Here is the Sears at Memorial City mall that closed in November 2018. The store opened in 1966 and was the last original anchor at the mall. This is the electronics department after it was moved into a different spot next to seasonal and sporting goods. The first set of photos was taken in early 2018 a few months before the store closed.
Here is the large space that previously had the electronics.
They did not do a very good job of covering up the plugs and connections on the old TV wall.
Signs advertising the merchandise blowout.
September 2018, early in the store closing sale. Here is one of the driving school cars, many Sears locations that closed still had these cars sitting for months after the store closed.
The store still had a keyshop, The Shepherd store is the last area location to still have a separate keyshop.
The ad's did not have the discounts listed yet, but the prices were the standard 10-30% off to start.
Not sure if this is a new or old sign.
Always some mannequin fun when the final days arrive.
Christmas was already here at this store. In 2019, Sears was late to the party.
Electronics department, these have mostly disappeared from Sears in 2019.
Not sure if the portrait studio was still open or not.
I wish this was still the case with Sears. These days everywhere else has what Sears has and more.
Keep waiting
Classic and modern is the best way to describe the store. This was one of the best kept locations in the Houston area prior to the closing.
November 24, 2018 final 2 days of the sale.
A lot of clothes were still left at this point in the sale.
As you can see here, the store had recently been painted in the Lands End section.
The escalator area was still old school.
The former Sears Optical department.
There are always rugs at these store closing sales. I guess there is some warehouse somewhere with millions of these just sitting around.
The lines were still full 30 minutes after the store closed. Here they are in the last hour before closing.
Odds and ends are all over the place. Lots of decent fixtures still left.
The tools were mostly wiped out at this point in the sale.
It is always interesting seeing a mostly cleared out store that had been filled for over 40 years at this point.
The final ad for the store closing sale.
These taped off sections have racks of clothes that had already been sold.
The former electronics department was halfway filled.
Down to the last scraps of appliances.
This was taken 30 minutes after the store closed for the night. You can still see people waiting in line to the far right.
RIP Sears Memorial City. This was the oldest remaining mall location in the Houston metro area.
Thanks for chronicling the demise of the Memorial City Mall Sears. I shopped at this Sears many times over the years. While it was always a big Sears with more selection than most of the other Houston-area Sears, I never found it to be a particularly attractive store on the inside. This store, along with the old Memorial City Montgomery Ward, did have a bit of a dated looking interior and very open looking apparel departments which looked a bit more like a discount store than a department store.
ReplyDeleteStill, like I said, this store did have more departments and selection than many other Sears stores in the area since it was so large. I thought Sears eliminated their rug department years ago. I'm a bit surprised to see so many rugs there. Those must have been shipped in from another retailer or something. There are a few rug stores in town who have been having going out of business sales for the last 20 years it seems. Perhaps these carpets came from those retailers who have a very loose definition of going out of business!
The placement of mattresses in the old electronics department was a pretty common thing for Sears. Unfortunately, this was not done as tastefully as it was at some other Sears. Still, I suppose it doesn't look much different from, say, the current Willowbrook Mall Sears mattress department. Interestingly enough, this Sears was one of the first to bring mattresses back in the early 2000s after Sears sold off their Homelife Furniture stores. I remember being surprised seeing mattresses at this store many years back. Eventually, obviously, the mattresses made their way to all Sears again.
It's good to see that this store still had an electronics department down towards the end, but it looks rather sad. I've seen better looking electronics departments at Kmart stores. It's a bit odd that they had so many boomboxes for sale. I suppose those were big sellers for Sears.
I've seen those Appliance Select Centers at some Sears, but I never quite understood the point of those. Did they have premium appliances in there with kitchen mockups or something? It seemed odd that Sears would hide these things if they did.
It's interesting to see the old Sears logos on those car roof cargo carriers. I wonder how old that stock must be. Of course, the Sears Driving School still used the older Sears logo on what are clearly modern cars. I remember when attending Sears Driving School was the cool way to learn how to drive. These days, I wonder if it's a source of embarrassment for the students who go there. I suppose they still do have better looking cars than most other driving schools.
Well, anyway, it was nice seeing this place one final time. My family and I certainly spent a lot of time and money at this Sears. I suppose Memorial City Mall still has some interesting aspects even without Sears since they have a Target, but the mall certainly doesn't seem the same without Sears. I probably won't be visiting it anytime soon now that Sears is gone. It seems like them and Montgomery Ward were always the attractions for me at that mall aside from things like the Floppy Wizard computer store that have long since left the mall.
Memorial City Mall has had many interesting stores over the years, but now it is mostly the same as any other regional mall in the area. Losing Sears is a bigger blow to the mall than many people realize. I would not be surprised if the vacant anchor space sits for a while since land prices are so high in that area.
DeleteThis was one of the best stores in the Houston area and stayed mostly up-to-date while other Sears stores still have the 90's look even today. Thankfully I was able to document the store just before it closed.
Memorial City Mall is still worth a visit especially around this time of the year. They really deck the mall and surrounding area up for the holidays.
It looks like the former Memorial City Mall Sears is finally being demolished this week as the mall makes space for a planned lifestyle center. This link has some photos from the demolition so far. It's sad to see the old place go out like this, but I suppose it beats it rotting away. Then again, I think an abandoned department store might be more interesting than a lifestyle center, but I'm sure I'm in the minority with that opinion!
ReplyDeleteI guess that means the small trampoline park inside of the Sears mall entrance is closed now. Too bad they couldn't use the frame or parts of the old building for the new development.
DeleteUp until a year ago, you could still see part of the inside of the former Mervyn's in the courtyard by the ice rink. They finally covered up that small piece of the store with banners and a new restaurant.
This mall has a future blog post in the works so I may swing by and get some photos of the demo if I get a chance.
Do you have any photos of or know of any photos of the part of the inside of the former Mervyn’s that you mentioned?
DeleteDuring store closing sales, you know how merchandise is sold during the sale. What happens to the money that the stores collect from customers if it is a company like Payless or Toys R Us where every location is closing?
DeleteI need to look into my archives. Only a small piece of the building corner was still attached to the mall.
DeleteStore closing sales are usually handled by a liquidation company. An agreed upon price for the entire inventory goes to the seller (Payless or Toys R Us). The rest of the sales goes to the liquidators, which is how they make their profit.
DeleteThe liquidators will try to squeeze every last penny out of the sale. They start the discounts low usually at 10% off and the discount is off of the normal retail price. The first phase of the sale usually lasts a month and then the discounts increase. The sales are designed to work out in the favor of the liquidators, but some deals can be found.