Amigoland Mall opened in 1974 right down the street from the Mexico border crossing. The area around the mall initially was booming with several big box stores built next to and across the street from the mall. Amigoland had Montgomery Ward, Dillard's, and JCPenney as anchors. In the late 1990's Dillard's and JCPenney left the mall for the other Brownsville mall Sunrise. Montgomery Ward stayed until it went out of business in 2001, the interior mall closed shortly therafter. The mall was purchased by Texas Southmost College and redevelopment began in 2002. The property is now know as the International Technology, Education, and Commerce Center.
For more information about the history of the mall property click here. These were the first trips we took to the mall nearly 20 years after the last anchor closed.
On our first visit in January 2020, the mall was locked up. Here are the shots from that trip. On the second trip a couple months later in March, the interior was open. Here are the photos from both visits.
January 2020
Here is a wide view of nearly the entire mall complex.
For more information about the history of the mall property click here. These were the first trips we took to the mall nearly 20 years after the last anchor closed.
On our first visit in January 2020, the mall was locked up. Here are the shots from that trip. On the second trip a couple months later in March, the interior was open. Here are the photos from both visits.
January 2020
Here is a wide view of nearly the entire mall complex.
Views of the former Montgomery Ward.
I am pretty sure that a garden center was the area on the left side of the store.
The back of the Montgomery Ward auto center.
Now this is a huge find in 2020. The updated Montgomery Ward logo before they closed in 2001. The sign had been painted over, but this side had almost completely faded away revealing this awesome logo.
From this side, the paint has not faded off as much.
A photo of the interior of the former Montgomery Ward department store. It looks unrecognizable.
The back of the former Montgomery Ward.
The back of JCPenney where the Supermarket was located.
JCPenney and the mall entrance to JCPenney.
The entrance to the former JCPenney Supermarket.
The mall entrance to the former JCPenney. The entrance to the main store is inside of this corridor.
When I went to look into the mall to take this photo, I noticed a security guard walking towards my door. I did not stick around to get potentially chewed out by Blart.
The former JCPenney auto center.
Another view of the entrance to the JCPenney Supermarket.
You will not see a former Dillard's store in 2020 that looks quite like this one does.
Slightly different angle of the former Dillard's.
This part of the mall originally was the McCrory's, later Bealls.
The former Montgomery Ward.
Former Montgomery Ward auto center, now being used by the college for OTJ training.
One last view of the main entrance.
Some of the nearby big box retailers next to and across the street from the mall.
Former Walmart
Former Toys R Us
So after this visit, I did more research on the property and found out that it is only open to the public on weekdays. Another opportunity to visit the mall came through just 2 months later as part of my last trip to the final Kmart in Texas.
Here are the photos from the 2nd visit in March 2020. Much more to see this time around.
View of where we parked, the wind turbine next to the former Montgomery Ward auto center is in the distance.
Here is some information about the college that owns the property and has many traditional classes and on-the-job training located throughout the mall.
Yes! The doors were open this time, success.
We are starting in the center front entrance to the mall. The TSC college entrance. Classrooms and spaces can be rented (click here for more info).
As of March 2020 the mall features the following tenants.
I did not get a complete list, there are a few businesses without signs that may or may not be part of the college.
Brownsville Economic Development Council
Central Medical Equipment & Supplies
Consulate General of Mexico
CPI Consultingpoint Inc.
Delicious Desserts & Deli
Diagnostic Medical Sonography
International Technology, Education, and Commerce Center of TSC. (This is the official name of the property now).
Metro Properties Inc.
Medical Laboratory Technology TSC. (Another OTJ program that the college offers here).
Nursing and Allied Health Labs
Solo Wages Tax Service
Walking towards the center court of the mall with the former Dillard's entrance to the far left.
The Montgomery Ward wing view from the center court.
A wide view of the center court. The JCPenney corridor is to the left of this image.
Now for the Montgomery Wards wing.
These ceilings are something else.
Imaging how this corridor looked in 1990! Sadly most of the vacant storefronts have been covered up in this wing of the mall.
More businesses on the way!
This is the entrance to the former Montgomery Ward. This is the one area of this corridor where the storefronts are still intact.
Too bad the old directory had been pulled out. The old McCrory's/Bealls entrance was just past the sign.
Inside of the former Montgomery Ward. Manufacturing and college studies are happening in this former department store. I did not see any way up to the second floor, it may be completely closed off.
It is hard to look at the inside of this building and see the department store elements.
I really like how the main entrance is setup once you walk in from the outside.
Back to the mall, here are a couple of storefronts still showing next to the entrance to the Montgomery Ward.
Looking towards the center court. The McCrory's/Bealls entrance was to the left of this image.
Now back to the best side of the mall.
These skylights are pretty awesome.
The former Dillard's entrance is right in the middle of this image.
Here is the inside of the former Dillard's department store. Looks like an old kiosk right in the middle.
Here is a video taken by William Flores of the second floor of this former Dillard's location. The second floor is in better shape than the first floor as you can see in the link here.
If the first floor looks this bad, I can only image the second. This is the only sizable part of the old mal that is not being used or remodeled.
Looking towards the center court from the former Dillard's entrance.
The Dillard's stickers are still on the glass doors.
On the left and the right side of this photo, you can see the old stickers better.
The center court looking to where we entered. JCPenney to the left, Montgomery Ward to the right.
Now we go down the best hallway of the mall towards the former JCPenney, many old school storefronts still remain.
When I looked over at this spot, it looked familiar. Then it hit me, this was an old Chik-Fil-A.
The space was most recently a restaurant called Kactus Café. Per an online search, this restaurant is permanently closed.
This was an original entrance to the mall. We will go down this hallway a little bit later.
The JCPenney corridor had a lot of character.
This seating area has to be original.
This is one of the strangest JCPenney mall entrances I have seen. You had to enter the mall and then go through another entrance to get into JCPenney. The Prien Lake Mall in Lake Charles has a JCPenney entrance similar to this one. This mall entrance was much more appealing though, lots of sunlight.
Kind of difficult to see, but the JCPenney logo is still partially visible.
A look into the former JCPenney. Parts of the former store are being renovated, but this area still remains. The Supermarket section was to the right once you entered the store.
There are many more photos of the interior of JCPenney on this Facebook page. From the photos, it looks like the Supermarket section of the store had been opened up and turned into the catalog and merchandise pickup. Some areas of the floor in that part of the store appear to have tile imprints. It is difficult to judge from the angle of the photos, but there are a lot of photos to look through in the albums below.
I did my best to photograph the reflection of the letters.
A look down the corridor leading to the center court.
Another look into the former JCPenney, as you can see there is a new wall to the left of this image. The other side of the store is being renovated.
A closeup of the old school mall trash can.
Now for more of the JCPenney corridor and nearby mall entrance.
Here is the mall entrance, it looks fairly plain until we get to the end.
Really cool wood designs, the mall restrooms are down the hallway to the left. (Restrooms not pictured).
Former random storefront near that mall entrance. You can faintly make out the labelscar, but I could not figure it out.
Back into the main mall, we have several old storefronts in a row.
Tables and chairs setup for the Deli.
I could not tell what this storefront was, but it is definitely 1980's.
Here is the deli, we made sure to stock up on some baked goods and drinks here. They had lunch plates, ice cream, desserts, and what we tried out was awesome. This is a must stop, if you go here.
A look at the security office and more businesses.
The center court with the Montgomery Ward entrance to the right and center mall entrance to the left.
Montgomery Ward corridor.
The walls near the center mall entrance. Not sure if the walls were originally this way, but they are a nice touch.
One last look at the center of the mall before we go. The Mexican Consulate office is where that Mexican Flag is located. The bench setups throughout the mall
JCPenney with the Supermarket entrance partially hidden by short palm trees.
View of the mall and the JCPenney entrance.
This time, we drove up to see this entrance up close.
Now a peak through the dusty windows. Judging by the looks of these doors, this was at one time a Supermarket.
The back side of the former JCPenney with former Dillard's in the distance.
Former JCPenney Supermarket side and main store entrance.
More shots of the former Montgomery Ward and mall lot.
One more photo of this awesome sign. I hope it stays this way.
The wind turbine towers over the former mall. This area of Texas has a ton of wind turbines.
Back of the former Montgomery Wards.
Former Dillard's.
Here is the former Kmart across the street from the mall.
To end the article, a shot of the former Walmart.
More posts on the way, stay tuned!
Wow! A Montgomery Ward sign now. That would be cool if that sign was still up after the company shut down, but the fact that the sign is still there almost 20 years after Ward’s closed. That’s really cool.
ReplyDeleteWow and WTF were the words I said many times when I saw the sign. Now I wonder if the lights come on at night on the sign.
DeletePart I:
ReplyDeleteWow, this is an excellent post. I am glad to finally see all these photos of inside Amigoland Mall. The students who attend the college at this mall don't know how lucky they are to be able to study in a place with such character. I think it would be wonderful to read a book or something in those mall corridors.
I did some research about the mall after you posted this and uncovered a few nuggets of information. First, there is a book about the history of Dillard's which discusses some interesting things about this location. The most interesting thing is that Amigoland Mall was supposed to be part of an amusement park called Amigoland, but the amusement park never happened. I suppose that explains why the mall was built in a rather isolated part of Brownsville. The Dillard's book, which is from 1988, says the store does well even without the amusement park and that the mall was built by Dillard's favorite mall developer, Melvin Simon. The book then discusses how Dillard's liked border locations and how they planned on opening more border locations. They then discuss how these stores had to be merchandised somewhat differently due to the tastes and needs of Mexican shoppers. It's an interesting short read, I'll provide the link to the page on Google Books here.
Perhaps even more interesting than that is that I found a Texas court document from 1981 discussing a lawsuit concerning a shopper at the Amigoland JCPenney who was suing JCPenney because he slipped and fell on a banana peel at the store. It discusses the circumstances and the whole situation is surreal because it just goes to show how different JCPenney is now compared to then. The customer was in the department store part of the store buying fishing gear. Of course, JCP sold stuff like that back then, but that seems hard to believe now. The text then discusses how the grocery operation was operated separately from the department store with it's own checkouts and such. That was typical at the time with Kmart Foods, Target, and other retailers that had grocery departments. I suppose the critical matter in the case was whether the banana was something that had been laying on the floor for a long time, perhaps from the grocery section, or if it was something another customer had just thrown on the floor. If it was the former, the store could be responsible, but if the latter, than the store shouldn't be responsible.
Anyway, the court document says that the grocery store was operated by a division of Penney's called Supermarkets Interstate. According to Wikipedia, Supermarkets Interstate was an independent grocer, but JCP acquired them (I'm not sure when) and then removed Supermarkets Interstate locations in 1980. That's interesting because that means that unlike Kmart Foods, JCP actually did own the operators of their supermarkets. Given the lawsuits, we can see why a retailer like JCP might be leery of keeping groceries next to their stores and that could also help to explain why mall stores don't want grocery stores in malls. Anyway, the link to the court document is here.
The former mall is a great place for a student to relax and grab a bite to eat. It is not as noisy or busy as a normal college campus.
DeleteThere is a lot of vacant land near the mall. I think there are houses right behind the mall, I wonder if that was where the amusement park was going to go. There is nothing today to compare this mall to a Simon Mall even from this era. Amigoland was a very unique and well designed property. It unfortunately was built in a terrible location and could not capitalize on the cross-border sales to keep it afloat.
The JCPenney opened in 1974, I believe. So that would mean only about 6 years or so of grocery store operations. I wonder why they pulled the plug on those stores, maybe it was the small size of the market. I don't think the grocery store was more than 15,000 square feet. Slipping on a banana peel would not be fun like in the cartoons.
I see a part 2 to your comment. I will reply at a later time. Thanks for looking up that info. They are interesting events for an already interesting mall.
Part II:
ReplyDeleteIt seems that this mall is well-maintained on the inside and has been kept vintage. The decor and architecture fits this location well. This mall looks so much more interesting than the Brownsville Sunrise Mall. I'm also glad that this mall has at least a little row of retail still left in it with the realtor, cafe, and medical supplies shop. The Wards sign is great and the fact that it had Wards' newest signage might be a sign that this store did relatively well, but who knows. Most Houston Wards locations never got new signage.
The ex-Dillard's location is not in such great shape on the inside. It looks like there is a bunch of old electronics/IT gear from the 1990s or early 2000s in there. I'm not sure if that's storage from the college or what, but I suppose they could always clean that area up and repurpose it if the college needs more space. As for the exterior design of the Dillard's, it is something rather unexpected, but it fits the design of the mall and it's better than the cookie cutter design of more modern Dillard's stores.
I've seen some other JCPenney's with odd entrances like that. It is quite odd. I'm sure the mall appreciated such a design, but I'm not sure how it benefited JCP. Some aspects of this mall, like that black JCP sign, kind of reminds me of an old airport terminal design.
The Amigoland area sure is a retail graveyard with all those abandoned big box stores. Still, this is a really interesting mall. I'm glad you were able to document it as well as you did. This place is a real gem.
The one issue with this mall was the lack of land to expand. The mall is surrounded and roads would have had to be closed off to make more space for the mall. Any expansion on the land would have just created less parking on an already small lot.
DeleteI was wondering if the Dillard's space had been some kind of call center or communications area for the college. There was a lot of stuff thrown around in there. I really wonder how bad the second floor of that store is. It is a really nice building. All of the Dillard's buildings in that area have extra design elements and more color than most generic locations. When I post the Sunrise and La Plaza Mall posts, you will see how much nicer the designs are.
The JCPenney probably looks really awesome inside. They still have some vintage signage and I want to see the former grocery store. I will just have to be careful of dropped bananas. That court case by the way, was a very strange sequence of events. $210,000 back in 1976 was a lot of money.
There is actually a Ross in Downtown Brownsville not too far from Amigoland. It has been fairly busy when we passed through the area both times. Downtown Brownsville has some shops and a few restaurants, but it is nothing like McAllen or El Paso. There is a lot of foot traffic in the area.
Nice that you finally got to visit Amigoland! It's definitely a really interesting piece of history over here in Brownsville. And the architecture's really unique!
ReplyDeleteWere you able to visit Sunrise Mall too? It's not as distinct as Amigoland but it still has a charm of its own.
Yes we certainly did visit Sunrise Mall. It is sad that one side of the mall is dying. Sears, Agaci, and Bealls all in the same section of the mall closed or closing. There are some cool interior designs especially in the Sears court.
DeleteWe also went to La Plaza Mall in McAllen the next day. I liked both malls, but La Plaza is a top notch mall. With both of these malls in prime locations, you can see why Valle Vista is struggling. The Premium Outlet Mall is another thing hurting Valle Vista.
I did a little further research and it seems that the Kmart near Amigoland Mall was formerly a Globe Department Store, a discount store once owned by Walgreens in their attempt to have their own Kmart/Woolco type chain. We had a few Globe locations in Houston so perhaps that isn't a big surprise. I think it makes sense that that Kmart did not start out as a Kmart because it looks a bit unusual for a Kmart.
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling that the building was something other than a Kmart originally. Thanks for sending that info over.
DeleteThe space at the far end of the store was Globe's supermarket and the adult day care was the auto center. Here's the store as Globe: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98550889/valley-morning-star/
DeleteActually the part at the far left was the supermarket, not the right
DeleteThanks for the newspaper post South Texas Retail. The building doesn't look that much different after all of these years. I wonder what the inside looks like.
DeleteJCPenney just released the list of the first wave of store closures. The closest one to Houston that is closing is the one in Huntsville, at West Hill Mall. I liked that location because of the glass entrance. Sad to see it go.
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly a huge blow for the mall. Palais Royal pulled out so the mall will now be anchorless. I guess this opens up the rest of the mall up for takeover by the Government offices. Hopefully I will have a chance to drop by before they close.
DeleteI love the small JCPenney locations, like the one in Paris, TX. It’s sad that some of the small ones are closing, like the Paris one.
ReplyDeleteThe small town locations were the worst hit in the last round of mass closures JCPenney as well. I am surprised that Lufkin Mall is closing, that mall does very well. JCPenney was the last true anchor at that mall. Sears closed in 2017, Stage will close soon, and now JCPenney. Boot Barn which does not have a mall entrance and TJ Maxx will be the only junior anchors left. I guess you could consider the cinema an anchor. Lufkin also lost their Kmart in 2017 across from the mall, so they have been hit hard by store closures at and near the mall.
DeleteSorry for the terrible quality and stuff that I was saying in the video. I took it while I was helping clean up the first floor of the former Dillards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf007y0FaLc
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf007y0FaLc
ReplyDeleteI filmed the following video of the 2nd floor of the Dillards while I was helping clean up a section of the first floor back in 2013.
Do you mind if I add your video to my blog post?
DeleteAlso, searching the archives. There was an iHop right before the former WalMart and McDonalds' building. I was built in 1974 I believe and It burned down in either late 70s or early 80s . A parking lot office was built on the former concrete foundation in 2015 with a similar building like the ihop buildings from the 70s.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your video with us William. It looks better up there than I would have thought. How does the building smell, is it pretty humid inside of there? Some of those old stores really get messed up unless they keep the air flowing and the roof patched up.
DeleteFrom what I saw earlier this year, it looked like the building was in poor condition on the inside. Was the first floor in worse shape than the second?
It is a shame that the area lost nearly all of the retail and restaurants. It looks like downtown is doing well, I read that downtown had declined in the 80's.
Yes of course you can share the video on your blog.
ReplyDeleteFor some odd reason, the first floor was the one that had more decay. I also remember that the center of the store in the first floor had the the most damage. The structure looks fine though. It's just the ceiling tiles that have taken the most hit. Personally,I think it just needs roof repair to secure it for future usage. The concrete on the second floor looked good. Almost better than the first floor. From the first floor looking up where the ceiling tiles were missing, the steel looked a tad rusty but nothing major. I think Simon did an excellent job on the construction of this building.
I wonder if a water pipe opened up and dumped water on the first floor at one time. It would explain the ceiling and rusty steel issue you saw.
DeleteI will add your video to the post, I appreciate you sharing it here.
Thank you so much for sharing these photos! I love how you really went into detail with them! I cherish this mall so much! I remember going to amigo land mall as a small child! I remember it like it was yesterday. Right where the dessert place is, I remember there was a Dino’s Pizza! Man, that pizza was delicious! My mom used to work at Montgomery Ward.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you taking the time to share your memories of Amigoland Mall. It is really a shame that the mall fell apart so quickly. A lot of people in the area have found memories of Amigoland, I wish I had seen it back in the day.
DeleteThank you so much for these photos. I used to go to the mall with my parents in the late 70's early 80s. *My* memories are of going to Wyatts Cafeteria (please correct me if it was NOT a Wyatts), then running all the way to Mac's Toys toy store where I could spend hours if my folks would let me. Then off to "The Land of Oz" which I believe was the name of the arcade there. Also going to Radio Shack ant the opposite end. And there was a TV/video store across from Radio Shack (I don't remember the name) but I saw my first Queen music video there (We Will Rock You). I was mesmerized.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your memories at Amigoland Mall. I had been wanting to go here for years, but there was little to no evidence online that the former mall was open to the public. I am really impressed in how the owners have continued to keep the property in good shape while parts of the old mall are still intact to visit. I will probably go back one day when we make our long postponed trip to South Padre Island.
DeleteHi! I just found this page as a result of a google search....my grandfather was one of the founders of amigo land and I just stumbled across and incredible photo of the original table sized model of what amigo land was supposed to be, an amusement park. I would be happy to share it with you
ReplyDeleteHi. I just stumbled upon this page as a result of a google search. My grandfather was one of the founders of amigo land. I just found a photo of the table sized model of what amigo land was supposed to be, an amusement park. Would be happy to share it with you.
ReplyDeleteHi. I just stumbled upon this page as a result of a google search. My grandfather was one of the founders of amigo land. I just found a photo of the table sized model of what amigo land was supposed to be, an amusement park. Would be happy to share it with you.
ReplyDeleteHi! I just found this page as a result of a google search....my grandfather was one of the founders of amigo land and I just stumbled across and incredible photo of the original table sized model of what amigo land was supposed to be, an amusement park. I would be happy to share it with you
ReplyDeleteHi! I just found this page as a result of a google search....my grandfather was one of the founders of amigo land and I just stumbled across and incredible photo of the original table sized model of what amigo land was supposed to be, an amusement park. I would be happy to share it with you
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for the delay in the reply. I am way behind on my comments at the moment.
DeleteSure I would be happy to see the photo. You can email it to me at southernmalls@gmail.com
We can also post the photo to the article with your permission. A lot of people here are interested in the history of the mall, it was such a cool property to visit last year.
Please share the photo, it would be great to see what it would have looked like!
DeleteMy mom said she worked at Walgreens and one or twice a year there was a sidewalk sale. She would sell cakes and pies at her table and would go into Walgreens to get more cakes when she ran out. She doesn’t remember why Walgreens would have cakes. Anyone remembers if there was a bakery in Walgreens or something that could explain it?
ReplyDeleteMany Sanborns locations in Mexico which are similar to old Walgreens have bakeries. Since Amigoland is so close to the border, Walgreens management probably tested out a bakery business there.
DeleteIt is hard for me to say for sure, but a lot of older Walgreens locations had lunch counters in them like a Woolworth and so it's possible that the location had the ability to bake things if they did indeed have a lunch counter. I'm not sure if the Amigoland Walgreens would have had such a thing in the early days.
DeleteAdding to the similarities between Sanborns and Walgreens is the fact that Walgreens was a major investor in Sanborns for a long time. In fact, I got a listing of Walgreens locations from 1961 and it even lists the Sanborns Mexico locations along with their US locations. That's pretty neat.
It's really impressive how many people have found this page about Amigoland and have posted their memories of the place. This is a mall that was not even on the dead/dying mall radar for some odd reason, but there's so much of interest about it and it's still around to walk around in. So many people have memories of the place. I'm glad you were able to document this place.
It is pretty crazy that Sanborns and Walgreens were tied together that far back. It would be really cool to get Sanborns here, I am sure a lot of people would too.
DeleteAmigoland had so little information online. For the mall to be still open, I am surprised nobody else made the trek to document the mall. Your suggestion and the suggestions of others on the blog helped to motivate me to find and catch the mall when it was open. I am really glad we were able to see the mall just before Covid changed the world.
I was 14 in 74. Amigoland was my playground. The first and only mall in Brownsville and that I'd ever been to. Brand new and Beautiful. There was a bus you could catch in DT on Washington and it would take you to Amigoland for free. Drop you off at Penneys. In the center of the mall in front of Dillards was a gorgeous fountain and the water running thru it made a beautiful loud roaring sound. They took it away later. Very first video game arcade was at the end of a long hallway before you got you Penney's. Land of Oz. AND WITH its ENTRANCE on THE OUTSIDE NEAR Penneys was The Down N Inn a bar that served teens. No ID check no questions asked. No kidding!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your memories of the mall. This mall meant a lot to the residents of Brownsville, I was really glad to be able to document it in 2020. There can't be very many bars in the US that will serve teens alcohol anymore. I knew of a few in the 1990's in Louisiana where I lived 😉.
DeleteHave you been able to revisit the mall recently? I know a lot of the cool features like the water fountain have been removed, but a lot of the old mall still remains.
Do you remember the name of the candy store that was there to the left before entering Dillards ?
DeleteMorrow’s Nut House
DeleteThank you Anonymous for the clarification!
DeleteThank you for your chronicle of the way Amigoland Mall looks now. It brought back of memories from my childhood. Stores that I remember, apart from the ones mentioned are Quips'n Quotes with everything Hallmark, The Ranch, Olé!, Chess King, Orange Bowl and Musicland.
ReplyDeleteYou are quite welcome. A lot of people have great memories from the mall. I wish I had gotten to see the mall back then, but thankfully some parts of the mall are still intact. It looks like Quips'n Quotes is still in business down in the Valley. If you ever come across any photos you would like to share from the mall, please send them to me at southernmalls@gmail.com
DeleteThanks
JE
Funny, I was just thinking about my timee in the mid 70's in Brownsville. So I checked on the Amigoland mall and found this article. Background, my father's company built out 21 stores in the original build. Among them the popular, Wicks and Sticks, Baskins and Robbins, and Morrows Nut House to name a few. The memories came flooding back. I was 15 and puttinf in a full day's work in rhe summer. I had a blast and to me the interior of the mall was interesting and beautiful. Thank you for the memories.
DeleteThat is a pretty fun experience. I bet the mall was a really bustling place in the early days.
Delete