Here is a return trip to the Richland Mall in Waco Texas.
A new Dick's Sporting Goods opened up in the JCPenney wing of the mall.
The old Dillard's Women's store has moved to the former Sears anchor spot.
The new Dillard's Women's store. Parts of the Sears anchor can be seen even after the renovations.
Here is what the anchor looked like before.
The building has been extended but the second floor was closed off.
Bealls, Stage, Gordman's, now Tilt Studios.
Dillard's Men's store and JCPenney.
JCPenney logo with black letters.
JCPenney logo with white letters.
The new Dick's Sporting Goods store takes up a good bit of space and a former mall entrance.
This side of JCPenney got the new red letters. Back, white, and red JCPenney letters on this store.
The only vacant anchor just past Dick's.
A look into the mall at the JCPenney court. As you can see the new Dick's Sporting Goods sticks out into the mall corridor a good bit.
Looking into the main mall corridor.
The full mall entrance to JCPenney. Glad to see that the mirrored entrance stays put here.
Another view of the mall corridor with Dick's
Dick's with H&M a bit further down to the right.
H&M entrance.
The center court.
From the center court to the food court and new Dillard's store.
The old Dillard's store has left this corner of the mall without an anchor.
Another view of the center court.
The mall map shows a couple of anchor vacancies, but one has since been filled.
EntertainMart, a store that has filled in the gap left by Hastings.
Here is a tour of this EntertainMart location.
Video Games, Music, Movies, Books, Collectables, this store has a lot to see!
Excellent selection of video games new, used, and retro.
Back to the days of when the Saints were a good football team, sigh!
I forgot to mention their comics section.
They had some instruments as well.
They even had a small VHS selection!
They had some interesting action figures, lol.
The store took up two spaces with the majority of the smaller space being books.
The middle of the store is where the checkouts and candy selection are located.
Trade Yo
What a cool store this is, definitely a great addition to Richland Mall.
Now for more of the mall.
Tilt Studios which is now open. This is the former Bealls/Stage/Gordman's space.
A peek inside through the construction wrap.
They still had a lot of work to do at this point.
Looking back into the mall from the Tilt.
Now we head towards the food court and new Dillard's store.
There it is, the new Women's Dillard's location.
Here is what that area of the mall looked like when Sears was still open. Sadly, the food court neon sign was removed.
The food court, a couple more restaurants can be found in the mall hallway to the left.
The Sears mall entrance minus the sign is exactly the same.
The view of the store map.
Once inside, all similarities to the former Sears are gone.
Back out into the mall we see another view of the food court.
And an excellent retro video game store (Special FX) that has been in the mall for several years now.
More of the food court with the main mall corridor just past the seating area.
The mall hallway just past the food court has an interesting mix of shops and restaurants.
This trip was made on a Sunday so Chik-Fil-A was closed for the day.
More of the mall, heading back towards the center court.
Tilt Studio entrance one more time.
The second, older Dillard's. Men's and Home.
Looking towards the center court from the older Dillard's.
Center court towards the JCPenney/Dick's court.
More views of the JCPenney/Dick's court.
The mall entrance near JCPenney and across from Dick's Sporting Goods.
It is strange to see how much the new Dick's store sticks out into the mall corridor.
As we leave the mall, here are some parting photos.
Overall Richland Mall is doing great. If they can get the old Dillard's anchor filled or knock it down for an outdoor lifestyle addition the mall will be set. There is an excellent variety of stores, restaurants, and entertainment options here. Ownership and management have done a fantastic job here.
Richland Mall seems to be doing quite well here in modern times. This is certainly a model for other mall operators in the state. As I mentioned in the Mission Bend Fiesta post, South Plains Mall in Lubbock, TX is actually getting a full-sized brand new Dillard's in 2023-24 on the old Sears anchor pad that will replace two smaller and older Dillard's at the mall. That's a bit different than what happened here at Richland, but I suppose it is a similar type of development.
ReplyDeleteIt's really quite odd how Dillard's managed to open a new store here at Richland Mall that manages to look like it was from the 1990s inside and out! Of course, the Sears white tile facade most certainly looks like a recycled part of the 1990s, but even the new interior Dillard's put in looks like the interiors they put in stores they opened in the 1990s. I suppose that is not a bad thing and, in all likelihood, any sort of modern look would have had a worse look that would not appeal to Dillard's shoppers who have rather conservative fashion tastes.
The EntertainMart is the highlight of the post. These are really interesting looking stores. I wish we had them in Houston. It is a lot like a Half Price Books, but this location at least is more exciting looking than the usual HPB that has rather dowdy decor. Some of those sports collectables are quite interesting. That Albert Belle White Sox Starting Lineup figure is a real laugher, lol. That copy of Madden with Drew Brees on the cover is a good find. It certainly beats the Aaron Brooks Saints jerseys I saw for sale at Sears Outlet stores 8-9 years ago. Sadly for the Saints, I think most of their fans would take the Aaron Brooks years over where the team is now.
The rest of the mall does look like something from around 1980 that has been renovated a few times over the decades. The ceiling designs around the mall are interesting. While retro in a way, things are renovated enough to not look sad. The mall certainly has a mix of national and local retailers, but the local retailers are a diverse mix of retailers who seem to bring something interesting to the mall. That haircuts place has a logo that is certainly an NFL knockoff though! Anyway, I would expect this mall to continue to do rather well for at least the next few years at the very least.
Richland is definitely the best mall out of the Waco-Temple-Kileen metro area. Management has done a really good job of keeping the spaces filled when vacancies pop up. Dillard's picked up the most visible anchor spot at the mall and thankfully did not consolidate both stores into the old Sears space. It is interesting that the first floor of the store was slightly extended, but the second floor is unused.
DeleteThe Dillard's store is an interesting rework of the old Sears building. It really does look just like any Dillard's store built or upgraded from the 1990's. Dillard's has been the only department store chain in this region that has been continually upgrading their stores. There are a few exceptions like the Deerbrook Mall location, but many of their older stores are being replaced or remodeled. With Macy's and Nordstrom not in these regions, Dillard's is increasing their hold on these regions.
I really enjoyed the Entertainmart trips. The store has the feel of both FYE and Hastings. FYE is focusing less and less on used products these days, but Hastings had a huge selection of used items for sale. I could have probably found more interesting things, but we didn't see every single aisle in the store.
With the growth of the region, I can see Richland Mall being a strong mall for quite some time. The biggest knock is the small selection of food options inside of the mall. There are plenty of sit-down restaurants outside of the mall though.
I think I remember reading about this Dillard's conversion somewhere. It turned out nicely, and manages to look like just about any other Dillard's. Like you, I'm surprised they expanded the first level but didn't take any of the second. And it's so weird to see the Dillard's logo on that identifiably Sears mall entrance!
ReplyDeleteI experienced my first Entertainment this year (did we discuss that already at another post? Can't remember), and liked it. I wish we had that chain where I live as well.
I want to see how their next Sears conversion looks in Lubbock. I wonder if they will leave the same Sears entrance up like they did here. It is a cool throwback as we will inevitably see more old Sears mall entrances disappear as these stores get repurposed. As you may know already Sears Hometown stores are in the process of closing. There are a few still left within 90 minutes or so near Houston, but they will probably not last much longer. The last Sears Hometown store I visited in Nacogdoches, had very little inventory.
DeleteIf anything, we could see another FYE store pop up in the Houston area. I think Half Price Books presence keeps retailers like 2nd and Charles and Entertainmart from going into the market.