Well folks, here we are at another vintage Fiesta store. Despite the exterior of the store getting a facelift, the interior is as classy as always. The neon in this store is some of the best you will see in 2022. This was my first visit to this store, and it was well worth the visit.
We start at the produce department where we not only have the cool green neon......
But also, this rounded ceiling. The effect looks much better in person.
Looking across the store from the produce department and Fajita Express counter.
This area is unique to this store. This sign did have some neon out, but it still looks really cool.
One more look at the produce department as we continue the tour.
Next, we see the delicatessen department. Very few grocery stores in the modern era still have the whole word delicatessen in their signage.
More views of the signage on the next few slides.
One thing I noticed, is that the light fixtures are positioned in weird layouts.
This large lattice ceiling is definitely 1980's as well.
An up-close view of the seafood signage.
Another rounded ceiling design just next to the seafood counter.
The butcher shoppe/meat department. More lattice designs throughout.
Next to the refrigerated foods, we find this lower food prices signage that is common to neon era Fiesta stores.
The front of the store has the wood paneled lower ceilings that really stand out.
This bakery neon signage is really awesome, lots of color with mirrors under the triangle.
A wider view of the signage with the coffee bar neon in the far view.
A wide view of nearly the whole store from the bakery area.
Now for the coffee bar which is filled up with bakery sweets.
As we leave the bakery/coffee bar area we will see the back corner of the store.
Which is the dairy department and refrigerated goods.
It just doesn't get any better than this. Neon and the lowered ceilings give this area a unique look.
In addition to the lowered ceilings, this area also has these greenhouse/sunroof style ceilings.
Too bad the neon doesn't stretch all the way through this area.
Wide view of the frozen and refrigerated foods area.
Wide view of the dairy and coffee bar areas.
Butcher Shoppe wide view. From this angle you can also see the rounded ceiling.
Some of the more expensive and sought-after goods are locked up here at the front of the store.
A wide view of the checkout and front wall of the store.
As with many Fiesta locations, this one has some extra businesses up front.
Finally, we are at the entrance/exit to the store to end the tour.
I hope you enjoyed this retro Fiesta Supermarket.
It is always a pleasure to see the Mission Bend Fiesta Mart. This one and the Astrodome area one are really time capsules of the late 1980s. The Willowchase Fiesta is as well, but that one is not quite the 1980s overload that these two stores are. I shopped at the Mission Bend Fiesta a few times in the first few years that it opened, but I don't think I've been back there since around 1994 or so. I really should give it a visit, I think it's worth the trip.
ReplyDeleteThis store just has so many things that trendy 1980s supermarkets had such as neon, Paraline (ridged) trim, the lattice ceiling grid, the light boxes, and so forth. This store in many ways looks both retro and futuristic. Well, at least to me the neon and such is still a futuristic look. Maybe younger people thing otherwise, but I think it's still a real attention grabber.
On the topic of the Willowchase Fiesta, I did get a chance to stop by there a couple of weeks ago. They were still working on the remodel, but it seems that the neon and most of the rest of the store have been left untouched. They were working on remodeling the front end of the store. Specifically, most of the remodeling work was taking place in the front leased spaces area. New aisle markers were also put up to correspond with the more aisle arrangement. I'll have to check out the store again in the near future to see if anything else was done, but it seems that a crisis was averted by Fiesta opting not to do a full remodel of that store. That is a relief!
I know we earlier discussed the closure of the Almeda Mall Pancho's. It seems a new Mexican restaurant has just opened up within Almeda Mall, La Catedral Mexican Grill. I'm not sure where exactly in the mall this restaurant is, but I wonder if it is in the long-abandoned El Chico space up at the front of the mall. I'm not sure, but it's good to see Almeda Mall getting a new tenant even with the rumored move of Burlington to a nearby shopping center.
You probably saw on Mike's blog that Half Price Books has officially started promoting that the Kirkwood store is moving to the old Westchase Mall. The new HPB will be smaller than the old Kirkwood one so we'll have to see how that goes. I'm just glad that they are moving instead of closing the store outright as we've seen many times in recent months with HPB.
Anyway, thanks for the great neon photos of the Mission Bend Fiesta! It's great that you're documenting these stores because we're lucky that they're still around here in 2022!
I really enjoyed the visit to this store even though I couldn't get any perishable items since we live far away. The younger generation does like neon, but it is still going away in many places.
DeleteI am glad that the Willowchase store is still going to remain mostly the same. Did they get the road signs turned back on to the shopping center? They have been off for a while now, at least since the beginning of 2022.
I visited the Main and OST Fiesta and the retro sign remains, but repairs to the red chasing lights that surround the sign have not been done. I don't think it will last too much longer. There is some neon signage inside of the store that needs to be repaired since my documentation of the store. The Olive Garden in the parking lot is also undergoing renovations, which will probably take away the last neon Olive Garden signage in the area.
I did see that restaurant at Almeda Mall on my last drive past the mall. It is at the mall entrance facing I-45 next to Macy's. I didn't get a very good look at the space at 80 mph, but I did see it. I think Almeda will be alright if Burlington leaves, the mall seems to thrive being in a good location. The 8 businesses left in the Pasadena Mall will need space in the future, so Almeda could be an option for them to move. I doubt the Pasadena Mall will make it into 2023, the last chain store Finish Line closed up shop recently. I was at that mall last weekend, and it was really empty except for the church near the former Dillards. Homeless people have set up next to the former Macy's and two doors were boarded up at the open food court entrance. The mall is so bad that Spirit Halloween located at the former Goodwill across the street instead of the mall.
I did read his post about the HPB moving. I wonder what other plans they have for some of the other larger stores like Humble. Another thing I noticed is that the DVD wall at the Barnes and Noble at Deerbrook Mall was completely bare. The DVD's were moved to smaller shelves and piled up like what we saw at Kmart once they started discontinuing electronics. I have noticed their selection declining so I wonder if they are going to eliminate this department in the near future.
I have a few more Fiesta stores still left in the tank so stay tuned.
I have not driven past the Willowchase Fiesta Mart at night in a while, but I'm sure I will be by there at night sooner or later as the days get shorter and as the time changes here soon. I'll let you know if the lights are on or not the next time I get a look at that area at night.
DeleteOn the topic of supermarkets, I'm sure you've heard about the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger. While this could have a big impact on Texas retail, especially in the Metroplex, I think this could have a pretty big impact in Louisiana as well since Kroger and Albertsons are two of the bigger players there especially on the western side of the state. I think in both cases, the Louisiana stores are operated by the Dallas division of Albertsons and the Dallas and Houston divisions of Kroger.
That part of Louisiana does have competition from the likes of Rouses, Brookshire's/Super 1, and Market Basket, along with Walmart of course, so I don't think the merger would cause a monopoly in any area. That said, it might cause some stores to close. Perhaps the grocers mentioned earlier will jump on any closed locations. Albertsons has survived in Louisiana even as they struggled in Texas so it'll be interesting to see what happens. Given how many areas in the western part of the US only have competition from Albertsons and Kroger brands, I think there is a good chance this merger gets nixed by the FTC even if certain stores are divested into SpinCo (certain Texas and Louisiana stores could end up in SpinCo as well, we'll see). Here in Houston, I wouldn't be surprised if some Randall's stores near Krogers are closed and/or Randall's stores will get renamed and become Kroger stores if they aren't spun off to SpinCo.
The name SpinCo itself sounds like something Eddie Lampert would come up with. Hopefully Kroger isn't going to become too big. They're already showing some excessive signs of cost-cutting with cheap remodels and a lack of staffing. Kroger might already be headed down the Eddie Lampert route, but we'll see.
I've only been to the Baybrook Barnes & Noble in recent times, but even that store was showing signs of reduced CD and DVD inventory compared to 3-4 years ago. There's still a market for music and movies, and B&N is probably one of the biggest sellers of those, but it seems B&N isn't giving their media much presence in their stores anymore. It's a shame, but hopefully they'll continue to sell some stuff. If not, maybe it will give FYE more reason to expand their store count even if FYE themselves gives more room to pop culture toys than recordings these days.
Pasadena Town Square, or whatever they call it these days, might make it to 2023, but I can't see it lasting through 2023. There just isn't much there and there hasn't been much there in a few years now. The property is becoming sad and needs to be redeveloped into something useful for the community. Whatever few tenants they have might be better off filling Almeda Mall and at least ensure the future of that mall.
The news out of the Mall of the Mainland has been mixed this summer. They've filled the place up with eateries as they intended and they even have a couple of ice cream parlors in the place now and one is from a national chain. One of them is operating out of the old Hello Josephine deli and the other has a spot in the restaurant row. From that perspective, there is a lot of good news, but Jerome Karam has been accused of sexual assault which, if it happened, seemingly would have happened at the new World Gym in the old Sears. There have been numerous articles about it on the Internet. Here is one of them if you have not heard about it: https://www.thedailybeast.com/shocking-lawsuit-accuses-predatory-texas-mogul-jerome-mansour-karam-of-cryo-chamber-sex-assault
I believe that Karam has purchased the old Gulf Greyhound dog track and plans to redevelop it into an entertainment hub. That will support the developments at the Mall of the Mainland, but who knows what impact this legal situation might have on things.
I did read about the proposed grocery merger. I would be very surprised if this goes through. I am not sure if they can argue successfully about Amazon and Walmart growth to make the merger happen. Either way, a lot of stores will probably close, and people will be out of work. I just don't see anything good coming out of this unless you are a shareholder of either company.
DeleteSpeaking of Fast Eddie, late Friday it was announced that the Seritage board has approved the sale/liquidation of the company assets. I am not sure if this will result in the closure of the last of the Sears and Kmart stores, but it bears watching. Since that article came out, I haven't seen any other media coverage. Maybe on Monday more information will be available.
With San Jacinto now leveled, I think Pasadena is next in line. I need to go back to Almeda, it has been about 5 years now since I went. In my recent free time, I passed by San Jacinto several times to bring that mall chapter to a close.
I am shocked to hear about those stories of Jerome Karam. I wonder what the future will hold for those properties now. He did a very good job of resurrecting Mall of the Mainland, but at what cost? If those accounts are true, he needs to be held accountable by the law.
We went to Deerbrook Mall a few days ago and I took a closer look at Barnes and Noble. The aisles are wider, and the book selection is much thinner than I remember. The DVD's for sale, are mostly older movies and TV shows. With those prices, they may be there for a while. Most of the music CD's have discount price tags, but they are still a bit pricey. One thing that looked normal was their magazine selection. A lot of grocers and retailers have cut back on their magazine selection. The checkout counters are the one place that still gets filled up, but the magazine aisles are getting really thin. Barnes and Noble still has a lot of magazines that I haven't seen in years.
I agree with you about the Kroger-Albertsons merger. This is going to be bad news for a whole lot of employees who will surely be laid off as stores close and as management gets merged. In the not so distant past, the FTC has some precedent for assessing competition on rather narrow grounds. When Walgreens tried to merge with Rite Aid, I believe the FTC mostly ignored competition from grocery store pharmacies and such and only looked at standalone drug store competition. Also, when the Office Depot-Staples merger failed, it looked like the FTC didn't take Staples' claims that Walmart and Amazon were competitors all that seriously. Of course, I think the big issue with the Staples merger was that both companies do a lot of supply contracts with businesses and that had become uncompetitive with Staples buying Corporate Express and Office Depot buying OfficeMax.
DeleteOf course, from a retail enthusiast perspective, losing another unique chain will make the retail landscape more boring. I think most retail enthusiasts are rooting against this merger, but the merger seems like a loser all the way around including when maximizing employment and competition is factored in. Hopefully Albertsons' owners don't get greedy and start paying dividends to shareholders that will cause the company to become insolvent if the merger falls apart because it falling apart might well be likely.
I heard about that news from Seritage. I'm not sure how that impacts Sears/Kmart's remaining retail operations, but there really isn't much left at all. There was a recent article out of Washington state where they quoted the owner of Sears Hometown Stores in the towns of Port Angeles and Sequim. The owner wanted to consolidate the stores since they were near one another, but Sears said no so she sold the stores to Sears. Six days later, Sears announced both were closing. It was a really strange situation and shows that maybe even Sears doesn't know what Sears is doing. That could explain some of these Sears Hometown Store oddities with stores opening and closing very quickly. Anyway, it really does look like Sears is wrapping up what little retail they have left.
It's been a while since I've been to Almeda Mall myself, but I think it is business as usual down there since they gave that mall a renovation. It's a Kohan mall now which is usually not good news. Fox Properties ran that mall well and they were the ones who renovated it, but hopefully the mall will continue to do well. It's a survivor given that so many similar malls have died.
West Oaks Mall is another one that, like Pasadena Town Square, might not make it past 2023. It's hard to say about Greenspoint Mall. It's not as vacant as Pasadena and West Oaks, but it's still struggling and it seems inevitable that the land will be redeveloped.
It seems that the Mall of the Mainland just can't get a break. Things have been looking up for it, but now Karam is facing serious charges. Hopefully justice will be served one way or another, but it's hard to say what impact this might have on the mall. Hopefully there are some other people working for the company who can keep things together.
It sounds like Barnes & Noble are using Eddie Lampert tactics to make the store look fuller than it really is. I do still buy music from them, but these days I usually have to do it online. The selection at the stores is very thin. It's been a long time since I've read magazines so it's good to hear that B&N still has a good selection of them. I'm surprised that a lot of magazines still exist, but I guess there is still a market for them. Fry's Electronics used to have a massive magazine selection as well, but I'm guessing that thinned out in their last days.
The only good thing about the Kroger-Albertsons merger is that the grocery store nameplates will not change. Unfortunately, the store selection and prices will be the same in due time. Maybe some of the branded store merchandise will continue such as the Safeway brands, but who knows at this point.
DeleteThe Miami Kmart situation is so weird with that store consolidating into the Garden Shop and a little bit more in roughly 22,000 square feet of the building. The only three remaining Mainland US Kmart stores have shrunk by a good bit. This would be a good time for the US island stores to get sold so those don't wind up closed. The list of stores in the US is down to 25 with Sears and Kmart combined not including the Hometown stores which may bring the total to around 100 stores. That is pretty sad considering the Hometown stores are mostly in small cities.
Almeda should be considered an endangered mall if Burlington leaves. The retail district in that area is aging and really needs a boost. So many new developments large and small are chipping away at the older retail areas. One mall that surprisingly may run into problems in the next 5 years is Deerbrook Mall. The Sears vacancy, long-term inline vacancies, and an increasing amount of Mom and Pop stores are beginning to bring the mall down. Even the merchandise assortment is beginning to suffer at the department stores. If you go to just about any other strong mall in the Houston area you will find better product assortments. I hope I am wrong about this, but there is a reason why Willowbrook and the Woodlands Mall have better retailers and fill vacancies much faster. I think West Oaks will limp along for a bit longer maybe making it through 2023. Greenspoint is somehow holding on despite the popularity of the flea market across the street which is booming on weekends.
The Karam issues are possibly the biggest retail curveball that we have seen in quite some time. I think someone else could acquire the businesses and keep the center going, it is doing quite well now. Five years ago, that would not be the case with the Mall of the Mainland.
Maybe F.Y.E. will help fill some of the void left behind from Barnes and Noble's media downsizing. Think Geek seemed to do well, but Gamestop decided to consolidate that merchandise to the nearby Gamestop locations. F.Y.E. is a better combination of collectibles, music, and movies than either store was so maybe they will continue to expand. Fry's had filled the majority of the magazine racks with office products and other junk. They still had a small selection of mostly outdated magazines towards the end. I wonder if most magazines are published quarterly or semi-annually these days. Once a month may be too often for most publications since magazine sales are down.
Mike had someone leave a comment a couple of days ago at his blog saying that the Mission Bend Fiesta Mart is currently under renovation. The user was quite worried about the neon, but I don't know if he said this because the neon has already been dismantled or because he is simply fearing it will be. Of course, when the Willowchase Fiesta was renovated, the neon stayed so I don't think it is a given that the neon will be removed from Mission Bend, but I suppose we'll have to see what happens there.
DeleteI did hear about the Miami Kmart and it seems the reason for this move is that the shopping center will not let Kmart sub-lease the entire space without running some kind of Kmart there. I suppose the 'Small Kmart', as we've been calling it, is a contract loophole which will keep Kmart in compliance. I'm sure Kmart will close that store as soon as they can, but anyway, 20k sq. ft. is probably more than enough room for all the stuff Kmart sells these days anyway.
So that is the Small Kmart, but it seems the first 'Big Target' opened this past week and it is in Katy! You may have heard, but Target is pivoting towards opening larger stores and the first concept of these opened in Katy. Someone from our group went to the grand opening and found that the store wasn't really much bigger feeling than the average Target so most of the added space must be for backroom online fulfillment duty as the news article kind of implied. Like some other newer Targets, the store has a more industrial look with concrete floors and harsh lighting. All in all, it sounds like these stores aren't anything to get excited about.
A familiar name is returning to the Houston area this week, Bealls. Bealls Florida is opening their new Bealls Outlet and Home Centric stores in Galveston this week. Bealls will be renaming all Burke's Outlet stores to Bealls Outlet here soon as well, but this will be the first Home Centric store in the area. It is essentially Bealls' version of HomeGoods.
I suspect Deerbrook Mall should continue to have stable management as long as Brookfield owns them, but who knows what might happen if Brookfield decides to sell the mall. Deerbrook has generally had the hardest time of the ex-Homart malls in Houston and that's unfortunate that it is continuing even here in the 2020s. It seems some of the new retail and suburban developments out near New Caney might be stealing Deerbrook's spotlight as the center of NE suburb retail. Hopefully the mall will rebound as it has in the past, but I think it's getting harder and harder for these malls to stay relevant.
Speaking of the Mall of the Mainland, Mike took some photos inside it recently and asked me to make a quick update post about it since I'm familiar with the history of the mall. The post was recently published and you might want to check it out: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/2022/11/11/redevelopment-of-the-mall-of-the-mainland-continues-in-2022/
In addition to linking to your wonderful post about the history of the mall, I also linked to the famous Labelscar post that made that Gloria/Nikki postcard so famous. Unfortunately, it seems Labelscar no longer exists online so I had to use the Internet Archive version of it. Although Labelscar hadn't been updated in nearly a decade, at least it was still online to read. Now, that's not even there except for the Internet Archive version. Thank goodness for that at least. Not only have so many historic retailers gone away lately, but now even historic retail blogs are vanishing!
From what I could find online of the Mission Bend Fiesta, it looks like the lattice ceilings have been removed and the aisle signage has been replaced. The most recent photos inside of the store are from several months ago so hopefully it is just a slight refresh. I know that they have been upgrading to LED lighting boxes instead of the long tubes in many stores. The lattice would probably get in the way of the new light fixtures. Hopefully the neon stays, but it looks better with the old lighting and decor.
DeleteI recently looked on the Kmart website and they have some strange adult toys mixed in with the normal health and beauty items. Only a little more than 100 items are available from Kmart and the rest from miscellaneous sellers. I was hoping to find something worth ordering, but the prices are high.
The new Target store looks a bit like the current designs with a twist. It doesn't appear to be a huge difference, but it is different. Target is building a new store near me in New Caney that is scheduled to open in 2023. Target opening in New Caney is yet another blow to Humble since the Humble Target was the closest to most of the population in the Northeast side of town. HomeGoods also recently opened as well to fill out the list of discounters in the shopping center. Now they have Ross, TJ Maxx, Burlington, and HomeGoods with a lot more space for new retailers.
I just finished up the Mall of the Mainland post. It is really something with how good the new development is doing. A renovated Cinema would be great for the development, hopefully that project still happens. I appreciate the recommendation, as you know the Mall of the Mainland project was one of my largest. San Jacinto is going to top that post; I am still working on that one despite the demolition of that mall.
I am shocked that Labelscar is down, that was still an active site for comments. It was always great to go back to from time to time. The comments were an excellent source for mall updates.
Oh no! I found some new photos of the Mission Bend Fiesta Mart on Google Maps and it looks like the store is getting the same renovations that the Gulfton Fiesta Mart got about a year ago. It looks like the soffits, which I think had all the neon on it, have all been painted over with bright colors. The new paint job looks good by modern standards, but it's a shame that the neon is gone if that is indeed the case. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/F8KjDDsZWCvwv24fA
DeleteIn a way, I don't blame Fiesta Mart for renovating that store. The HEB next door might be one of the most vulnerable HEBs in Houston and so perhaps Fiesta believes they can compete with it. That HEB has one of the lowest user ratings on Google Maps of any Houston area HEB and I've also heard Mike and someone else from our group from the SW side of town say that HEB is one of the oldest full-line HEBs in Houston and it looks like it is one of the oldest. It seems HEB has not done a good job maintaining that location. With all of that in mind, perhaps Fiesta feels that they can get an edge on their competition. It's just a shame if the neon is indeed gone as it appears that it might be. With the Astrodome Fiesta having the same design, it might be de-neoned soon as well. Who knows, maybe the Willowchase Fiesta will be the last one left standing if the neon indeed stays there as I think the renovations there are done and the neon was left untouched.
Hopefully the New Caney Target has better luck than the Sam's Club that opened there. These new developments are a good sign that the Northeast Houston suburbs are expanding, but at the same time, this might come at the expense of all the 59 & FM 1960 area retail by Deerbrook Mall. Hopefully the retail can hang on. I think there are enough people in the area that it should have enough business to stay viable, but who knows.
You might have heard about this already, but the Kirkwood Half Price Books did finally relocate to the old Westchase Mall as anticipated. The store is smaller, but reports are from Mike and others who have been there is that the store doesn't feel much smaller on the inside aside from perhaps a downsized toys area. The movies and music areas are reportedly the same size as the old Kirkwood location. That's good to hear.
That Mall of the Mainland post you did was an epic one. The San Jacinto Mall post will really be something if it is even bigger than the MotM one! I can't wait to see that, it'll be great to memorialize that mall the way you did with the MotM.
Not only has Labelscar disappeared, but the famed Acme Style blog has gone offline as well. Acme Style hasn't been updated in 2-3 years as the author announced he was going to stop updating the blog, but I thought the archives would stay alive. That appears to not be the case anymore. It's a real shame that these once-popular retail blogs from about a decade ago are going dark. These blogs are historic records of sorts and, as you say, the comment archives are interesting to read. Fortunately, I think the Internet Archive has both of these blogs archived pretty well, but not everyone knows about that method of pulling up these old sites.
What a shame, I am really glad that I took your advice and started documenting these Fiesta stores when I did. With the state of the neon at the Astrodome Fiesta, it may be doomed as well. On my visit there last month a lot of fixtures were out. I went there to get a few extra photos from the store to add to my blog post. I may just do a full update on that store if I get a chance this month. Hopefully I will not be too late, there are some spots that I could do better on with the photos. The good news is that there is the new neon sign off of I-610 near the old Auchan and the I-69 location still has 4 departments with the neon signage still in place. The Willowchase location hopefully will stay just as it is, that store has held up very well over the years.
DeleteOne competitor to Half Price Books may be Entertainmart. They have been expanding across the state to many malls. I hope they consider Deerbrook Mall in the future. They are smaller than Half Price Books, but they have a much better selection of video games.
Deerbrook needs to fill the old Sears space soon. It is really dragging down that side of the mall. I think demolition is probably the best option for that building. Nordstrom Rack, Home Goods, Zara, Tilt Studios, and new sit-down restaurants are all options for that site. The site will probably sit for a while with the way the economy is slowing down. Even a Dillard's upgrade could be a possibility since they have been moving into old Sears sites at a few malls in Texas.
I anticipate the San Jacinto Mall post to be the final post for the blog. It will be really special. The crazy part is that part of the mall flooring may remain in place as the new development area is fenced off and under construction. That part of the foundation has been completely removed and the prep work for the new center is under way. The area from the food court to the former Macy's is outside of that boundary with some of the tile fixtures still in place.
I hope the Internet Archive continues to survive; it is the best way to find the old sites. I guess you have to continually log into the site to keep it active. I would hate to see my hard work over the years disappear. I will pass this site down to one of my kids to ensure it does not fall off into the abyss after I am gone.
I added my Fiesta signage video to Youtube, here is the link https://youtu.be/pJ44LM1bj1s
DeleteFiesta Mart had, and still has to some degree, some of the most interesting looking retail buildings in Houston. I know I have amazed some retail enthusiasts in other areas by showing them photos of our Fiestas. I'm glad that you were able to document these stores before some of them have changed. I suppose we'll never be able to document those interesting NASA, Humble, and Kuykendahl stores, but at least we have some record of how this Mission Bend store looked before they were renovated. Thanks for uploading the video, I've already shared it with some retail enthusiasts who will like that.
DeleteOne of the problems with the Homart malls in Houston is that Sears gave themselves the most visible locations at these malls. Now that Sears has closed, many of these malls (Baybrook, Deerbrook, and Willowbrook) have very visible dead anchors. Deerbrook Mall probably suffers from this the most as at least it's quite clear that the other two are still quite healthy malls. It might be best for the mall owners to buy that spot and demolish it and turn it into an outdoor lifestyle part of the mall ala what Baybrook did some years ago. They probably can't add something so big, but at least they can add some restaurants and such.
Entertainmart would be a good addition in Houston. The closure of the North Oaks Half Price Books has left a big void for used media in all of North Houston. Entertainmart could fill that gap or maybe even 2nd & Charles. Entertainmart seems to prefer mid-sized cities than big ones, but maybe they can get cheap enough rent somewhere to make things viable.
One thing that we've probably discussed before is how so many Houston Goodwills have closed in recent years. Many have closed in Northwest Houston alone. A new Value Village thrift did open a new store at Antonie & Pinemont in the old Kroger so at least there is that as Value VIllage had been closing locations here as well. Gordon Food Service Store is supposed to open up a new grocery store in the remaining part of the building here soon. But, yeah, it seems like there is a general decline in the number of stores selling used goods here in Houston.
I can only speculate about what happened to these blogs. I don't think Labelscar used Blogger so maybe they were paying for their site and decided not to pay for it any longer. I think Mike does the same thing with his blog so hopefully we don't run into the same problem as Mike's site is a great historical resource. As for Acme Style, I don't know. Someone claimed that the owner of the site still makes it available to selected people who were given access, but supposedly that is a small number of people. Seeing how Acme Style is presumably on the free Blogger service, I'm not really sure why he would pull the plug on the public site. It's a shame to lose that resource.
I'm glad that you are making plans on keeping this site going even after it is no longer updated. Even reading the posts from 2009-2011 is like going back to a very different era when stores like Sears were still going and there was some hope they could recover and be strong again. It was a different time for retail, that's for sure. That said, if we knew that Greenspoint Mall would still be around in 2022 (probably 2023 at least at this point) in 2009, we probably would have been very, very surprised!
It would be a shame to see new posts come to an end at the blog, but I suppose if you have to end it, the epic San Jacinto Mall post might be a good way to end things. It'll be interesting to see how the new development shapes up, but I know that mall has special memories for many people and they would appreciate a lengthy memorial for the old mall.
If I had to guess, the Fiesta on Kirby is about to undergo renovations. The international flags around the store have been pulled down. Some of the aisles have been pulled down and consolidated like we have seen at other stores. A lot of temporary pallets of merchandise have been placed in the front of the store. A lot of the issues with the neon lights have yet to be fixed. The good news, I recorded a few minutes worth of footage for a future video. The store was slow last night so I was able to get some great footage to remember the store by.
DeleteYou are absolutely right about the Homart Malls. The Baybrook Sears has a front and center spot as well. A couple of temporary businesses have moved in, but the anchor drags down that side of the mall. Realistically at Baybrook, a parking garage may be the better option for the old Sears space. The one thing about Deerbrook is that there is probably not much demand for new retail/restaurant tenants in the Humble area.
The Humble Half Price Books store is probably the largest remaining store in the area. It is a trek for the Northwest area so another chain moving in to fill the gap would be great.
The former Goodwill in Pasadena across from the mall was temporarily filled in by a Spirit Halloween this year. We have been on a donation spree so the only time I have been to a Goodwill is when donating. We have been cleaning up throughout the past year or so.
I tried making a comment on Mike's blog last night, but the comment box showed me errors twice and my comment did not show up. I went with the family to Almeda Mall last night and wanted to comment on his recent post about the Burlington leaving. That part of the mall needs some help already, Burlington leaving will certainly hurt. The rest of the mall is doing fairly well, but it was really quiet in there for a Sunday in December. We didn't go to Macy's to see the damaged floors. I did get a few photos including the Thirsty's and Dreyer's neon signs in the food court. Youtube has become the premier source of mall updates these days. If you have spare time to keep up Discord is great. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time to keep up with those groups.
A couple of my sons would be interested in keeping the blog going if something ever happened to me. They have been with me for a lot of my trips and enjoy the outings.
I haven't really ended the documentation yet, but I did slow it down significantly. The Fiesta trips were a fun way to keep things going and knock out necessary trips to the grocery store. Seeing what may be the final chapter of Sears, was fun as well. I found some great deals at the Sears Hometown stores. It does seem like the well has run dry with some small exceptions. 2022 was a really rough year with an unplanned career change and the loss of my Mother. The blog trips were therapy to help forget about these events for a few hours.
Thanks for the update from the Astrodome Fiesta Mart. I have to agree that it sounds like a renovation is coming soon to that store and it'll likely be similar to what has happened at the Mission Bend store. It'll be a shame to lose another neon Fiesta, but this isn't a big surprise given what happened at Mission Bend. At least you were able to document the neon before it probably gets dismantled.
DeleteI'm surprised the Baybrook Mall Sears has gone underutilized for as long as it has. In reality, probably the old Sears at Willowbrook, Deerbrook, and Baybrook Malls all need to be demolished if the malls can secure ownership of all three sites. At least then these properties won't bring down the reputations and image of these malls. If anyone wants to do something with these mall pads, new construction can happen like what happened when the old Joske's/Dillard's/Lord & Taylor was torn down and replaced with Nordstrom Rack many years later.
Fortunately, those of us in Northwest Houston still do have the Copperfield Half Price Books even though that is a small location and traffic around it can be horrendous. People living in places such as Klein, Tomball, and Spring live in an area where there really aren't any used media stores now that the North Oaks Half Price Books is gone. The Humble HPB is probably the largest HPB left in Houston and it might not be too far for Spring shoppers, but otherwise I think a lot of people in North Houston are left without a viable option in the community.
I'll let Mike know about the error you are getting on his blog. As for Almeda Mall, it seems that Fox Properties did a lot of heavy lifting getting that mall into modern times, but now that Kohan owns the mall, it'll probably be back into a questionable state again soon enough. I noticed that they had the carnival setup in the JCPenney side of the mall parking lot. I found that to be rather odd as you'd think they'd want to maximize parking space at this time of the year, but perhaps the parking lots around Almeda Mall don't fill up like they used to. That said, the parking lot in front of the Macy's looked quite busy when I drove by so at least there is that. I probably ought to visit Almeda Mall one of these days to see what things are like there. It's been a while since I've stopped in there. I do look forward to seeing the photos on the blog if they ever end up there.
I have not been keeping up with Flickr or retail posts on YouTube in recent months. I've been getting my fill on the various retail blogs and on Mike's group. I should have some extra time off around the holidays this year so perhaps I'll revisit some of the retail channels on YouTube. As for Discord, I regularly keep in touch with some of the retail bloggers who are on there, but I have not made the jump to the Discord chat yet. It's probably inevitable that I'll end up there at some point, but often the discussions with just Houston retail enthusiasts and other retail bloggers are lively enough to fill my time.
Now that Sears and Kmart are about as close to being finished as they can be without technically being finished, it seems that many retail bloggers have turned their attention to supermarkets. That is a bit sad in a way, but I do the bulk of my shopping at supermarkets these days as well so it fits in with my current retail experiences. I'm glad the blog is still alive and being updated as you, Mike, and the readers that both of your blogs get are still important sources of retail news that often slips under the radar such as the recent closure of the Almeda Pancho's that you reported and the report someone posted on Mike's blog about the Mission Bend Fiesta renovations. We're lucky to have such a robust retail enthusiast community in Houston.
It sounds like 2022 has been a terrible year for you. That is very sad to hear. Hopefully 2023 will bring better news. I'm glad that the retail hobby is bringing some comfort. For better or worse, at least there are still a few interesting retailers in our area left which are worth documenting.
Here's a quick update about the commenting errors at HHR. I talked to Mike about it and he adjusted some blog settings. He suggested that if you can, try posting a comment again and he'll see if it will work. He thinks it should work now.
DeleteI hope I am wrong with the Fiesta being remodeled, but it seems likely with nearly every store undergoing recent renovations.
DeleteI wonder if the Sears sites will be easier to purchase with another Sears business going under. It sounds like the Sears Hometown chain will liquidate as part of their Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing this week.
Half Price Books may need to diversify their business model a bit to compete as people have been ditching physical media and books to go digital. I am not sure what else they could get into though as they already have new items and collectables mixed in with the used items.
I appreciate the assistance on the HHR comments. Macy's did a good job of changing that store to cater to the locals even though they closed off the second floor. I just can't get over how bad the floor is cracking up in nearly every section of the store. It could be foundation issues causing the cracks and loose tiles or just a bad job by the contractor that renovated the store. Almeda still looks like a fairly healthy mall, but the loss of Burlington could change that. The carnival was there on my visit as well.
It is disappointing that retail blogging and even some Youtube channels have shifted away from retail coverage. The biggest shift I have seen is from retail coverage to disaster videos. There is even some drama between retail creators on Youtube. Retro grocery stores are also fading away as we have seen with Fiesta in 2021 & 2022. Blogs are a great source of local information. If I had more time to devote for replying to comments, who knows what other retail news could have been revealed here.
We will see what 2023 brings, I am hoping things will get better for us. There may be a few more things worth documenting next year in our travels. I appreciate the kind words.
I heard about the Sears Hometown bankruptcy. I had to laugh when the bankruptcy was partially attributed to Eddie Lampert not seeing eye-to-eye with the Sears Hometown people. As far as I knew, Eddie Lampert had a lot of money in Sears Hometown, but perhaps the disagreement was with the local store owners. The store owners had a lot of reason to be upset with Eddie Lampert, of course. Oh well, another retail part of Sears bites the dust. This one was not a surprise given all the store closures during the summer.
DeleteDid you see that the old Kmart on Homestead Rd. was back in the news this week? It seems the community around there is still trying to get that building torn down. I thought the city had plans to tear it down about a decade ago, but it seems that fell through. The place is in sad shape as the video shows: https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/houston-kmart-shopping-center-redevelopment/285-8004c260-ca43-489d-a1ac-3f6aee741d93
That Almeda Mall Foley's building is well over 50 years old now (though that store was expanded in the 1970s so the northern most part of the building is slightly newer, but even that part is nearly 50 years old now). Given some of the usual foundation issues people in Houston see, I wouldn't be surprised if that building needs more work. I'm glad Macy's kept that store going after Hurricane Ike in 2008 and it still seems to get a fair amount of business. The closure of the Pasadena store probably helped the Almeda store even more. Clearly, not everyone wants to deal with Baybrook Mall's busyness and prefer shopping at Almeda Mall.
Mike did a recent post about Almeda Mall and the Toys R Us department at that Macy's. It looks pretty good. It's not much different from any other Macy's TRU, but Mike did report there weren't many shoppers in the TRU department.
This is probably well outside the coverage area for this blog, but did you see that South Plains Mall in Lubbock, TX is getting a new Dillard's on the site of the old Sears there? The mall currently has two older, smaller Dillard's that will close when the new 220k sq. ft. Dillard's opens. Dillard's is calling this new store a flagship store so it should be quite nice. The mall is probably rather ambivalent about the situation. They must be excited about having a new Dillard's and all the excitement that will bring, but they are also trading in one dead anchor spot for two dead ones now. Oh well, if anything will cause new retailers to want to move in, it is probably the new Dillard's.
I don't follow the YouTube retail channels all that closely, but I have noticed some tension in the comments section before. That's a shame because this really isn't a hobby that should stir up much controversy. Fortunately, it seems retail bloggers are quite supportive of one another. It's hard to know what 2023 will bring in terms of retail, but hopefully there will be exciting things to cover on the blog. It seems like there is always something which stirs up interest.
I accidentally stumbled on that news article about the old Homestead Kmart. I am very surprised that Beauty Store was still open up until 2019 or 2020. That building may be the worst vacant shopping center left in Houston. It is crazy that it still stands today.
DeleteThe Almeda TRU location is the smallest one I have seen so far and had a very limited selection. The Baybrook Mall location had a TRU probably about 4 times the size of the Almeda location. I wonder if Burlington leaves, will Macy's follow suit. With Macy's building the smaller sized stores this could be a possibility. I hope not because Almeda is the last good small mall here in the Houston area.
I did see the article about the new Dillard's store in Lubbock. I am glad that Dillard's did not close both stores in Waco because anchor spots are difficult to fill these days. Unless Belk or possibly Nordstrom expand to these areas, there are not a lot of retail options.
Even on Discord there are two competing Deadmall groups. It is really a shame that some people can't get along, but it is what it is.