West Oaks Mall Updated post from June with new information

There is a new update to this post from this past weekend. A vast majority of the interior mall is closed to the public. Only a very small portion of the mall is open during unknown hours. (No hours posted at the entrance). This entrance was unlocked and open to visit the mall, and the automatic door was very slow to open. Two interior businesses remain, GEVC and The Elegance Banquet Hall. TechStar Airsoft which has an exterior only entrance is also open. 

On our weekday visit in June, and when we initially posted the news about West Oaks. All of the interior access points were locked or boarded up and the employees of the Outlet informed us that there was nothing left, and the mall was closed. As of June, we will still say that West Oaks has ceased to be a traditional mall since the interior mall corridors have been mostly closed to the public and operate on non-traditional hours. If things change, we will update this post.  Anchor stores with normal operations include The Outlet, Crazy Boss, Dillard's Clearance Center, and Fortis College. These businesses are still open with no mall access. 

TechStar Airsoft entrance which is just to the West of the mall entrance.

The two businesses left inside of the mall are just inside the above entrance in the left side of this image. The rest of the mall access is closed off completely by a short wall as you can see in the far view. 

This is the view from the just before the blocked off section of the mall to the entrance.

A look into the Airsoft field which looks like a lot of fun. This business does not have interior mall access, only a window to see inside.

To update the rest of the post, you cannot access the mall at any other entrance. The Outlet Mall entrance is sealed off as you can see below as well as Crazy Boss (Not pictured) and Dillards (Not pictured).

This was the food court entrance, already boarded up.

I have a massive photo collection from April 2023 just before the vast majority of the mall closed. I will post those at a later time.

West Oaks Mall Houston Texas 2019 and 2021 visits

Here is a West Oaks Mall update. There is not much to report on, but the mall is dying at a fast pace. 

A 2022 visit can be found here from our buddy Mike at Houston Historic Retail.

In addition to this post, my Fiesta signage video is now posted on Youtube (click here).

June 2019 visit.

A lot of signage remains in this area, but half of the stores are gone.

In 2019, two food court tenants were still open. Just wait and see how many are left in 2021.

The food court was a ghost town. 

If the redevelopment of the mall panned out, this corridor would have been lively.

Ceiling damage

Nobody's home!

Cobwebs and dust.

The design of this mall is so nice, it is sad that so many businesses have closed here.

Finish Line is finished!

Also gone!

Champs still toughing it out.

Crazy Boss is the newest anchor taking over the former Palais Royal/Linens and Things/Palais Royal again space. 

Not much left in this court either.

 

Both Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret left between my 2019 and 2021 visits to the mall.

This section of the mall was still in decent shape in 2019. Most spaces were filled.

Once you cross over towards the former Macy's the mall dies out again.

The former Sears space had this The Arcade signage, but no signs of redevelopment.

Nice try, but this would not be a great place for a pop-up shop.

The former Macy's is now a closeout retailer called The Outlet.

Looking back towards the mall corridor from The Outlet entrance.

March 2021 Visit

As you can see the sign on Highway 6 looks really bad. Sears and Applebee's were just turned around with Tutti Frutti the only business still active.

One of the bright spots at the mall. This is where I enter the mall on this visit.

The former Sears still awaits redevelopment.

The Crazy Boss mall court. Looks about the same as in 2019. 

We can see the Victoria's Secret on the right is gone.

The Uniform Store was dark as well, not sure if it was closed for the day or permanently.

Same story with this store, closed for the day or permanently.

Let's go look at the former Sears.

Lights are on, but nobody is home.

No signs of redevelopment at all.

The mall still looks really clean though.

Closed permanently or for the day? I really could not tell.

The Jewelry Center was still going, one of the few places open at 6pm on a weekday.

With the mostly vacant corridor, the lighting looks really dim in the evening.

This is one of the strangest things I have seen inside of a mall so far. Fear, trust, and envy and one of the mannequins' mouths taped shut. With how empty, dark, and silent as the mall was, this very creepy to see.

Not sure if the lighting was dimmed or just not enough for the nearly empty former Macy's corridor.

In front of the anchor the lighting is better.

The Outlet keeps different hours than the mall and closes early.

The dark blue hue of the evening looks really awesome in the skylights.

As you can see to the far right, the Foot Locker that was here in 2019 is also gone.

Bath and Body Works recently left this newer location as well. I believe the location was remodeled less than 5 years before.

Back to the Crazy Boss court. Even the long-tenured Smoothie place is gone. Deerbrook Mall still has a location if you miss those drinks 😀.

Champs was like an oasis in the dead mall.

The furniture store was locked and chained up.

It appears that some of the retailers still left close earlier than the mall hours.

I am not even sure that Dillard's opens their mall entrance anymore.

A few businesses still left near the food court.

Another store out of the few that were open at around 6pm.

The old Hot Topic in the food court.

Only one food court restaurant left in 2021. As of 2022, there are none left, and the mall entrance has been gated off. I really like the setup at this food court despite the lack of food outlets.

About half of the space in the food court was used by retailers. I wonder if the whole area was filled with restaurants when the mall opened.

The fireplace used to be a nice touch, now it sits unused.

The former Mervyn's corridor which was mostly demolished.

This partial section of the mall has a few businesses.

The Tutti Frutti cafe is still open with an exterior entrance but closed early on this day.

I never saw this open. 

One of the vintage wall photos was left on a food court booth.

All of the stores listed here are gone.

Now for some close-ups of the various stores and food court spots.

Now this section of the mall is gated off.

A closed food court stall painted with an image of what could have been.

Hilarious, there was no problem following these guidelines here. I would have to really look around for another person in this mall.

I was surprised to see the Pepsi machines stocked up.

As we get closer to 7pm Champs is closing up. 7pm was the official time for the mall to close for the evening. 

Damn, now I need to find another way out of the mall. The store was still open but closed off their mall entrance at 7pm.

A few more photos in the mall as I have to go back to the food court to leave. The ceiling with water damage update in 2021. I photographed this in 2019 with damage.

A last shot of the food court.

Not sure if this place ever opened.

Such a sad sight. At least the door was open to leave.

A close-up of the Dillard's sign as I walk to my vehicle.

I hope you enjoyed this somewhat recent update of West Oaks. More to come.