TRU Houston Galleria reboot 2019 & 2020 visits

Toys R Us physical store reboot 2019-2021

After the bankruptcy and liquidation sales, Toys R Us stores in the United States came back for about 13 months. The Houston Galleria store #2 and featured in this article opened on Saturday December 7, 2019 and closed on January 15, 2021.

The New Jersey store #1 at Westfield Garden State Plaza opened on Wednesday November 27, 2019 and closed on January 26, 2021.

The stores and website are operated by TRU kids brands which acquired the rights to the name in 2019. Toys R Us still operates stores in several other countries and you can find out more about the company by clicking here.

News article that shows the Galleria store just before the grand opening.

We visited the new Toys R Us a total of around 5 times during the operation of this store.

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November 20, 2019, two weeks before the grand opening. 

Our first visit to the new store on December 11th a few days after the grand opening.

There was a lot of activity in the store, but I was able to get a handful of photos on my visit.

Many sections of the store had themes such as this one. Most of the shelving units were appropriately sized for kids to reach and see the products off of the shelves. 

The treehouse in the middle of the store. The stairs were open for kids to climb up and look around the store.

The Lego section not only had this huge display, there was also a table to build your own mini-creation.

The store had a lot of smaller displays as well.

The Nintendo department was especially cool. Lots of demo models to try out games and a decent selection of the most popular games Nintendo had to offer at the time.

The Nerf section had an area to test out the toys. You will see that later on in the article.

This is looking from one side of the store to the other. The store was much smaller than the old TRU stores of the past. The store was about the size of the average Toys R Us Express stores.

A much smaller display area towards the back of the store with a product testing table.

In the back of the store was the activity room.

The magical mirror was an interactive booth where Geoffrey mimicked your movements.

Here is what the screen looked like.

A look from the back of the store to the front mall entrance.

Lining the ring around the treehouse were books for the kids. There were seating areas near the treehouse where kids could read.

The Lego building stations.

The checkout area.

Here is the activity room. The old Toys R Us jingle was spelled out across the walls. 

The huge Geoffrey was a nice touch to welcome visitors to the store.

An up-close look at the Nintendo game selection.

The Nerf testing area had several products to try out.

The events schedule in the theater/activity area.

February 2020

November 2020 post Covid lockdown visit. About 7 weeks before the store closed. The interactive displays were gone or covered up and the large treehouse was blocked off.

The Nintendo display had been reduced to this small kiosk and was replaced by a different product line (not pictured). As you can see, the display models had been covered up as well. They did have the still hard to find full sized Nintendo Switch units in stock, most retailers had been struggling to get those in stock since February.

The Nerf area also no longer had the testing area, reduced Nintendo selection pictured as well.

The new stores couldn't have opened at a worse time. Just a few months after opening, malls across the US had to shut down due to Covid restrictions. When the stores finally reopened, the interactive displays had to be closed off or removed to keep people from spreading germs. These stores were built on interactions between the consumers and products. Kids were invited to interact with each other and have fun while trying out the products. These stores were also built with some nostalgia in mind, a lot of people were taking photos early on in the store, but not a lot of people were buying things. The Toys R Us model worked when the stores were huge and there were tons of toys for each and every age, even adults. This store concept had an uphill battle even if the Covid lockdowns had not happened. It was a neat concept while it lasted and we did make some purchases here while they were around.  

 

Toys R Us is still alive online at toysrus.com, but you will be redirected to Amazon.com to make purchases. When the website initially relaunched, you would be forwarded to the Target website to complete your purchase. Plans for the future of Toys R Us are a work in progress. We can hope that larger physical stores return in some form in the future.

 

Goodbye Macy's Sage at the Galleria

Here was the last 1980's era Macy's in the Houston area. Macy's has an interesting history in the Houston area and almost disappeared at one point when this was the only Macy's store in the area. Macy's came to Houston in late 1984 with the Deerbrook Mall store and then Willowbrook and Baybrook locations opened shortly after in early 1985. All three of these stores had three floors and painted white bricks with large glass structures over the entrances. 

Macy's at Sage (Galleria Macy's) opened on September 24, 1986 with featured singer Tony Bennett and the Stephen F. Austin band with a gala to benefit the Children's Museum. The store was filled with balloons and also had other local music bands in the store. A parade with many of the characters from the New York Thanksgiving Day parade was also part of the opening day festivities. The new store opened along with an addition to the Galleria called Galleria III. The new section of the mall which actually opened on September 18 was attached to the mall through Marshall Fields which is now Saks Fifth Avenue. The Galleria III with space for 50 shops and over 100,000 square feet of space was 70% leased at the opening. and featured the Sharper Image, Bass Shoes, Au Bon Pain, Hoffritz for Cutlery, Crate and Barrel and a Ralph Lauren Polo shop along with the 3 story 256,000 square ft. Macy's. The Galleria I and II were 99% leased at the time of the Macy's opening. 

Timeline of Macy's history in the Houston area which directly and indirectly had an impact on this store.

In March 1988 Macy's made their first bid at to take over Federated stores which was the parent company of Foley's. The bid was not mentioned again in the news until 1994 after the bankruptcy.

In January 1992 Macy's files for bankruptcy protection and reorganizes.

In July 1994 Macy's and Federated agree to merge but the deal falls through. Macy's emerges from bankruptcy later that year. 

In March 1997 Macy's sells the Deerbrook, Baybrook, and Willowbrook locations to Dillard's. The stores are converted over the next year and only the Galleria store remained open in the Houston area. The Deerbrook Dillard's still looks exactly the same on the outside as the Macy's did with the exception of the sign change. The interior was remodeled. The Baybrook and Willowbrook stores were expanded and remodeled completely inside and out with the Dillard's design. 

May 2000 The latest expansion Galleria IV is announced with the addition of three story 225,000 square ft. Nordstrom and a 250,000 square ft. three story Foley's. 

July 2002 a sexual harassment lawsuit case was brought against Macy's stemming from an incident between two workers at the Galleria store. Macy's was cleared from any wrongdoing in the case.

August 2005 Macy's acquires Federated stores and announces they will eliminate duplicate mall locations including the Galleria Macy's. All Foley's stores became Macy's stores by September 9, 2006 which gives Macy's an unprecedented large share of the Houston department store market for the first time. 

2006-2013 Macy's at Sage which the store was renamed after the Federated acquisition continued to operate on borrowed time due to the lease agreement for the store. The store that was long rumored to close kept going until September 2013 when redevelopment plans were finalized for the entire Galleria III including the Macy's. The mall will be mostly demolished and Saks Fifth Avenue will move to the former mall portion of the Galleria III. The Macy's site will also be demolished to make way for a high-rise residential development. 

March 2014 Macy's begins the going out of business sale for the Macy's at Sage.

The final day of business was May 4, 2014. The store is currently being demolished.

Enjoy these photos of this retro 1980's Macy's location. The store did not have any major remodels throughout the years and still looked like it did in 1986. You don't see this kind of detail in modern department stores any more.  

Visit #1 about a month before the store closed. 

Here is another visit during the last two weeks of the sale. The once full store is starting to empty out. 

 2nd to last day May 3, 2014 The store still had all three floors open for fixture sales, but large sections of the store were empty. The first floor former Men's department had several clothes racks and odds and ends left.  

Bonus photos Galleria 3 redevelopment.