As many of you know, I have wanted to visit this mall for several years now. Brownwood is over 5 hours from where I live, and 2 hours + away from either Waco or Fort Worth Texas. I made the trek out here in October 2021, and this town was an awesome experience. Not only was this mall a fantastic retro treat, the City of Brownwood has some interesting sights as well.
Heartland Mall is located in Early and right on the edge of the Brownwood city limits. This micropolitan area has a population of 38,000 residents. The mall is just under 250,000 square feet of retail space and opened in October 1980. CBL and associates built the mall, and several changes have happened over the years. The Regal 8 Movie theater was added in 2000 taking up about half of the Kmart corridor space. The mall underwent a small renovation in 2002 with updated exterior entrances, flooring, and fountain work. The mall opened with the common anchor lineup that small town Texas malls in the early 1980's had, Kmart, Bealls, and JCPenney. Kmart opened on October 8, 1980 and closed in February 1995. Since then the building was heavily remodeled, and has featured Burkes Outlet, along with the current Pierce Furniture Gallery store and Ranger College. JCPenney also opened in October 1980 and closed in June 2017. The JCPenney anchor and part of the mall corridor is now a Hobby Lobby store. Bealls which was also an original anchor to the mall moved out to a nearby shopping center, closing on July 17, 2010 to reopen on July 22, 2010 at the new center. The Bealls was later replaced by a Sears Hometown store in January 2016 which closed September 24, 2018. That anchor is now the Xtreme Jump trampoline park. The mall owners want to redevelop the mall, possibly closing off the interior mall. This is one of the few small town Texas malls that is still mostly intact with retro storefronts. Several similar small town Texas malls have been redeveloped and the mall corridors have been mostly if not completely shut down in those malls.
Here is the road sign facing US 377, the main commercial strip through the Early/Brownwood area.
The main interior mall entrance. The secondary entrance at the movie theater was gated off. Not sure if that entrance opens at a certain time.
Before we enter the mall, here are some more views from around the mall property.
Just about all of the visible space is the Hobby Lobby. The former JCPenney anchor took up about half of the space of this store.
Facing the main highway through town.
The back of the mall is fairly bland.
Back area of the Hobby Lobby.
This is the former Bealls/Sears Hometown building. The entrance to the store was to the right, but I just missed it while driving through the parking lot.
The movie theater stands out over the mall property.
This is listed as a mall entrance, but it did not appear to be open at this time.
The back of the former Kmart, now home to Ranger College.
The front of the former Kmart. Burke's Outlet was in this space at one time. Looking at the satellite images, this section of the building is an addition.
The Pierce Furniture Gallery, even this part of the former Kmart building is unrecognizable.
Here you can see the movie theater entrance, it still looks relatively new.
Hibbett Sports was in this space at one time. The mall entrance has the awesome 1980's wood panel storefront.
Now we head inside to see what is here. All I can say is Wow!
This fountain is awesome.
This Curiosities store had some interesting items.
The lights are on at Bon Worth, but nobodies home.
As you can see the mall comes to an abrupt end down this corridor. This was the former JCPenney end of the mall.
The interior of this store caught my eye.
Looking from the closed off mall corridor at the Hobby Lobby to the fountain.
Another view of the retro Bon Worth storefront.
Top Nail and Spa appeared to be an active business, but the gates were closed on my visit.
Sadly the Chik-fil-A was gone. But good news for Brownwood as the restaurant moved to a brand new free-standing building which opened on November 5th, 2020. This Chik-fil-A closed on October 17, 2020. Prior to closing, this location had a small electrical outlet fire on October 5th, 2020, and another small fire in a light fixture, on August 21st, 2020.
And now for this perfectly preserved Corn Dog 7. Despite this location looking like it was still open, it had actually closed sometime in 2018. I was initially excited to eat here, but I settled for the nearby Taco Casa. Most of these have disappeared.
A lot of the fixtures were removed.
And now for the tenant that keeps most malls going, Bath and Body Works. This is another classic store with the awesome fountain in the front of the photo. The store was quite busy and constantly had people going in and out with purchases.
This neon era Claire's is also perfectly preserved. I wish I could have turned on the lights to see the neon once again. Well after what happened at Chik-fil-A, maybe that would not be the best idea.
A vendor had setup some items on the Corn Dog 7 booths.
This Fitness Evolution space appeared to be empty. Not sure if they were about to move in or if they had moved out.
The gates were down to the movie theater wing of the mall. I am pretty sure that hallway leads to the back mall entrance we saw earlier.
Still going strong!
GNC had recently moved out.
Looking from the gates of the movie theater towards the center court of the mall.
A random table at the edge of the movie theater mall corridor. As you can see, one of the chairs is missing the back rest.
Factory Connection, the only junior anchor left.
The former Bealls and Sears Hometown anchor. Xtreme Jump has some very good prices for entertainment.
More views of the center court of the mall.
The center corridor of the mall leading to the main exit.
Claire's with Corn Dog 7 in the background.
The mall management office with the retro candy machines lined up.
Social Security Administration office to the left.
Time to leave for the day.
A look from the front entrance into the mall.
Army information kiosk.
The mall logo at the front doors.
Hope everyone enjoyed this visit. It took a while to dig up all of the information about this mall, but I wanted to make sure to put this one on the blog.
Wow, this is a great find. I did not know about this mall until you mentioned it a few months back, but wow, there is a lot of retro stuff going on here. Unfortunately, a lot of the retro features are now from closed retailers, but it's a bit of a surprise that some of them lasted as long as they did. It's a bit surprising that the Corn Dog 7 lasted as long as it did, but at least they left their menu up so we could remember them! The retro storefront is a great sight as well. It reminds me of the old Willowbrook Mall location.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting that the Chick-Fil-A had those fires. I wonder if the mall, or their location at least, had shoddy wiring or other electrical components. Given the age of the place, I suppose shoddy electrical wiring and such will start to become a problem. Given the growth of CFA freestanding locations in the last few years, it's probably not a surprise that this location was replaced with a new freestanding one. Heck, on FM 1960 near N. Eldridge, CFA just tore down a location from the mid-2000s and replaced it with a brand new building.
As you say, given some of the electrical problems at the old CFA, perhaps it's best that the Claire's neon doesn't get fired up! I suspect there are some potential safety hazards involved with old neon.
That Gallery sign above the Pierce Furniture Gallery is quite interesting. It reminds me of Houston's Gallery Furniture. In fact, the logo looks pretty similar to the Gallery Furniture logo that Mattress Mack used in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
I wonder if the Fitness Evolution is an old Walgreens? It kind of looks like an old mall Walgreens storefront.
I like that western font on that "Thank you for visiting" sign. That font was quite popular in the late 1970s/early 1980s. In fact, Wal-Mart used to use something like that in an era before they came to Houston, but it was not unfamiliar to see old trucks with that logo moving around Houston into the 1990s even.
I'm glad that this mall has been able to survive. Certainly there isn't much going on at the mall, but there's still something which is more than we can say about a lot of other malls. They've done a decent job filling the anchor space so hopefully the mall will stick around.
In some other interesting retail news, you may remember that before Big Lots was Big Lots, it was MacFrugal's. Before that, MacFrugal's was Pic-N-Save. Well, it seems someone has purchased the rights to the Pic-N-Save name and has opened new stores in southern California. There seems to be two locations, but there are some differences between the two so some people are wondering if maybe two different people are running these stores under some kind of agreement. Anyway, check out the interior of the store in Ontario, CA. The Pic-N-Save people decorated the store with paintings of old, demised discount store chain signs such as FedMart, Zodys, and others! How neat is that? The people behind Pic-N-Save must be retail historians. Maybe one day the Pic-N-Save name will return to Houston.
I stumbled on this mall when doing some research about old abandoned high rise buildings in Texas. With the exception of a handful of photos and a poor-quality Youtube video, this mall was really appealing to me. This was one of the rare small-town malls that had JCPenney and Sears even though the Sears was just a Hometown store. Brownwood has seen a recent resurgence in their downtown area and has some newer developments throughout the town. There are also several wind turbine farms surrounding the Brownwood metro area. Driving down here felt much faster than I would have thought, there were many neat things to see. The terrain is very hilly, there are a lot of small towns to see, the multiple wind farms, and even an army facility were on the way down there. It was definitely worth the trip.
DeleteThe way the mall has been partially redeveloped has hurt the interior stores. The nearby large Walmart and newer shopping centers that took away tenants has also more than likely kept the mall from achieving its full potential. Gaining the Hobby Lobby was a huge plus for the mall, but it may signal the beginning of the end for the interior mall. It may be similar to what has happened to several small-town Texas Malls. Only the center corridor to the trampoline park could remain once things get going.
The Fitness Evolution certainly looks like a Walgreens storefront from the 80's. Walgreens has their standard standalone store nearby, so it is a possibility. I had to get a photo of that "Thank you for visiting sign", Brownwood has the feel of an old Western Texas town.
This will probably be my only trip to this city unless I go to Abeline one day. There was a lot to see here, but it is so far away. I will keep up with this mall, but it will probably be gone sometime in the near future.
I don't remember going to a Pic-N-Save location. I think the Humble Big Lots was a Pic-N-Save prior to becoming a McFrugal's. It is really cool that they decorated their store like that. The discount closeout stores are making a comeback, it is one of the types of stores that does well without needing an online store. Just for the interior design of the store, I would like to see one in person. It is like Ollie's they have the funny and interesting signage throughout the store to break up the monotony of your typical chain retailer.
So I actually work in this mall and have for the past year. I can confirm that the wiring is pretty bad, because we constantly have issues with outlets that are so old they don’t work, ancient breaker boxes, and in the old Corndog 7 all the electrics have to be completely replaced because they’re several decades out of date. The mall owner does nothing to improve any of the utilities, often forcing that responsibility onto the tenants. He is a rather stupid man that doesn’t even realize the value in that place. He charges rent super high, and also cut down the mall hours + closed the bathrooms that used to service the mall bc he laid off most of the maintenance staff when covid hit. There is literally two people to maintain the whole mall. That is why the movie theater entrance is shuttered, the bathrooms are in it. However, the real killer for me is the redevelopment plans that actually put the entire interior portion of the mall at risk, including the front entrance to the trampoline park. He says he wants to focus on soft goods, which is idiotic since the town needs more entertainment. We have plenty of clothing and home goods stores move in, we need the fun back. He needs to reestablish the mall as a social spot, with the food and the fun. I will say though, part of me would be more than happy for it to remain a quiet mall. It’s peaceful, and I like it that way
DeleteThank you for the information about the state of the mall. I will reply a bit more on your other comment.
DeleteNeat stuff! I was excited seeing the Corn Dog 7, too bad it had closed down. I intend to get to the one in Laurel someday.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a fun trip. Have you been to the Natchez Ms. Mall? I almost made the trip a few years back when I was in New Orleans, but a tire problem killed my schedule and hope of going down there that day. The Corn Dog 7 about 90 minutes north of me in Lufkin Texas moved to a truck and renamed it Royal Dog. From what I have read, they have the same menu. Of course, the retro storefront was part of the charm so it is just not the same.
DeleteI have relatives in Natchez, but I've never been inside the mall! This last time I came close... went to the Ollie's anchor. But that was it, haha. That's cool about the Royal Dog!
DeleteSal's Ex-log series has the best video I have seen at the Natchez mall. It is kinda out of the way from most nearby major cities.
DeleteI'll have to check that out! Yeah, Natchez and a lot of other small town malls in Mississippi and elsewhere are pretty far away from most other major retail.
DeleteEvery time I have tried to expand to cover Mississippi for the blog, my plans get messed up it seems. I was going to cover the Edgewater Mall in Biloxi as well, but for some reason I didn't make the trek there either. It is kinda funny how I was able to cover places in Mexico, but not in any other states besides Texas and Louisiana. I was also about 30 minutes away from Las Cruces New Mexico but relying on Taxi's and Uber's for my transportation around El Paso, so that was a no-go $$$$. Mesilla Valley Mall is down there, and it would have finally stretched my blog a state over.
DeleteThat is pretty ironic that you've covered Mexican retail but not any from other states besides Texas and Louisiana! Even if the blog is ending, Mississippi still welcomes you to visit someday :)
DeleteAppreciate the gesture. I will certainly let you know if we make the trip.
DeleteAfter Kmart closed, it was divided between Dunlaps and Burke's Outlet. Dunlaps went bankrupt in 2007 but don't know when Burke's closed
ReplyDeleteThanks for the additional information. This mall had a few gaps online from what information I could find. I was glad to have been able to make the trip down to see the mall.
DeleteSo I have some insider information from working in the mall. The trampoline park uses the old corndog 7 as their kitchen, having put a doorway through to it. The electrics have to be completely redone, but also having a longtime employee from corndog 7, they’re working on bringing back a fried food menu to the place. It’s both to increase business to the park, but also as a labor of love from those of us that grew up with that mall. We don’t yet have the proverbial corndogs, but we do have the funnelcakes. The park also has a liquor license, so some light drinking may be partaken at the mall. All in all the place is normally quiet, but those of us there that don’t want the mall to disappear as we know it want to do more to make it stay.
ReplyDeleteThat is really good to hear. The Corndog 7 closest to me in Lufkin moved into a truck and changed the name of the business while retaining the same menu. Unfortunately, the truck has been closed often and I haven't been able to try them out since they left the mall. Thanks for your comment and update on the mall.
DeleteThe center fountain with the quiet ambience would be a cool place to have a drink. I really hope that they can get the issues resolved to bring back the fried foods menu. The Brownwood/Early area certainly has potential as the revitalization of the Brownwood downtown area shows. Some of the smaller malls like Heartland have seen success with new antique and local market style stores to bring people back inside. If you add more entertainment options like Main Event or Round One even if it is a local business, you would see things really improve. A lot of people from the cities are looking for retirement options away from those areas so I can see Brownwood/Early continue to grow. A lot of young families looking for opportunities can also find them as the area continues to grow.