Now we head out to the Dallas Ft. Worth metroplex for a new mall visit, and this one is a retro gem. The Irving Mall is listed as having just over 1 million square feet of retail space. The mall opened on august 4, 1971 and has a lot of anchor changes to cover.
Current anchors are AMC, Shoppers World, Dillard's clearance center, Burlington, and Macy's. The former Mervyn's is partially filled by Los Lomas Irving Banquet Hall. There is also a vacant Sears anchor that closed in 2019.
A large 2-story addition addition to the mall was added in 1984 that brought Mervyn's and Dillard's to the mall along with a food court.
Anchor changes over the years are as follows.
JCPenney closed in 2001 and was replaced by Burlington in 2006.
Mervyn's closed in 2006 and was replaced by La Vida Furniture (main level) that closed in 2022 and Los Lomas Irving Banquet Center (lower level).
Wilson's was replaced by General Cinema in 1999 and later changed to AMC.
The mall also had a Titche-Goettinger that closed in 1979, then became a Joske's that closed in 1987. This anchor space is probably where Foley's opened in 1989 that later changed to Macy's in 2006.
Barnes and Noble opened in 2000 and replaced the original General Cinema spot. Barnes and Noble closed in 2012 and was recently replaced by Shoppers World.
Sears closed in January of 2019 and still sits vacant.
Irving Mall is doing fairly well these days, although the areas near Dillard's and the former Sears are struggling. With the mall being on the older side, I can also see Burlington and Macy's pulling out at some point. The mall also had some high-profile crimes that have brought negative attention to the mall over the years.
Neon signage still lives on at the Irving Mall in Irving Texas even though one side is partially out.
One of the renovated entrances to the mall.
Shoppers World
A view of the original mall facing Belt Line Rd.
The former Sears is still stuck in the past.
AMC 14 screen theater, it is hard to believe this was once a Wilson's.
The Sears labelscar. This store had the newest Sears logo.
The backside of the former JCPenney that was not renovated when Burlington took over the space.
Macy's
The right side is Macy's with Burlington in the middle, and JCPenney on the far left.
Dillard's and Macy's.
Dillard's
Dillard's with the 1984 addition.
The food court entrance in the middle with the former Mervyn's to the right.
A view of the freeway road sign just as the sun was setting for the evening.
Another view of the 1984 addition with the former Mervyn's to the right and Dillard's to the far left.
The unused second floor of the former Mervyn's
A view of the original side of the mall facing Highway 183
A better view of the mall entrance.
Riviera's Tex-Mex Bar and Grill next to Shoppers World.
Now for the quick tour of the inside of the mall and I do mean quick. We arrived with less than 30 minutes to spare before the mall closed for the evening. An obnoxious voice over the mall loudspeakers made sure to let everyone know every few minutes that the mall was closing up for the night. Nothing like being told over and over again when and how to leave the mall like the customers are a burden to the people working at the mall.
We will start in the Dillard's wing of the mall. The nearby escalator was blocked off so we had to use the stairs to go up and down. Dillard's is down to one level as the store was downgraded to become a clearance store. This arcade stretched from the storefront all the way into the mall corridor.
The lower level of the mall would be entirely dead if it wasn't for the food court and the access to Macy's. Fitness Connection is also down here, but the only entrance is outside of the mall.
Another cool neon sign.
The Macy's entrance on the lower level.
The food court takes up a good chunk of this lower level. This whole section of the mall was added to the mall back in 1984.
As you can see, they covered up the closed off Dillard's entrance with a drawing of the city complete with flashing lights and a few more arcade games.
Looking towards the rest of the mall from near Dillard's on the main level of the mall.
This is the Macy's and former Mervyn's court of the mall. You can see the food court below. You can also see the closed off escalators on both sides. There is also an entrance to Macy's on the left.
The former Mervyn's mall entrance.
This hallway of the mall is a little claustrophobic. I am not sure if this hallway was part of the mall addition or if it was an entrance to the mall before the 1984 expansion. This next section of the mall is where the most businesses are.
Looking down from the entrance to Macy's. Just about every store space down this original hallway of the mall is filled.
Once again, reflections on a mall directory made it difficult to get good photos.
The original Macy's/Foley's entrance.
We will continue our walk through the mall.
I couldn't tell if these covers were part of the design of the mall or if they were there to catch falling debris.
There are a few incline changes throughout the mall.
Burlington mall entrance #1. This space was originally a JCPenney.
From the entrance to Burlington facing the mall entrance.
Now we are going to skip a section of the mall and head towards the former Sears. I speedwalked down here to ensure that I had enough time to document the rest of the mall as time was limited. The former Sears is straight ahead and the second Burlington mall entrance is to the left.
This police storefront looks really old-school.
More neon lights in front of the AMC.
The former Sears mall entrance.
Now we are heading back to the center part of the mall.
Here is the second Burlington Mall entrance.
Some ceiling damage can be seen in this photo.
And now here is a first for the blog. Shoppers World. This space was previously a Barnes and Noble combined with a former Old Navy.
Now for the best storefront at the mall. A late 80's/early 90's era Spencer gifts.
These vintage storefronts are very rare to find in 2026. I was able to get an even better shot later on after the mall closed.
Here are a few more shots as we head out of the mall before security has a fit.
After the mall closed, we spent some time in Shoppers World. The lights of the mall were dimmed and now we get the perfect shot of the sign. I didn't get any photos from inside of Shoppers World, lots of employees walking around.
So what are my thoughts on the Irving Mall? The mall appears to still be very popular even with the strong competition of the Dallas Galleria, Grapevine Mills, and Northeast Mall all within a roughly 20-minute drive of the mall. There is a good mix of local and chain stores to keep this place in a good position as it stands in 2026. The shaky situation with Macy's and the inclusion of the Irving store on several rumored closing lists bears watching. With the 3-level Macy's being the last full sized anchor store, it would really hurt the mall if they closed. Burlington is another endangered anchor at the mall as the company has been leaving a lot of their older mall locations in favor of new smaller shopping center locations. The empty Sears isn't a burden on the mall and sits hidden on the back side of the mall.
Mall management has done a great job filling spaces with tenants that keep the mall going. One thing is that the mall could use a renovation, the look of the mall is fairly bland and not modern. There have been some renovations throughout the years, but the look of the mall needs to be modernized.
Up next, we will stay in Dallas with a 2025 visit to the Dallas Galleria.
This mall seems to be doing well in some regards, but it seems to be, and has been, in a perilous state in many other ways. It is a bit of a contradiction mall in that sense. It is hard to make sense of the situation.
ReplyDeleteThis mall has had plenty of prime anchor tenants over the years, but the great majority of them have closed over the years or have downgraded their presence at the mall like Dillard's becoming a clearance store. Still, AMC is a major tenant, and Macy's is probably what is driving most of the success the mall still maintains. Even then, counting on Macy's to stay open might be optimistic, like it was at Almeda Mall for so many years. It seems almost inevitable that Macy's will pull the plug on this location in the near future and it is hard to imagine the mall continuing to prosper then.
There is a read ad hoc nature to this mall, and that can be seen in some of the strange corridors and floors. There probably aren't too many malls which have prime tenants like Dillard's and Macy's which have vinyl tile floors in some areas, and there are cracks in that vinyl floor at that, but then other areas have actual tile and some even have carpet, a rare thing in big city malls here in Texas. Consistency certainly isn't something this mall has going for it!
That retro Spencer's Gifts is a real find. I know we've had some discussions at work during down time in recent months about modern day Spencer's and some of the strange items they sell that they didn't before like sex toys. Granted, Walgreens sells some of those items these days too, so I guess Spencer's selling them is hardly unprecedented, lol.
Losing Barnes & Noble and getting a Shoppers World in return seems like a real downgrade. The Shoppers World on Jones & FM 1960 is a real disappointment, but at least they have recycled Publix carts for those who are into that kind of thing. The neighboring Ollie's has some former Kmart carts too,
Like Almeda Mall a few years ago, it is surprising that this mall is doing as well as it is and that is surely a testament to the mall management, but that can change quickly and I'm sure it will if/when Macy's closes. For now, however, this mall is hanging in there though.
When I entered into the middle entrance of the mall, I thought it was just that small busy corridor with a simple end to end layout. Unless you know the area or enter on a less busy entrance, you can't see the other ends of the mall. The addition to the mall is a very low-key hallway that looks like an exit corridor. I was pleasantly surprised to see a full extension of the mall. There is some directional signage to guide newcomers around the mall like me. I hadn't researched this mall prior to my visit, so I didn't know what to expect. The neon sign off of the highway is what brought my attention to the property.
DeleteThe flooring throughout the mall is all over the place with no consistency. The land under the mall has many slopes and was probably modified to create the two-level addition. The main level or you could say the second level is continuous, something you don't find in the flat land areas that we live in. The ends of each side of the mall are really hurting for business. The Dillard's clearance center wing isn't helped by the shorter hours of the store. The mall also closed at 8pm on a Saturday, not ideal for a property that still had good crowds in the short time that we were there. Shoppers World, Macy's, and AMC were all open later than the mall. The gym and banquet center were also open after the mall closed. You would think that the mall could support later hours at least on Friday and Saturday. The mall is also only open from 12-6 on Sunday. Most malls open at 11am on Sunday.
I wasn't a fan of Shoppers World; it reminded me of a cheaper quality version of Roses. The store flooring also sloped down at a sharp angle when you walked into the Old Navy portion of the store. The product selection was all over the place as well, there was no continuity outside of the clothing departments. One aisle would have for example, kitchen items, then you would walk several aisles over and find more kitchen products. It was like that all over the store. Even some items were found at the front side of the store, with the rest of the selection in the far back side of the store. If you are going to the store and don't find what you need, you really have to look around and you might just find it, very odd.
I wonder if Irving Mall would survive if there was a complete changeover to a PlazAmericas/La Gran Plaza Mall style store focus. Both of those malls are doing amazing these days. We actually went to La Gran Plaza on this trip, but I didn't document anything there this time. It was way too busy there and the mall really hasn't changed a whole lot. Unfortunately, the retro Foot Locker and Radio Shack that I photographed years ago are both gone.
If I had a bit more time, I would have gone inside of the Spencers. They probably have some retro fixtures inside. There are always a few things to laugh about inside of the stores, the back side of the store is a bit odd these days for sure. There is really nothing stopping kids from wandering back there and looking around.