Here is a quick post to document this pristine Toys R Us that may still be sitting vacant. These photos taken in January 2019 show a store that appeared to still be open until closer inspection. The property had been recently purchased so that may explain why the lights were on, trying to attract a new tenant. This location is almost directly between the mall and the Kmart previously featured on the blog. A lot of vacant Toys R Us locations are in the process of being converted to other uses or have had the signage taken down.
Later in 2019 Houston will get one of the 2 planned new Toys R Us locations, the first since the company closed all of the USA locations as part of their bankruptcy. The new store will be a much smaller location than their normal stores were. It remains to be seen if the reboot will be successful or not, but we here at the blog wish them success.
Had to stop by the next morning to see this place in the day.
This Toys R Us most certainly looks like an older location which received an updated and less fancy looking facade at some point probably in the 1990s. I did read the news about the new TRU and how Houston will be one of the first two markets to receive these new stores. It's hard for me to say what the prospects are for this new TRU since I don't really know much about toys. It certainly seems to me though that they are targeting higher-income areas. That comes with certain risk though. A number of retailers, including successful ones, have put locations at/near The Galleria and then found it difficult to generate enough sales to justify the rent.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see though, this could be a successful venture. If the initial stores do well, I wonder if they would expand into other malls or if they'd try to go into shopping centers. The stores are small enough that they could go into either place, but the stores will certainly feel quite different from the old stores due to the size differences.
The sign was relatively new, in the McAllen newspaper the older sign was shown in their article about the building being sold this year. The building looked to be older in the photo indicating the building had a recent paint job
DeleteThe Galleria is an expensive endeavor, but it will drive foot traffic that will hopefully result in good sales. Hopefully it will not be the only location in the Houston area when they expand the company in 2020.
They demolished this building for a Floor and Decor store.
ReplyDeleteThat sucks, this was a perfectly preserved location when I took these photos. I did visit this store in early 2020 and walked around. They had some store signage sitting outside that had been in the rain, so it was unsalvageable.
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