Now for yet another Toys R Us post, seeing this store close was very sad. This Toys R Us store opened in either 1983 or 1984, and my first visit here was in 1986.
Here is how the store looked in 1994 prior to the modernization, click here and go to page 30 on the reduce flooding website pdf. Luckily the store did not sustain any damage in the 1994 flood, but that was a very close call. You can see how the land in the background which is now the big box center Deerbrook Marketplace flooded heavily.
How the store looked in 2010, the good years.
Post Harvey, the short lived Geoffrey's Big Box of Toys. After the store was gutted out completely, this clearance store opened up for the Christmas season of 2017. About a fifth of the store was used for this pop-up store. The rest of the store was blocked off by peg board walls.
I visited during the last 3 days of the sale. Only a couple of racks and some stuff by the counter remained. Only the center area of the store near the main entrance was used for the temporary store.
The enclosed area had been filled with racks.
Store closing signage.
Photo during the renovation into the post Harvey Toys R Us, just before the liquidation sales were announced. The Toys R Us was going to reopen later in 2018, but that never came to pass.
After the Toys R Us liquidation was announced, all of the equipment was removed. A few weeks later the fencing was removed.
And added bonus, the Toys R Us display at Kroger in 2018. Once the Toys R Us name was purchased, an agreement to place these Toys R Us branded displays in some Kroger stores was made. As we know Toys R Us made a small comeback in 2019. You can click here and see my visits to the Houston location of the short lived Toys R Us reboot.
Spring 2019
After seeing the building sitting for over a year now, we decided to take an up close look. We were able to see inside of the building without glare just before the sun set that evening.
Crews were out here at the site for well over a month before the liquidation was announced. They didn't get much done at all. From what I could tell all that they did was strip the foyer area of the Toys R Us side and entryway of the Babies R Us side. I guess they had a feeling that the job was going to get cut short with the bankruptcy of Toys R Us and uncertain future of the company in early 2018.
In early 2021 redevelopment of the building into Bel Furniture.
And finally the conversion is complete. Toys R Us has been completely wiped away. The Bel Furniture road sign was put up about 2 months after the store opened.
Those are some great links showing some unfortunate situations that this Toys R Us suffered from. Obviously, the flooding from Hurricane Harvey seen in the Stixx Vision drone video was really bad for that whole community. I think I remember that flooding in 1994 as well. That was a bad year for weather around here as we had a really bad ice storm that year (or around there at least). Those are some great links to some unfortunate events, thanks for finding and sharing those.
ReplyDeleteI know you were hoping that this TRU would turn into an Ollie's, but at least the building is not vacant even if Bel Furniture isn't as exciting as Ollie's. I've never been to a Bel store before, but if I ever do go to one, I'd probably go to the one in the old Sears Homelife store at I-45 and Richey Road. We certainly bought a lot of furniture from that building back when it was a Sears Homelife!
Speaking of old TRUs, have you made it down to the Sprouts in the old Astrodome area TRU?
I read that there is a new Target opening in New Caney. It seems it is going in the shopping center with that Sam's Club that practically closed right after it opened. From the drawing, it seems like this will be new construction out on the side of the Academy, but I wonder why they didn't use the old Sam's Club building. Perhaps Walmart still owns it or the lease to it and won't sell it to Target, who knows. The Target will be right next to the Kroger Marketplace either way. Given that those Kroger Marketplace stores are kind of a discount store and a grocery store, it's going to be strange having two stores with a lot of similar departments right next to one another. I'm not really sure if Kroger will benefit or suffer from Target's nearby presence. Kroger might well lose some general merchandise sales which makes it questionable to even have a Marketplace store there as compared to a regular Kroger.
I notice that there are a lot of new links to retail blogs in the feed and blogroll over on the right hand side of the blog. That's a great resource for those looking for some more great retail blogs.
I'm not sure if you saw this last week, but I had a guest post over at HHR on topic of Kids' Kounty, a high-end big box toy store chain that opened in Houston in 1973 and died a pretty quick death afterward. Well, it didn't completely die as the chain morphed into Fun City Toys and then eventually Lionel Playworld. You might remember the latter from Louisiana. Anyway, Kids' Kounty was really ahead of their time in many ways and I'm sure you'll love reading about it. Here's a link to the post if you want to see it.
With all of the retail heartbreak these days, there are some good stories. A Sears Hometown store opened in Humble. I just found out about the new store.
DeleteWe haven't been near the Reliant TRU since they closed. I am sure it would be a shock.
New Caney is on the verge of taking over Humble as the spot to shop. There is a plan for an outdoor lifestyle center across the highway. Target and Academy are 2 stores that I frequent. Having them together will be awesome.
I have been adding more and more blogs as I find them. I will keep updating the blog where possible from time to time.
I will definitely check out your post at a later time. I certainly remember Lionel Playworld, they were the only major toy chain in the New Orleans area.
Thanks for the information about the Humble Sears Hometown store opening, I had no idea about that. Here is some exciting, related news. After I read what you wrote, I looked up the Sears Hometown website and it seems they just opened a new Sears Hometown location at the old Macroplaza/Plaza Paseo/Pasadena Town Square Sears location on October 28th! Sears is back at a Houston mall! Well, kind of, but something is certainly better than nothing and this is probably the best retail news Macroplaza has seen in quite some time as well. I don't know if there is any hope for any other Sears Hometown locations opening up at other area malls, but even if they open stores in other locations, it is a welcomed addition.
DeleteWith Academy, Target, and Kroger being all next to one another, New Caney might be a new one-stop shopping destination for those in the Northeast suburbs. Granted, all of these stores are also in the Deerbrook Mall area as well so Northeast shoppers will have their choice of where to shop if they like shopping at those stores. That New Caney powercenter certainly had a bit of a false start with the Sam's Club closing almost right after it opened, but the center seems to have rebounded nicely with Target coming onboard.
I am shocked that someone would open a new store at Macroplaza Mall. The mall is falling into disrepair, mostly the exterior. You wouldn't even think the mall was open anymore. Barely any cars are there on any given day. Maybe the mall owners have some traction going to bring the property back. I am going to have to stop by there to see the new store.
DeleteThere was a plan to build a Bass Pro Shop in the New Caney area that fell through, but there is an outdoor mall type center still planned as part of the Valley Ranch area. The land was recently cleared for that part of the development so we will see what happens. If Dillard's or Macy's leave Deerbrook for Valley Ranch, the mall will be in trouble.
Another thing I forgot to mention is that the exterior Fiesta signs on the I-69 and Jensen have been heavily modified. All of the flashy lights were removed starting a couple of weeks ago. One sign was done and then the other. I am not sure if any of the interior signs have been taken down, but I have a feeling that we will see all of the store signs changed in the near future. Only the plain letters and parrot remain, and the store looks much darker now when passing by at night.
DeleteI was also quite shocked to see that Sears has returned to a Houston mall, especially Macroplaza Mall, but certainly this is not the first time that Eddie Lampert has surprised us. Mike from HHR visited the Macroplaza Sears Hometown store right after he heard about it from me and I know he has a blog post with several photos coming about it very soon. Keep an eye out for that. From what Mike told me, the Macroplaza property looks very sad these days, and the outside of the Sears is hardly marked as being open now, but it is open for business.
DeleteAlso, it seems Sears Hometown has opened up at The Parks Mall in Arlington. What's even more interesting is that the Sears Hometown website has job listings, or at least one, for Willowbrook. I don't know if they are opening a Sears Hometown store there at the mall as well or if it might just be near Willowbrook Mall without being at the mall itself like what is the case in Humble. It's very interesting!
In the past couple of weeks, it seems the League City and Cypress Sears Appliance Showrooms have been converted and have had grand openings as Sears Hometown stores as well. It seems that the Sugar Land Appliance Showroom store is likely to also be converted into a Sears Hometown. From what we've heard, these stores are owned by TransformCo and aren't franchise stores, but maybe Lampert is looking to sell these stores to franchisees. We'll have to see about that.
That's a shame to hear about the Jensen Fiesta Mart, but thanks for the update. Fiesta has been remodeling some of their older stores here in the last few months and the neon has gone away from the insides of a few stores. I believe the Gulfton and Northline area stores have both been de-neonized here lately, but the new decor they put in those stores does look quite nice even if it's sad that the abundant neon is now gone. It might be worth checking out those stores on Google Maps if nothing else if you get the chance.
I have a few days off so I am going to catch up on some blog stuff. I will not have a chance to visit Macroplaza anytime soon. I am definitely glad Mike was able to check the new store out for us to see.
DeleteI think the Humble Sears Hometown location is pretty terrible. That shopping center has been on the decline, but there has been some positive movement, with the gym moving to a new location there. There is a large furniture store across the way so maybe they are hoping to draw appliance sales along with furniture sales. There is a much better location off of I-69 in front of Best Buy that would have been the perfect size for the Sears store IMO.
I think these smaller Hometown stores are a good idea as long as they can keep them stocked. The categories of goods they carry are what Sears was known for. Sears becoming a majority franchisee company would keep them alive and allow them to finish closing their large stores.
I wonder if the idea of smaller Kmart stores with pharmacies is on the horizon. With Walgreens really beginning to downsize stores, this would be a good opportunity for another chain to fill in the gap. But realistically the last Kmart pharmacy store on the US Mainland is closing.
The NRG store still has their old sign up, but that may not last long. I may have to make a trip down there soon.
I see that you were able to read Mike's HHR post about the Macroplaza Sears Hometown. That's a really crazy situation with that store reopening like that. I agree with what you said at HHR about that being perhaps the craziest thing Fast Eddie has done so far! It's strange, but hopefully the store will be successful.
DeleteOn the topic of Sears Hometown stores in old Best Buy locations, the new Sears Hometown location at 6218 Wood Glen Dr. in San Antonio is in an old Best Buy! That's a very strange shopping center. It also has a relatively young Target store that failed and closed a few years ago. There aren't too many Targets that young that have closed and obviously the Best Buy didn't work either. Sears seems to think they can make it work though, but I guess we'll see.
I really wouldn't expect Lampert to open any new Kmart stores at this point, but who would have guessed the return of new Sears stores here in late 2021?
I think these Sears Hometown Stores can be successful if Sears puts a marketing campaign to support them. Most people think Sears is long gone. They'll need to be informed that Sears is around. Just as Conn's has carved a niche for themselves, I think Sears might be able to carve a niche for themselves if they have inventory and good financing for people who need it. Perhaps they can finance people who can't get financed at Lowe's, Home Depot, or Best Buy.
If nothing else, Sears needs to keep selling appliances to get their otherwise supposedly healthy extended warranty business going. Maybe Lampert is seeing the need for some continuing retail presence in that regard. It's hard to say.
It seems like you can open a Sears Hometown store anywhere these days. I wonder if they will be teaming up with Spirit Halloween to fill in empty space in these oversized buildings. I can see why franchises are a good idea if they can succeed. Transformco gets the franchise fees and the franchisee owners deal with the headache of running the business. The sad part is that most people think Sears died out and they will need a lot of help with advertising to get these stores up and running.
DeleteIt looks like the last Sears auto centers are going out of business. On the Sears auto center site, there is an ad on the front page talking about the closing sales. There were 15 locations listed which has been dwindling as stores close.
I binged on the Kmart Youtube channel last night. They had some really eye opening television ads until they stopped making them. I still can't believe that we are down to only 6 stores in the continental United States.
It's pretty cool seeing the full timeline of the store like this. I maintain that Geoffrey's Bargain Box of Toys was certainly an interesting footnote in TRU's modern history; between that and the short-lived revival location, Houston sure has had a lot of neat TRU experiences the rest of the country missed out on. The images of the flooded TRU and just all the other flood images in general in that PDF are really remarkable.
ReplyDeleteThis was my most visited Toys R Us store over the years. I wish I had done more to document the store, but at least I was able to visit several more stores over the years. I am looking forward to the Macy's store within a store TRU concept that will roll out in 2022 even though video games may not be part of the new mini stores. Houston and especially the San Jacinto river area are very susceptible to flooding. It doesn't stop developers from building in flood zones or creating new flood zones when new developments mess up flood drainage paths.
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