Macy's West Oaks Mall opened in 1982 as a Foley's department store. This department store like many other Foley's stores in the area predated the mall by two years. This store closed on March 26, 2017 along with the Plazo Paseo and Greenspoint locations. There are current plans to reopen this space as The Outlets at West Oaks, which will probably be a flea market type of development. It remains to be seen, how the mall will do after losing both of the last remaining main anchors of the mall. Only Dillard's Clearance Center and Palais Royal remain.
2015 photos after they opened up the previously closed off section of the store.
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Store closing sale March 2017
Children's handprints line the entrance walls of the store.
Men's department
This area of the store really looks nice.
Upstairs to the furniture section which took up at least 75% of the second floor.
This sign can now be found at the San Jacinto Mall location.
Not too many former Foley's stores have this floor anymore.
Former housewares department.
A really cool view of the elevator with the old Foley's color design.
How many department stores have these kind of skylights, not many.
Copper or similar metallic ceiling.
I could not get enough of this part of the store. Bright and vintage.
Just a few steps away from the skylights, we have this entrance to the furniture department.
A map of the second floor of the store.
No store closing store sale is complete without a mannequin party.
The front of the store near the mall entrance.
A directory of West Oaks before Macy's was removed.
The mall entrance to Macy's.
Back inside of the store.
This store had a lot of fixtures for sale.
Why do these store closing sales always have a ton of rugs for sale?
Back in the Men's department where we started.
An interesting photo of Downtown Houston in the Men's department that I had never noticed before.
A blurry final view of the store and the remaining ladies items.
A different entrance with the handprints.
Not only will Macy's sign be removed but Sears closed here as well on April 8, 2018. I will feature that store as well on the blog in an upcoming post.
Lots of new articles in the works, stay tuned.
I will miss this Macy's mainly due to it looking like the Willowbrook Mall Foley's before the Willowbrook store was renovated when they moved the men's and furniture departments to their own store several years ago. The outside of this store still looks like the Willowbrook Macy's though and there are still some common interior designs that still exist at Willowbrook. I don't remember seeing those hand prints, but I probably always entered this mall through the mall entrance.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways, this store looks like it was in similar condition to the Greenspoint Mall Macy's in the photos, but the West Oaks store looked much better in person. It still looked a bit tired though. Obviously, it still has some vintage elements like the parquet flooring. Other elements, like that dressing room, seem to be much newer.
I agree that the central area of this store, like the Willowbrook store especially back in the day, looks very impressive. There are a lot of little details that make the area look really special. Although the West Oaks store plaza looks 1980s, it doesn't look outdated. It's a shame to see this store close, but hopefully the new owners will keep some of it's elements when/if they re-open it as the discount store. But, yeah, thanks for the pictures.
As for West Oaks Mall itself, I think it'll be hard for the mall to survive now without Macy's and Sears. The power center around the mall is doing well so it's in a viable area for retail, but it seems it just isn't a viable area for a mall. It's a shame because the mall is in good condition and looks modern. It is one of my favorite non-vintage malls to walk around in.
I will post my reply to the other thread here. Bon-Ton will have to be added to the list of defunct department stores. It's a shame to see them go. I don't think I ever went to one of their stores, but I have seen photos of them. I suppose they're not as unique as a Boscov's or something like that, but they did look like a decent department store. Oh well.
The new owners of the Deerbrook Mall Sears might give Sears a short-term lease until they can finalize plans for the property. Thus, it might stick around as a normal store for at least this year, but who knows what will happen after that. Normally I would suspect that GGP would make a strong offer for the property, but their merger might impact that strategy. We'll see.
Hopefully I'll be able to take a look at the Midtown Sears as they continue to do work on it, but I'm glad you have some photos of it too.
I read today that Amazon and Best Buy are teaming up to sell smart TVs with Amazon smart TV streaming features on them in Best Buy stores. It seems that Amazon is admitting that people want to see high-end TVs before buying them and, of course, Best Buy is probably the most likely place for shoppers to visit. Thus, it's important to have TVs with their features in their stores. It's interesting to see those two team up, but it would have been interesting if Amazon linked up with Sears. Of course, given the state of Sears' store count, I don't blame them for going with Best Buy.
Today's Walmarts are even more bland than Big Kmarts of the 1990s (and today I guess). OTOH, Walmart changes up their looks so often that I guess we just have to wait another few years before things change again if we don't like it. That said, this is the first major interior overall some of these stores will be receiving since they were built in the early 2000s so it is noteworthy. I'm sure there will be a time where people will look back fondly on the Walmart designs of the 2000s!
The food court at Greenspoint Mall is probably struggling due to Exxon leaving the neighborhood. I wonder how the movie theater there is doing. If that goes, the mall really does not have anything else to brag about at all.
West Oaks seemed to be doing well not too long ago with aggressive efforts to reinvent the mall. Sadly the property is just not in a good enough spot to be viable anymore.
DeleteNot many malls can recover from the losses that have happened at West Oaks. West Oaks has one of the more interesting stories of changes over the years though.
I went to Younkers many, many years ago. It reminded me of Dillards. I hate to see a smaller chain of department stores fade away. There are not many names left to take over the soon to be vacant stores.
Sears is quietly closing a handful of stores again. The most notable of the bunch is the last Sears in the city of Chicago.
Unless Amazon buys out a retailer, they will need to team up to showcase their items. Whole Foods is an interesting experiment for the company, which will give them knowledge on how to run a brick and mortar business.
We can always look at the people of Walmart or crazy Black Friday videos to reminisce about the good old days at Walmart, lol. It won't take long for the newly remodeled stores to look tired.
Judging by the parking lot at Greenspoint Mall, Fitness Connection is the busiest place at the mall. I am not sure how the movie theater is doing since they usually are busier at night. The parking lot at the movies had a decent amount of cars on my last 3 visits, but it was not packed.
West Oaks Mall has historically been an up-and-down mall. There will be good news for a year or two, but then the good news turns into bad news and the mall deteriorates until the next round of good news provides momentary optimism. Unfortunately, I think the mall has suffered enough deterioration of anchors at this point that I don't really see how it can come back unless the new owners really think out of the box ala Jerome Karam with the Mall of the Mainland. You mentioned how the Fitness Connection is the busiest place at Greenspoint Mall. Maybe West Oaks needs to consider opening a destination gym at the mall. Of course, there's a lot more gym competition around West Oaks than there is around the Mall of the Mainland and maybe Greenspoint too.
ReplyDeleteThe big Sears news this week is the news that Lampert is considering buying Kenmore and DieHard since he claims that nobody else is willing to pay a fair price for it. This seems like one of Lampert's schemes to get Sears' assets at a bargain basement price, but we'll see. If nothing else, this should keep Kenmore products in Sears stores as long as Sears stores exist. It's unclear whether that will be the case with Craftsman.
I did hear about the closure of the Chicago store. It's sad to hear about the closures of these inner-city stores. This is especially true of Sears and Chicago given their history. So far there have not been any other closures announced in Houston, but I think one Sears store in San Antonio is closing.
I recently visited the Willowbrook Mall Sears for the first time in a while. One thing I noticed is that the elevators were not working. This isn't the first time I've noticed that at the Willowbrook store in recent months. I don't know if the elevator is in poor condition so it keeps breaking down (perhaps because Sears won't pay to get it fixed properly) or if they're trying to save money on electricity by not running it. This was during a busy shopping time so I'd expect it to be on. Anyway, the softlines of the store were actually pretty busy with customers. The tool, electronics, mattress, and appliance departments didn't look busy at all.
I'm sure there will be a time where we will reminisce about Wal-Mart. I know that sounds strange, but I know I do sometimes think back to those 1980s Wal-Marts with the orange carpeting and the small electronics chamber in the center of the store. Granted, who knew then what Wal-Mart would become in terms of those Black Friday oddities and such! But, yeah, I guess it'll be a lot easier to reminisce about 2000s era stores than older ones due to photos and videos on the Internet. It's kind of funny how photos from the 2000s on sites like Labelscar and such are starting to look like ancient times.
Whole Foods is such a niche store that I wonder how much they can learn about B&M retail from them that will help them compete against Wal-Mart and company. Then again, I guess there's certain things like day-to-day store management that's about the same everywhere.
It looks like the Kroger on 1960 and Eldridge is keeping up with the Walmart that is being renovated across the street by renovating their own store. This Kroger was one of the last stores Albertson's built before leaving town (it had a much different and fancier design than most Albertson's in Houston) and still has some Albertson's touches in it. Kroger did not use all the space that's in the building though. Albertson's operated a seasonal/garden center on the far side of the store that Kroger hasn't used. I wonder if they may convert the store into a Signature store by using that space especially since the nearby Greenhouse-era store on Hwy. 6 and West Rd. was recently downgraded from a Signature store to a regular one. Anyway, I hope they don't give this store a generic look because it is a fancy and unique looking Kroger that really isn't in a bad condition necessitating a renovation. We'll see.
It will take some real out of the box thinking to bring back West Oaks. I have a feeling that more demolition may be the best way to redevelop that property.
DeleteIf Craftsman had not sold for a much lower price than it was reported to be worth, the other brands would have better offers. It is sad to see the beginnings of Sears and Kmart being wiped away little by little. Of course some very historic Sears and Kmart stores closed in the past year.
I wonder why Sears at Willowbrook has not gotten the elevator fixed? It seems like a no-brainer to make sure it stay working.
Walmart stores used to seem bigger when they were in smaller locations since we did not have the Supercenters in the 80's. Now those older stores seem very tiny in comparison. I guess with the improvements in camera technology, the early 2000's photos look old much like 35mm film looks now.
The best things Amazon can learn from Whole Foods is merchandising and face to face customer service. A picture online can be easily made into a nice looking product, but how will it truly be in person.
Sadly your nearby Kroger will probably get the generic look just like the rest of them. Hopefully things will change in a decade and bland will no longer be in style like it is now.
You are probably right on the money about Sears screwing themselves by selling Craftsman off for such a low price. The mismanagement of Sears is very sad to see, but hopefully Lampert will take Kenmore and DieHard seriously and will try to create stores that can sell those brands the right way without having to resort to selling their wares on Amazon and such.
ReplyDeleteI accidentally said that the elevators at the Willowbrook Mall Sears were inoperative, but it was actually the escalators. Sorry, I guess those words are easy to mix up. I assume the elevator was working fine, but I didn't see anyone use it. The only customers I saw going or coming from upstairs were manually climbing the stairs of the escalator. I have no idea why Sears has had so many problems with those escalators recently, but perhaps they have not been maintained. Perhaps they're just keeping them off to save power. It's hard to say. I will say that everything else in the store seemed to be operating normally.
It's interesting to look back at the growth of Wal-Mart stores. I felt that the stores built around 1984 were actually pretty small feeling compared to the Kmarts and Targets of the time. This might have been because those older Wal-Mart stores had more enclosed style departments than the more open designs of Kmart, Target, and current Wal-Marts. Auchan was already here by the time that Wal-Mart started expanding their non-Supercenter stores and Auchan makes even Supercenter Wal-Marts look small. I could see how someone would think that a ~1990 Wal-Mart is big if they never shopped at something like an Auchan though.
Wal-Marts had a certain feel to them that made it seem like they were operated by a small southern company even through the early 1990s when they had already passed Kmart in sales. By the late 1990s, however, Wal-Mart stores felt like they were being operating by the all-conquering retail empire that they were/are. It's interesting to see how quickly Wal-Mart stores evolved with the chain. Of course, back then, Wal-Mart would usually open new stores rather than renovate old ones.
You're right that digital photos from the early 2000s (or later in the case of cell phone photos) look outdated compared to modern standards. Digital camera photos from ~2007+ basically look modern, but it'll be interesting to see if we call those dated too in a few years. I hope these blogs and photo sites stay alive to maintain these retail time capsules.
You're totally correct that Amazon can learn about merchandising and customer service through Whole Foods. I read some blogs by retail analysts criticizing Amazon's B&M bookstores for poor shelf design and things like that. Amazon clearly has a lot to learn in that regard, but now they can learn from Whole Foods.
The odd thing about the Kroger renovation is that the store just received a major signage update two or so years ago. Kroger is really being aggressive with some of these renovations. Hopefully they'll keep the unique and upscale look of the store, but I don't know. You're right that we might have to wait a decade or so for a new trend to develop. Who knows though, that trend might be even worse than the current bland trends.
Exactly how I feel, it is sad to see Sears falling apart. I hold out hope that some form of the company will survive even if the department stores and Kmart close. Problems with maintenance seem to be a common issue at Sears and Kmart stores these days.
DeleteWalmart stores did have very tall shelving in their smaller stores. I felt the same shift in how the stores were ran in the early 90's as well. Customer service really started going down the tubes around that time. In addition, stores were not being maintained very well. All of their late 80's and early 90's buildings were being made to just discard in 10 years or so for a Supercenter.
I will keep my blog going for a while longer. I still seem to find things to document. I may do a format change sometime down the line. The seemingly endless store closings keep me busy.
I am not a fan of Amazon. They are just helping to destroy traditional retail and making some people very lazy. Very rarely do I buy from Amazon, usually only if someone buys me a giftcard.
The Kroger Marketplace closest to me had a total renovation after being open about a year. Recently they had another mini renovation that added new coolers in a few spots and rearranged the food aisles yet again. Kroger has also been leaving behind a lot of empty stores lately.
Hopefully Kmart and Sears will survive in some form similar to what they are today. If not, hopefully SHOS can survive using the Sears name and maybe with the iconic Sears brands as well. We'll see. It's hard to be very optimistic about Sears and Kmart right now.
ReplyDeleteI did read a report from a Chicago TV station where they said that Sears has updated their customer complaint handling system and, because of that, their rating with the Better Business Bureau has improved. I also saw an article in Consumer Reports that said that Kmart significantly lowered their prices on many medications for cash paying customers after they scored low for pricing on a report the magazine did. Hopefully these are signs of improved customer service at Sears. If they can improve that, maybe customers will return. Of course, we're getting to a point where there aren't very many stores left for customers to return to.
Some say that the quality of Wal-Mart stores started to go downhill when Sam Walton died. It's hard to say. The declines in customer service might have been linked to Wal-Mart's rapid expansion in the 1990s and their desire for lower prices might have been behind it too. The sad thing is that as bad as Wal-Mart's customer service was in the 1990s, Kmart's was even worse and that's why Wal-Mart thrived and Kmart started their long malaise that continues today.
Amazon was a more attractive store to me when they almost always had lower prices. This is no longer the case. For example, I wanted to buy a computer cable, but I found that I could buy it for the same price from the local Altex store which is not far from here so I got it from there instead. Barnes & Noble's online store is usually cheaper than Amazon for the music I like to buy. Plus, the music store in Old Town Spring is usually around the same price as Amazon for new CDs and the customer service is significantly better. Sometimes Amazon is cheaper or they have something in stock that I can't get elsewhere. I do sometimes order from there when that is the case, but it's not really the case very often these days.
That's interesting that the Kroger Marketplace near you already had a total renovation. It's interesting that Kroger is doing so many renovations when one of their biggest competitors, HEB, isn't particularly known for renovations. Of course, HEB stores are so plain that I don't know what they could renovate if they want to keep the decor basically the same. I guess that's the advantage of the "garage" look. Stores that look like garages can go many, many years without a renovation. Most of the Lowe's or Home Depot stores near me have never had a renovation and still have ~20 year old signage and such in some cases. I don't think the Costco near me has ever had a renovation and the Sam's Clubs near me have only had major renovations when they've expanded. Perhaps this is why Kroger is making some of their stores have very plain looks with concrete floors and such.
I guess we'll see what Kroger is up to. Perhaps retail bloggers need to actively chronicle Kroger stores just because they might completely change their looks whenever someone blinks their eyes! I guess that if nothing else, nobody can claim that Kroger has just been sitting on their hands.
I'm glad that you're planning on keeping the blog going. It's unfortunate, however, that there's been so many store closings to cover. Hopefully you'll be able to chronicle some malls and stores that are retro, but still healthy. If nothing else, the local Sears stores need to be chronicled because they could all be gone soon with the way things are going.
For now we still have one iconic Sears store with an awesome sign. It is getting harder and harder to find a Sears or Kmart store. I read a recent article that said their debt was nearing 5 billion dollars. I am not sure how they could dig themselves out of a hole that large if that number is correct.
DeleteThe large expansion and loss of Walton undoubtedly hurt customer service. They went from being a good neighbor to the community to being a business crusher. No small town stores can compete with their prices, it is unfortunately how capitalism works.
Amazon is mirroring Walmart in a way. Walmart used to have the lowest prices for just about everything, but now most items can be found elsewhere cheaper. Walmart and Amazon have programmed many of us into thinking their prices are the lowest.
Going with a bare concrete floor also saves money. It is now normal so it seems like only fancier retailers are still putting floor tiles down. I guess it is better than carpet which ages badly.
Kroger has been changing their stores up here much more frequently than elsewhere. Kroger stores not too far outside of Houston, still seem to be stuck in the past. Competition such as Market Basket does not update their stores very often. There are a few that are straight from the 80's.
Not only have I documented a lot of Sears and closing stores lately, but I also will expand my posts for the first time outside of the Texas and Louisiana in a very surprising place. I found some retail gems to cover that will be very surprising. I plan on starting those posts probably in June. Sorry for the vague teaser, but the posts will be well worth checking out.
The Macy's reopened, however it is very sad. Low quality items and very quiet store.
ReplyDeleteat least you can still see the store. upstairs is closed though.
I figured that the new owners would have it open soon. It might take a while to fill up, but a few of these markets have done quite well in the area.
DeleteWe are lucky to still have an inner-city Sears in Houston as so many other inner-city Sears have closed recently across the US. And, of course, the N. Shepherd Sears does have that wonderful vintage sign.
ReplyDeleteI revisited the Willowbrook Mall Sears once again and the escalators were still out of order. They had at least a week to fix them if they were broken, but they're still not running. At this juncture, I'm assuming that there isn't a plan to get them running anytime soon. That's a shame because something like that really makes the store look bad compared to the other anchors at the mall.
One thing Sears is doing now is making handwritten markdown signs on sale items. It kind of gives the sales a "bluelight special" feel. I've noticed that some of the markdowns are legit great deals, but some of the markdowns have a "Kohl's/JCPenney" feel to them where it feels like they're marking down very inflated regular prices. People like thinking they're getting a great deal though so these displays might work.
Yes, it's unfortunate that Sears is basically running out of assets to sell that won't completely jeopardize the retail operations of their stores. I don't know what's left to do at this point. The only thing I can say is that I have been getting more promotional coupons from Sears in the last few weeks and that is bringing me back into their stores after a few months where I had hardly visited any Sears stores at all.
You're right that Amazon has programmed so many shoppers to assume that they're the lowest priced store that people shop there exclusively now. I wonder if anyone will grab marketshare from them. Walmart is trying, but I think there is an assumption by some that Walmart does not sell as good quality of stuff as Amazon (though there's certainly a lot of garbage products on Amazon as well).
Carpet still works well in a few retail applications. I think it works well in clothing departments/stores and in electronics stores. Carpet makes for a quieter shopping environment as well for better or for worse. Obviously, carpet does not work well in food areas or high-traffic corridors though. Some stores have nice colored vinyl tiles that look upscale. Other stores have wood-looking floors that look nice. The Willowbrook Sears shoe department is an example of this and it works well. It certainly looks better than the no-effort and drab concrete floors that, IMO, only really belong at warehouse and hardware stores.
Some stores like to update frequently, but others like Fiesta seem more focused on keeping their existing decor clean and in good working order. I prefer the latter approach. Heck, I've been in a few modern grocery stores in ex-Food Lions that still look just like the Food Lions did!
I have some unfortunate under the radar store closings to report. I mentioned a visit to the Randall's in the ex-Kmart on 34th and 290 in February. Well, now it's an ex-Randall's. It seems that the store liquidated in March-April and is now closed. It's odd that the store survived all throughout the worst of the 290 construction in that area, but then closed when 290 in that area is starting to take shape. Oh well, at least I visited the store before it was too late.
Also, the Goodwill (and I think the Dollar Tree too) in the ex-Randall's/ex-Albertson's in Texas City has closed. The space is being converted into an Aldi. My guess is that the landlord kicked Goodwill out to get Aldi in since they're a higher profile tenant. I wonder if Goodwill will open a new store in the area as that Goodwill had some of the best vintage electronics that I've seen in Houston and the store always seemed busy.
I'm looking forward to seeing the new posts about retail from outside this region. It's always interesting to take a peek at what's going on elsewhere.
Sears is in a bad spot right now, I read an article where they said Sears had 4 billion in debt that is coming due in 2 years or less. The stores are really looking bare with few new items coming in. The tool departments have really taken a hit. Every store I have recently been to has tons of empty pegs and shelves. I wonder what Fast Eddie's next move is?
DeleteI do like some of the deals that Sears has ran the past few months. I did not spend very much at all in 2017 except for a floor model TV.
Yes the plain floors do make stores sound a lot louder. Warehouse stores and Walmart have very poor sound control and are quite loud. Sadly, this is becoming the norm in retail establishments.
I wonder why those stores you mentioned closed. 290 will be a much better corridor once the construction wraps up. The Goodwill is a head scratcher for sure. The 2 times I visited that store it was really busy. Maybe they will reopen up at Mall of the Mainland.
It looks like Lampert will end up getting Kenmore, DieHard, and some other Sears assets. Sears will probably file for bankruptcy not long after all these assets are sold so they don't have to pay those debts. Lampert probably wants to make sure he has all the valuable assets before the bankruptcy. Whether the retail end of Sears can be saved after that happens or not, I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI recently visited the Mall of the Mainland Sears. It had been a while since I last visited that store and there are some changes to report. The first thing I noticed is that the store is open til 8pm once again. It had been closing at 7pm the last time I went there. Also, the last rack or two of electronics are finally gone. The only electronics I saw in the whole store was the rack of Consumer Cellular cell phones. Those were in the appliances department. Also the vacuums were taken out of the old electronics department and moved to the sporting goods department. The old electronics department now has some boxes of appliances and a few appliance on display.
The tool department used to be set up in an L-shape taking up two large walls. Now, tools are only along one wall so the tool department has been significantly downsized. Some of the sporting goods are where they used to be, but some of that area has gone to vacuums like mentioned earlier. Some sporting goods have been shifted into where the seasonal department was and the seasonal department is where the demised part of the tool department was. All in all, the sporting goods department is probably the same size it was before and the seasonal department is probably bigger than it was before. They had a lot of outdoor furniture on display in the seasonal department.
The softlines seem relatively unchanged. The women's, housewares, and children's departments looked the same as usual. The men's department looked a little less stocked than usual. For example, I was looking at belts, but they only had ~10 belts on the whole rack. Still, it didn't look barren as a whole. The store was otherwise clean and organized and the A/C was working normally which isn't always the case at Sears. That store is well-managed, IMO. They had some real bargains on good quality men's shirts and I could not resist making a purchase.
I've heard, but cannot confirm, that the Randall's on Barker Cypress and 290 is closing as well. I'm not surprised to hear that at all because the HEB next door is way, way busier. The 290 and W 34th St. closure is a bigger surprise. I've also heard that a Randall's in the SW suburbs is closing as well. There might be other Randall's that are or will close soon, I don't know.
I've heard a rumor that Albertsons-Safeway invested into a Hispanic-targeted grocery chain from the Metroplex called El Rancho a few months back and that they might look to put some of those stores in spots that are currently Randall's, but I don't know how accurate those rumors are. It's something worth keeping an eye on though. Hopefully the Randall's in wealthy areas with little competition will stick around though. I may be the only one, but I do enjoy shopping there. I'll give El Rancho a shot if they come to town too.
Karam would be wise to make Goodwill an offer if they have any space left over. If nothing else, Goodwill could look at the shopping center by the mall or maybe the ex-Woolco/Wal-Mart/Kmart/BP/Marathon if it's available. I'm sure there's plenty of other vacant retail in Texas City. At one time not long ago, that intersection had two thrifts, the famed original ex-Kmart, and a RadioShack. Now, all that is gone. At least the greenhouse-era Kroger is still there, but that's not a huge drawing point for me. Actually, a number of thrifts on the SE side that I used to shop at are now gone.
It sounds like Sears will not survive in the current form. I only hope that it does not disappear completely. I am hoping that they can somehow spin off part of the company to keep it in business.
DeleteThere are deals to be found at Sears and Kmart stores. You just have to wonder how much longer their inventory will last. It is becoming painfully obvious that their inventory stocks are getting low.
As we know, Albertsons is not shy about closing stores that do not meet their expectations. I think they need to do a better job of catering to the areas they serve. I think they will close a lot of locations here in Texas because of how they operate. HEB, Kroger, Fiesta, and several other grocers just do a much better job of catering to the local clientele.
I think the rising cost of real estate in the area is pushing some of the thrifts out. It is amazing how quickly real estate prices are going up all across town. We will probably see more retail establishments get forced out in the near future by land value or rent increases.
Maybe someone will buy Sears in bankruptcy who actually has a plan to run a real retail operation, but I kind of doubt it if they can't get control of Sears' brands (Craftsman is already gone with the others likely going to Lampert). It seems like it's Lampert or bust, but maybe he'll refocus around SHOS and turn that into "regular Sears." I don't know, things are not looking good right now for sure.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the inventory problems at Sears. It'll probably get worse as they head closer to bankruptcy. Some departments are certainly worse than others. Tools have really been hit hard recently, but it looks like Sears is committing to the outdoor furniture stuff. Clothing looks a bit hit or miss right now.
Sears recently made a deal with Amazon to sell Sears-branded tires at Sears Auto Center which would be installed at Sears. While this deal seems like a winner for DieHard's brand and the Sears Auto Center (which has been rumored as a sellable asset), I'm not sure how much it helps Sears itself. I suppose it could boost sales at stores with attached garages as people will want to browse the store while they wait to get their tires on their car. Of course, they might like some of the deals Sears has now on things like clothes, but the lack of selection might shock some people who have not been at a Sears store in a while. Oh well, more customer traffic is probably still a positive and we know Amazon will generate some sales given their power.
I was driving along I-45 today and saw that an El Rancho was opening in the old Castle Furniture store near Greenspoint Mall. I guess El Rancho/Albertsons (they are still different companies at this point) are taking their entry into Houston seriously. We'll have to see if they put any pressure on Fiesta. Fiesta certainly has a leg up on El Rancho as they know this market well. Anyway, I can confirm now that the W. 34th St. and 290 ex-Randall's will also become an El Rancho. I don't know if they have any other plans for more stores. I did see that Albertsons opened a new Randall's location in the Metroplex a couple months back though. It looks like they have not given up on the brand totally, but I don't know what their plans are for Houston specifically. Hopefully at least some of the stores will stick around. Kingwood must be in good shape for now since they decided to reopen that store.
The Texas City situation was clearly a case of Goodwill getting pushed out in favor of the Aldi. I'm sure Texas City's local government is happy to have another grocery store instead of a thrift. We'll see if any other thrifts lose their leases. Some are in shopping centers where I can't imagine there being much demand even with a stronger economy, but some Goodwills are in shopping centers where there could be renewed interest. Of course, other smaller thrifts will struggle too. Their margins may not be as good as Goodwill's and so they'll be even more sensitive to rises in rent. I know that the NAM Thrift on Jones Rd. in NW Houston closed a couple years ago. That was another thrift I enjoyed shopping at that is now gone.
I recently visited the North Oaks Half Price Books, but I noticed that the audio cassettes weren't where they normally were. I was in a bit of a rush so I didn't spend much time investigating what happened to them, but I didn't see them in any of the obvious spots. I wonder if they still sell them. They were wanting ~$3 per tape the last time I was there so maybe the demand for them dropped. They did have a lot of VHS movies though and the audio cassette area was replaced with more CDs.
Craftsman is already showing up at Lowes stores, but it does not look like what you will find at Sears. Craftsman was already getting a bad reputation for the recent quality of the tools and now the tools at Lowes look worse.
DeleteIt is a shame that we are watching the destruction of the brand and there is nothing we can do to change things. All I can really do is document as much as I can to keep the memory of Sears and Craftsman viral.
The tire installation deal is actually a good idea IMO. As much as I would hate to see Sears vanish, a deal with Amazon to keep the stores alive would be the best outcome at this point. Even though I am not a fan of Amazon, they have been helping keep Sears alive with their latest deals.
El Rancho will be good competition for Fiesta here in Houston. Fiesta rarely expands or updates their stores so these new markets can be successful here as long as they don't have Albertsons high prices.
I guess the thrifts had a better bargaining position when the economy was bad a few years ago. Now that demand has picked up, they can't renegotiate rent in their favor. Aldi is going to have to really have a good store with HEB right across the parking lot.
I have been so busy lately that I have not been to a Half Price Books store in a few months. I wonder if the Humble location jacked up the prices on their cassettes?
Part I:
ReplyDeleteI visited the N. Shepherd Sears for the first time in quite a while. I don't think I had been there since 2015 or early 2016. Anyway, the first thing I noticed when I walked in the store is the presence of Sears Grand shopping carts. I wonder if they got those from Austin. That's odd that they'd send them all the way here.
Beyond that, the experience was mostly positive. It was better than I expected. The store still has their normal hours (in fact, they were promoting that they now open at 9am on Saturdays). I was expecting to see some major inventory problems in the tool department, but things were mostly as I remembered them being a couple of years ago. I didn't see any major problems with inventory like I've seen at other Sears. The outdoor garden center was still open and had tractors and lawn furniture for sale. I wonder how many Sears still use their garden centers and have them open to the public. There can't be very many of them left.
The garden tool section was quite sparse, but I did see cleaning supplies taking up some of the space there. The tool department had a lot of tarps for sale in the back of the tool department. I noticed that all the boxes had very noticeable Kmart logos on them. I thought that was interesting.
Really, all the departments looked relatively well-stocked. That was a big surprise. The one area that didn't look so good was the electronics area. They still have a number of TVs for sale/on display and some other electronics, but the space they no longer use for electronics and have vacuums in was painted over using very cheap quality paint and it was done very poorly. The paint hardly covers the old colors. Anyway, the fact that the store didn't have inventory problems was a pleasant surprise and the store did have a decent number of customers. Hopefully that store will stick around for a while. It's a nice store even without the retroness.
Yes, I believe the Stanley Craftsman stuff is different than the Sears Craftsman stuff. Stanley has a mediocre reputation in recent years so I wouldn't be surprised if the Lowe's stuff is substandard. Of course, Sears will suffer from the poor reputation of Stanley's Craftman stuff, unfortunately. Plus, there will be others who will happily buy Craftsman stuff from Lowe's not realizing there's a difference.
Hopefully Sears deals with Amazon can help revitalize the Sears stores. It might make some people think about Sears who wouldn't have thought about them before. But, yeah, Sears looks like a sinking ship. I'm enjoying my shopping trips there because I don't know how many more trips I'll have before the stores I go to close or the whole chain closes.
I saw earlier this week that JCPenney's CEO, who used to work for Home Depot, will be taking over an executive position at Lowe's. We'll have to see what that means for JCPenney as this CEO made a lot of changes including the appliance addition. I also saw a study this week indicating that millennials have a noticeable preference for Home Depot over Lowe's. That really surprised me. I figured the opposite would have been the case. Perhaps Lowe's is in more trouble than I thought, but I think a good CEO can turn them around. I think women still prefer Lowe's over Home Depot, but who knows anymore. These things seem very fluid.
The Sears in Beaumont also has some Sears Grand shopping carts. As you know Sears Grand in Austin is gone. I guess they did not let shoppers buy the cars with the logos on them.
DeleteAs you may have seen, more Sears and Kmart stores got the axe today. Kmart in Lake Charles and one of the last 2 Kmarts in Laredo were on the list. 3 Sears stores in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, 1 in Austin, and The Alexandria Mall in Louisiana will close. There are also 100 other unnamed stores that are on their watch list. Thankfully no more Houston area stores are on this list. The loss of the Lake Charles Kmart stings, it was the store I had visited the most besides Lufkin.
Thanks for updating me on The N Shepherd Sears store. I may visit there sometime this Summer.
From the most recent articles, it looks like Fast Eddie has hit the panic button. The deals they are pursuing now appear to be something of a last ditch effort to keep some of the business alive.
JCPenney still needs help, but I guess Lowes is an easier company to manage. I am surprised as well that Millennials like Home Depot better.
Part II:
ReplyDeleteEl Rancho will have to have better prices than Randall's if they want to be successful here. I feel that Fiesta hasn't been as aggressive with their prices as they used to so I think there's room for a competitor. HEB has their own competitor in this segment, but they don't seem to be expanding it as much as I figure they could. Thus, El Rancho has an opportunity to make a name for themselves here. We'll see what they can do.
Aldi is going to have strong competition in Texas City from the HEB and also the Kroger across the street. Perhaps they hope that people will want to avoid the lines and typical HEB chaos. I've been to the new Texas City HEB and it really isn't an impressive store even by HEB standards, but the prices are certainly competitive and that's all that matters.
The Copperfield Half Price Books had reasonable prices on their cassettes the last time I was there not too long ago. I think the same was true with the Kirkwood HPB. I wonder what's going on at the North Oaks store then. I've never seen the NASA HPB carry cassettes so maybe there's just a lot of variance between stores.
You'd think that there's enough vacant real estate around that thrifts would be able to get some good deals on rent even with the current economy, but I suppose even thrifts want good locations. They might have to start looking at subprime shopping centers to ensure cheap rent.
I know that I have not been thrifting as frequently as I used to. One can still find nice electronics at thrifts, but the availability of things like nice VCRs and cassette decks are not what they used to be ~5 years ago. Fortunately, I was able to find most of the things I wanted except for a working higher-end Walkman.
I have not been to a Fiesta market in over a year. Sad to hear the prices are not very good anymore. HEB has expanded Joe V's more than Mi Tienda. Mi Tienda has a much smaller selection of items than a normal HEB even though the stores are fairly large.
DeleteThe grocery competition keeps getting more aggressive in the Houston area. Retailers seem to come and go, with the strongest shopping centers refilling their vacant boxes rapidly.
I don't buy too many items besides video games these days. I still have a lot of music and movies from Hastings that I have not watched or listened to. I dont anticipate going to a thrift or HPB anytime soon. I guess I can rely on the Copperfield HPB still offering a good deal if I need music.
I saw the Sears/Kmart closing list this afternoon. It's very sad to hear that the closest Kmart to Houston, the Lake Charles store, is closing. I'm not even sure where the closest Kmart to Houston is now. Obviously, it's going to be quite far.
ReplyDeleteHouston and San Antonio have lost some Sears stores lately, but now it seems like the Metroplex is getting hit too. I'm not really familiar with any of the stores on the list, but it's unfortunate news for the readers from that part of the state. Fortunately, no more Houston stores were on the list, but we know there will be more cuts down the line.
It seems like more Sears stores are closing now than Kmarts. I guess this is because so many Kmarts were closed over the last few years. Now that Sears sold a lot of their properties and are now leasing them, I'm sure we'll continue to see a lot more Sears closures. One store on the closure list is The Mall at Robinson Sears in the Pittsburgh area. I've shopped at that store before a few years back and it was a very nice newer Sears from the early 2000s. It's sad to see that one go. The Super Kmart down the street closed a few years back as well.
Sears will certainly need an infusion of cash, but I wonder if the sale of the Sears brands has more to do with Lampert wanting to gain as many assets on the cheap before the bankruptcy proceedings that are almost sure to happen. Well, if nothing else, hopefully Lampert can bolster his investments in SHOS by giving them strong brands even if the main Sears folds or gets swallowed up by someone else.
The JCPenney CEO did a pretty good job I think. JCPenney was in a tough spot after the Ron Johnson disaster, but the interim CEO and the CEO who is leaving did a good job getting JCP back on more solid footing at the very least. We'll have to see if the new CEO commits to hardlines or if they'll shift strategies once again.
I really can't imagine why millennials would prefer Home Depot over Lowe's. If nothing else, it seems like a tossup to me. Perhaps Home Depot has more favorable locations or something. I don't know. They say that the home improvement stores are more "Amazon-proof" than other retailers so both chains should be able to survive for the foreseeable future.
I have a North Oaks Half Price Books update. It seems that the cassettes have returned. They actually now have more space than before, but they still have about the same number of cassettes. They don't double stack them on a shelf anymore though so they are easier to sort through. The prices are still on the high side, but I don't think they're any worse than they were before. Some are still ~$3 though and probably aren't worth that much.
The 2 Kmart stores around 6 hours away in Metairie Louisiana will be the closest to us now. The other one is in McAllen Texas near the border with Mexico.
DeleteI just noticed the Gwinnett Place Mall is also on the list. That was the store with the old school cursive Sears logo and a different look inside of the store. I wish that I would have been able to see that store in person since it is so unique.
I think the key to JCPenney's long term success is to continue to add more categories of items to the store and shrink clothing inventory. They are in much better shape now than they had been.
If you need something fixed right away, you can't rely on the net to get your parts to you as quick as going and getting it yourself. Sears Hardware was a good option as well, but we know what happened to our local stores.
Thanks for the updates on HPB stores and thrifts. I still need to get a replacement Walkman, but it hasn't been a priority lately.
Fiesta is a bit of a tough competitor because they have two similar, but different types of stores. Some Fiestas are clearly the Hispanic-oriented ones similar to Mi Tienda and El Rancho, but then there are the other Fiestas (mostly suburban) which also specialize in non-Hispanic international foods. It seems like nobody really competes with Fiesta on the latter points, but some grocery stores have expanded their selection of international foods.
ReplyDeleteFiesta still has some good sale prices, but their regular prices are hit or miss. Sometimes they are okay, but sometimes they are higher than Kroger or HEB. Many Fiesta stores are in areas with limited competition so maybe they feel that they don't have to be very competitive. Hopefully El Rancho can give them some competition, but El Rancho might be better served avoiding competing against an experienced retailer like Fiesta. Then again, who knows what changes Fiesta's new owners will make.
The Katy and Huntsville Sears Hardware stores are supposedly still open. At this point, however, I assume they are more of appliance stores than hardware stores. While the N. Shepherd Sears had a decent looking tool department, the tool departments I've seen at other Sears I've been to have been shrinking. Perhaps SHOS has non-Sears suppliers for tools though.
It's sad that Houston shoppers have to go to the other side of Louisiana just to get to a Kmart (though perhaps the McAllen store is closer). Then again, I guess I can say that I've seen one of the two closest stores to us. I may have seen the other Kmart in Metairie, but I don't know for sure. The McAllen Kmart certainly might not last long given the plight of border Kmarts in the last couple of years.
I had forgotten about the retro Gwinnett Place Mall Sears until you mentioned it. It would have been nice to have seen that store. Of course, that mall is a famous dying mall. It's a relatively new mall (well, early 1980s) that's nice and did well for a while until an even newer mall made it obsolete.
Hopefully JCPenney hires a CEO with hardlines experience. JCP will need to continue their strategy to try to win over Sears shoppers as Sears continues to diminish. Hopefully they can find someone who will improve the quality of their softlines goods as well. I find the quality of Kohl's and JCP's softlines goods to be very mediocre. Even Sears is better and often cheaper too.
You're right that people want to work on home projects right away. They may also want to see things like faucets and light fixtures up close before buying them. I think people also like to ask for free advice at these stores.
The Copperfield Half Price Books is the smallest of the HPBs I frequent, but they often have interesting stuff that I don't see elsewhere. Their cassettes are cheaper than North Oaks, but their CDs are a bit more expensive it seems unless they are on clearance. Also, they tend to keep the discs of more expensive CDs at the cash registers. This makes it harder to inspect CDs for scratches or other damage before buying them.
Fiesta has been successful in this area for so many years, but they can't let their guard down now. The new ownership needs to improve the store experience and continue to market to the areas they serve. I hope they will continue to co-exist with the latest round of competition.
DeleteI am really surprised that the McAllen Kmart is still around. I know American retail across the border from Mexico is strong but that area has lost at least 2 Kmart stores and 1 Sears in the past couple of years.
I went to Gwinnett Place Mall once in 2004. It was still a decent mall at that point but nothing special. I also visited Underground Atlanta which is also dead from what I have read.
JCPenney has an opportunity as you said to benefit from the decline of Sears. They don't want to be exactly like Sears or they risk becoming the same thing. A modern version of the older Penneys stores would be awesome. They can put their fancy stuff and softlines near the mall entrances. Then they can put the rest of the items at the back of the store as they have done at a lot of locations.
It would be nearly impossible to get a project done right and quickly by ordering everything online. I have had some nightmare projects that needed multiple returns.
Copperfield HPB seems to be the best one for video games and music, but the worst on books.
Does the newer of the two Kmart stores in Metairie (the one farther east that has a Rouses, formerly an A&P Sav-A-Center next door) seem to usually be much more crowded than the other Kmart in Metairie which is closer to Kenner? I've never actually been to either one (I've only been to New Orleans once in my life, and didn't have a chance to explore the suburbs) but I've seen photos that make the older Kmart appear to usually be pretty dead. It's a former GEX from the 60's which became a Kmart in the 70's, so it's a lot smaller than the Kmart from the 90's at the other end of town. I have to think Kmart at one point was thinking of relocating/replacing the older store, but perhaps decided it made more sense to keep it open while opening the larger store a few miles away.
ReplyDeleteThe older Kmart was rumored to be closing several years back, but has stayed open. Both stores do a decent amount of business, but the busiest location in the area off of Clearview was recently closed. It is a toss up in my opinion.
DeleteCompared to Walmart, they're both pretty dead. I'm pretty sure Clearview was just a lease expiration. They're probably riding out the other two. 7000 Veterans (the GEX) opened in 1978; I'm really surprised it didn't go this time. 2940 Veterans (the newer store) opened in 1993; it may be close also (25 Years).
DeleteThese 2 stores and the one in McAllen will be the only stores left within a reasonable drive from Houston. I was hoping Lake Charles would continue to operate but once they pulled Sears, Kmart was right behind.
DeleteScott, when did GEX open at that site? And when did it close? I seem to also remember reading somewhere long ago that the building was also a Robert Hall Village store at one point. Would you be able to confirm that?
DeleteWhich of the two Kmart stores in Metairie is busier? I'm assuming the newer and larger one (at the eastern end of town) is more popular, but I haven't been to either one so I can't confirm. Photos and reviews make the smaller and older store (at the former GEX site near the border of Metairie and Kenner) seem pretty dead, but I get the feeling it must be doing pretty well to have survived all the years since the Kmart bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteThe older Kmart was rumored to be closing several years back, but has stayed open. Both stores do a decent amount of business, but the busiest location in the area off of Clearview was recently closed. It is a toss up in my opinion.
DeleteThe McAllen Kmart will probably close when it’s lease is up. I’m not sure when that might be, but I imagine that it can’t be cheap operating one store down there. I suppose Kmart shares logistics with Sears, but still. Hopefully it will stick around though.
ReplyDeleteIt’s hard to say what JCPenney should do with their stores. It would be great to see more hardlines in their stores, but I know how difficult it is to make money on things like electronics. I’m not sure if we can realistically expect JCPenney to restart selling tools and things like that. My best guess is that JCPenney will continue to sell appliances, but will put more focus on furniture like what Sears has done in the last ten years or so. Perhaps they can prioritize selling fashionable furniture for less than places like Macy’s. We’ll see what happens. JCPenney is in an odd spot right now. They’re certainly not as bad off as Sears and they can capitalize on Sears struggles, but they’re hardly in a great spot either.
The Mall of Georgia really seemed to do Gwinnett Place Mall. Oddly enough, Simon owned both malls at the time and basically made one of their properties useless. I guess they didn’t have a choice but to build the Mall of Georgia or else someone else would have and would have made Gwinnett Place Mall obsolete anyway.
I’m not too familiar with the malls of Atlanta. I wonder if they have the same issue as Houston has where some malls are doing well, but the others are dying or are dead. I certainly would not be surprised if that is the case there too. I am familiar with the Columbia/Avondale Mall which is now a closed mall. A Chuck Norris movie was filmed at that mall which is basically it’s only real claim to fame. It’s a shame Underground Atlanta didn’t work out. It’s quite amazing how downtown malls really struggle here in the US, but do well in places like Canada. Of course, downtowns as a whole are more vibrant in places like Canada so that might explain things.
I suspect that Fiesta will be okay as long as they keep a strong focus on their Hispanic and other international shoppers, but their higher prices might keep them from taking the next step towards competing with Walmart, HEB, and Kroger. Maybe someone like El Rancho can finally put pressure on them to be more competitive with their pricing, but we’ll see how El Rancho does.
I visited the Barker Cypress Randall’s liquidation sale which is still going on. So far, the discounts aren’t very high on most products so the shelves are still stocked as they normally would be. Randall’s regular prices are often high so a 20% or 30% discount often only puts them on the same level as other grocers. Perhaps things will move quicker as they get past the 50% off mark.
The Dickinson Whataburger was finally painted white, boarded up, and the signs were removed this week. I guess that means that store won’t be reopening. I kind of figured that was the store’s fate or else I’m sure they would have done something to it by now.
It’s been a while since I’ve looked at video games at Half Price Books, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Copperfield store is competitive with video games. They seem to dedicate a decent amount of space to games and movies given the size of the store. The selection of books is obviously much less than what is available at North Oaks or the Deerbrook HPBs. The music department is small at the Copperfield store, but they often have good stuff in those small bins. The audio cassette selection is pretty big though, but it’s still double stacked on the shelves so it’s harder to sort through them than what is the case at North Oaks with their new way of displaying cassettes.
McAllen is a store that I would like to visit, but I doubt that I will be able to swing a visit to that part of Texas anytime soon.
DeleteYou are right, JCPenney is in a tough spot right now. There is not a good plan for future growth outside of appliances. They want to take as much business from Sears as they can, but they can't become Sears in the process.
Atlanta has many of the same problems as the rest of the country. A lot of malls have come and gone over the years and several malls do well there. As with any growing city, demographic shifts and suburb growth have changed the retail landscape.
I noticed the NE side I-69 Fiesta has a billboard advertising to see the refreshed store. I guess the store got some type of remodel so I may have to stop by one of these days. I hope the neon survived, but it would cost less to get rid of it than continue to fix it and operate it.
I bet people are buying things from Randall's like they do at liquidation sales. Unless the prices go to 40% off or below I usually don't buy too many things from a liquidation sale.
Whataburger is very quick with getting their stores rebuilt or remodeled after any kind of disaster. If they board the store up and paint it solid white, it is done. The Whataburger in Humble that was closed and boarded up was reopened as a Louisiana Chicken and Seafood place. The crazy thing with that new business is that they use a nearly identical color scheme as Whataburger but with blue lighting at night. People thought Whataburger was reopening until the sign was put up. The replacement restaurant is in a spot that the regulars have been complaining about since it moved.
I guess each store manager has flexibility in deciding the product mix in their stores. Some managers might not want certain items in their stores and they can probably ship those items to another store.
Sorry for posting the same question twice. It seemed at first that my iPad lost my original post once I hit the publish button, so I rewrote my post and tried again.
ReplyDeleteIt is all good, the comments on blogger give people including myself issues all of the time. It is especially frustrating when a long drawn out comment gets deleted when you send it.
DeleteThe El Rancho store near Greenspoint Mall opened last week and it seems to have generated a lot of buzz. The media provided a lot of coverage of the opening and I heard there was a line wrapped around the store of people waiting to get in when it opened. I drove by the store a few days ago and the parking lot was completely packed. I even overheard some people on my side of town talking about it. So far, so good I guess, but we'll see if the customers stick around once the initial buzz wears away. I heard the store does not sell alcohol or tobacco products due to the owners having religious objections to them. That might hurt their sales a bit, but I guess that makes them like Randall's stores before the late 1990s. Those Randall's stores always had thriving 3rd party liquor stores next to them in the shopping center.
ReplyDeleteIn other Greenspoint area news, it looks like those long-empty pads between Fry's and The Dump were finally filled with Marshall's and a few other similar type stores.
It'll be interesting to see what the refreshed I-69 Fiesta looks like. I remember your blog post about the store, it looked really retro. Perhaps there are pictures on Google of the new look, but I don't know. Fiesta will have to stay competitive with new competitors like El Rancho.
I was surprised to see certain parts of the Randall's store that were still relatively well-stocked even with discounts making certain things slight deals like batteries and certain health products. I'm sure they'll empty out quicker as the discounts increase. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it back to that store before it closes as it is a bit out of the way, but at least I was able to give it one last visit even if I don't.
On the fast food front, I notice that Chick-Fil-A is really expanding here in Houston. I've seen several new locations open up. Supposedly one is even opening in Texas City by the new Aldi. I guess they finally figured the demand for their food was so high that they could sustain the growth. Some of their older stores look like they are getting renovations too. I'm one of the rare people who does not like their food though. I prefer KFC, but KFCs are going in the opposite direction with a lot of store closures in recent years.
Speaking of orange-themed stores replacing Whataburgers, I think an AutoZone is coming up where the old 249 Whataburger was that's over towards 45. Of course, it's a new building. Some of these old Whataburgers and other fast food places open up as new businesses, but still look like what they used to be. There's an ex-Burger King on 249 and Cypresswood that's now a seafood restaurant. It still totally looks like a Burger King.
You're right that JCPenney does not want to emulate Sears too much or else they'll become Sears. That said, JCP does seem to try to maintain their facilities better than Sears does (though in some ways the Willowbrook Mall Sears is better maintained on the outside than the JCP there). JCP does not have a lot of money to invest in new strategies so they'll have to make sure anything new they try is a winner or else they'll be in a really bad spot.
It's becoming hard to plan a Kmart trip these days because who knows whether the store will even be in business by the time you get a chance to visit it. It would be nice to visit the McAllen store before it inevitably closes (probably sooner rather than later), but oh well. I'm sure I won't be able to visit it either. Kmart is almost extinct in this region.
I've heard that some Barnes & Noble stores will be cutting back their hours and will be closing 9pm instead of 10 during weekdays. I think they used to be open even past 10 in the past. It's sad to see them close that early as bookstores have a history of staying open late (even HPBs stay open til 10). I guess bored B&N shopping night owls will have to visit those 24 hour AutoZones instead!
I guess anything new near Greenspoint Mall will do well since not many businesses open up in that area these days. They must have had some great specials.
DeleteKroger is really trying some new things so other area grocers will need to step up their game. Kroger has lowered a ton of prices and some stores have handheld scanners you can use while shopping to speed up the checkout process. They are also one of the first chains in the area to do an online click and pick up.
Chik Fil A has speed and service down to a science. They are able to move people through their line so fast, it really increases sales. They still have room to grow, their stores stay busy.
It is good to see the old fast food buildings find new life. Sadly many of these buildings don't get renovated very much and the cleanliness inside leaves much to be desired.
JCPenney will probably shrink a good bit over the next 5 years. A lot of their locations are in dead malls and small towns that can't support a department store. They still have some financial leeway but they need to figure out what their next step is.
Well you still have about 3 months to visit the Lake Charles Kmart while it is still here. I plan on making at least a couple more trips before it is gone forever.
Barnes and Noble at one time had a store in Metairie La. that was open until midnight on Friday and Saturday. That store was also open until 11pm the rest of the week I believe. Cutting back hours may not be a good idea since bookstores are supposed to be a place to connect with others and relax over coffee.
The retail situation around Greenspoint is interesting. The mall is obviously struggling big time and most of the retail directly around the mall closed years ago, but most of the Greenspoint area retail south of the Beltway seems to be doing well. Granted, most of these retailers are discount type stores like Walmart, Marshalls, The Dump, and Ross, but there are more premium retailers like Best Buy and Fry’s. I suppose it’s a similar situation as the West Oaks Mall area where the mall is struggling, but the big-box retailers around the mall are seemingly doing just fine. Of course, the Fry’s gives the Greenspoint area a unique store to draw people in from elsewhere. Perhaps El Rancho will do the same, but I know El Rancho has more stores planned for the Houston area.
ReplyDeleteI see that Kroger is putting a lot of effort into promoting their lower prices. They’ve changed the color of their bags and everything. Perhaps they are feeling the pressure of HEB who it seems to have lower prices on many items than Kroger. Obviously, the likes of Aldi and Walmart are putting a lot of pressure on Kroger as well. I prefer Kroger to HEB so I hope the prices are legitimately lower so I have even fewer reasons to shop at HEB.
I know Wal-Mart experimented with portable scanners for shoppers to use, but I heard the experiment didn’t go so well. We’ll see if Kroger has better success. It’s not really something I’m interested in using at this point because I don’t find Kroger’s lines to be very long. Even if they are, they always have the self-checkout lanes. I just wish Kroger would keep at least one regular register open late at night. While I don’t mind using the self-checkouts, it’s sometimes more convenient to just use a regular cashier for things like produce.
Speaking of self-checkouts, I noticed that some local McDonald’s have the kiosks in their stores where people can make their own orders. I used it once and found it pretty straight-forward. That said, I hope they keep people at the counter for people who prefer to order that way.
I’m trying to think if I’ve ever visited a non-fast food business that has set up shop in a former fast food building, but I don’t think I have. I’m guessing they don’t look great inside.
JCPenney will probably benefit from Sears’ continued downslide, but there may be some instances where Sears closing might make a mall with a JCPenney in it also go from being a troubled mall to a dying/dead mall. San Jacinto Mall might be a local example. We’ll have to see what JCP does to those locations. I also predict that we’ll see more JCP closures in the next 3-4 years even if Sears goes away.
I don’t think I’ll be able to make any Kmart trips this year, but that means I’ll probably have to go out of the region to see one if I’m able to do it next year. I actually had a bad experience at Sears recently where I had a SYWR promotion, but the clerk could not select the coupon on their register even though it was showing up and met the requirements. The manager said there was nothing they could do about it, but they did eventually subtract the promotion amount from the price after some arguing. I’ve used promotions like that several times before without problems so I don’t know what the issue was this time, but I hope it does not happen again. Stuff like that really tests loyal shoppers and causes non-loyal shoppers to just give up.
Speaking of Sears, I read an article today saying that a Sears in New York City will open a Kmart mini-store in the Sears. It’ll only be around 10,000 sq. ft. and will mostly be a convenience type store. We’ll see if this concept expands and maybe brings Kmart back to Houston. Also, Sears plans on putting some appliance stores in Kmarts. This has already been done in various formats before as we’ve seen, but I’m guessing these will be the new Sears corporate appliance stores instead of the franchised stores like some Kmarts have or them just putting the Sears name on the wall with the typical assortment of low-end appliances that all Kmarts have.
It is crazy how the retail district moved just a short distance South of the mall and does very well. All of the money spent to develop shopping centers around the mall was a waste since most of those centers are struggling or repurposed now.
DeleteI am not a fan of the new decorations Kroger has put up to advertise their lower prices that cover up the entrance doors. The entryways are harder to see now and you have no time to dodge people with their faces in their phones once the doors open.
The scanners seem to be rarely used the couple of times I have tried them out. I think it will cause more loss because people will forget to scan items or just flat out steal. I can see people that get caught stealing saying they forgot to scan the item.
I like the option of skipping a line and using technology to order food. I get very impatient in lines and like to be in and out quickly.
JCPenney has a lot of stores that are in bad shape as well. A bunch of their stores still have the mirrored glass entrances from the 1970's and 1980's too. It is strange seeing the portion of the store that was remodeled with the rest of the store looking worn and old. San Jacinto Mall is a great example of this.
Talk about frustrating, it is hard enough for them to get sales these days and then they give your problems with a coupon. I have been doing well this year by taking advantage of their buy a certain amount of items and getting large amounts of points back. I may have even gotten points from my trip the Kmart this past weekend.
I hope they expand the test of Kmart mini-stores to our area. They have already started bringing in cleaning items in the stores, it would not be too much to add a few more Kmart departments.
One Sears store I forgot existed is at the Central Mall in Port Arthur. I visited the store this weekend and documented it. It is a small Sears about the same size as the Mall of the Mainland location.
Speaking of West Oaks. Can anyone tell me where the Toys R Us was near the mall. I see the remains of the sign but can't really pinpoint the location.
ReplyDeleteIt was in the building that looks almost two stories. Google maps shows it as Metarock Laboratories now. It is nearly impossible to tell it was a Toys R Us but that is where it was. The only time I went to that store it was in the process of closing in either 2000 or 2001.
DeleteJCPenney was actually using a mirror façade store in their Black Friday TV commercials last year. It’s like they don’t view that form of retroness as a bad thing. It’s neat that they are embracing it, but I don’t know if most of their shoppers agree with that. Some JCPs got partial renovations during the Ron Johnson era, but then it seems like the plug was pulled on those and maybe money ran out. Thus, there are some rather patchy looking stores. I’m not sure if JCP will get enough money to fix all these problems anytime soon. They may just dump some of these older locations in malls where Sears is if Sears closes as those malls may not generate enough traffic.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like I’ve been getting a $4 off a $10 purchase SYWR promotion from Sears every week for the last two or three months. Sometimes I get a promotion that is even better than that. I’ve never had a problem using these promotions at Sears before, but that was not the case the last time I went there. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if the clerk handled the situation better. They were insisting that I should have had a paper coupon for the promotion even though I pulled up the coupon on my phone and there was nothing to print. They did eventually adjust the price to make up for the coupon not working, but I shouldn’t have had to deal with all those hassles just because their register wouldn’t let them click on the coupon. I’m a loyal Sears customer, but even that challenged my loyalty.
I do hope that Sears brings the mini-Kmart concept to Houston. The only store with a ton of excess space is the Memorial City Mall Sears and that mall has a Target in it already. Thus, I don’t know how well the mini-Kmart would work there. Maybe it could work at the N. Shepherd Sears since the retail competition in that area is a a bit thin, but that store is pretty well stocked as it is so there would have to be some sacrifices (I’m sure the electronics department would be one of those sacrifices). I did see the pictures of the New York mini-Kmart and it actually carries more products than I thought it would given the small space.
I look forward to seeing the Port Arthur Sears. I don’t know much about that store myself even though it’s not far from Houston. I wonder if it looks as nice as the Mall of the Mainland Sears on the inside, but I kind of doubt that it is unless it’s also a 1990s era store.
You’re right about the signage on the doors at Kroger. I’ve actually heard similar complaints about it that you made. I’m not a fan of the décor or the yellow bags either, but the shopping experience is still superior than HEB IMO. I can’t quite tell yet if the lower prices are legit though as I’ll need to make more shopping trips there to tell. I have been visiting a lot of the local Food Towns lately though and it’s always interesting to see the elements of the prior tenants that Food Town leaves up. I visited the FM 529 and Hwy. 6 store recently and it feels very similar to the Cypresswood and 249 Kroger. Both are ex-Albertson’s from the late 1990s though so that’s not a surprise. Perhaps it’s a surprise how much the Kroger still feels like an Albertson’s though.
Speaking of Albertson’s, I see that an El Rancho is coming up in the Pancho’s shopping center on I-45 and Tidwell. It’ll probably be a smaller, less fancy store than the Greenspoint area one. It’ll be interesting to see how it competes with the always busy Fiesta down the road at Airline. If the Tidwell El Rancho is a success, hopefully the shopping center won’t raise the rent on Pancho’s too much or that location may close (not that I eat there, but I like the idea of a retro restaurant still existing). That’s the same shopping center that used to have the rather large RadioShack where customers had to be buzzed into the store that closed a couple years back during the first bankruptcy.
I guess there are still a large amount of JCPenney stores with the old facade. The Lake Charles location recently got an upgraded sign, but it looks the same as the old one except it now has red letters.
DeleteSears has a good clothes sale now. If you buy $125 in clothes, you get $125 in points. The deals have been coming back after a year long drought on good specials.
Deerbrook Sears has moved around their tool department so it does not look as empty. There is a large amount of space opened up though filled with outdoor furniture for now. Maybe other stores will do this as well and make room for the Kmart addition.
The Port Arthur Sears is a very nice store. It has some older fixtures around the store, but it is in very good shape.
Sounds like El Rancho has an aggressive expansion plan to quickly make themselves known in the area. I wonder if more Randall's locations will become this concept in the future.
I drove by West Oaks Mall recently and noticed that The Outlet in the old Macy’s has opened. I did not get a chance to stop in as I was merely driving by the area to get to somewhere else, but it would be interesting to know what it looks like inside. Maybe I’ll take a look in there when I get a chance.
ReplyDeleteWe’ll see if Sears’ cashback offers draw people into the store. I don’t think the points get awarded all at one time. I think they are spread out over a year or something. That could be a big risk for shoppers as Sears is continuing to close more stores and there’s always a chance for a bankruptcy which might allow Sears to not fulfill their obligations. That said, the juicy offer might draw in some shoppers. Hopefully the shoppers will like what they see. I’m quite pleased with the quality of the clothing in the men’s department. The prices are very fair too compared to Kohl’s and JCPenney. That said, the selection of some items, like men’s belts, have noticeably decreased in recent months. Oddly enough, most of my recent trips to Sears have been for softline items due to their cutbacks in the non-appliance hardlines.
I notice that Sears has invested heavily in outdoor furniture this year. That is filling up a lot of floor space even at smaller stores like the Mall of the Mainland. There, the outdoor furniture is taking up a lot of demised tool department space. Hopefully the furniture is selling well. The economy is in decent shape now for some and so this might be a time where people will want to spend on expensive, but not necessary items like outdoor furniture. Of course, I’m not sure if Sears is the first place people think of when they think of outdoor furniture. They may need to advertise these items better.
I’m looking forward to seeing the Port Arthur Sears. It sounds like it’s a nice store. Sometimes the smaller Sears are maintained better than the bigger ones for whatever reason.
I suppose the Lake Charles JCPenney just got new lenses for their existing sign. I think Kmart has done that at a couple of locations. The mirror façade certainly looks dated, but I think it’s rather neat as well. I hope they keep it, but I don’t know what other customers think. In some ways, red lettering might make the signage look even more vintage. I guess I would have to see it before I can really get a sense of what it looks like.
Many of the remaining Randall’s are in wealthy areas. I don’t think El Rancho would be a good fit in those areas. Perhaps it would work if El Rancho expanded their international departments beyond just Hispanic food like the more upmarket Fiesta stores. Some of those Randall’s in wealthy areas are in locations with limited competition. The combination of wealthy neighborhoods and limited competition might make those stores rather profitable. It’s hard to say. There are stores like the Kingwood one where I’m not sure if the store is sustainable given the stiff competition from HEB. That store may have the same fate as the Barker-Cypress Randall’s, but we’ll see. I certainly hope there aren’t any more Randall’s closures as it is a grocery store that I enjoy shopping at when they have sales/promotions.
Glad to hear the Outlet opened back up. I read a review that said there was not much inside of the store to shop at. I hope they can build up some business.
DeleteI guess that explains the surprise points I had when I last shopped at Kmart. I had an extra $8 after I though my points had been exhausted. I like going into the store when I know I have points and get stuff for free.
Holding earned points is not a good idea, people want to use their points as soon as they can.
I think Sears management has no choice but to consolidate their ever-decreasing tool department. I have seen a lot of tool departments recently in various stages of being reset. It looks like the selection is not as empty as before, but aisles are being taken away for good. It is not a good plan unless they are planning on bringing the Kmart mini-stores in soon.
The Port Arthur Sears looks better than the one in Beaumont. Port Arthur will possibly benefit from the closing of the Lake Charles store.
The sign inside of the mall is the same white lettering so it look strange. The outdoor sign is just outside of the mall entrance of the store. It sounds strange but if you look up the mall map, it makes sense.
Check out the Mexican retailer/grocer Soriana. I read a few articles that they were looking to expand in the US as well. Their stores are similar to Walmart supercenters, and would be a decent option if they came here. I still need to see an El Rancho store to give my feedback on the concept.
I wonder where the Outlet is getting their closeout products from. I can't imagine there are a lot of closeout designer goods once the likes of Marshall's/TJMaxx, Ross, Burlington, Sears Outlet, and so forth get their picks. Perhaps that explains the lack of products in the store, but maybe they'll improve things as they get more buying experience. I suspect the store still has the old Macy's look to it. It would be interesting to take a look at it.
ReplyDeleteA lot of my recent Sears trips have been because of promotional points that I had available. Unfortuntaely, I had trouble using them last time, but I'm sure I'll try using them again. I'm sure the promotions are eating into their profits as their customers expect those discounts, but maybe it's drawing people into the stores who wouldn't otherwise go. Of course, who knows if they'll be pleased with what they see.
I read an article the other day saying that all the handwritten sales signs Sears has to put up is putting some extra burden on the staff. In some ways, the handwritten signs make the deals look like something really special like a Blue Light Special at Kmart. Maybe they're working. The article I was reading was implying that the handwritten signs save Sears money, but I really doubt it costs Sears much to run some computerized print outs on a laser printer. Those handwritten signs might even cost more, who knows.
It's probably not a good idea to hold onto Sears points or gift cards right now given the threats of bankruptcy. Lampert always seems to come up with more money when he needs it, but that can't continue forever especially as profitable stores close.
It's a shame to see the Sears tool departments downsized, but at least they're not looking as barren as they did a few months ago. Maybe we'll see some mini-Kmarts here. If not that, perhaps Sears would be wise to get further into the furniture game. Competing with Lowe's, Home Depot, and Best Buy might be too difficult for them, but maybe they can be more competitive against the likes of Conn's. There aren't too many national furniture stores and Sears' ability to offer credit to customers probably helps them.
I saw the pictures of the Soriana that you went to. It's a nice looking discount store. I hope they are able to come into the Houston market at some point and offer Walmart and Target some competition. Of course, if they do come, I hope they have some of the departments that they have in their Mexican stores. Of course, Soriana would have to be price competitive with Walmart to have a chance. That's a tough challenge, but I guess they must be doing a decent job competing against Walmart Mexico. Texas is very competitive on the grocery end of things, but less so on the discount store side. I'm not sure if that would make Texas an attractive place to expand to, but there might be a lot of potential shoppers here who are already familiar with them. I'm sure that helps.
I am guessing the Outlet at West Oaks is similar to the redevelopment of the former JCPenney in PlazAmericas Mall. Local vendors who can be haggled on the price. It took a little while for the PlazAmericas Mall redevelopment to get going, but that mall is doing better than it was 10 years ago.
DeleteSears management is rolling out a lot of promotions again. I don't get what the big deal is on the handwritten signs. This is not the first promotion they have done that.
I really wonder how Sears continues to operate at the rate they are losing money. I wonder if the store closing sales are helping to keep the company cash from falling out completely. Selling out an entire store in 10-12 weeks and making extra money of fixtures is not sustainable, but it is a quick way to generate cash.
Soriana has a lot of stores across Mexico. I think they could do well if they expanded across into border states. They anchor some very busy shopping centers and could help bring some failed properties back to life.
RadioShack is returning to Houston. Well, kind of. I went to the RadioShack website today and went to the store locater to see if any franchise stores have opened up in Houston. Sure enough, it said a RadioShack Express was coming soon to the HobbyTown store on Highway 6 next to West Oaks Mall.
ReplyDeleteI did some research and came across a recent article discussing how HobbyTown is putting RadioShack Express departments in 50 of their 140 stores. If successful, they might put it in more stores. Anyway, the West Oaks area store must be one of the 50 lucky locations. HobbyTown is a store that sells R/C cars and stuff like that.
HobbyTown will put up RadioShack signage on their stores and will be buying the products they sell from RadioShack (which is still running it's online store in addition to the remaining franchise dealer stores). I'm not sure what kind of products they will sell in these Express locations, but maybe it'll be oriented towards DIY electronics and accessories like soldering irons. We'll see. It does look like they'll offer cell phone repair services.
Anyway, it's exciting to hear about the return of RadioShack in Houston even if it's in a small form. Something is better than nothing. Hopefully the Express store will sell things like electronic repair parts and stuff like that. I think the RadioShack store within a store concept might work and I think we speculated before that RadioShack might be best going down that route. Hopefully this will be good news for both HobbyTown and RadioShack.
That is cool news. Radio Shack had all but abandoned Houston. Cleveland was the last store left near us. There is a need for a store like Radio Shack just not in every neighborhood like before. Cell phones helped kill Radio Shack, look at what Best Buy just did with their Mobile stores. A Radio Shack that focuses on hobbyists and DIY is a good idea. I will try to check it out one day.
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