So before we embark on the store closing sale mega-post, we will look at a more recent update on the former Sears store on North Shepherd Rd. in Houston Texas.
We will start with a vintage look at the sign when it was still in operation.
Fast-forward to 2024.
On the day when we did a full-walkaround tour of Greenspoint Mall, we decided to pass by the old Sears just a few minutes away. I am glad we took the time to go out here because the store was being demolished. The below photos are from August 2024. I also passed by the site more recently in September and everything is gone from the site except for this bus stop. Sadly, the neon and red letters were also stripped from the sign leaving behind a faint labelscar. We were all hoping the bus stop would be saved completely as it was. They really should have kept the Sears sign up.
Demolition of the old store was well-underway.
The old store was over 500,000 square feet, roughly 3 Walmart Supercenters!
The store was built very strong; earth movers, small bulldozers, and heavy equipment was on the first and second floors of the store. I can't say that I have seen heavy equipment on the second floor of any demolition. Usually, the cranes just cut away at the building until it all comes down.
You can see some of the machines here.
After taking these photos from the street, we had to get a closer look. Thankfully there is a CVS right next door that we parked at to walk around a bit.
The machines were driving up the dirt hill in the middle of this photo to get up to the second floor.
You can see the third level remnants here. I am not sure what the third floor was used for as it wasn't open to the public. The third floor was also just in the back section of the lot and much smaller than the other 2 floors.
This was the last of the auto center.
The auto center was down to the bare bones of the structure.
This sign was still up in September of 2025 but could be gone now.
The auto center on the left, the main store on the right with the ramp.
One of the few sections of the store that still looked recognizable. (Second level)
The collapsed wall on the first floor made blocked the view of the inside from this angle.
The bus stop was not barricaded, so we could really get close to the building from here.
First floor remnants of the old store.
These old buildings were built much stronger than we see today. A true brick and mortar store that was over 70 years old.
This was as close as you could get to the site. The entire site was fenced off with several people actively working the demolition.
One final look of the auto center with the store in the background.
The loss of this iconic Sears store is yet another blow to the preservation of old buildings in Houston. The old structure could have easily lasted another 70 years with the right owners, but instead they decided to clear the site for another crappy development just like you can find all over town. Vacant Sears buildings of this size have been redeveloped all over the country without demolishing the structure. Just look at the Main Street Sears and how successful that redevelopment is. Not only was the structure and a lot of the original exterior of the store saved, but they also added two more floors showing how strong these older buildings are compared to today's construction. There was nothing I could do to save the structure, but this demolition should have never happened.
Thanks for sharing these photos, I always enjoyed shopping at the N. Shepherd Sears and I'd always take a photo of the bus stop sign in the later years. In fact, I think a photo I took of it in 2014 ended up in a Houston Historic Retail post at some point.
ReplyDeleteWhile the N. Shepherd Sears building did feel like it was from a different period than more modern department stores, it never felt like the store was anywhere near poor condition. In fact, it was in a lot better shape, even with Eddie Lampert levels of maintenance, than many modern department stores from like likes of JCPenney and Macy's. It is a shame that the building could not be redeveloped, but that's the way things go even in a part of Houston that is more historic than the average suburb.
It is kind of amazing how buildings can come and go. I noticed the other day that the old Cy-Fair Hospital located behind the old Jones Rd. & FM 1960 ex-Target was completely demolished sometime in the last year. That hospital didn't even seem like it was that old, but it is gone now. I suppose it must have been expensive for someone to maintain a big building like that without there being a real use for it. At least it didn't sit and rot like what some local dead malls are doing right now.
I still don't have the time to put together the massive number of photos that I took of this store in the final days, but this small post was easy to crank out. I might try to post the video of the final day on my Youtube if I can in the near future. My work schedule is about to increase tremendously for the next couple of months or so. Unfortunately, things will get quiet here during that time, so I apologize in advance.
DeleteChange is constant in Houston. As long as the city continues to grow, we will lose anything that is abandoned for even short periods of time. The reason our deadmalls have remained standing for so long is the few tenants that still operate on the property. Greenspoint still has Fitness Connection and Pasadena still has 3 businesses remaining open. Northwest is a different story, with no businesses remaining, but the nursing school stayed open long after the mall closed.