La Palmera Mall Corpus Christi and Portland Texas Kmart center March 2020 mini-updates

Here is a mini-update on the La Palmera Mall and Portland Texas Kmart center from March 2020. I combined both posts since I only got a handful of photos.

Just before the local lockdowns shut down this mall and most malls across the country, we visited La Palmera Mall in the evening. I took advantage of this time to get some photos of the food court and parts of the mall I missed previously. The mall was not very busy at all and some stores had already started closing. 

Food court

Mall corridor near the food court.

Telemundo stage in the food court where the live news is broadcast.

The aquarium in the food court.

A view of the entrance to the food court and escalators.

Now for the Portland Kmart center. I wanted to get some day photos of the center, so here they are. As of March 2020, the site was still vacant.

The Bealls was in the process of closing. I am not sure if this was a store that was going to become a Gordmans, but as we now know all of the Stage stores will close in the coming months. This store had an additional Bealls Shoes next door. I sadly did not have a chance to visit the store due to time constraints. 

The loss of Bealls is going to hurt this center. The Dollar Tree will be the last big box store left after Bealls closes.

As of the posting of this article, we have passed 990,000 page views. I have a special article in the works for the million page view mark. Hopefully we can get there by next week. 

La Palmera Mall Corpus Christi Texas

Here is the mall that helped kill off the nearby Sunrise Mall. The mall originally opened as Padre Staples Mall on July 30, 1970, but the name was later changed to La Palmera in 2008. The mall originally opened up with the corridor from JCPenney to Dillard's on one-level. In 1985 in response to the competition from the nearby Sunrise Mall, the second floor was added along with Foley's (now Macy's). Macy's, Dillard's, H&M, and JCPenney are the current anchor stores. Several chain restaurants are also attached to the exterior of the mall. Padre Staples was the second mall in Corpus Christi. The first mall was the Cullen Mall which opened in 1963 and closed in 1995. 

Food court entrance.

Dillard's

JCPenney is very old school.

Macy's looks like the Deerbrook Macy's store looked like prior to the 2008 renovation.

The entrance to the mall from the above door.

Here is the layout of the mall. If you look to the top left of the directory, you will see the second floor.

Here is a JCPenney with a rarely seen red sign.

The center court near JCPenney and Macy's has lower ceilings.

As you get a little more than halfway through the first floor, the second floor appears. You have to wonder why only a part of the mall has a second floor instead of the whole mall. 

The food court is located a little further to the left on the first floor.

Here is the second floor. Dillard's and H&M are the only anchors to have an entrance on the second floor.

Here is the escalator that ends off the second floor. 

The Macy's corridor is very short.

One last look at the center court.

La Palmera is a very unremarkable mall, but it outlasted all area malls. The strength of the anchors kept this mall from going under. The expansion, updates, and name change only strengthened the mall over nearby Sunrise. Even though Sunrise had the 1987 expansion, the majority of the interior was never updated. Sunrise had Sears, Mervyn's, Joske's, Montgomery Ward, and Frost Brothers. Padre Staples has 2 of the original anchors along with Macy's and H&M. 

Kmart Portland Texas is next up featured here.