Here is a somewhat brief update at the Macroplaza Mall in Pasadena Texas. At the beginning of the Macroplaza Mall era, things seemed to be looking up. Mall renovations were underway, new electronic signage was going up, and new stores were opening up. The fountain was covered up and turned into a stage for live entertainment and events. The old Macy's was gutted, and plans were underway for a market to take over the space. Life was good or so it seemed.
October 2019
Signage is in place all over the mall showing the future plans for the mall.
The mall went all out for Halloween.
December 2019 Macy's corridor.
The interior of the Macy's. Gutted out completely awaiting redevelopment.
Despite the lack of stores in the former Macy's corridor, Christmas decorations were in place.
You can still make out the Macy's labelscar.
Brand new fixtures inside of the former Anna's Linens that were part of the mall renovations. Some of the fixtures were put out across the mall.
Light fixtures and chandeliers. Some of these were put up, but a lot of them stayed here.
Plans for the mall redevelopment and renovations were put up all over empty store fronts.
More of the fixtures.
Here you can see a couple of the lights in the middle of the corridor that have the new fixtures.
Pretzelmaker and Perfume Plus didn't last too much longer after this visit.
Heading towards Sears.
The mall is currently blocked off at about this point. The former Macy's corridor and the playground are all off-limits to the public.
The center stage.
Thred Up, a closeout store that briefly took up the former Palais Royal space.
Lively setup for Christmas.
One of the electronic signs advertising Sears. Even though they still had October ads in December.
The food court still had several eateries.
The former Dillard's corridor has struggled to maintain businesses for many years.
A short-lived little bumper car setup.
Christmas decorations and one of the new benches.
Christmas spirit in the Sears corridor.
Another one of the electronic signs showing the new mall designs.
Now for a few exterior shots.
A billboard I noticed across town. The rent price is a bit pricey for a property trying to turn things around. Mall management was trying and the mall did have a short-lived boost in business.
June 2020, Six months and one pandemic later. All of the enthusiasm and big plans of the mall redevelopment have stalled.
Nothing new inside of the Macy's.
Fixtures still sitting inside of the former Anna's Linens.
A few close-ups of the closed stores.
Champs moved to a smaller space near the food court.
Nothing left in this section of the mall.
Pretzelmaker and Perfume Plus, both gone.
Palais Royal space empty again.
The center stage area was emptied out. The new electronic signage was gone, and the food court was down to two tenants.
I noticed on this visit that the food court decorations have the mall name on them.
A mini flea market in the former optometry space.
Some of the areas of the old space are visible. What a blast from the past!
GNC
The lone bright spot of the mall, Sears. Something to build off of, a strong anchor to help bring the mall back to life after Covid.
Or not! Sadly, any momentum that the mall may have gained in late 2020, was killed off when the closure of the final full-size Sears department store in the Houston area was announced. The store closed on January 24, 2021.
The Sears Auto Center closed a few months prior to the main store closing.
January 25, 2021 Day after Sears officially closed.
Some looks through the mall entrance gates. I was there when the store closed the previous day. In the future, I will post the final days of the store.
The Pueblito is still open as of late 2023.
This place disappeared around 2020 as well. The whole Covid B.S. really hurt numerous small businesses.
A couple more views of the old Sears.
Surprisingly, this was not the last hurrah for the Sears. A few months later, the store reopened as a Sears Hometown that lasted 8 months. I have some good photos from my visits that I will post in the future from this store, but here are a few teaser photos.
November 2022
The mall entrance never reopened.
May 2022 Store closing sale, the store closed sometime in June 2022.
I can't say that ever I saw a grand opening sign at a store closing sale.
Behind the former Macy's. A classic customer pick up sign from the Foley's era.
How is the mall doing in 2024? We will find out. If you look hard enough, you will see ghosts of the past at the mall.
I only visited PTS for the first time after they changed names. I was alerted by an early reader, and visited the mall to make comparisons to West Oaks. At the time, it seemed like both malls were hobbling, but neither would die. Now both on are on deaths doorstep. I think you're right that COVID killed off lots of the small shops in PTS, and I think it had a similar effect on West Oaks.
ReplyDeletePasadena Town Square has been more of a neighborhood mall for quite some time. We went to the Dillard's and really enjoyed that store before they closed. Prior to the Dillard's closing, a lot of chains were still present in the mall. There have been a few attempts to revive the property prior to the name changes. Each attempt has pretty much gone the same, a few Mom and Pop stores open and then disappear. It is a much different outcome than the Montgomery Ward redevelopment not too far away on Spencer. That redevelopment has been so successful that the flea market was shrunk to make way for larger businesses. The area near the mall has also turned into a ghost town with several structures abandoned and demolished. Two failed hospitals (one demolished), a massive tower (demolished), and the now mostly abandoned mall have really hurt this area. Even the once-strong shopping center across the street now has a large vacancy. With the nearby industrial plants, this area will probably continue to struggle.
DeleteWow, these are some great photos chronicling Macroplaza Mall's struggling era of optimism about the redevelopment turning into the despair that the mall is stuck in today. I didn't know that the old Foley's was gutted like that. I was surprised to see that, but it is neat to see just how different that place looks gutted than it did when I visited that very, very retro Macy's a few times before it closed. Maybe it is a good thing it was gutted, some urban explorer got into the Greenspoint Mall Foley's about a year ago and the images from in there make it look like that building had been abandoned for decades rather than just a handful of years. I'm sure if the Pasadena Foley's wasn't gutted, it would look about the same, or worse, since I know that second floor had problems with leaks before they even closed the second floor. Anyway, here is that Greenspoint Foley's video if you have not seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTKPoJBZy7U
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to me that those 2018-2019 Macroplaza sketches show the Sears being remodeled/redeveloped when the Sears had not closed yet and presumably Sears still owned/controlled that building. Perhaps they were anticipating the Sears closing, it was hardly far-fetched to think that in 2019. I'm certainly looking forward to the photos you have of that Sears, not only was it the last full-line Sears, and one of the strange Hometown stores, but it was also the last new full-line Sears built in the Houston area.
The fact that Sears Hometown was celebrating their grand opening and their liquidation sale at around the same time pretty much sums up the Sears Hometown experience both here and at Willowbrook Mall. It was certainly a strange situation.
Macroplaza Mall is certainly Houston's most endangered mall, if we say that West Oaks Mall is already closed as a mall, but it is neat to see their last gasp effort to redevelop this mall even if it ultimately failed in 2020. I think even without the pandemic, the redevelopment would have been a long shot especially when the full-line Sears closed. Even when Macy's was still open, it was mostly Sears which seemed to bring shoppers to this mall.
I definitely saw the Greenspoint video and his part 2 where he got into the old Dillard's. Speaking of Greenspoint, I just finished up my 2021 update post and made it live. I think security at Greenspoint is getting a bit lax with the recent videos and my own experience at the mall. I will just leave it at that for now.
DeleteMacroplaza ownership really hit a wall with their plans. It was so crazy how fast things declined in 2020. I think only 5 businesses are left in there now. I need to go back soon.
I did an unofficial walkthrough of the Macroplaza Sears Hometown, and into some of the unused areas of the store when it was still open. I was able to make it to the last two days when the full department store was still open as well. Between Willowbrook, Deerbrook, North Shepherd, and Pasadena there are well over 1,000 photos to post.
Looking through the gate from the mall entrance shows a pristine Sears store just ready to reopen, but it will never happen again. Even the Sears signage is still illuminated.