On the way back from a day trip to Dallas, we passed through to see what has become of the Valley View Mall site.
The AMC theater which was the lone holdout at the mall had recently closed. With the theater closed, the rest of the mall will probably come down soon.
The AMC labelscar is new. With the power still being on, we were able to see the soon to be fenced off spots at the property
A look at some of the old tenants that were at the mall.
The bright bulbs of the entrance were still shining for us.
I never went into the mall after the corridors were walled off. Even though I saw this in videos, it was still strange to see in person.
I was glad that the power was still on so we could see inside for one last time.
Zoom in and you can see my shadow and what may be an old mall directory.
Even the signage showing the exit to I-635 was still illuminated.
Classic lighting.
The Valley View labelscar.
Looks like the equipment was in place to start going after the final part of the mall for demolition.
The dark Valley View I-635 road sign.
An oasis in the middle of abandonment.
Now for a drive around the property.
And a bit of drive through. Yes this is the slab of the former Foley's/Macy's/Sanger Harris. This lot was wide open for anyone to drive into, although there was construction debris around. Just glad we didn't get a flat here.
This is part of the mall corridor that was left intact.
A look at the remaining center court of the mall.
More of the same but from a different angle.
Part of the old floor was still intact.
The outline of the storefront.
Looking into the vast emptiness where the Macy's/Sanger Harris anchor used to sit.
AMC was gone, but this sign was a reminder.
The way they demolished the mall with AMC still open is so strange. From I-635 the site didn't look too bad, but when you drove around the ring road it looked terrible. Practically most of the mall was gone and even the sides no longer had anything besides sheetrock walls keeping the interior closed off. In 2022 the difference between the Valley View site and Red Bird is enormous, both sites began their transformations at about the same time. Red Bird is booming with construction, new businesses, and new living spaces. Valley View is this, a partially demolished mall with nothing new going up yet. With AMC out of the picture, there should be nothing left to stop this site from redevelopment. While it is sad to see yet another mall wasted, Valley View never had a chance with the Galleria practically around the corner.
It is interesting to get an update from this place. It is sad to hear that AMC has closed, but I can't say that it is shocking to hear that they have closed. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before that happened. Being able to drive up onto the slab of the Sanger-Harris must have been a surreal experience! It's a bit like the Blues Brothers, but not really I suppose. It's interesting that this mall has kind of turned into ruins of sorts and seeing these photos taken at night adds to the spookiness of them.
ReplyDeleteIf you're ever back in the area, the Target store near Valley View might be worth visiting. I don't know if it's something worth putting on the blog, but it might be worth visiting just for the sake of visiting. I believe that Target is one of the first Targets in Texas, and one of the first ones in general, and dates from 1969. It has a similar layout inside as the old Sharpstown, Hedwig Village, and South Loop Houston Targets that have all either closed or been replaced. The Valley View store has been renovated heavily over the years so it mostly resembles a modern Target, but there are still some odd ceiling heights and columns which show that it is an older Target design.
Speaking of the South Loop Target, I was recently driving down the Gulf Freeway near the South Loop when I spotted a billboard that was showing old designs. On it was an Auchan logo! It wasn't anything amazing, but just seeing an Auchan logo here in Houston in 2022 was pretty amazing. I let Mike from HHR know about it and he drove down there and took a snap of it immediately. Maybe it'll show up on his blog here soon.
On the topic of the Gulf Freeway, it looks like Ollie's is opening up their second Houston area location near Baybrook Mall in the old Babies R Us/Dick's Sporting Goods clearance store. It also appears that Burke's Outlet is opening a 'Home Centric' store in Galveston. Home Centric is their version of HomeGoods. Dollar General looks like they are opening up a PopShelf concept store in the powercenter next to West Oaks Mall in the old HobbyTown/RadioShack Express location. PopShelf sells random goods mostly oriented towards cards/gifts, home items, and stuff like that. So, yeah, there are some new developments coming to town in the next few months. Most of it is in the bargain/closeouts category though for better or for worse.
Back to Dallas for a second, I believe Macy's has opened a couple of downsized shopping center stores in the Dallas suburbs called Market by Macy's. I don't think these are too exciting. Also, you've probably seen the rumors about Brookfield and Simon, owners of JCPenney, possibly buying Kohl's. I'm not sure what to make of that, but seeing how Brookfield and Simon probably wish to keep their malls strong, hopefully the store closures won't be at mall JCPenney locations if they do consolidate nearby Kohl's and JCPenney stores.
Since Valley View was on the way back from our trip and Jeff had given the AMC update, it was a perfect time to see the mall. I think it will finally come down soon.
DeleteThe Target sounds like an interesting relic of the past. I wonder if there are plans to move it when the Valley View site starts construction
I haven't seen that billboard. I drive near that area frequently since it is near my work. Which side of I-45 is it located on?
If the Kohl's deal goes through we will probably see more consolidation of the two retailers. Some locations could possibly split anchor stores with the two brands. I have been looking at some of those new Macy's concept stores. I wonder how they are doing.
The Auchan billboard is on the right side of the Northbound side of I-45 near Broadway. It's on a very faded yellow billboard for what we believe is for the old Houston Press Dome Fun Run. Who knows how old that billboard must be. It must be 20-25 years old.
DeleteI figure that if Target was going to move that Valley View store, they probably would have done so already. The store did get a pretty major renovation pretty recently so I guess Target is committed to it, but that could change I suppose. Now that Kmart is practically done, there must not be more than a handful, if that even, major discount store (Kmart, Target, Wal-Mart) locations in the country that are still open today that originally opened in the 1960s. That Valley View Target is one of them so it might make for an interesting visit.
I think a JCPenney-Kohl's merger would probably look a lot like the Office Depot-OfficeMax merger where both brands will survive, but for the most part, one of the locations near another location will close so that the stores are not duplicated. Another possibility is that they use the JCPenney name for larger, full-line stores and the Kohl's name on smaller, downsized locations. From what I can tell, the newer Kohl's stores opening elsewhere in the country are quite a bit smaller than most of the Kohl's stores here in Houston so downsized stores must be their new preference.
Thanks for the info, I need to check that billboard out if it is still there.
DeleteWith the exception of small-town Target and Walmart stores, the vast majority of those older relics are lost to time. It is interesting to think that many retailers prefer the smaller locations these days as you mentioned in your comment. Target has downsized most of their Super Targets and Walmart has been growing their grocery concept a lot faster than their normal sized "supercenter" stores.
You mentioned to Office Depot/Office Max merger. The Office Depot in Humble next to Chuck-E-Cheese finally closed earlier this year after being within a mile of the Deerbrook Marketplace Office Depot. JCPenney stores have not been looking very good these days. I don't know if they are working on changing up merchandise assortments or downsizing their stores, but inventory levels have been looking weak. It would be interesting if JCPenney started closing off their second levels at certain locations. I haven't been inside of a Kohl's probably in over two years, if they are not located as a mall anchor, we don't make the extra time to visit one.