Here is a small update from the Alexandria Mall late 2016. The mall gained Conn's Home Plus in the Sears wing. Conn's took up a large portion of previously empty and underused space in that section of the mall. A few small stores and Kirkland's have opened up in the wing near Sears. The rest of the mall is doing well with only a few vacancies mostly in the food court/Burlington area of the mall.
Kirkland's has opened up in a former Piccadilly Cafeteria space at the mall entrance next to Sears.
Here is what the Piccadilly space looked like prior to the conversion to Kirkland's.
Conn's Home Plus has opened up in a large section of the mall near Sears in the former Wellan's anchor spot and additional mall space.
Here is what the entrance to the Conn's looked like prior to the conversion, a former Sam Goody. The playground was moved down the hallway halfway between the Conn's and Sears entrances.
Here is what the hallway to Sears looks like now.
The same hallway prior to Conn's opening. Conn's walled off this entire section of the mall.
Here is the current mall directory.
Here is the Conn's anchor space.
This is what the anchor space looked like before the remodel.
This is a very interesting mall, thanks for the updates. It looks like the mall has gotten more interesting since the last update about it with the addition of the Conn's. I'm not sure if Sears is happy having such a big competitor right next to them (not to mention JCPenney also competing against them with appliances now). Hopefully Sears will retain their store at this mall, but who knows. Conn's will give Sears a run for their money in appliances, lawn equipment, and furniture/mattresses. I would guess that this Sears has mostly eliminated from this location so they may not compete with Conn's that much in that regard, but I could be wrong about that.
ReplyDeleteThis is a bit of an odd mall in that it not only has a lot of anchors for it's size, but it also has a lot of anchors more typically associated with powercenters instead of indoor malls. Perhaps those anchors are helping to keep the rest of the mall viable. I'm not sure why Stein Mart left around 10 years back, but it seems like the mall has recovered from that loss.
Is the Great American Burgers place in the mall affiliated with Great American Cookie? I've never seen that name with burgers. It's interesting that they have a Corn Dog 7 still. That used to be a mall staple here in Houston, but I don't think I've seen one here in many, many years. I could be wrong about that though. It's also odd that this mall apparently does not have a pizza place in the food court. That seems like an odd omission for a mall of this size.
Sears downsized their electronic department at this store to just the small racks like at West Oaks. It is strange that in a lot of areas like this one where Kmart closed, Sears has mostly eliminated electronics.
DeleteThe Alexandria Mall is very large for the size of the city. It is one of the biggest malls in the state. With the Conns addition the slowest wing in the mall is having a renissance. The biggest vacancy in the mall now is the former Forever 21 space between the food court and Dillards/Burlington wings.
The Great American Burger restaurant is an independently owned place. They have a lot of choices besides burgers that are really good. Their prices are also good for a food court option. The mall does not have a lot of food court options though. There is a Corn Dog 7 at the Lufkin Mall, I think that is the closest to Houston.
Hopefully the new Conn’s will put some new life into the Sears wing and may bring more shoppers into Sears itself. I’m sure Conn’s does not generate the amount of traffic that Stein Mart did years ago since people don’t need what Conn’s sells all the time, but at least it’s a new major retailer in that part of the mall. I’m not sure why Sears would eliminate electronics at a store when Kmart closes as you’d think that there’s more potential for the store to sell electronics, but oh well. I’m sure Sears has their reasons.
DeleteSpeaking of Sears, I recently visited the Mall of the Mainland Sears for the first time in a while. It’s pretty much business as usual there and all the Christmas stuff is cleared out, but one odd thing I noticed is that they have started to sell NFL clothing in the demised electronics space that has been partially taken over by vacuums and such. The NFL stuff used to be near/in the men’s department. I’m not sure why it made the move over to the other side of the store because they had enough room where it was. In fact, the men’s department looks a little more barren than it usually does, but that might just be a seasonal change thing. Perhaps they’re putting it there to close the stuff out now that the season is over, but I don’t know. The electronics selection itself really hasn’t shrunk any further (in fact, it looks like they have a new Samsung stereo shelf system or two that they didn’t have before), but everything is still confined to just a couple of those rolling shelves/pegboards.
As for the Mall of the Mainland itself, work is continuing on the new entryway project where the old Palais Royal was. It’s looking nice, but I’m still not totally sure what all it will lead to. I saw some concrete trucks parked in front of the ex-JCPenney. Perhaps they’re finally starting work on the conversion of that anchor spot into the self storage/business center that was planned for it. I did not see any new work or activity at the ex-Dillard’s. I’m not sure what the church has planned for that.
Back to Alexandria, it’s good to hear that that there is a nice burger place at the mall. It’s good to hear that the prices are fair too. Usually food court prices are too high, but it’s good when a mall has good options that are priced fairly (Northwest Mall is mall like this, but I have not been there recently to confirm that all the businesses are still there). While I can’t say that I’ve ever eaten at Corn Dog 7 (I think I may have brought a few Icees from the old Willowbrook Mall location years and years ago), it is nice to know that they are still around. I kind of assumed that they just disappeared some time in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
I think Sears is trying to move products around to see what sells better. I saw at another location that the small electronics racks were moved to the men's department.
DeleteGood to see activity at the Mall of the Mainland. Hopefully part of the mall will open back up soon.
Corn Dog 7 at the Lufkin Mall is a very small location with one table inside and a few small fryers. They have a lot of items on the menu including fried oreos and a fried snickers on a stick. They also put Tony's spice on the fries. Those menu items are good, I will probably try more in the future.
Sears is closed. Retro foot locker is now an independent monogram shop, as foot locker remodeled the former Footaction and moved in (across the hall). Limited closed. Lane Bryant moved into the former Forever21 island. Stage closed. Express closed. The mall lost a lot of retailers post 2008 recession. The mall is occupied by a LOT of local and independent retailers.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the update, a city the size of Alexandria is going to have a difficult time filling that large mall. I am surprised Gordmans will not take over the Stage anchor spot. Thanks for the update, it has been a while since we went there.
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