We did it! On 6/16/2020 we passed a million pageviews! I can't thank everyone enough for my blog passing this huge milestone of one million page views. I am going to do something a little different for this post. Feel free to comment down below on your favorite blog post or ask me a question.
I started this blog on April 24, 2009 with the intention of bringing attention to my local retail properties. Malls and stores like Kmart
were locations of some great memories with my family and friends back in the day. A lot of these places are gone, so I wanted to contribute to making sure the memories of these places did not fade away. I have lived in either Louisiana or Texas for my whole life, which is why I focus on these states. When I started the blog in 2009, only a few Texas and Louisiana properties had been covered by Deadmalls, and Labelscar. A few of my earlier articles were published including at the original Mall History Page here. YouTube at the time was the popular outlet for Deadmall content as it is now. I thought it would be easy to cover these places and post them rapidly on the blog. 11 years later, I have more than realized that covering these properties is time consuming and not as easy as I thought back then. There are also parts of both states that for some reason or another, I have not been able to cover. I cannot thank the creators of the earlier retail sites such as Deadmalls, Labelscar, and Caldor Rainbow for their hard work and dedication to preserve retail history, as well as giving me the idea of creating this page. Regional blogs such as this one were few and far between back in 2009. Most of those earlier pages and blogs are no longer updated. I do my best to research and collect the facts about these properties at the time they are covered here on the blog. My readers have been more than helpful with getting the facts correct through emails and comments.
If you would like to reach me by email to submit an article or comment you can reach me at. I will happily accept user photos or blog posts with full credit given.
southernmalls@gmail.com
If you would like to reach me by email to submit an article or comment you can reach me at. I will happily accept user photos or blog posts with full credit given.
southernmalls@gmail.com
Here is how the process works for creating a post.
Step 1: Identifying and documenting.
This process takes into account my time off, travel costs, and the urgency of going to the place. Sometimes when multiple places I want to visit are closing, I have to make the choice of which one to visit in my limited time off. Once I document the place, I save the photos to my computer and backup disk.
Step 2: Creating the post.
Now this is one step that I don't really have a method for. I try to stagger small articles in between large articles to keep my blog flowing. Sometimes life and work gets in the way of providing frequent posts, but I do my best to continue to work behind the scenes. Some articles require more research than others and take months to finish. Some articles take only a couple of hours or so to put together. I have a constant 10+ posts in this stage at all times. Sometimes I want to hurry up and post a small article and sometimes I am motivated to get the larger articles going.
Step 3: Finalizing and posting.
This is where I do my last bit of research and clean up any errors.
My favorite properties that I have documented.
This was my local mall during my childhood. This mall was probably the most researched and most important for me to document. Even though the mall only lasted 17 years, a lot of good memories were had here. The mall closed in 2000, was demolished piece by piece. As of 2019, a portion of the mall floor is still intact between Walmart and Lowes.
I visited this mall once when it was still doing well back in the 90's. When I returned in the 2010's, the mall had fallen on hard times. The mall had not been updated in quite some time and still had directories with the long demolished Montgomery Ward listed. The mall appears to still be open with a small handful of businesses left.
One of the most recent mall visits, and one of my favorites. What else can I say about this place. This is such a cool property with one of the last remaining Wards signs. Even though retail left the mall by 2002, this place still has a lot of the former mall stores intact.
This was a neon showcase back in 2012. I really wish I would have visited this mall at night and with a better camera. Even though the interior of the mall has closed, the neon mall sign at the Burlington entrance was still on in March of 2020. I can't mention Sunrise Mall without talking about the Legend of Billy Jean scene that was shot here back in the 1980's. The interior of Sunrise Mall closed in March 2019.
Behind the sealed off entrance to Service Merchandise was this mint condition hours of operation sticker. I was able to document this before the entrance was sealed off with sheetrock. As of January 5th 2020, San Jacinto Mall with the exception of JCPenney and Macy's is closed. The majority of the mall was demolished in 2019 including the former Service Merchandise.
The future of the blog.
I will continue to post articles through at least 2021. Most of the properties that I want to cover have been documented here. There are a few more on my radar, but I am planning on finishing up my list by early 2021. After that I am not sure what the future of the blog will be, but I will continue to be active with the comments. So many vintage properties have disappeared or are in danger of disappearing, that there is not much left that I am interested in documenting. JCPenney and Gordmans/Palais Royal stores will more than likely be documented better than I have so far. I still have a very healthy backlog of posts, this is post #400 and I currently have 26 drafts and another 50+ posts that I have collected photos for.
Here are some of the upcoming articles.
Centro Santa Fe CDMX
This massive mall is the largest mall in Latin America, and the largest mall I have ever been to.
This massive mall is the largest mall in Latin America, and the largest mall I have ever been to.
Cielo Vista Mall El Paso Texas
The largest and most popular mall in El Paso. Sadly the Walmart just outside of the mall was the site of one of the worst shootings in American history.
The largest and most popular mall in El Paso. Sadly the Walmart just outside of the mall was the site of one of the worst shootings in American history.
Cortana Mall Baton Rouge Louisiana
Update from 2018 less than a year before the mall closed.
All 3 Houston area Fry's Electronics locations
Each of these stores are unique in their own way. Fry's electronics has fallen on hard times and could be a retail casualty in 2020.
NASA
West Houston
West Rd.
The final days of the Kmart Lake Charles
This is the Kmart I was most familiar with and the one that was the saddest to lose.
Last days of the McAllen Kmart
The final Kmart in Texas closed April 11 2020. In addition to the photos in the last month of business, I recorded some video footage with a VHS filter.
La Plaza Mall McAllen Texas
This mall has a lot of charm even though it was recently updated. This mall is a powerhouse and has a lot to offer. It reminds me a lot of Memorial City Mall in Houston.
Plaza Las Missiones Juarez update
More of Sears Mexico and some surprises.
Memorial City Mall Houston Texas
Yes I finally did it.
Plaza Arcos Bosque CDMX
High end luxury mall in the suburbs of CDMX.
Plaza Juarez update June 2019
The Soriana great wall of TP and more.
Plaza Sendero Juarez and Plaza Sendero Las Torres both in Juarez Chihuahua Mexico
Yes there are two of these malls in Juarez. They are nearly identical except for different anchors and flip flopped food courts.
Plaza Sendero Juarez
Plaza Sendero Las Torres
Plaza Insurgentes CDMX
A small mall located not too far from the CDMX financial district.
Red Bird/Southwest Center Mall Dallas Texas
The mall revisited, but a lot has changed since our first outing.
Multiple Sears locations including my local Deerbrook Mall store which closed in April 2020.
This one hurts, this was my go-to Sears store.
Sears CDMX
11 total floors of retail goodness. Prepare to be wowed by this store!
Main Street Sears
N. Shepherd update
Willowbrook Sears
Sunrise Mall Brownsville Texas
A Sunrise Mall with a much better outcome than both Amigoland Mall and the Sunrise Mall, tow and a half hours North in Corpus Christi.
Sunrise Mall 2020 update Corpus Christi Texas
Sadly the interior mall is locked up, but we took a walk around the entire mall while visiting Wilcox Furniture and Burlington.
Toys R Us I-10 Memorial location
Yet another sad TRU location in the final days of operation. I fell short of documenting the entire store when an employee had me leave the fixture area which at that point was most of the store.
The new Toys R Us
Toys R Us return to Houston in December 2019.
Valley View Center Mall May 2019 update. Most of the mall has been demolished except for the AMC cinema on the third floor.
This was photographed just before all of the vacant storefronts in the mall were sealed off by sheetrock. This is the weirdest thing to see since the mall will eventually be completely demolished.
West Oaks Mall 2019 update and more
A slightly newer update on the state of the mall with some behind the scenes photos.
All of these articles and so much more.
Congrats again on the 1,000,000+ views! I have been reading the blog since almost the beginning and I've been frequenting the comments since about 2013 I think. This blog has certainly become daily reading for me. I like the posts and I appreciate hearing retail news from you and getting your opinion about what is happening in the retail world. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of bad retail news and rumors to discuss so far here in 2020. I suppose that was in the background when the blog launched in 2009 though.
ReplyDeleteIt's impossible to think of all my favorite posts to read right off the top of my head, but here's at least an incomplete list of favorites in no particular order:
- All of the photos of the former Houston Montgomery Wards including the Greenspoint Mall, San Jacinto Mall, Palms Center, and Pasadena locations.
- The series of posts about the Houston Buyers Market and Deauville Fashion Malls. It seems like those posts have steadily received comments over the years.
- The Never Build Houston Malls post. I know we had a lot of discussions about that.
- The Lufkin Kmart. We talked about that Kmart a lot some years back. RIP Lufkin Kmart Walkman woman.
- The various Mall of the Mainland posts. The one big one you posted after the mall initially closed was a great memorial for the place. Did you ever get photos of the Sears there before it closed?
- The Orange Market Basket. That may seem like a strange inclusion on this list, but that was a cool store to see pictures of. In addition to the neon and such, the image of the Larry the Cable Guy Mac & Cheese photo always sticks out in my mind, lol.
- The Almeda and Northwest Mall comparison post.
- The images of the Mexican department stores
- The Drug Emporium posts. I had no idea those were still around.
- All those smaller city malls with the vintage aspects, carpeted corridors and so forth.
- The post with all the RadioShack photos.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some other great posts, but that's a good list of things I really remember. I'm looking forward to seeing some of those posts that are coming up. The combination of RadioShack, Pier 1, and Sears in 2020 would be an image of doom here in the US, but things are different in Mexico. That CDMX Sears looks like it'll really be interesting. I'm looking forward to the Fry's posts. They might not be around for much longer. Of course, the Deerbrook and Willowbrook Mall Sears closing photos will be bittersweet, but I'm glad we'll have something so we can remember those stores.
A lot of the stores and malls we have discussed over the years have already closed or will probably close soon enough. That's sad, but hopefully there will still be things to chronicle. With that in mind, here's to another 1,000,000 views!
I appreciate your continued comments and activity on the blog.
DeleteThe never built mall article was a fun one because we were able to speculate how things would have panned out if these malls had been built.
The Walkman lady was a great image from the better days of Kmart and showed how the company had not kept up for many years. I wonder if those photos are still up on the wall of the former Kmart. The street view shows that the store is still sitting there boarded up.
I did get about 50 photos of the interior of the Mall of the Mainland Sears days prior to the store closing announcement.
I rarely earn any money from the blog, it is just a hobby for me. I will continue answering comments as I have time, even when my article posting slows down.
It’s good that everything on this blog was documented because more likely than not, it would be lost to time and be mostly be forgotten by people if you hadn’t documented it.
DeleteVery true. Thankfully, a lot of people have started documenting stores on Google reviews so there are constant updates. A lot of these places would be lost to time especially the Circuit City locations and earlier mall posts. A lot of malls like Amigoland have only a handful of photos online, so I am glad to fill in those gaps where I can.
DeleteThis blog is probably my favorite website. I was so elated when I found out about this blog because almost no one had covered Texas, especially the Houston area.
DeleteHopefully Sears/Kmart beats the odds and somehow finds a way to survive not just this pandemic, but also everything else they are dealing with now. Now if they could just up their advertising, get some more financing/cash, and fill their stores with some inventory, I think that they would survive for at least five years.
I was looking around on Google Maps today at some small Texas towns and it’s funny how small some Walmarts, Stage stores, and H-E-B stores are compared to locations in larger cities. When I was looking at Mall of the Mainland on Google Maps, the Sears is listed as still open, even though it had permanently closed. The newest reviews contain confusion as to why the store is still listed as open. I’m glad I know better and don’t just believe the reviews, but do my own research.
I forgot to mention one of my other favorite series of posts from this blog, the posts about the Houston Alco locations. Alco came and went so quickly that many people may not have realized that they were even here. At least with the blog, Alco's presence in Houston will not be forgotten.
DeleteAlco was an interesting store. It's a shame it didn't work out for them. It was also great seeing those vintage Kmart HVAC vents being used at a discount store once again at the Pasadena Alco.
I appreciate the kind comment. It would take someone besides Eddie to come in with a lot of money just to stabilize the company. Getting the inventory levels up would be the first step needed. At this point, only the most loyal Sears/Kmart shoppers seem to be going to the stores these days.
DeleteI have done my best to see that the permanently closed locations are updated in Google, but they require photo proof. Yelp is easier to change. You can find a lot of retro stores in the smaller cities of Texas. Here in the Houston area, it seems like the stores are updated much more frequently.
I would have never known either, if you had not let me know about them being around. It took a little while for me to get to one, but it was well worth the trip. Alco was the closest Houston got to getting Kmart here again. That Pasadena store was an awesome relic from the past.
Deletehttps://southernretail.blogspot.com/2019/01/sears-west-oaks-mall-houston-texas.html?m=0 This is my favorite post because it was the newest post when I first found out about the blog.
ReplyDeleteIt’s good that you have posts that you are still working on so that you don’t run out of content to post and get bored, at least for now.
I have more West Oaks Mall content so you can look forward to that update. Thanks for the comment.
DeleteIt would be cool if we could donate money to this website so that it help with travel costs.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the comment, I earn a very small kickback every couple of years from the ad bar. If you want to contribute, that would be the way to do it.
DeleteCongratulations on the milestone achievement! Certainly something to be proud of, and the 400 posts and 11 years blogging are nothing to scoff at, either. This was a neat idea for the celebration post, and I look forward to all the new content you have coming in the future, especially the Fry's Electronics stores and the new Toys R Us concept. Thus far I've done all of my flickr uploads and blogging while dealing only with coursework, not an actual job, so I'm aware there will be further challenges and time restrictions, but it's great to have proof that it is doable and manageable. Thank you for continuing to engage in this hobby.
ReplyDeleteYou mention the current Gordmans situation -- I agree with you in the hope that it will be documented; only one Stage store in my area converted, and it's about two hours away. Still hoping to visit it, but I'm afraid I won't be able to contribute much to coverage of that chain's demise. Hopefully others with closer locations will.
Thank you Retail Retell, you run a pretty good blog yourself. I have been catching up ever since my readers let me know about your page.
DeleteThere are sometimes when you just don't have time to catch up on the blog, and that is fine. As much as I would like to be on the blog daily, you just can't stretch yourself thin.
I think the Gordman's sale will last throughout the Summer. The closing sales prior to the conversions of the stores took much longer than your standard store closing sale. There is one Palais Royal near me that had been under a store closing sale for 5 months before the Covid closing. That store reopened and it still has a decent amount of inventory left.
You're very welcome, and thanks for the compliment as well. I need to catch up on all of your content as well! One of the Anonymous commenters above has recommended several posts to me.
DeleteI bet you're right about the Gordmans sale. One of the Goody's near me was supposed to convert, but ultimately began liquidating in February. Its closing sale before that had gone on for a long while, and now it's still closing (for real this time, lol). It's likely approaching half a year's worth or more of closing sales!
I suppose it was good timing, but both this blog and Retail Retell's blog hit major milestones this week. The Albertsons Florida Blog and the My Florida Retail blog are also near major milestones as well, but they might not reach those milestones this month. Still, it's great that these regional retail blogs, plus others, are still alive and well here in 2020. A lot of great work is being put into these blogs and I'm glad that the hard work is being appreciated.
DeleteI'm also glad to see that the blog format is still alive and well. I think blogs work well for long-term preservation and interaction. Reading some of the old blog posts and replies on this blog from 2009 and 2010 can be just as interesting as reading new posts. A lot of the subjects of those posts a decade ago have either closed or been renovated. With some other social media platforms, that information would either be hard to find or it would have been deleted at some point. So, yeah, the blog format works well for this type of information.
Those closing sales almost remind me of the rug or furniture stores that advertise store closing sales for years until they finally close. Some of those rug or furniture stores even reopen under a different name, and then a few months down the line have yet another lengthy closing sale.
DeleteOne of my plans for when I slow down in 2021 or beyond, is to update a lot of those older posts. When I look at those old articles, I can't believe how terrible a lot of those photos came out. I had some terrible cameras at the time, and I should have went back to Northline for better photos. The Northline post was ruined once my camera started malfunctioning. As you can see from some of those photos, the lines and focus went out. Some of my earlier posts were taken with a 1.5 megapixel cell phone camera, those are awful as well. I am much more picky with the photos I use, and I usually take multiple photos within the same area just to make sure I get at least one good take.
DeleteThe blog format is simple to use and reader friendly. As long as you keep up the tags and use the tools provided, you can make the site easy to follow.
Imagine because of the pandemic, store closing sales across the nation are delayed. That would mean that you would be able to have more chances to document places before they close permanently.
DeleteI think a few stores that are going to close have been postponed for now. Stage stores is one company that was struggling to liquidate their Palais Royal and Bealls stores before bankruptcy. I can see the chain taking longer to liquidate now.
DeleteI did go to the North Shepherd Sears this week and they are super busy. I can see that store actually closing earlier than their August 30th target date. There are several stores liquidating at the same time in our area. JCPenney has a couple of stores within a 90 minute drive or less, Stage stores has numerous locations in this area, Sears on North Shepherd. Then the smaller stores like GNC's, Pier 1 Imports, Tuesday Morning, and several others. It is going to be difficult to get all of these documented, but the Sears is my priority so you will see a lot from that store.
Do you still have the goal of visiting every mall in Louisiana and Texas, or have you already achieved it? (Sorry if I already posted this comment, my device crashed, so I don’t know if this comment was already posted or not.
ReplyDeleteI still have a ways to go, but I have visited just about every mall that I set out to visit. Some malls on the far Northern edges of the states, I may never have the chance to visit. I also wanted to cover a few malls in Mississippi, but so far that has not happened. There are a lot of malls in my backlog that I want to visit, but most are more than a day away by car so they may not happen unless I do a lengthy road trip, maybe in 2021 I will be able to make it happen. I still have a lengthy backlog so there is a lot of content still behind the scenes for the blog.
DeleteCongratulations on the million views milestone!
ReplyDeleteThank you Phudman. I certainly appreciate your help in keeping up with, documenting and sharing your photos of Marshall Mall.
DeleteI'm a bit late on this, but congrats! Your blog's really awesome, and I like seeing the different stores everywhere, as well as your perspective on the shopping areas over here in the RGV. Here's to a million more!
ReplyDeleteThank you Stormak356, you will see more from the RGV. I have more of the final days at the McAllen Kmart, Sunrise Mall Brownsville, and La Plaza Mall. I really enjoyed going down there, I just wish it was closer to me.
Delete