Rio Grande Mall June 2019 update Cuidad Juarez Chihuahua Mexico

Here is a short update from a mall that we visited about a year ago. This is one of the older malls in the city, but it is full and super busy. 

Here is the link to my first post at this mall (Click here)

On this visit, the Fabricas de Francia store was shutting down to make way for a conversion to become a Suburbia store. The renovation was going on behind closed off sections of the store, so I am not sure if the store ever closed during the transition. Suburbia is the discount version of Liverpool. All remaining Fabricas de Francia stores were converted to either Liverpool or Suburbia locations in 2019. Suburbia opened September 5, 2019 at 11am.

Here is the interior of the second floor. A lot of the store had been blocked off with work already beginning to remodel the store. This has to be the first time I have seen a store actively converted while still in business. The remaining inventory of the store had been consolidated mostly on the first floor. A few holdouts from the video game, music, movies, sporting goods, motorcycles, Children's clothing, toys, and housewares were still left.

A peak into the closed off area of the store.

As you can see, the second floor did not have much left.

Down to the first level. These older light fixtures are still in place after the conversion.

More Men's clothing.

The old school fixtures on the ceiling show the age of this store.

The electronics department was mostly closeout items and display models.

This staircase was closed off.

The remaining furniture was also moved downstairs.

This construction blanket had been placed around some of the interior walls. Work was going on behind the blanket.

Back up to the second floor for a better look around. You can see the temporary walls blocking off a huge portion of the store. Work was going on behind those walls.

Another look over the wall into the closed off area. Fixtures were being moved around by employees.

Here is what I could see of the former electronics and furniture departments.

Back to the first floor with a better view of some of the old school ceiling fixtures and designs.

This is what the mall entrance looks like now (click here)

Now for a few photos inside of the mall. We will start with Sounds, a store similar to FYE.

Sounds is part FYE, Radio Shack, and also features instruments, video games, and electronics as well. This is the kind of store that I would love to see here in the United States. 

The S mart, is difficult to photograph, but here is most of the store logo. 

Old school neon signage in the S mart.

Mall corridor shot.

The food court is directly across from the entrance to S mart. It was very tricky to get good photos in this section of the mall. The S mart deli is to the left, food court to the right.

Last but not least, the very detailed skylight near Fabricas de Francia.

Rio Grande Mall Cd. Juarez Mexico

Here is the next installment of the Ciudad Juarez Mall tour. The Rio Grande Mall is very close to the first mall featured in this series Plaza de las Americas Mall. 

Also check out my latest videos on YouTube

Toys R Us Pasadena

Toys R Us The Woodlands

The anchors of this mall are Fabricas de Francia (2 floors), Gala Furniture (2 floors), SMart, and Coppel (2 floors). This mall is very popular and also has a newer look inside even though it is an older mall.

The inside of the mall is cramped compared to the other malls I visited so far. This mall is packed full with almost no vacancies. Kiosks are all over the place even in cramped spaces.

The SMart is joined to the mall with an open view throughout the store. Lots of neon signage inside of the store and late 90's design elements.

The checkouts face the mall corridor. The food court is on the other side of this section of the mall. For now we will just see the SMart side.

Now we look into the rest of the mall.

The layout of the mall is hard to describe. Half of the mall is a rectangle that is connected to a long straight corridor (the other half) that curves to an entrance/exit. There are also 2 exits near the SMart that have small corridors attached.

A small casino just right in the middle of the mall, something you will rarely see here in the US.

The center court.

This store front definitely stands out.

Rock music is very popular in this city. In addition to multiple stores selling art and music, graffiti with rock band names was easy to find all around the city.

The East end of the mall. 

Fabricas de Francia is a higher end department store owned by Liverpool. It is similar to Dillard's and Nordstrom.

Let's take a look inside of this anchor. We start on the second floor in the electronics department.

These department stores are like going back in time. When was the last time an American department store in the South had a video game, movie, and music department?

Movies and music in a department store in 2019!

TV's. I would have gotten more pictures if one of the employees had not started following me around giving me the stink eye. Once I moved across the store, he stopped watching me.

Furniture across from the electronics.

Price scanner and online kiosk.

More furniture and home goods.

Motorbikes, sporting goods equipment and toys in the background.

Down to the first floor.

Retro fixtures.

Back into the mall we go, check out the retro restaurant across from Fabricas de Francia.

Interesting design element in this spot.

Check out the huge chair in front of the Gala furniture store.

Across from the Gala store we find another Coppel store. This one has a decent sized wall of TV's.

An optometrist tucked away in the electronics department.

Big selection of motorbikes inside of this Coppel.

The stairs leading to a very small second floor.

Toys, tires, automotive, a few furniture setups, and the bank were all that there is space for on the second floor.

A view of the first floor and the majority of the store.

Most people going to the second floor were going to the bank.

Video games in this Coppel too, the selection was not as good as the first one I visited though.

One of the 2 mall entrances to Coppel.

I thought the baby from the memes was a funny touch to the signage at this store.

Villarreal is another rent-to-own type of place similar to Famsa. 

Payphone was in surprisingly good condition.

The corridor leading to S Mart, the buggies probably get in the way when the mall is really busy.

Another Waldo's dollar store.

More photos of the S Mart side of the mall. Look at the detail in the store signage.

Looking towards Coppel and the Sounds store.

An old school mini-arcade. 

Now we have a few shots of the outside of the mall. This is the exterior of the Gala Furniture store.

Fabricas de Francia

A view of the mall from across the street, just past the Burger King.

More Ciudad Juarez Malls on the way. The next 2 have some very awesome things to see.