Village Plaza at Bunker Hill shopping center.
This Toys R Us visit did not go well. This is the first time where an employee kicked me out of a part of the store, which is why you will only see a part of the store. Some of the back of the store was barricaded, but other parts were not so how could I have known I wasn't supposed to be in the back of the store. I did not cross a single barricade to take these photos. This store opened on October 23, 2009, with 65,000 square feet of retail space and was the first "Toys R Us Superstore" location in the Houston area, click here for that Houston Chronical story. This store replaced a smaller 1990's era store across the highway which has since been demolished.
If you want to see how a similar store looked, visit my Willowbrook Toys R Us post by clicking here. The main difference is the layout of the store is flipped at Willowbrook.
The entryway glass with the R designs.
So just past this customer service desk, I walked past an unbarricaded area to the back of the store.
Here is the Babies R Us section of the store.
The back main aisle of the store.
More of the Babies R Us and Kids R Us areas of the store.
Looking from the back of the store to the front entrance.
At about the time this photo was taken, a TRU employee asked me what I was doing back here. When I told him looking at fixtures, he said I needed to be accompanied and said to go up to the front and wait for an employee to bring me to the back. I hadn't found anything worth buying so I ended my tour at this point without going to the other side of the store. I apologize for not continuing the tour. 
Another view of the entire storefront.
View of the former Toys R Us in 2021. Store split in half to accommodate Burlington and Ross.
This isn't the only big box spot here to have turnover. The speed at which these vacancies were addressed show what a strong shopping center this is. These big box stores are sandwiched between Academy and HEB.
This big box pad has gone through three uses since it was constructed.
Use #1 2009 Circuit City. The store was under construction and never opened as a result of the Chapter 7 liquidation of Circuit City in 2009.
Quickly after Circuit City failed, the building opened as a Comp USA. Comp USA only lasted a couple of years as their parent company decided to close all locations.
Not too long after Comp USA closed, this photo was taken.
Now the store is a very popular Nordstom Rack location. Photo taken in 2021.
More to come, stay tuned.
That is too bad about being kicked out of that part of the Toys R Us. I suppose at least you were only asked to leave that part of the store and you weren't kicked out completely. I've seen some of Jeff's newer mall videos a while back and those were ugly with the confrontations he had with security. I'm not sure if those confrontations are worth it just for some mall video footage, but I suppose everyone has different limits for these types of things.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I never realized the Memorial City area had a newer Toys R Us. While this Toys R Us was perhaps a disappointment for shoppers in the area who were expecting a new version of Kids' Kounty, the toy store in Hedwig Village that I did a blog post about several months ago, it still looks like it was a decent upgrade for the Toys R Us kids in the area. Aside from the skylights and the nicer flooring, I suppose the TRUs from this era weren't a whole lot different from the 1990s and 1980s ones except for the integration of Babies R Us.
It's amazing how many closeout clothing stores there are and this shopping center has three new ones with Ross, Burlington, and Nordstrom Rack. Granted, Nordstrom Rack is probably a tier or two higher in the prestige chart. Like with the new 290 powercenter by the Loop, it seems Ross and Burlington type stores don't mind being neighbors. I suppose these retailers feel that being in the presence of one other enhances business not unlike malls where, say, Montgomery Ward and Sears would be neighbors. Still, it's a bit of a strange thing.
One of the weirdest places of Houston retail is on W. Gray & Dunlavy where there is a TJMaxx and Marshalls/HomeGoods in the same shopping center almost all next to one another. TJMaxx and Marshalls are almost the same thing, and they have the same owner, so I don't know why both exist in the same shopping center. I suppose that is the ultimate shopping center for TJX fans.
Speaking of strange cases of retailers being right near one of their other stores, did you know there are two Fiesta Marts in the same intersection in Dallas on Webb Chapel Rd.? At least in this case, the reasoning for it is that Fiesta took over several locations of ex-Minyard/Carnival locations and I think they acquired one of the locations that way, but I guess Fiesta does enough business to keep these two stores which are literally right next to one another in operation!
I very much remember that post you did about that TigerDirect-era CompUSA and the The City that was supposed to be there before. In a way, that post doesn't feel like it is that old, but I suppose it is almost a decade old at this point. I'm glad you were able to get a photo of that CompUSA because it wasn't around for long.
It has been a rare occurrence that an employee has said anything to me while taking photos. Only 4 times out of the entire history of the blog has this happened that I can remember. Borders Meyerland, Sears North Shepherd, Fry's NASA, and this Toys R Us are the four times I can remember. Three out of those four incidents resulted in me being asked to leave a part of the store.
DeleteThese new Toys R Us stores were really nice. They didn't skimp on the video game departments, so I was happy with the new format. My kids liked the stores as well because they had a lot of hands-on displays. Pasadena was similar to these stores as well, but it was a much smaller location.
There is an abundance of off-price clothing stores. Ross and Burlington are together in a lot of newer developments along Highway 99. The TJMaxx and Marshall's in the same shopping area is really strange, there is really no difference from one to the other anymore.
Speaking of Highway 99, the new stretch opened on the Northeast side of the loop. It is pretty expensive, nearly $11 to go through New Caney to Hwy 146 in Baytown. Some sections of the tollway are only 2 total lanes without being able to legally pass which can be painful if you get stuck behind some slow driver. On the two-lane section, exits are few and far between. Glad we tried it out when it was free.
I did not know Fiesta had two locations at the same corner, seems very strange. So far, I have only seen the Fiesta in Fort Worth from a distance. I wonder if they are remodeling those stores as well.
We had a TV from that CompUSA that died when our tree got hit by lightning and zapped our electric box. I may have mentioned this, it happened back in 2017 about a month before Hurricane Harvey came through. The TV held up great until that weather event.
I think I remember you saying something about a minor incident at the NASA Fry's during the liquidation sale. I don't remember hearing about Borders and the North Shepherd Sears incidents though. Between Fry's, Toys R Us, Sears, and Borders, none of them really survive today in any meaningful way (I know Sears is still hanging on by a thread and TRU is still around in a different form, but still), so it's not like you'll have to worry about store security from those stores hounding you in the future, lol.
DeleteIt sounds like the Grand Parkway is not worth the money on the Northeast side. The infrequent exits and narrowness of the place makes it sound like it might be more useful to use other routes. It sounds like the local leaders did not think the Grand Parkway would be too popular in that area or else surely they would have made it wider. I have never even been on the Grand Parkway, but admittedly, I don't use the Beltway all that often these days except for the free part on the Northeast side between Greenspoint and the airport. I used to use the Beltway more often years ago...often to get to Auchan! I have been on the toll part of 249 through Tomball a couple of times in recent times.
That's too bad about your TV. I don't remember you mentioning that, but I know that feeling because we lost a very nice RCA TV from Dillard's to an electrical surge from a thunderstorm in the early 1990s. I also lost a Panasonic VCR from Montgomery Ward in that same surge along with some other stuff. I'd hate to lose my LCD HDTV from 2008 because it still works well and has all the legacy video connections that are missing from modern TVs to go along with modern HDMI connections. It's great for VCRs all the way to modern HD DVRs.
At the Border's I got called out for trying to use the elevator to go upstairs on their last day. The upstairs was "closed", according to the employee that shouted at me. At the North Shepherd Sears on one of my last visits, their loss prevention employee asked why I was taking pictures. I let him know that I was taking photos of the fixtures, which was what I was doing technically. That was all and he went on his way.
DeleteThere is pretty much no reason for the new section of the Grand Parkway to exist besides increase sprawl. I am sure the people who bought property out there to live in the country are not happy with the new tollway. It is a huge expense that is not necessary especially when you can't drive fast. The speed limit is a whopping 70 mph, at least make it 85 mph like the tollway near Austin and San Antonio. I take the Grand Parkway from New Caney to Spring frequently as it is an excellent shortcut.
That was my last older TV, the older TV's we had all went out for one reason or another over the years. After the hassle of getting rid of my old tube TV's, I have not bothered to attempt to get another one. I don't even think the local recycling truck even takes those anymore. To make matters worse, we had a fried electrical connection wire that was making the lights flicker. The only way to find that wire issue was to shut off power from the utility company and open their box. It was a mess, but now we have a mostly new electrical system throughout the house.
It's amazing that they didn't learn anything from the two lane Toll Loop 49 around Tyler. They had to add passing lanes to it because there were so many bad accidents on it.
DeleteYou are absolutely right. These tollways are supposed to be a luxury road that is safer and less travelled than your average freeway. Sadly, things will happen and only after will the road be fixed correctly. Until then, I will just avoid the tollway.
DeleteSorry to hear about the TRU experience. Love the pic of the "The City" Circuit City location though!
ReplyDeleteIt is all good, at least I made it about halfway through the store. The Circuit City photo was certainly part of being at the right place at the right time. Shortly after I took my photo, they stripped the logo off of the building. I should have asked to go inside of the store, but back then I didn't even think about it.
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