How is the Temple Mall doing as of 2025. Not very good at all, Kohan Retail has just about killed off the interior mall. In 2024, the mall was shut down for a few days due to multiple code violations. There are reports of utility shutoffs due to unpaid bills as well. With the loss of JCPenney in 2021 and Premiere Cinemas in 2022, along with unrepaired tornado damage from 2024, there are few businesses left inside of the mall. Less than 30 from my count. Despite the challenges here, a few new businesses have taken up shop inside of old anchor spots. New businesses have also popped up outside of the mall with a new hotel and car wash. As for the history of the mall, the mall opened up in 1976 and is listed as being 555,400 square feet. Current anchors are Dillard's, Floor and Decor, Mega Furniture/Planet Fitness, and Xtreme Jump Adventure Park.
A possible redevelopment of the mall is on the horizon. Check out this linked video here to see a detailed tour of the mall with the potential new owners of the mall. If the mall is redeveloped as planned, the interior corridors of the mall will be gone.
Doomie Grunt did a video on this mall 2 years ago with a really good history on the mall click here.
We will start with an outside drive around of the mall.
Floor and Decor has taken over roughly half of the old JCPenney.
It is strange to see the different sides of the old anchor store. One half is new, and the other half seemingly forgotten.
The Premiere cinema also closed up. It is practically next to the vacant half of the JCPenney.
The former Steve and Barry's, which was an old Service Merchandise is now an Xtreme Jump Adventure Park.
The mall entrance at the food court.
The former Sears. This building was later a Foley's, then Macy's, and now is occupied by Dillard's.
As you can tell from the photos of the store, minimal changes were made to the exterior of the store when Dillard's took over the space. The Macy's logos were removed and painted to remove the labelscars. The interior of the store also hasn't changed much and still looks a lot like it did when it was Macy's.
Take a good look at the roof and skylight. A tornado passed directly over the mall on May 22, 2024, causing damage to this section of the mall. Despite the damages to the mall, no significant repairs had been made to the structure at the time of our visit in August 2025.
The former Dillard's location is now split between Mega Furniture and Planet Fitness.
On a side note, has anyone noticed that Planet Fitness locations have been popping up everywhere lately? Dead anchor stores, shopping centers, and even taking over other gyms.
Another look at the former JCPenney side of the mall.
A new hotel going up that is blocking the view of the mall from the highway.
Now let's venture inside of the mall.
Not a great look for the mall. Even the Casa Ole left the mall in October 2024. Notice the roof damage at the entryway.
Now for the mall interior. 90's design with an L shape to the mall. Dillard's on one end with Mega Furniture in the middle. Then the vacant JCPenney on the other end of the mall. This was the corridor that the tornado passed over in 2024.
This FX game store moved to another spot in the mall in a former Radio Shack.
The damage to the mall interior is significant. It is hard to tell from the photos, but there were multiple puddles of water on the floor.
Water stains and mildew buildup running down the walls. I haven't seen anything like this since the San Jacinto Mall was open.
A view of the damaged skylight that we saw in the outside photos. There are a few videos online of the mall just after the tornado passed over.
More water damage in the corridor facing Dillard's.
Now we will move onto the Dillard's/Food Court side of the mall.
Looking back towards where we entered the mall. More damages can be seen above the skylights.
Old school former Shoe Department.
Pro Image Sports is still going strong. Even though they have the Cowboys display in front, they do carry merchandise from all NFL, NBA, and MLB teams. They also carry merchandise from other sports.
The food court has limited choices. Only a couple of restaurants were open on this Saturday at lunchtime. I like the layout of the restaurant spaces. Each restaurant space sticks out.
Ichi Hibachi was one of the food court restaurants open.
I believe the food court area of the mall had a small renovation when the Dillard's opened up in 2017. It looks to be in better shape than the rest of the mall.
Niki's Roma Pizza is the other one.
Hibbett Sports is one of the chains that seems to stick around in dying malls long after Foot Locker and the rest leave.
The view from Dillard's into the mall with the food court to the left.
Now we head back to where we started to see the other side of the mall.
Past the tornado damaged section of the mall, we have more empty storefronts.
Bath and Body Works recently left the mall, and we all know how bad business has to be for that to happen. Closed on July 5, 2025.
The Mega Furniture mall entrance. Dillard's occupied this space previously. It is always good for a mall when replacement stores keep the mall entrance open for traffic.
Looking down the former JCPenney corridor.
Empty spaces facing the tornado damaged section of the mall. The mall corridor bends just a little bit to break up the monotony here.
The new FX game exchange store front. I didn't get any interior photos, but this was undoubtedly the former Radio Shack. There are a lot of cool finds in this store besides video games. Comics, toys, physical music media, and random collectables. If there is any reason to go to into the mall, this is it.
The former Premiere Cinema. Yet another similarity to the San Jacinto Mall.
The neon lights are unfortunately permanently dark.
The Armed Forces Career center seems to have packed up and left as well.
A former food outlet in front of the old JCPenney. Can anyone comment below on what was located here. It looks like a former Chik Fil A, but I am not 100% sure on it.
The JCPenney corridor has the most vacancies. Once you get to the area by the former Premiere Cinema, nearly every space is vacant.
Visionworks is still going.
The former JCPenney mall entrance. Floor and Decor is on the other side of the wall. Too bad they didn't reopen the mall entrance. This dead end really hurts this side of the mall. JCPenney closed in March 2021.
Walking back towards the middle of the mall.
An old advertisement.
Inside of the Premiere Cinemas. It would be nice to see this place lit up again. These older cinemas were loaded up with neon.
Peggy's Coffee House has a seating area in what was a secondary food court.
One thing I didn't mention as we walked by earlier is this second food court at the mall. A second food court inside of a mall of this size is odd. I believe the panels in the back were used for movie advertisements back in the day. This food court was probably added along with the Premiere Cinema. Peggy's Coffee House and En Fu Express are still open with plenty of seating.
This section of the mall still has a few businesses sticking together.
En Fu Express
Back to the Mega Furniture side of the mall.
Former Clairie's
Former Payless Shoes
Former Great American Cookies, that left the mall.
Former Bath and Body Works.
Former Rainbow. This is a chain that seems to stick around a lot of dying malls as well.
A few more shots as we head back out of the mall.
There are just not a lot of these old Casa Ole mall locations left. Yet another San Jacinto Mall coincidence, a closed off Casa Ole.
Another water puddle in the section of the mall with the tornado damage.
One final look at the mall before we leave. The Cotton Patch is still open and seems to do well.
We will see what the future holds for this mall as it continues to transition into a Big Box center. Hopefully all of the businesses inside of the mall will find new locations with better opportunities.
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