Here is a semi-recent update at the University Mall in Nacogdoches Texas. I am sad to report that the mall portion is no longer accessible per recent comments and Google reviews. We visited here in the Summer of 2020 when the temperatures outside were in the mid 90's. The mall corridor did not have A/C and the mask mandate made breathing inside tough. Despite that there were some customers toughing it out at the 2 remaining businesses inside of the mall corridor.
I am not sure if the Social Security offices were still open. We were here on a Saturday afternoon.
A look into what remained of the mall corridor.
the entire Belk wing had been sealed off at this point. The Peanut Shack vintage storefront and others had been wiped clear.
Only 2 businesses remained open in the mall corridor during our visit. This restaurant and a nail salon, which you will see in a bit.
Inside of the former Bealls/Antique store.
A look down the hallway behind the new construction at the mall.
Former Zales Jewelry looking towards the entrance we walked in.
Green neon shut off 😢
But we still had some neon and vintage storefronts to see one last time.
1990's to the max! I hope that someone was able to save one set of these neon waves.
Vintage Bath and Body Works with the neon, it just doesn't get any better than that.
Some of the neon in front of the former JCPenney was still on as well.Ollie's is the new tenant of the former JCPenney but they have blocked off access to the mall. You will see the inside of Ollie's a bit later in the post.
These arcade games were in the middle of the mall for years and had been moved here next to the former JCPenney. None of them were plugged in.
The lonely restroom and mall office hallway.
Some ceiling damage here around the skylight.
A look from the former JCPenney into the remainder of the mall corridor. University Mall was never a large mall, the closed off section of the mall doubled the size of the interior. As you can see the box fans were set up to cool off the waiting customers at the nail salon. Covid restrictions were still very much in place at this point.
The nail salon which was still in business during our visit. The neon sign matched well with the neon mall waves.
The former Foot Locker had been converted into a new Hex Pit gym with exterior access only.
The former entrance to Bealls.
You could tell that the new construction was eventually planned to seal off the entire mall corridor. There was no sense in fixing up the ceiling when the remaining section of the mall was going to be closed off.
Some final looks at the mall corridor before we leave. The social security offices had/were using the storefronts pictured here with an outside mall entrance. I still never found out what stores were here initially, the storefronts certainly have an unusual design.
Sheetrock stacked up for more construction.
The newest tenant which was very close to opening at this point. The store stretched across halfway through the former Belk corridor of the mall.
Belk closed early so we didn't get to visit the store this time around.
As you can see, the space next to Cititrends was under construction as well.
Any trace of the old storefronts located here are long gone. I am not sure what this has become since there is no online listing for this store space.
The past can still be found here as well, check out this door to the old Radio Shack.
Bath and Body Works had some extra door reinforcement, I wonder what the story behind that is?
Now for a look into the Ollie's that opened up in the former JCPenney. Since Ollie's was still not in the Houston area at the time, I made sure to get a lot of photos.
This store had a ton of former Toys R Us shopping carts.
There is a lot to see so I will mostly let the photos speak for themselves.
This was the mall entrance to the store. Ollie's stores rarely seem to open up into the malls where they were located.
An up close look at one of the Toys R Us baskets.
Who would have thought when this mall opened that you could buy Kmart goods inside of the former JCPenney on the opposite side of the mall from where Kmart was once located.
Now for more outside shots of the mall.
The back of the mall where Bealls was located looked spooky. As you can see the back of the mall also did not get a new coat of paint and retains the prior look of the mall.
Even though the Antique shop took over this building for a few years, it looks like they were never there. Bealls moved to a newer location across town almost a decade ago.
A wide view of the mall from across the street. As you can see this place is small.
More to come, stay tuned.
Very sad, it looks as if this has received the "Marshall Mall" treatment of maintaining just enough interior space to prevent access restrictions. I wonder if they have the same owner.
ReplyDeleteI am going to look into that. This mall was converted much like the Marshall and College Park Malls were. I guess ownership was hoping the center court would retain tenants in these malls but that hasn't been the case.
DeleteOne of the great things about this blog is that it's possible to go back about a decade and see how certain malls have changed over time. I know this is a mall you've covered extensively over the years. Unfortunately, time has not been kind to this mall. I suppose it's officially a dead mall now at least as far as the indoor part of the mall goes. That's really too bad, the place really didn't look all that bad about a decade ago. It was wonderfully retro even back then, but at least it still had a number of stores.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you were able to see some functional neon at this mall before it closed up. The heat in the mall must have made things very uncomfortable though. I know that I've shopped at the Mall of the Mainland and Greenspoint Mall at times in the not-so-distant past when they didn't have working A/C and it wasn't a fun experience!
That Radio Shack nameplate on that door looks very strange. It's odd seeing their name in that font. I can't explain the reinforced door at the Bath & Body Works. You wouldn't think of them being a major theft target, but who knows. I know there are some issues concerning bath salts. Maybe it has something to do with that, but I doubt they're that much of a security risk.
Aside from the ceiling, the Ollie's looks quite different from how the JCPenney looked. While the interior of the Ollie's is certainly spartan, it's about what you'd expect from a bargains/closeouts store. Some of the merchandise there looks interesting. That Kmart item looks very interesting! I hope the Jones Rd. Ollie's has some Kmart stuff when it opens. Maybe it'll even have some old Kmart carts like some other Ollie's in Texas have.
I was just given a more accurate update of the mall from Phudman. The center part of the mall is still open and I will let his comment tell the rest.
DeleteOn my trip to Corsicana, I had the same feeling of traversing dead malls with little to no A/C. It really has to hurt the few remaining retailers in these places. I can imagine Greenspoint still has little to no A/C with how things are going these days over there.
Bath and Body Works was probably the busiest inline tenant they had at University Mall. I wonder if they will come back to the mall as an exterior facing tenant in the future.
I am ready to see how Ollie's looks in Houston. It would be really cool for Kmart carts or Toys R Us shopping carts to be reused there. Maybe we could even see Sears carts getting used.
I think the Houston Ollies is about to open because the signage on the storefront has been installed and I’ve seen some people going into the store carrying stuff.
DeleteIt should be pretty close, but it is still not listed on their website yet. At the moment only stores opening up to August 11th have been posted. Hopefully before the end of August they will be ready.
DeleteLots of changed there since your visit. The interior is currently accessible and the sandwich shop still runs inside. The JcP wing has been converted to hold strip mall stores like the Belk wing. There is a small hallway created that runs the length of the Jcp wing besides the former stores on the rear side. The cover at the front entrance was taken down and several new skylights were placed in the remaining central corridor. The store at the entrance was a video rental store then was mainly used as office space after that. The green and red storefront was an Aladdin's Castle that closed in the late 90s. The new store inbetween Dollar Tree and CitiTrends is a City Gear store. No work has started on the rear of the mall except that the gym and it's entrance moved back there. I defiantly wish I could have gotten some of those neon lights!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your comment on how the mall is doing and a clarification on those strange looking storefronts at the main entrance. I just returned from a trip to Corsicana and planned on passing through on my way back, but I ran out of time while waiting for the doors to open at College Park Mall. That mall is only accessible while the defensive driving class was open in the evening.
DeleteI may need to do another update from Nacogdoches and Lufkin. I really want to see the changes in person.