We are back for a much better update of the Rolling Oaks Mall. We visited this mall back in 2012 and those photos were just terrible. Since our most recent visit Macy's closed their location in April 2021, so both end cap anchors are now vacant. JCPenney and Dillard's are currently the two remaining anchor stores. Sears closed in August of 2020 probably on the 9th along with the Fort Worth and Arlington locations.
Corrections made to the text of the former Bealls space. I originally had it listed as Palais Royal which was incorrect. Thanks South Texas Retail for helping me keep the blog as accurate as possible.
Speaking of Macy's here is that anchor.
Mall entrance signage.
IW Inflatable Wonderland. A large family center with a movie theater and plenty of options for entertainment.
Chik Fil A was very creative with their sales during this period of Covid restrictions. A drive thru using the food court location, there were quite a few cars lined up near the mall entrance.
The JCPenney has an interesting look.
The never-built anchor expansion.
Sears looks pretty busy, right? Well looks can be deceiving. This parking lot is being used by Amazon for delivery trucks and employee parking. This Sears was the last store in the San Antonio area and closed in August of 2020, about a couple of months before my visit.
The Sears just did not match with the lighter colors of the mall. You will see the difference below. The anchor could have used a good power washing, but still it just doesn't fit with the rest of the mall.
The one cool thing about this Sears is the logo. Not too many of these logos survived the 2000's.
The road sign facing Loop 1604.
The mall entrance in front of the JCPenney. This area may have possibly been another anchor pad.
Sears just sticks out like a sore thumb.
Dillard's
We enter the mall at Dillard's which leads us right to the food court. The food court was healthy with nearly all spaces filled.
We will head towards Macy's to start.
The Macy's corridor has a lot of children's activity tenants on both floors.
Children's play area and a mall day-care center Drop and Shop.
A cool piece of artwork in front of an old store space.
Looking to the mall from the front of Macy's. We will walk back to Macy's in a bit.
On the first floor in front of Macy's.
Looking back towards Macy's. One of those escalators sounded like it was about to break down.
The tent-like ceilings here draw a lot of attention. A lot of malls that were built with these tent-like ceilings are struggling or closed. These are a true late 1980's mall design fad.
We continue our walk back towards the food court area of the mall.
We are now at the busiest part of the mall, even though Covid still had a lot of people staying home. Lots of chain stores here.
The elevator really stands out here. The food court is just upstairs.
JCPenney has a really nice entrance here. This design holds up really well.
This vacant store near JCPenney caught my eye.
Just look at all of the Christmas decorations stored here.
This is the healthiest section of the mall. H and M and several chain retailers remain.
The advertisement for the Scruffy Nerd Herders store had me laughing, they definitely got my attention.
A lot of dying malls have these little yard areas for games. I never see them being used though.
The escalator to the never built anchor, we are near Sears.
This court is awesome with all of the flags honoring our country and armed forces.
The tent ceiling stands out here as well.
An up-close look at the mall directory.
The recently vacated Sears store. The store front was just as out of place as the exterior of the store. I guess Sears wanted their anchor to stand out.
The sign was still on. It was nice to see this older sign still going despite the store being closed.
This area of the mall has some retro storefronts like this one.
Looking into the mall from the front of Sears.
Looking from the Sears court towards the food court.
The never built anchor pad space.
The former Bealls space.
Some really cool artwork covering up an empty store space.
The second floor Sears entrance.
More views of the Sears court.
More artwork on an empty space next to Sears.
A junior learning academy tucked into the vacant corner near Sears.
Xtreme Tattoo and Body Piercing. Getting a tattoo inside of the mall would be an interesting story, but I didn't get one. A tattoo of the mall while in the mall would be a real talking piece, lol.
More awesome artwork on empty store space.
Pretty sure this is an old Clarie's space. The neon trim was still lit up. I bet this looks awesome at night.
Looking towards the food court and busiest section of the mall.
A better view of the former Bealls space.
Here is that store we saw the advertisement for earlier Scruffy Nerd Herders. Their store had a lot of video games, comics, collectables, sports cards and more. Unfortunately, per Google reviews this location closed and they are selling online only now.
The corner of JCPenney and the mall corridor. This Oasis spot on the right is just some relaxation chairs under the fake palm tree.
Now for more views of the food court area of the mall.
Decent selection of choices, this was only half of what there was.
Dillard's is just ahead to the right.
Pretty lively looking section of the mall. If a food court can be busy, there is always hope for a mall to rebound.
Keep in mind that some of these food vendors were on weird hours. Covid hours of operation back in October 2020, remember those.
A recording studio near the food court.
The entrance to the IW Inflatable Jumping Place. Yes, the sign had the retro chasing lights.
An empty store space with this mall directory and coke machines.
One of the few chain retailers in the Macy's corridor.
More views of the Macy's corridor.
Heavy Metal Wrestling coming soon. Now this was a bit out of place since most of the stores on this side of the mall focused on children and family activities. This would probably fit in better in the vacant Sears corridor next to the tattoo shop.
Now for the Macy's store. This was the first store I had been to that had a Backstage store. Now just about every large Macy's has one, but this was a new concept to me at the time.
This Macy's store was your typical former Foley's from the early 1990's. Nothing exciting to see here.
The checkout area with the Backstage logo. If these concepts fail, we have them documented for the blog at least.
Back into the mall for some last looks at the place.
For those of you that don't like carpet in a mall, here is a great example as to why not to do it.
Looking from the food court area towards the elevator.
Dillard's mall entrance.
Macy's with the far away view to the North.
A final look at Dillard's.
Stay tuned, more to come!