Here we at another Houston area Fry's location. This was the first Fry's to open up in Houston Texas. I have been unable to find the opening date for this store, but it had opened sometime in late 2000 or early 2001. If anyone has the opening date, please let me know in the comments below.
The store has an oil field theme. Pipes, oil worker mannequins, and oil derricks are all over the store. There are also painted murals all over the walls, make sure to pay attention and you will see those in the background.
Now we enter the store.
In comparison to the previous store we visited, this one has a lot to see.
The stock here was better than the Southwest Freeway location.
But there were still a lot of empty spots.
Oil drums under the service counter.
Some views of the random products that are in former computer parts aisles.
The layout of the store is similar to the Southwest Freeway location. The biggest difference is that the video games are on the main center aisle of the store instead of tucked away towards the back of the store.
Generators and gas cans.
Looking towards the checkout area. A mannequin is visible above the register area.
I wonder how many people these mannequins freaked out over the years. Some of them stare down at you from above.
Turning back around to the computer parts again.
I have seen a lot of online complaints about batteries being out of stock. The selection was very limited on this visit.
Open space where random items such as gym equipment and pallets of Gatorade were dropped off.
The back corner off of the store is looking very sad these days.
It was difficult to see into the backroom here. From what I could tell, it was mostly empty.
The demo screen on the computers. This is much more modern than the ancient employee computers that are on the sales floor.
Computer keyboards, controllers, mice, and more.
Another look at the empty area of the store. Shelving units filled this area as you can see from the stained carpet.
There was not much VR equipment to be found here.
This area used to be filled with computer displays. Now it is a mix of computers and printers, and empty spaces.
The colognes and perfumes are fully stocked. You know the essential items Fry's Electronics is known for.
Now we are venturing towards the toys and video games.
Café 23, since this is Fry's #23.
Back to the video games.
As seen on TV, just as well stocked as the cologne and perfume aisles.
A line of shelves was removed in the former audio section with TV's lined up.
Another look at the computer department with the furniture in view.
The presentation room is unlocked. I believe the box office in the front had popcorn available when the store was new.
There is nothing showing today though. The seats are not in the best shape either. This room reminds me of an abandoned movie cinema exploration video. I have more photos of this room in October when the lights were on.
There is a ramp going up to the presentation room.
The entrance to the cinema has the oil derrick with the Beaumont name. The green lights on the sign move.
Here is the next door open theater room. Not much going on here anymore.
The downsized audio department is in front of the cinema and theater rooms.
Another barren open theater room.
Not much of a selection in the home stereo department.
This display is very faded. I am not sure if it is an original display, but it looks like it.
The car stereo speaker room. It did not appear to be working.
Some of these display models were working.
It looks like they attempted to modernize this speaker room with LED lighting.
Now for the television room.
The selection is not bad, but there are a lot of empty spaces.
The closer you get to the back corner of the store, the emptier the shelves get.
The back aisle of the store seems to be mostly a place to drop random items.
The remaining movies and music has been moved to the back aisle of the store. These used to be just to the left of when you walked into the store.
The appliance department is very empty.
An up-close look at the bluray selection. A lot of classics on the shelves including the Legend of Billy Jean.
A mattress department with a few more display models than at the previous location.
More movies on the other side of the back wall.
Air conditioning units.
Small appliances.
These wakeboards are just randomly thrown into the shelves near the TV's.
The outdoors section of the store.
There is a surprisingly amount of good kitchen cookware and appliances.
More empty space that shelves had been taken down. More car stereo and camera equipment was previously in this space.
Charcoal and grilling supplies.
Kitchen appliances on this side.
Roomba's on this side.
Even though the shelving units were gone, the product signs were still up.
More views from around the center of the store and the small appliances.
More of the empty appliance department.
The front area of the store to the right, café to the left.
The café keeps weird hours, but here is the inside when it was closed for the evening.
Video game displays on the main center aisle of the store.
A look at some of the mannequins above the checkouts.
Wall of sodas, mostly Pepsi. Pepsi man would be proud.
The advertisements. The sales are not as good as they used to be at Fry's.
I got a better view of the other stockroom, some products are lying around, but most upper shelves are empty.
A view of the store from one side to the other. This store has to be at least 100,000 square feet of retail space.
For nearly 20 years, these mannequins have been suspended above the checkouts.
This is an interesting walkway from the bathrooms to the appliance department.
The magazines have been downsized with office supplies taking up some of the shelves now.
Cell phones and cell phone supplies in the former music and movie area of the store.
One of the cool things at this store is this vintage truck. The sale items used to be displayed in the bed of the truck.
This mostly empty shelf shows how things all across the store are. Very few departments have well stocked shelves these days.
More views across the store starting with the furniture.
They can't give these systems away.
Most of the popular printer ink was sold out.
A better look at the computer display area.
From the computer area to the front of the store. That computer software sign is actually where the cologne and perfume are located.
Café 23
A look with the front aisles and checkouts in the distance.
These board games on the way up front caught my eye.
More of Café 23.
The front entrance, the store had closed the front entrance for the night. This was taken at 9pm.
The customer service/return desk.
The impulse buy aisle on the way to the checkouts.
Fry's gift bags with their new logo.
Strange seeing these Amazon gift cards for sale here.
The checkout counter waiting screen. There used to be a person on a ladder that would tell you which checkout to go to when it opened. When a checkout would open, the cashier would hold up a number sign until you arrived. Now all of this is electric.
The exit where security used to check receipts on the way out of the door. Item by item would be checked so it would hold you up for a little while.
October 2019 visit.
We start with the mannequins above the checkouts.
The years have been hard on this guy.
Fry's had a good stock of these systems right after they came out. From March to August, these were nearly impossible to find at any store. Only the scalpers had consoles available for a huge upcharge.
A better look at the presentation room. There was a movie on the startup screen and the lights were on this time.
It really looks tired in here.
A closer look at the movie screen.
More views of the appliance department.
Another random item that caught my eye on the shelf near the kitchen items. If I really paid attention to each and every item, there would be a lot more like this one that do not make sense.
A healthy look at the video game displays and spare consoles for sale.
Up next Fry's Nasa Rd. 1
This next store in my opinion is the coolest out of the 3 stores in the area. It has a space theme and there are so many cool things to see. If you are in the Houston area, you must check that store out.
It should be noted that the shopping center that this Fry's is in started out as a Kmart powercenter. The Kmart was still around when Fry's opened, but the Pace Membership Warehouse and Builders Square II had closed before Fry's came along here. I'm pretty sure the Fry's itself was the old Builders Square II that opened in the early 1990s.
ReplyDeleteI don't know for sure when this Fry's opened, but I'm thinking it must have been in the Fall of 2000. Thus, the store is almost exactly 20 years old now. That's hard to believe. I was at the grand opening of this store, which was the first Fry's in town and in Texas I do believe. There aren't too many grand openings which leave a lasting impression, but this was one that did. I couldn't believe how big the store was, how thematic the store is, how many different products they sold, and how good the prices were. To an electronics fan like me, this store was a revelation and I drove down there about once every other week to take advantage of great deals up until about 2003 or so when I started to visit the store less frequently. I may not visit the store regularly these days, but I still do go there at least once or twice a year.
I was also at the Micro Center and Incredible Universe grand openings. Incredible Universe had more hype and the store was certainly big and thematic, but one could immediately tell that they would not be a success because the prices were too high. Certainly Fry's and Micro Center left different impressions and they are still around. Granted, who knows how much longer Fry's will be around.
One odd thing about this store, and perhaps other Fry's as well, is the odd parking lot. Back in the prime days of this store, the parking lot would be full and a lot of the parking spots were very tight and were designated as being only for compact cars. That led to many nervous moments about potential door dings, but these days one does not have to worry about door dings at Fry's because its usually quite easy to practice car social distancing in the Fry's parking lot. Also, Fry's seems to make it very difficult to enter and exit their stores from/to the main road. The Clear Lake Fry's is probably the worst about this. I don't know if this was done to curb theft or what.
It looks like this store had some Jamo speakers in stock. Jamo is a respected European brand, but they've kind of focused on cheaper speakers in recent years and I'm not sure if they live up to the reputation. Then again, Fry's probably wouldn't be selling them unless they were cheap. Fry's used to sell a lot of more expensive speakers, but I'm not so sure if that's still the case. The SW Houston Fry's you showed us seemed to have more speakers on display than this one.
I've heard of oil workers being called roughnecks, but Tom there really seems to have a bad case of roughneck, lol. I wonder if Tom has started to fall apart or if he was designed like that on purpose.
The inventory in some spots of this store looks bad, but I suppose I've seen photos of other Fry's stores which look worse. Hopefully that's a good sign that this store might out-survive at least other Fry's, but we'll see. I need a few small electronic items and I might stop at Fry's sometime here soon to see if they have what I need. Fry's still puts out an ad, albeit a smaller one than in their prime years, so I may wait until they have some great deals on stuff I want in the ad.
Anyway, I'm glad you were able to document this store. It's one of the more unique stores in the Houston area and one that has amazed me quite a bit over the years.
I visited the store around the Grand opening as well. I think it was the first weekend they were open when I visited. I don't remember much about what was at that center before Fry's opened. We went to the Compaq store that was where the Dump is today, and made a few trips to Kmart after leaving Fry's.
DeleteThe Fry's originally had a normal entrance and exit to the highway from the side of the store but later closed it off. I am guessing it was done to curb theft, but they had some of the strictest security at the exit door in the early days. Security could easily shut off power to the exit door to keep thieves from leaving with the products they were stealing. All other Fry's in the area were built with limited access in and out of the parking lot.
The NASA Rd. store had more speakers in stock from what I could tell. I just posted that store visit so you can check it out now.
I am surprised no astronauts were like that at the other Fry's store. I can bet that an employee put the roughneck's head like that as a joke, and forgot to put it back.
From what I have seen in my visits, the NASA Rd. store was the best stocked. The Southwest store was the worst. I actually visited this store twice for the post, but both visits were within a month or so of each other.
I went to Micro Center well after it opened in the new location. I never went to the first store, but I am impressed by their selection and prices. The Incredible Universe was such a large building as well, but it did not have enough products to keep it viable. I do remember the prices being on the high side, but I did get a pair of home speakers from them that are long gone. Imagine if that huge store had survived into the modern era of electronic retailing.
Today I was looking on Google Maps and I saw that the Copperfield Tuesday Morning location on 529 closed permanently. I also saw that a new Dick’s Sporting Goods store is opening on the plot of land next to the Burlington in Copperfield on 529. Also in Copperfield, the Palais Royal on Highway 6 is still in a store closing sale lol. It seems like that location has been in that sale forever.
ReplyDeleteThe Stage store closings are taking forever. My local Palais Royal finally closed the past weekend after being in liquidation since November of last year. Stein Mart is another liquidation that may take a long time like at Stage Stores.
DeleteI don't see Tuesday Morning making it out of bankruptcy. Dollar stores, and closeout retailers such as Big Lots and Ross are able to source better products than Tuesday Morning. All of the closeout retailers are fighting for a shrinking amount of goods, with Tuesday Morning being the weakest of the bunch.
Dick's Sporting Goods has had a very good 2020, with sales up well over expectations. Academy has them beat on selection and price though. Dick's SG does have some good sales from time to time.
Historically, Tuesday Morning locations were located in second or third tier shopping centers. On top of that, they often set up shop in armpit locations within those less desirable shopping centers. I'm guessing a large percentage of the population didn't even know Tuesday Morning existed, but they relied on a lot of direct marketing and so I'm guessing those who did shop at Tuesday Morning were pretty loyal shoppers of the store.
DeleteIn more recent times, they tried expanding to more visible locations. I'm sure the hope was that they would get more new customers in addition to their base of loyal customers, but I'm guessing that didn't quite happen and so Tuesday Morning was stuck with leases to under-productive stores. That's just a guess on my part, but I don't think that's too wild of a guess given the predicament that Tuesday Morning is in now. With stores like Stage, Pier 1, and Stein Mart closing, Tuesday Morning could potentially be more competitive, but I still kind of doubt that they can compete with the Rosses and TJMaxx/Marshalls/HomeGoods of the world.
Dick's Sporting Goods seems to be a successful operation, but I've never heard of anyone say that they shop there regularly at least. This area seems to be pretty loyal to Academy. Perhaps they have a lot of customers here in Houston, but I just don't know any of them. Anyway, it's interesting that the Copperfield area is getting what is often seen as a mall anchor store. Perhaps the spirit of the doomed Copperfield Mall lives on here in the 2020s.
One of the other Anonymous commenters on the blog mentioned several months ago that the former Willowbrook area Oshman's/Sports Authority was being turned into a thrift store. I drove by the area recently and it still appears to be in the process of being turned into a thrift store (a Mormon thrift store specifically it seems which I've never seen before). I'm not really sure why it's taking so long to open this thrift store, but perhaps construction/renovation stopped during the pandemic. That said, I'm not entirely sure if construction work on the building is still actively taking place right now.
As for the above reply about the West Rd. Fry's, I combined my reply to that post with my thoughts about the NASA Fry's in the post about the NASA Fry's.
I watched the recent Retail Archeology video on Tuesday Morning. I had not visited one of their stores for decades, but they are just like I remembered them, junky. I would rather go to Big Lots which has a much bigger selection of products than a small Tuesday Morning.
DeleteI think we are seeing the weak chains like Tuesday Morning being squeezed out of business one by one, by the Ross/TJ Maxx/Burlington chains. Big Lots also has a very loyal clientele. Another chain that will benefit is Burke's Outlet. Most of their stores are in smaller markets that the bigger chains will not go to. With Stage Stores going under, Burke's will benefit.
I have noticed a lot of differences between the Dick's SG stores across the area. For example The Woodlands store has almost no hunting department, and a very small fishing department in comparison to Deerbrook. Deerbrook has been keeping their second floor mall entrance closed off since reopening after the Covid lockdowns, so I am not very happy about that. Most of the departments I like to shop at are on the second floor.
I passed through that stretch of FM 1960 the other evening, but I forgot to look at the Oshman's building while passing by. That neon Fiesta sign down the road always draws my attention.
You are most certainly correct about the Fiesta sign! Hopefully that is a store you can document for the blog because I think it is worth sharing. I can certainly help you put together the text for that post if you get the photos.
DeleteSpeaking of Fiestas, I've mentioned before that the Spring Branch Fiesta used to have these very ancient looking security cameras from probably the early 1970s that looked like R2D2 or something like that. They might actually date from when the building was a FedMart. Well, I don't think the Spring Branch Fiesta has those anymore. I assumed any Fiestas which might have had those would have taken them down years ago because they are so ancient looking and surely the security technology in those cameras would be highly ancient and useless in modern times.
However, I discovered online that the Gulfton area Fiesta at Hillcroft & Bellaire still has those ancient security cameras! Maybe they don't use the cameras in them, but they are still hanging up from the ceiling. This store has a lot of neon as well, but it's a little different looking from some of the neon designs at some of the other Houston Fiestas. Anyway, that store might be another Fiesta which needs to be documented.
Here's the link to the Google page for that Fiesta with photos of it. Here's a picture from Google showing one of those cameras. I remember seeing those cameras at the Spring Branch Fiesta in the 1980s and thinking how outdated they looked then. To see them here in the 2020s is just insane really, lol.
That's interesting that Dick's Sporting Goods stocks their stores differently depending on the location of the store. It certainly makes sense for the Deerbrook store to sell fishing gear, but I would think The Woodlands store would want to sell fishing gear as well since people go fishing out on Lake Conroe. Oh well. Fishing stuff probably wouldn't be too popular at the Willowbrook store, but it would probably be very popular at the Baybrook store.
It certainly seems that many retailers are operating on a somewhat limited basis during the pandemic. It's a shame that you can't use the second floor entrance to the Deerbrook Dick's Sporting Goods.
I finally documented the store, I appreciate your tips and knowledge about the history of the store. I was able to get all of the neon signage and interior of the store since it was a slow night at the store.
DeleteI stopped at the Gulfton area Fiesta a long time ago. It sounds like things have not changed. When I go to document the Sugarland First Colony Mall, I will make a stop by there after dark if possible.
I see the security cameras on those photos, they are huge by today's standards. The neon inside of that store is very similar to the now closed I-10 East near Federal Rd. location.
I visited the Willowbrook location of Dick's SG for the first time in 2020. Their hunting selection was also mostly eliminated just like the Woodlands store. They also have a downsized fishing department. Once Deerbrook Mall goes back to normal hours, I expect the second floor entrance to open back up.
I am glad that you were able to document the Willowchase Fiesta. There are a lot of interesting aspects to that store so I'm glad that you were able to capture them all. I'm looking forward to checking out those photos. If you need any help putting together the article for the store, let me know. I was there when they were building the store and have shopped there literally hundreds of times so perhaps there are some things I can add.
DeleteThat would be awesome if you could capture the Gulfton Fiesta. That is a historic location even aside from the security cameras. Here is the Texas Monthly article about that Fiesta (and Fiesta in general) from 1983. That same issue of Texas Monthly also mentions the $500,000 Murillo painting that was at the Pasadena Fiesta which we have talked about before. Anyway, the Gulfton Fiesta used to be a Globe discount store, which was owned by Walgreens, so that might make it interesting to some readers.
While making a reply to the Albertsons Florida Blogger about the Gulfton Fiesta, I remembered that when I saw those vintage security cameras at the Spring Branch Fiesta in the 1980s, those cameras also had some little red lights on them. After looking at pictures of the Gulfton cameras, I see the lenses for the red lights, but I don't know if they are still lit or not. The combination of the big, strange looking camera and the red lights really drew attention to the security cameras and almost made them somewhat intimidating. I remember wondering if they actually had cameras in them or if it was just an elaborate decoy to scare people away from stealing stuff, lol.
There seems to be a lot of national interest in our Fiesta stores when I talk to other retail enthusiasts around the country. The Astrodome area Fiesta is another impressive store which is probably worth documenting. Unfortunately, we've lost some Fiestas in recent years like the one that was next to the Main St. Sears.
I can't say I'm surprised that Dick's Sporting Goods would downsize their fishing department at the Willowbrook Mall location. NW Houston and Katy are probably the worst areas to live if one likes to fish, lol. We knew some people who had a lake house on Lake Conroe so I used to fish a bit in the 1990s, but I seem to remember buying most of my stuff from Venture and Academy. Some purchases may have been made at Sportstown USA.
I'm sure you heard the news about JCPenney being saved by the largest mall operators. It'll be interesting to see how patient they are with operating JCPenney as a department store or if they'll be impatient and get the urge to convert JCPenney anchor pads into lifestyle centers. We'll have to see. I suppose at least Eddie Lampert didn't 'rescue' them, lol. I wonder what Macy's and such think about mall operators being their competition, but I suppose Macy's and company have better things to worry about at this point.
I will let you know once I am ready to tackle the Willowchase Fiesta post. I managed to get 45 photos while I was there.
DeleteThat old article was fun to read. I had not looked too deeply into how Fiesta started. They continue to have a great concept for keeping their stores relevant, even with competition from HEB and numerous other chains large and small. Bonus points on the article for the Joske's ad.
I have seen a lot of fake cameras advertised and some for sale at big box retailers. I wonder if they still use the same old technology or if they have upgraded the cameras.
I plan on finishing up on covering all of the Houston area malls I have not covered. I will see which Fiesta stores are close to those malls and try to cover those stores.
With Dick's SG getting rid of hunting items, it is almost as bad as Sears getting rid of electronics and lawn and garden. I know those departments were tucked in the back corner of the store, but hunting is a very popular sport. When I think of a sporting goods store, I think of all sports being stocked in store.
I see the JCPenney situation as the best option for keeping the brand going. From the outside looking in, this seems like a similar deal to the Forever 21 and Aeropostle that kept those chains alive. I am sure we will lose more stores, but the rumored Belk plan would have eliminated JCPenney altogether. I hope that the rumored interest on taking Belk nationwide pans out and we get Belk here in Houston. With Stage Stores and Stein Mart failing, Belk would be a decent replacement for those chains IMO.
Texas Monthly had a pretty wealthy readership back then and so there are a lot of interesting department store ads in their old magazines. I probably posted this years ago, but another great read in a vintage Texas Monthly is their article discussing the construction and planning of Willowbrook Mall. Here's the article, it's the one titled "Buy-buy, baby, buy-buy."
DeleteI do suspect that some retailers make use of fake cameras. In some cases, the cameras might have been real at one time, but perhaps they have not been maintained and now they are just decoys. The Gulfton Fiesta is obviously not in one of the 'chamber of commerce' parts of town and perhaps shoplifting is a bit of an issue there. The cameras might be real, but maybe not. They were certainly intimidating looking especially with those red lights as they were in the 1980s!
I wonder if Dick's Sporting Goods is pivoting towards targeting more luxury sporting goods and not the bread and butter sporting goods. I could see them targeting men with athletic shoes, women with Lululemon type 'athleti-leisure' clothing, and everyone with exercise gear. Given that a number of their stores are at malls, it would make sense for them to be oriented more towards women than, say, a sporting goods store like Academy.
It's good that the mall operators are being aggressive in making sure traffic-generating anchors stay at their malls. Hopefully they commit to the business and don't just try to redevelop JCPenney anchor pads into lifestyle centers. It'll be interesting to see what happens with JCPenney in the future if everything happens according to plan.
I think Belk's plan to take over some JCPenney stores was probably too ambitious given their own financial woes right now. OTOH, with JCPenney sticking around, they're stuck having to deal with yet another competitor. It might be best for Belk to invest in their current stores and products to try to make them stand out from the still crowded field of competitors like Macy's, JCP, Kohl's, the closeout stores, and Dillard's to some extent. Stage and Stein Mart closing will help a little though.
Covering all the Houston malls is probably a good idea. I think most of the malls not covered so far are malls which are doing okay, or at least were pre-pandemic, so at least you should have some time to cover these malls.
Thanks for sending over the article, I will check it out later tonight. I enjoy reading the old magazine and newspaper articles. I don't think the younger generations understand how a new mall was a huge deal back then.
DeleteDick's SG has been filling in the gap that Sports Authority stores had with higher end clothing and sporting goods equipment. The good thing is that they do have discount items as well, unlike Sports Authority. They need to bring some of the hunting stuff back though, IMO.
I was hoping that Belk would finally make the jump to Houston, but not at the expense of JCPenney. There are plenty of Sears anchor spots they could use for new stores. All of the Brook Malls and Memorial City Mall would be ideal locations for them.
Speaking of anchors, now is the time to visit the former Sears stores at Willowbrook and Deerbrook Malls. Both of those locations have been temporarily reopened as Spirit Halloween Stores.
We have had a rocky September, but I hope to be back on track in mid-October. Besides my visits to Fiesta and the Sears, I didn't get any new malls covered.
Although I have not read it this week, I did a lot of reading on the Belk Layoffs page a week or two ago since it is quite active. Unlike the Sears Layoffs page, the Belk page is not full of trolls. That said, it is very busy and there is a lot of negativity towards management. A few different employees were concerned that they were receiving Christmas inventory and that it was full of low-grade stuff. A couple people expressed concerned that they got low quality corded headphones instead of the wireless headphones that are in demand. Some of the other electronics and such they got appeared to be low quality and outdated. Some were wondering if Belk got those on closeout from other retailers.
DeleteIt does seem to me that the quality of goods at B&M retailers seems to be slipping. I suppose this isn't anything new, but perhaps the quality is sinking at a more rapid pace than even before. These mid and upper level B&M retailers will not survive if they're counting on selling Tozai quality stuff that's outdated in addition to being low quality. Anyway, given some of the issues I'm hearing about Belk, I don't think this is a good time for them to expand. They may need to focus on their core markets and try to improve customer service and product quality.
I was wondering if some of the ex-Sears in town might be turned into Spirit Halloween stores this year. Thanks for letting me know that the Willowbrook and Deerbrook Mall stores are doing that. I may have to check that out. Maybe I will get to say one last goodbye to the Willowbrook Sears after all. If you're able to visit these stores, I think it goes without saying that it would be worth photographing them for the blog.
You're right, the younger generations, even young retail enthusiasts, seem more interested in dying big box retail than malls. I suppose malls have always been dying during their lifetimes though.
I've had discussions with some other bloggers recently and we're noticing a trend that some stores and indoor public places are starting to bring back earthtones, wood paneling (usually fake wood though) and even planters in some cases. This is a welcomed return to 1970s mall design. I don't know if you're familiar with the Northwest Retail blog which covers the Seattle area, but the NW Retail blogger recently shared on his blog a Rite Aid remodel blueprint which includes planters. We're not sure how that'll play out, but I know I'm excited to see what will happen there even if we don't have Rite Aids here. Of course, some Rite Aids are stuck in the 1980s so maybe they won't have much work to do to get those up to the modern retro design standard, lol.
Here's something cool I stumbled on which you and your readers may enjoy. I don't know if you're familiar with the PBS car show MotorWeek. They recently filmed a short segment about a dead mall in PA that was turned into a classic car museum and showroom. The mall was not renovated much so it still looks like the 1980s in there. They don't charge admission to get into the museum so it's certainly something to check out if you're ever in the area. Here's the link to the video.
If you get the chance to visit the Spirit Halloween in the former Sears at Willowbrook and Deerbrook, you should try taking pictures inside the store at the same places you were standing when you were documenting the store closing sales to compare what it looks like now and then.
DeleteI wonder what Willowbrook and Deerbrook are going to fill the former Sears anchor with after Spirit Halloween leaves?
I will do my best, Spirit does a pretty good job of covering up the closed off parts of the stores they occupy. We went to one that was in a former Toys R Us a couple of weeks ago and found a partially open curtain where you could see into the old electronics department of the store. Most of the fixtures were still on the wall.
DeleteI think the Sears Layoff page has few employees now since many moved on from Sears after their stores closed. The fact that Belk is getting junk for their Christmas deliveries is not a good thing at all. These items sound like the junk that JCPenney and Macy's get in their seasonal deliveries as well. Macy's at Deerbrook Mall at least has an Apple product vending machine so there are better options there. Belk is known as a quality department store, but the new ownership may think cost cutting will help them expand faster.
DeleteThe lack of products on shelves for most of the year has probably made some companies nervous. Electronics, sporting goods, video games, cleaning supplies, food, and other items have been in short supply. As we saw with hand sanitizer, the good stuff sold out fast and a bunch of junk is now for sale everywhere. I have had a mix of good and bad hand sanitizers since they became a necessity. A lot of those sanitizers have been recalled, some stink like pickles, and others leave a crusty mess on your hands when they dry up.
I definitely plan on visiting the Spirit stores. We already went to one that was in a former Toys R Us, but it was not worth photographing. I know the Sears locations will be worth photographing so I will do my best to document those. I will add those photos onto the future blog posts as well.
Big box stores just don't have the excitement as a mall did back in the 1980's. Costco is probably the only one that people really get excited for these days. I read through that article about Willowbrook Mall, one thing I noticed is that they referred to Baybrook Mall as Pinebrook. I had to make sure I had the right mall. A neighborhood near Baybrook Mall is called Pinebrook, so I knew I had the right mall. It is pretty interesting how they really scrutinized potential retailers for new malls back then. They were truly building one stop shops for a variety of retail merchandise, unlike what we have now with 75% or more of the mall tenants focused on apparel or shoes.
I have noticed the wood tones coming back in some of the newer buildings. The Willowbrook Mall food court remodel is a good example of this. It would be nice if we saw huge chunks of mall space going back to wood panels, but I think this time around it will be minimized.
That auto mall was a nice find. There is another one called Driver's Village in the Old Penn-Can Mall in the Syracuse area. The one in your link is an exceptional looking car dealer with some really awesome vintage cars for sale. Thanks for sending over that link, I don't think I had come across that place yet. It was the old Morgantown Factory Outlet Mall prior to being the Classic Car Mall.
That Classic Car Mall is really awesome. It looks like it even has some vintage storefronts which they have maintained. That is a good use for a dead mall. I'm glad that they make it freely available for the public to browse their car mall. That's also good work looking up the name and the location of the place, I was wondering exactly where it was.
DeleteThe old Penn-Can Mall has received a lot of attention on the Internet. I believe a dedicated fan or group of fans of the mall made a nice website about it many years ago with vintage photos of the place. That old website must be at least 15 years old at this point. Then again, I think the Labelscar blog is almost 15 years old as well and Deadmalls is even older. Some of those old websites have about as much history themselves as some of the malls they covered, lol.
I don't think that Pinebrook Mall reference is referring to Baybrook Mall. I think it's referring to the mall that Homart was planning on building in either Conroe or The Woodlands to counter the proposed mall that DeBartolo was wanting to build in Conroe. It took about another 15 years after that article was published, but Homart finally built that mall as The Woodlands Mall. Some of the other malls Homart wanted to build, the Williamsburg and Southbrook Malls most specifically, never happened.
I found an article from 1981 which refers to the Pinebrook Mall as being a proposal in Conroe. Click on the little arrow next to "Show Page 7 article text" and you can find the text of this article. What's interesting is that they refer to the Williamsburg Mall proposal as Meadowbrook Mall. That would have been a pretty lame name for a Katy mall, but I don't think Williamsburg was any better. Pinebrook would have been a good name for a mall in The Woodlands/Conroe, but I suppose we should just be glad Homart/Sears didn't call it The Woodlandsbrook Mall, lol.
Now that you mention it, I don't think retail bloggers/Flickr photographers have covered Costcos and Sam's Clubs much at all. Home Depots and Lowe's are usually not covered either. I suppose those are pretty boring store designs and they mostly all look pretty similar. The West Rd. & 290 Sam's is a very early example of a Sam's Club that opened in the 1980s. When it opened, it was quite a bit smaller than it is now as they didn't carry perishable groceries at all. Although that store has a lot of history, it mostly looks like any other Sam's and is hardly anything I would recommend putting on the blog, lol. The Altex computer store next to it might be a different story just due to the rarity of computer stores these days.
I remember when the original Willowbrook Mall food court was full of real wood! I quite liked the way it looked. I don't expect the 'indoor park' look to make a full comeback, but even small doses of the 1970s look would do a lot to counter the uninviting industrial looks of modern stores and the sea of white that is many modern malls (though the sea of white is better than the concrete warehouse look which many stores have adopted, IMO).
I've seen some very questionable looking hand sanitizer being sold at some stores. Fortunately, I've been able to use stuff from reputable brands which I already had on hand before the pandemic so I have not had to deal with pickle hands or explosive, toxic hand sanitizer yet, lol.
I wonder if people will request name brand hand sanitizer as Christmas presents this year. Then again, that might be as hard to find as good quality electronics at fair prices this Christmas season.
I am glad that these older malls have gotten a useful repurposing that keeps the malls mostly intact. Another really good redevelopment is the Mountaineer Mall in Morgantown West Virginia. Most of the original fixtures and many of the old storefronts are still intact. The mall is mostly offices now, but some retail and food options are there.
DeleteIt is too bad some of our Deauville Malls could not have been redeveloped like these places. With the exception of the airsoft place at the Spring Deauville Mall, the small remaining interior is mostly closed off to the public. The Kingwood Deauville Mall is continuously changing and most of that property is renovated to the point you can't tell it was designed to be a mall.
I was thinking the Pinebrook name was suspicious for an area that does not have tall pines. I still wonder what would have happened if both malls had been developed in Conroe and the Woodlands. If those projects had been started in the 80's, both malls would have probably been built. By the time the Woodlands Mall got started, mall owners knew that 2 nearby malls could not survive.
I agree, the Warehouse and Home Improvement big box chains are mostly the same. Not many changes have been made over the years that makes these places stand out. The Lowe's near me converted all of their lighting to bright LED fixtures, that is probably the biggest change so far at the store. Walmart is going to remodel their stores once again in the near future to an even more bland look. Walmart probably spends the most on remodeling their stores, it seems like every 5 years or so the stores have a remodel of some sort going on.
We recently went to the outdoor addition at Baybrook Mall and they have similar wooden ceiling panels like at Willowbrook Mall. I really like the fact that the wood is back in style. Storefronts have still not adopted this look, but at least the corridors are getting upgraded.
Name brand hand sanitizer, lysol, lysol wipes, are all still in short supply. I have noticed a lot of off-brand sanitizer wipes being sold lately. I can see gift baskets with these items being a trend.
Some of the sold out Nintendo Switch systems are starting to show back up on store shelves. If you want a new Xbox Series X or Playstation 5 you are out of luck unless you have a bot scanning the Internet or know someone at a retailer. The preorders of those systems were sold out online within seconds. Ebay resellers are already selling preorders for hundreds more over retail on those systems. Some preorders have been canceled so even those systems are not guaranteed to show up.
I remember seeing the Mountaineer Mall entry on Labelscar many years ago. Then again, I suppose anything originally seen on Labelscar would have been seen a long time ago, lol. But, yeah, it's good to hear that mall is still going on even if it's in a mostly non-retail fashion.
DeleteOn the topic of that Classic Auto Mall in Morgantown, PA, I looked it up on Google Maps and it appears the mall has a still-operational Holiday Inn hotel as an anchor with a mall entrance. Not only does it have a mall entrance, but it's a very 1980s looking mall entrance with an old Holiday Inn logo. Here's a great photo of the Holiday Inn mall entrance and some classic cars.
I was going to mention the Classic Auto Mall in a reply on the PlazaACME blog, a blog covering Philadelphia area retail. Ironically, PlazaACME posted some pictures of Morgantown, PA, in a blog post he made this past weekend so that was an excellent opportunity to bring up the mall. It seems that he has visited the mall and said that it was awesome and worth checking out. If I'm ever in the area, I will have to check it out. I may have to stay at that Holiday Inn with the mall entrance as well!
Although the Kingwood Deauville Mall does not feel like a mall anymore, at least it was successfully redeveloped. It's a shame one of the other Deauville Malls couldn't be turned into some kind of museum of some sort, but oh well. I'm glad the Classic Auto Mall made it on TV. Maybe some people here in the Houston area saw it and will get some ideas to do something similar locally.
I'm guessing that if one of those Conroe malls was built in the 1980s, it would have been a spectacular failure especially after The Woodlands Mall opened. I suspect that The Woodlands Mall would have opened even if a Conroe mall existed since I believe The Woodlands was a co-developer of the mall along with Homart/Sears. The Conroe mall probably would have ended up even worse than the Conroe Outlet Mall. The potential Conroe mall might have ended up with a fate similar to the Mall of the Mainland.
The local Lowe's opened in 1997 and I'm not sure if they've made any major changes to the place aside from maybe changing the light bulbs as you say. The general layout is the same as it was when it opened and I think some of the original signage is still in use. One thing I remember about the original Home Depots which opened in the 1980s, like the one near Willowbrook Mall which has been a Burlington for many years now, is that they sprayed a white textured material on the metal beams in the ceiling. It kind of gave it a look like it had a less industrial looking ceiling, but not really. I'm guessing Home Depot realized they weren't fooling anyone and just stuck to plain, unfinished metal beams with their 1990s+ locations.
I've seen some of the new Walmart redesigns on Flickr. It seems like Kbloggers need new things to cover and Walmart remodels are one of those. The new designs are really, really bland. Walmart is spending a lot of money to implement a no-frills look. It's really quite bizarre.
I wonder if we'll see pop-up stores in malls this Christmas season selling sanitizing supplies, lol. Sears was just ahead of their time when they started stocking bleach and such.
I remember consoles flying off retailer shelves during prior console launches. Given the current circumstances, the consoles may never even make it to the shelves since the lucky few got pre-orders in online. We're probably not too far off from seeing Black Friday ads on the Internet if they aren't out already, but I'm guessing they won't be as big as they were before, the deals may not be as good, and the quality of items may be less. This might be a Tozai Christmas for many, unfortunately, lol.
I didn't even realize the auto mall had a Holiday Inn attached. I must have missed it in the video or he didn't show it.
DeleteThe auto mall redevelopment are a lot more interesting than when a mall is converted to offices or medical uses. The Mall of the Mainland former Macy's was redeveloped much better than the rest of the mall was. The removal of the neon from the food court area was disappointing. I wonder if some of the old mall corridors are left in between the new developments at the mall.
Another dead mall in the area would make for an interesting visit for us, but most of the residents nearby would not be happy.
There are some variations of the big box home improvement stores, but they mostly have not changed. My local Lowe's still has a neon light on the road sign, but the neon on the main sign was removed recently.
There is probably a huge glut of sanitizer and face masks on the market now. You have probably noticed the numerous displays at retailers now. I wonder if the annoying Dead Sea kiosks have sanitizer products from the Dead Sea to sell you.
The Nintendo Switch is still a hot item and it will be one of the few consoles that will have millions on the shelves during the Christmas Season. I have seen the Nintendo Switch back in stock at the big box retailers more often over the past month. Restocks seem to be happening more frequently so hopefully that trend will continue. The Nintendo Switch is currently my system of choice, it is so convenient to use.
If you post an article about the Spirit Halloween stores inside the former Sears stores at Willowbrook and Deerbrook, you should post the photos you took inside the Spirit Halloween stores side by side* with photos you took when the Sears stores were closing to compare them and try to match the places where you took the pictures.
Delete*When I say side by side, I mean something like this:
______________ ________________
| | | |
| Photo of Spirit | | Photo of Sears |
| Halloween | | when it was open |
|______________| |________________|
Thanks for the idea. I will try to make that happen when I put together the articles.
DeleteThe Houston Historic Retail blog posted some pictures of the Willowbrook Mall Sears as the Spirit Halloween store. Here's a link to that. It seems from the photos that the Willowbrook Sears still has a lot of fixtures in the store. I suppose that's because the liquidation was somewhat chopped off. I'm surprised they didn't send those fixtures to the N. Shepherd store when it was being liquidated, but maybe now it'll go to the Pasadena store.
DeleteAlso, of note, it seems that maybe the Old Navy store at Willowbrook Mall was behind on their payments because it seems that the mall changed their locks. That's certainly an interesting situation from a major retailer like Old Navy.
Also, I think someone affiliated with the Houston Historic Retail blog has started a new blog covering San Antonio and Corpus Christi retail. It's called South Texas Retail. They have some excellent retro photos of malls and such. It's worth checking out.
Thanks for sending over those links. I am glad that more people are blogging about retail these days.
DeleteI didn't take a good look at Old Navy, but the store did appear to still be closed on my visit. That is a strange situation indeed for such a large chain store.
A lot of fixtures were still left at the North Shepherd location as they locked their doors back in August. I am guessing that the Pasadena store will have some of those fixtures. I may try to snag a shopping cart if they put those out for sale. It will probably be a couple of weeks or so until fixtures start going on sale.
Do you have anything you have got from Sears or Kmart store closing sales that says Sears or Kmart? If not, you should try buying something from a store closing sale that has the Sears or Kmart name on it like a small fixture or something like that.
DeleteI managed to pick up some Sears and Kmart memorabilia over the years. I really started getting items back in 2017 once I realized how quickly the stores were beginning to disappear. It all depends on the liquidators, sometimes they will sell anything and sometimes they will not sell anything with a company logo on it. A lot of those items wind up in the trash or shipped off to other stores. Shopping carts and other metal shelving units are sold usually for scrap.
DeleteThe thrift store at the old Oshman's/Sports Authority on 1960/Mills is almost complete. Construction was delayed but is back on track.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update.
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