps N' Bounds, Sears Homelife, Oshman's Super Sports, Stein Mart, Boater's World, and Oak Crafters Furniture. Currently the former mall is doing great with only a small store space un-leased. 

Looking around the property, you can see the signature Deauville Mall wall design that was used in all four malls. Sadly all other evidence of the mall has been erased by the 1992 redevelopment. 

Buyer's Market Mall North Houston Texas

See the bottom of the article for the October 2014 update.

Here is the first full blog article with the new and much improved camera.

Buyer's Market Malls were a failed attempt to capitalize on the Outlet Mall craze of the 1980's. The malls were developed by Bramalea Ltd. of Toronto Canada. The Buyer's Market Malls (and the Deauville Malls) gained attention from opening on Sundays when the blue laws of Texas made it illegal for retailers to open on Sundays. Some of the stores faced lawsuits from their violation of the blue law. The three Deauville Malls which were similar in concept and built at around the same time were bankrupt after less than two years in business, but stayed open longer. The Buyer's Market Malls both closed within a little more than only a year of being open. This market at 236,000 square feet is located near I-45 off Airtex Rd. The mall opened in October of 1984 and the mall was closed in January of 1986. Both Buyer's Market Malls were also converted into Garden Ridge Pottery stores soon after closing. The Katy Mall is still a Garden Ridge.  

One side of the sign had an old Garden Ridge slogan but it has since been covered up. 

The building still retains the same architectural features from the original mall design.

Stores in the Buyer's Market Mall were

Draperies Etc. (One of the last two stores left in the mall)

Lavenders (The last store to close)

If anyone knows what any of the other 34 stores were comment below. 

By October of 1985 a year after opening only 4 stores were left from the 36 that opened with the mall. The mall was officially closed in January 1986.

The north side of the mall corridor is still intact with storefronts. The rest of the mall has been gutted and opened up for the market spaces with movable dividers to expand or decrease store space.

Entrances to the East and West sides of the mall. One of these entrances was to the former Lavenders anchor. The walls have been removed that separated the anchors from the rest of the mall.

The food court opened as a food court, was still a food court (mostly snacks) in Garden Ridge, and remains a Food Court in the Armadillo Flea Market/ Marketplace development. 

Some images from the hallways of the market. For now most of the stores are on the main walkways of the market. There are some interesting stores at this market that are not usually found at most Houston area flea markets. At one point 

Update 10/14 the mall was closed in February and subsequently demolished for more warehouse space. There is a building under construction on the Southeast corner of the property. As you can see from the photos the mall is completely gone. All that remains is this sign on the Southwest corner of the property. The Facebook page is still up here.

Highland Mall 2013 Update

Here we are again at Highland Mall in 2013. Highland Mall continues to operate with several businesses still operating and the food court is doing good with some new restaurants. The redevelopment of the property has begun with the Dillard's Woman's store under renovation. The mall seems to be holding on, but not many chain stores are left here. Some of the new tenants will go well with the redevelopment plan such as a boxing/ fitness space near the entrance of the former Dillard's Woman's store.

Here is my idea/ opinion on what could be done with the remaining mall stores. The retail options should be consolidated into one wing preferably in the former Macy's corridor. Both sides of that corridor have entrances on the second floor which is where the food court is located. The rest of the mall should be used for the college. The former Macy's could partially be used for a discount department store such as Burlington and that would keep the retail component of the mall with constant customer traffic. A small renovation of the remaining mall should also help to bring more people to the mall.    

Here is the former Dillard's Men's store/ clearance center that closed in 2011. 

The former JCPenney is slated for renovation and redevelopment in 2014. The JCPenney store closed in 2006. 

Dillard's Woman's store closed in 2011. The space is under renovation for part of the Austin Community College redevelopment. 

Here are some views of the former Dillard's Woman's store corridor of the mall. Several stores have left the second level, but some stores have opened on the first level. 

Here are some views from the former Macy's corridor. Many stores have left this section of the mall since 2011. 

The fountains in the mall are still operating as normal despite no stores in this section of the mall. 

Here are some views from the former JCPenney corridor. The Kids Foot Locker on the first level is the only Foot Locker left in the mall. The mall had Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, and Kids Foot Locker just a few years ago. Champs Sports is still tucked away in the bottom corner near the former JCPenney.  

Gamestop is gone, but GNC remains. 

The food court and center court area of the mall. Some new restaurants have opened in the past few years to replace ones that left.