Showing posts with label Downtown Houston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Downtown Houston. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Macy's downtown Houston closing sale part 2

Part two of the Macy's downtown Houston closing sale. Here are photos from my last visit to the store 3 days before the store closed. Several people were taking photos inside of the store. A couple more views of the first level cosmetics and men's store. The jewelry section on the first level. The Men's cologne section on the first level. Well, this was the best I could do with my camera to get a picture of the escalators. Maybe someone out there has a better view that I could get. Here are a few more photos for sale that I found, the first one is another view of the new Memorial City Foley's. The second two are of the regional map of Foley's stores from probably the early 2000's. Now the former Foley's at Sharpstown Mall, Mall of the Mainland TX City, Prien Lake Mall Lake Charles, and Downtown Houston are gone. Speaking of Mall of the Mainland I am working on an article for this mall and I am looking for photos from 1991- present, stories, and comments about the mall to add to the mega-article that I will post in the future. I have many new articles on the way from Lafayette LA, Austin TX, and Houston TX. Stay tuned and keep the comments coming, I appreciate all of the feedback and information.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Macy's (Foley's) downtown Houston going out of business sale part one

The Macy's formerly Foley's in downtown Houston recently closed after more than 60 years in business. This was the last major department store left over from the days when downtown Houston was a major retail center. The closing of this store marked the end of an era for Houston. Sure Houston has the Shops at Houston Center and the Forever 21 at the new Houston Green Street as well as several tunnels with small pockets of shops and restaurants. But this was a relic of the past, a store that had survived when others vanished or moved away. If Macy's comes back to downtown Houston as is rumored the shopping experience just will not compare to the history of this store. This 10 level store in the final years of business only used 5 levels for retail, and not much changed when Macy's took over the Foley's chain besides the signs. Look for part two soon and as always comments are appreciated. The title above has a link to a brief history of the store. Here is a link to the ABC 13 story about the store closing. This is part one of a two part post of my last two visits to this historic store. One of the ways to enter the store was by the tunnel system. The store also had street level entrances on all four sides. This was the only image of the first level on this trip. More to come on my final visit to the store. The fourth floor was only halfway open and had a few fixtures and rugs for sale. There were a bunch of employees walking around so I was only able to get this photo of that floor. By the time I made it to visit this store the 5th and 3rd floors were closed off to the public. The 4th floor had rugs for sale and I was able to get a this picture of the 3rd floor as I passed going down the escalator. This store had class, from the solid wood panels to the lighting fixtures pictured below. The elevators and escalators were also mostly unchanged throughout the life of this store. The second floor of the store was reduced to selling fixtures by this point. I could have bought this store directory that was available, but for $200 no thanks! A photo of the Memorial City Mall Foley's that was on sale with the fixtures. There were several pictures like this one that were for sale that I found on my last trip to the store, stay tuned.