This mall has certainly changed since my last visit. Most of the mall corridor has been sealed off and incorporated into front facing big box retailers. A small portion of the old mall corridor still remains for now. The property is now known as Marshall Place since there is not much left of a mall. Ownership and management has really brought this property back to life. Marshall is too small to support an indoor mall and this place had been struggling for years. Most of these small town malls have been either redeveloped or are in the process of some form of redevelopment. College Park in Corsicana, University Mall in Nacogdoches, and Palestine Mall in Palestine were built by the same company. We will cover all of these malls to compare and contrast the redevelopments.
Boot Barn is located where the Kmart entrance to the mall was located.
Garden Shop fencing still in place. Blue Cross Blue Shield uses the old Kmart building now.
As we enter the last remaining mall corridor entrance, we can see that both sides of the mall where storefronts were at are now covered up.
The center court of the mall still remains. The area was barricaded off to keep people from congregating. (The Summer Covid spike was an issue throughout the state at the time of our visit).
As we look to the right of the center court, a small piece of the mall corridor remains. This was the corridor leading to the former JCPenney.
The corridor abruptly ends and then you can exit through this small hallway.
We had to explore the hallway to see where it led to.
Well, nothing to see down the hallway. I was hoping that maybe a part of an old store remained. Here is the view looking back into the remains of the mall.
Center court view looking from Stage.
Now we are inside of the Stage store which was in the process of closing down. Stage Stores was a casualty of 2020 and a huge blow to many small town malls.
How the fortunes of Stage Stores rapidly changed. That sign in the background looked like a Gordman's grand opening advertisement. This store along with the entire chain was all in on the Gordman's name. Only a handful of stores were converted prior to the chani going out of business.
The Stage Store liquidations happened at a bad time as well. Several JCPenney, Sears, Kmart, Macy's, and the entire Stein Mart chain were closing stores all around the same time. Even with discounts of 60-80% off the store was still full of merchandise. Of course, a lot of people were avoiding crowds as well during the height of the pandemic.
Another look at the center court.
Security office
One of the skylights in the mall corridor.
Now for the exterior shots of the mall. Ollie's was a new addition to the mall.
Burke's Outlet and Hobby Lobby are also new additions to the mall. Hobby Lobby was the old JCPenney and Burke's took over a chunk of mall space and the old Boot Barn location.
The last mall corridor entrance looks out of place with all of the new storefronts.
Another view of the entrance to Boot Barn with the Kmart styling.
Now for the best part of the tour, Ollie's!
The vibe of this store is really awesome. Goofy cartoon signage, handwritten signs from the employees, and unique products for sale.
Enjoy the photos of the store. Ollie's is expanding all throughout the United States.
You can see from this photo where the ceiling changes and the old mall corridor was roughly located.
Now here is my favorite sign.
No coffee due to Covid as the note said. Either way, this is a cool touch for the customers.
The attempt at masking Ollie is a big fail. It was hard enough to get people to fully mask up and poor Ollie didn't have the right size mask.
Babies R Us baskets.
Now from Ollie's to Boot Barn.
Inside of the Boot Barn, we can make out the skylight and the former entrance to Kmart.
This is the before photo of how this part of the mall looked.
The old mall skylight really helps brighten up the store.
The old mall corridor is unrecognizable now.
A look into the old Kmart prison yard.
The Stage anchor looks very tiny from this view.
The back of the old Kmart.
This Long John Silvers has seen better days.
More of the former Kmart.
The mall signage has been updated with the new tenants and new name.
More views of the former Kmart.
Mall entrance one more time.
One last view of the mall as we drive away.
There is an Ollie’s opening up soon on Bridgedown Drive and Jones Road. The building it’s opening up in is a former Target that closed sometime around 2006 and the building was most recently a Planet Fitness which relocated and left the building sometime in late-2018.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, that is not too far from me. If you haven't been to Ollie's yet, you are in for a real treat.
DeleteI remember seeing your previous posts about this mall. It used to be quite retro looking with all the wood and that old Bealls sign. I take it that the Bealls became Stage? It would have become Gordmans as well, but it wasn't to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to see most of the mall go even if there is a little bit left, thankfully, but it's good that the property developers have been able to attract some pretty exciting new retailers. Ollie's is certainly the most interesting one to me. I've seen a lot of photos of Ollie's before, but I think yours are the best. Those are some good photos which really give a good overview of what the store has to offer. Ollie's is inching closer and closer to Houston. Maybe one day they will enter this market, but I suppose we have to keep waiting for now.
Oddly enough, while looking at your photos of Ollie's, I kept thinking of Arne's Warehouse, which is most known for selling party supplies, that is located on Studemont neat I-10. I have not been there since the late 1980s, but I remember that place well and the warehouse feel of it is a bit like Ollie's. Although they are different kinds of stores, they probably do sell quite a bit of the same kinds of stuff. I'm not sure if you've ever been to Arne's. Here's a link to Arne's Google page.
It looks like as one Bealls exists, another Bealls enters this mall/shopping center by way of the Burkes Outlet name. Of course, Bealls Florida now has the rights to the Stage Bealls name I do believe.
Wow, that Long John Silvers building looks like it is in really poor shape. There aren't too many LJSes around these days and there especially aren't too many around in buildings like that. Unfortunately, this one is closed as well. Oh well.
It's nice to see the mall maintaining the old 'mansard slice' Kmart facade. It's a shame that the Kmart is long gone, but at least this mall is preserving the memory of old Kmart somewhat. Also, I was quite intrigued about where that mysterious hall was leading, but I guess the answer is anti-climatic. At least the hall has some nice carpeting!
Yes the Bealls was slightly renovated as part of the Stage name change. A few coats of purple paint and it could have been Gordmans. The Stage store upgrades were making the way through Texas until the company decided to go all in on Gordmans.
DeleteI was glad to see that a piece of the old mall was still intact. I am curious to see if any of the University Mall will remain intact.
A previous commenter let us know about the former Target on Jones Rd. becoming an Ollie's. I am wondering if the old Humble Toys R Us may become an Ollie's as well because there is some renovation work going on at the building now.
I haven't been to Arnie's in probably close to 20 years. Ollie's does have a similar feeling to that store, random products, and an old school warehouse feel.
I would like to see the Bealls company reopen some of the Stage store locations. A lot of small towns were hurt by the loss of a Stage store when they closed. Burke's Outlet stores are smaller than a typical Stage store so we will have to see what happens.
The Long John Silver's had to be included in my post. It was the old negative spot on an otherwise booming corner.
We have more Kmart goodness on the Palestine Mall post. Palestine Mall while mostly redeveloped, still has a little more retroness than any of the other similar malls. I was hoping that something interesting was down the hallway, but it was just a bland exit door.
Wow, that is terrific news about Ollie's opening up in the old Jones Rd. Target! Thanks to the anonymous tipster above for the great news. I knew it was only a matter of time before Ollie's opened up in Houston, but I never would have guessed that Ollie's would open their first Houston store in my area. That ex-Target shopping center could use a real boost. It's still doing okay, but it could use a new major anchor to really drive more traffic to the rest of the center to try to bring it back closer to the center's better days back when it had Target, Bealls/Palais Royal, Best Products, Walgreens, Wyatt's Cafeteria, The Black Eyed Pea, Godfather's Pizza, and more.
DeleteI checked Ollie's website for job postings to see if that would lead to any news about other store openings and it seems to me that the Jones Rd. location is the only Houston location listed on there for now. It might be a good idea to monitor that to see if anything else gets added. I hope an Ollie's opens up in your part of town. The Toys R Us seems like a good option since they like opening in old TRUs.
It seems like Burke's Outlet has not done as well as the Stage stores did in the Houston area even if Burke's Outlet manages to live on, but perhaps taking on a more familiar name might help them here in Texas and in other markets. We'll have to see, smaller towns could probably benefit from having a clothing store nicer than Walmart.
I'm glad to see that you have been to Arnie's. You've been more recently than I have been by at least 10 years! I really doubt the place has changed that much though.
Hopefully that Long John Silver's gets redeveloped into something because it's already looking pretty bad. There's a Little Caesar's that used to be a Long John Silver's on Highway 6 near the Kmart that was turned into a go-kart track. That Little Caesar's kept the LJS look so maybe that'll happen again.
I'm looking forward to seeing your post about Palestine Mall. I think I may have been there before, but that would have been around the time that I last went to Arnie's, lol. I have more memories of Arnie's though. I know I saw Jeff's video about the mall, but sometimes the photos help to give a better look at a place.
It is certainly great news. I am glad that Ollie's will be somewhat close to me as well. On a good day that location is about 30 min away from me.
DeleteThere is a Burke's in Porter near me that has been open for close to 20 years. You are right about their limited success in Texas. Stage Stores had at least 50 stores at their peak in the metro Houston. Maybe even close to 100 with the rural outskirts included. Burke's seems to get lost in the discount chain mix. Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Burlington have major name recognition and nationwide presence. Burke's does well in smaller towns where none of the majors seem to go like Marshall Texas.
I have seen a few LJS locations get remodeled. A lot of Taco Bell locations had them added on in the early 2000's, but most of those were taken out just a year or two later. LJS and Taco Bell never seemed like a good combination.
Arnie's doesn't look to have changed very much over the years. Their biggest challenge is probably the gentrification of the area around them. Their land taxes have probably shot up tremendously in the past decade or so.
Palestine Mall now has a Chik Fil A in front of the mall so maybe more traffic will help the struggling mall. Ollie's could be an option for the old JCPenney that closed last year, but they would not be open into the mall.
You are absolutely right about the situation that is probably facing Arnie's. Hopefully they own their building so they don't have to be worried about being priced out in terms of rent like the Rice Village Half Price Books was, but even still, their property taxes must be very high these days. Hopefully that does not impact their ability to have low prices and attract customers. Even if I have not been there for decades, Arnie's seems kind of like an under the radar Houston institution.
DeleteBurke's Outlet had a location in the Willowchase Fiesta shopping center many years ago, but it closed and I don't think there is another location in this area. I can't recall anyone saying that they shopped there. For whatever reason, they seem to have failed to catch on in the city itself, but it seems like they've had some success in outlaying areas where there is less competition especially now with Stage Stores going out of business. We'll have to see if Burke's Outlet can take advantage of that, but I'm not sure how successful they'll be in busier areas with lots of competition from the TJXes and Rosses of the world.
The last Long John Silver's I went to was a Taco Bell combo location on Louetta about 4-5 years ago. Even at that time, LJSes had become rare and now that location has been converted into just a Taco Bell. I think the LJS had a rather limited menu which didn't help matters.
Chick-Fil-A is the complete opposite story. I was wondering if their major expansion of locations a few years ago would dilute the brand, but that absolutely does not appear to the happening so far at least. A couple of Whataburgers near me have had Chick-Fil-As open near them and the CFAs easily have 3-4x as many customers. I doubt the Whataburgers are doing badly, but the CFAs are doing much, much better. It's pretty amazing how popular they are.
I'm sure Ollie's will open more locations here in Houston at some point, but it probably makes sense for them to continue their slow growth. I'm excited to see the Jones Road store open up, everyone I've talked to who has been to an Ollie's or knows about them is really excited about this opening. But, anyway, I would keep an eye on their jobs posting website to see if any new Houston locations get added to it. This is the complete opposite situation of us checking the Sears jobs website for store closures!
I don't know if I told you about this post, but did you get a chance to take a look at the HHR post that Mike and I put together about the Alvin Antiques Center? It's really neat, I know you'll like seeing that. It's hard to beat neon-like signage like that!
I apologize for the very late comment. I am getting caught up on everything today, lots of things have happened here recently that have taken my focus away from the blog and group messages. I just posted a small article to get things up and running again.
DeleteWe will continue to see long-running institutions disappear from Houston as the cost of living goes up in the city. We just have to do our best to support these places as much as possible. Sadly Arnie's doesn't seem to have anything that I would need anytime soon.
We are about to get the Bojangles chain here in the area. I haven't eaten at one, but they have a pretty good reputation. With the success of Chik-Fil-A and Raising Cane's they will need to stand out to make it in Texas.
The former Toys R Us in Humble is well under construction now. The front of the building has been opened up and the interior has a lot of work going on. More of the site is fenced off now so I haven't been able to read the permits for what is going on at the site. I really hope Ollie's will be the main tenant of the building, but we will have to wait and see.
I will take a look at the HHR blog, it has been a little while since I visited the blog. I still need to finish your part 2 of the archives.
I did see the press release about Bojangles and it does seem that one of their first locations during this new attempt at the Houston market will be in the Humble area. Maybe you'll be able to provide the rest of us with a review when they open. The Houston area has a lot of fried chicken competition as it is so if Bojangles does succeed, it'll probably come at the cost of an existing chain. We'll have to see how that shakes out. I know Bojangles is famous for their biscuits, but I don't know if that'll be enough to save them given the stiff competition here in Houston.
DeleteI checked out the Ollie's job listings and so far it seems that the Jones Road location is the only Houston-area one we can confirm at the moment. Hopefully all that renovation at the old Humble Toys R Us will result in an Ollie's, but I guess we'll have to wait to see what will happen there.
I don't know if this was ever reported by the media, but it seems Almeda Mall was sold by Fox Properties to Kohan in the last several months. Fox was the company that renovated the mall and I thought they did a great job with it all things considered. Kohan has a shaky past so I am a bit concerned about Almeda's future. Hopefully Kohan does not run the operation like Triyar ran/runs their malls. Kohan does own the Central Mall in Port Arthur and Valle Vista Mall in Harlingen. I know you've covered those malls on the blog before.
I will definitely try Bojangles as soon as they open. Their food selection looks really good. Since In and out has made it to Houston we have been at least 10 times.
DeleteThe day they take down the Toys R Us road sign will be a sad one for me. I wonder if I catch them at the right time, then I could try to buy one side of the sign. The sign is still in decent shape for a store that has been closed almost 4 years.
Yikes another Kohan Mall. Thankfully Almeda is doing fairly well from what I hear. We will have to see what happens. His track record is not very good with malls. Kohan, Namdar, and Moonbeam have sunk their teeth into too many malls and caused their subsequent failure.
Nice to see some revitalization here, as well as the old mall remnants scattered around. I love Ollie's -- glad you enjoyed it as well. So sad to see the Gordmans grand opening sign backstage at Stage. And the new Marshall Place logo on the road sign leaves something to be desired...
ReplyDeleteThe owners and management of the mall did a really good job bringing this mall back to life. At one point both major anchors were empty and the interior was down to about 5 tenants. Now the only empty anchor is Stage which is tucked around the back of the mall somewhat hidden. Marshall is a pretty small town so this place could have easily fell into disrepair like a lot of other small town malls. That Marshall Place sign is very bland, it is probably the most boring font I have seen on a mall/shopping center sign.
DeleteWait until you see my Sagewood Mall post to use as a good Texas comparison. Similar sized city with a derelict mall that has 2 stores clinging onto a rotting building. That mall was so nasty I felt like I needed a shower after walking around the property and into the 2 remaining stores. Dead birds, huge bee nests, boarded up entrances, and craters all over the parking lot. One of the roads to the mall is so bad, the dirt is worn down to bypass the potholes. I think the blog readers are going to love that mall.
Ollie's is a really awesome store. I have since visited 3 more locations and I will certainly visit many more in the future.
Agreed. In this day and age it's almost impossible *not* to have any vacancies, even in anchor tenants, so to have just one vacant anchor here as well as to have the fortune of that space being more or less hidden away is quite nice for Marshall Place.
DeleteWow, Sagewood Mall sounds like the complete opposite of Marshall Place. That's so unfortunate. I bet that will be a fun post for sure, as such things are also interesting to view even though they're on the total other end of the spectrum of successful retail; but that is such a shame for the city it's in that the mall is in such poor shape.
I kind of got that vibe from your post, but didn't realize for sure until I saw these other comments that Ollie's is relatively new to y'all. They only came to Memphis and Mississippi fairly recently as well, and are still growing around here also. I've also been to at least four locations since they came around. I think it really depends on the store as one of them is much better than all of the rest; but still, as a whole, I'm excited to see Ollie's grow (and hope they're able to stay successful in light of that).
Sagewood Mall must have barely closed when I showed up. The plywood on the entrances smelled fresh and the one entrance that wasn't boarded up had generic Covid precautions taped up on the glass. I really was hoping that to enter the mall, only one video exists on YouTube of the mall. Here is the link https://youtu.be/0zm_6a53d4s
DeleteHouston is usually the last major city in Texas to get retailer and restaurant expansions when companies go to Texas. Ollie's will be in Houston relatively early in their Texas expansion so I am definitely happy.