Parkdale Mall continues to thrive as the leading mall in the Golden Triangle area. Here is a quick update from about a year ago with better quality photos.
Food Court
Looking down the Sears corridor.
JCPenney West mall entrance.
Bealls corridor
JCPenney South mall entrance.
Former Picadilly tucked away at one of the mall entrances near Dillard's.
Suncoast is still here!
A few views of the Dillard's corridor from both directions.
Retro Books A Million paneled storefront
This station recently closed at the mall. You could watch live shows being taped through the window.
Macy's corridor
Tilt is gone!
Looking down the corridor with the South entrance to JCPenney ahead.
Retro Lids entrance.
The corridor between the two JCPenney entrances.
A close-up of one of the many directional signs.
Food court (At closing time)
One of the many murals in the food court showing the historical area oil boom.
The Sears corridor, Sears closed at 8pm. Many Sears stores in smaller cities close early now.
Thanks for the update. Although Parkdale Mall isn't too far from Houston, I rarely make it that far east on I-10 so I'm glad to see some more pictures of the place. It looks like an interesting and useful mall. Some parts of the mall look quite modern, but it has some retro elements like some of the neon storefronts (especially the Suncoast) and the seemingly old (though current) JCPenney signage. The JCPenney is located oddly with it having two mall entrances. It's not unheard of (I believe the former Sears at the now closed Crestwood Court mall in St. Louis was like this), but it is still a bit odd for a store to have two mall entrances on the same level.
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting that the mall has a RadioShack in it. I wonder if it is still there or if it is now closed like many Houston area RadioShack mall locations. Although the mall having a Sears and a RadioShack makes it an appealing mall to me, the presence of a Dallas Cowboys store is a real turn off. I'm glad that Houston malls don't have that.
The San Jacinto and First Colony JCPenney stores both have two mall entrances. The mall was renovated about 10 years ago and still looks very new. The outside of the mall is a heavily retailed area so this mall will continue to remain strong for many years. I took the pictures over a year ago so I am not sure if Radio Shack is still there. I think Memorial City, the Galleria, and the Shops at Houston Center still have their stores open but I am sure that will change. Radio Shack will probably continue to close mall stores and focus on strip mall locations. I don't think any Houston area malls have the Cowboys store, but I have seen it in several malls in Central and North Texas. It goes to show you that the Texans continue to have difficulty gaining fans outside of the Houston metro area.
DeleteI didn't realize that San Jacinto and First Colony Mall's JCPenney stores had two mall entrances on the same level. Those are two malls in Houston that I have little familiarity with at least in recent times. Perhaps that is something that JCPenney did with some regularity even though the Parkdale Mall, San Jacinto Mall, and First Colony Mall were all built in different decades.
DeleteI looked at the Parkdale Mall website and RadioShack is still listed on their directory. Who knows when that directory was last updated, but hopefully it is still accurate. Of course, RadioShack is planning on closing a lot of stores here soon (assuming that the whole chain stays open) so we'll see how things shake out then.
I don't know if the Cowboys are still America's team, but a lot of their fans came out from hiding this year. I'm sure the Cowboys store did well this season, but they probably have to compete with the large selection of Cowboys gear at Sears (and other stores as well). Although I know of Cowboys fans who live across the nation, I'm not personally aware of any Texans fans who live outside the Houston area. There are a lot of people in Texas outside of Houston who cheer for the Cowboys and Saints as you well know. Other teams like the Steelers, Broncos, and Packers have a lot of fans too. Of course, the Packers fans may be hiding after today's events.
also JCP had 2 entrances in greenspoint
DeleteThanks for adding Greenspoint, I forgot about that one. The Pierre Bossier Mall has two entrances also, but they are located right next to each other. It looks like JCPenney expanded into mall space and connected into the store.
DeleteWell the Seattle and Patriots fans are happy this week. I was happier to see the Pro Bowl myself because I could care less about either team in the Superbowl this year. I wonder if any Cowboys fans jumped ship to Seattle last week since the Cowboys are out?
I guess I also totally forgot about the Greenspoint Mall JCPenney mall entrances. Thanks for the reminder. I really don’t have many memories of the Greenspoint JCPenney anyway. I’m not sure why, I know I shopped there prior to the opening of the Willowbrook Mall JCPenney, but I guess that was well over 20 years ago. It seems like I went to the Northwest Mall JCPenney more than any other prior to the Willowbrook Mall JCPenney opening. I really didn’t shop at JCPenney that much in the era between the time they dropped the hard lines and the opening of the Willowbrook store.
DeleteI find this year’s Super Bowl matchup to be more interesting than I find most non-Giants Super Bowls. I’ll be pretty busy on the Monday following the Super Bowl so I don’t know if I’ll be able to watch the whole (or any) of the Super Bowl though. I really don’t care about the Pro Bowl, but I hear that Odell Beckham did well. He’s an exciting player to say the least. I wonder if any LSU/Louisiana fans will pull for the Giants if Beckham continues to shine.
From what I can remember the Greenspoint JCPenney was huge, similar to the Meyerland store in size. The last time I visited that store was around 1994 or 1995.
DeleteEli Manning is from Louisiana so there are a few Louisiana fans that root for the Giants, when they are not playing the Saints.
2nd and Charles has taken over the Books-a-Million spot.
ReplyDeleteIs that a clothing store? I have never heard of it.
Delete2nd hand book and music store
Deletethese pictures are old. Books A Million changed to 2nd and Charles almost a year ago. Suncoast hasn't looked that good in a long time. The sign hasn't worked 100% in at least 2 years ... its very ghetto. Radio Shack is gone. their company closed all of their mall locations and kept their stand alone stores.
ReplyDeleteYes you are right, I took these photos about 2 years ago. It does not surprise me that the sign up front does not work properly anymore. All of the neon lighting on the inside of the store has been out for a very long time.
DeleteRadio Shack actually still has a few mall locations left, but most were closed. The Shops at Houston Center Mall in Downtown Houston still has an active Radio Shack which will be converted into their Sprint/Radio Shack concept in the near future.
I am glad to hear that the Books A Million spot was quickly filled. I also heard H&M is coming to the mall, which is one of the most desired stores these days.
Books A Million actually just remodelled. 2nd & Charles is owned by the same company and they just changed it over to the other store (and fired everyone that worked there and restaffed). Suncoast has gone downhill really bad. The few times I've gone in there, the manager was in the back room (with the door open) yelling and screaming at someone on her cell phone where everyone in the store had to hear it.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like that section of the mall has some drama going on. I hate to see people lose their jobs, hopefully they were able to rebound quickly. Thank you for the additional info.
DeleteThe JCPenney I believe originally only had one indoor entrance. The mall originally opened in the early 70's with JCPenney, Montgomery Ward, Joskes and The White House (a local chain). The section with Sears and Bealls (former second Dillard's) was built later, which is how JCPenney got its second indoor entrance into the mall. My question is who was the second original anchor in the addition where Bealls/Second Dillards is at? Was it a Dillards from the beginning, before they bought out Joskes or some other department store?
ReplyDeleteThat is a good question, I only remember the anchor as a Dillard's before it was demolished. I figured the mall had been expanded at one point since it is very large mall for a small city.
Deleteit was Joske's untill the late '80s when Dillard's bought them out if you can believe it on October 11 Parkdale Mall will be celebrating its 50th anniversary where the TV station was was originally the Parcade where Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour El Chico Mexican Restaurant the Art Gallery Bolyard's Uniform Supply Frederick's of Hollywood and Texas State Optical was no The White House was never in Parkdale Mall you're thinking of Gus Mayer which was across from Walgreens when you entered the mall....you could enter the mall through the Parcade from the outside either from El Chico or Texas State Optical I hope you will reply to this
Delete50 Years for a successful mall is certainly a great run. I wonder how the next 50 years will be for Parkdale?
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