2024 Teaser article, just a small sample of news and future projects

Here is a short teaser article to see what I have been documenting behind the scenes. My apologies to the readers of this blog for my long absence since posting my 15th anniversary Sears article back in April. At the moment, I don't have enough free time for a complete post, so here is a quick look at some things until I can put together another full post.

Lufkin Atwoods in the former Kmart. 

After 7 long years the Kmart space has been filled with this brand new Atwoods store. The store opened on May 15, 2024. Atwoods is a variety store that carries so many products. This renovated space is the best-case scenario for the old Kmart space. Unfortunately, this shopping center will have another large space to fill once Conn's closes in the near future.

Former electronics department.

This was the wall where the 90's images were up until the very end of the Kmart. Too bad Atwoods doesn't have an electronics department. 

Hertz Tower (Capital One Tower) demolition scheduled for September 7th in the morning. While this is not a retail related story, this tower has dominated the skyline of Downtown Lake Charles for as long as I can remember. This 22-story building opened in 1983 and was heavily damaged in 2020 from Hurricane Laura, with further damage occurring from Hurricane Delta just a few weeks later. From what I can find online, the economics of fixing up the building were not there, so the decision was made to demolish the building and open up the site for future redevelopment. 

Post Oak Mall former Sears now Murdoch's Ranch and Home. 

Murdoch's opened on January 30, 2024. About half of the former Sears building was converted into a Conn's HomePlus store. The remainer of the building sat vacant for 5 and a half years before Murdochs opening. Now that Conn's is closing, who knows what will take their space. Murdoch's does not open up into the mall.

From my best guess, this is where the electronics department was in the former Sears.

As you can see, the former Bealls and Macy's anchor spots are still vacant. About half of the mall is doing really well, while the other half is somewhat struggling. There is also a small Entertainmart store near the Dillard's Womens store, but the selection of items is pretty small in comparison to the stores we have visited before.

Greenspoint Mall May 2024 visit. 

This was one visit for the ages and possibly my last visit to the mall. As was reported late last month, the mall was originally scheduled to close on June 30th. The date was moved to July 31st per the initial news reports. A couple of days later, the news reports changed the closing date to August 31st. I will try to make another visit later this month, so if the mall is still open, we will get more photos. If not, you will not be disappointed with the coverage from the May trip. 

The food court doors had been screwed shut so only 2 entrances remained open to the public. Not sure if that is actually up to fire code, but this is not the first mall I have seen something like this at before. 

Per a Jimmy Jazz employee, Finish Line had been broken into a couple of weeks earlier and the decision was made to close the store immediately. 

Both open mall entrances have boarded up windows with broken glass.

The former Foley's Macy's building is in very poor condition. 

The crumbling Sears building with the new mixed-use development just a few feet away.

Water gushing out next to the former Dillard's/Joskes.

Closed off mall entrance near the former Dillard's/Joskes. This is probably a preview as to how the mall will look once the rest is closed off. 

Redbox out of business. Even though it has been years since I rented a Redbox movie, these were a convenient option once Blockbuster closed their stores. Here are a couple of different kiosks that I photographed last month once the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of the company was announced.

Walmart Porter Texas

Randalls Flagship Champions Village.

Sadly, the store had some water leaking through the ceiling a few days after Hurricane Beryl.

Conn's HomePlus Humble Texas. 

As many of my readers will know, Conn's has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is in the early stages of a complete liquidation of the company. I will do my best to document at least one Conn's store. We didn't shop very often at Conn's, but they were one of the few companies that were moving into empty mall anchor stores. The closure of this company is hitting Texas especially hard since there are 80 stores in the state. 

Round 1 North Star Mall San Antonio 

You may be asking yourself, why does this matter? Well, I am proud to share the news that Deerbrook Mall is getting the first Houston area location of Round 1. It remains to be seen as to what space they will occupy, but the mall website already lists them as a tenant. Construction is scheduled to start this month with an opening date in 2025. This is currently my only photo of a Round 1 location. This company has been expanding to a lot of malls and we will finally have one here as well.

99 Cents only conversion to Ollie's Atascocita (Humble) Texas

The conversion to Ollie's for the former 99 cents only store that closed in June is well underway. In early August, we can see that the store has already received shelving and stock. The purple lines have been painted over with red paint as well. The Humble location of 99 Cents only will become a Dollar Tree (not pictured)

Looks very close to opening already, they are not wasting any time here.

The last remnant of the 99 cents only store.

One last news story, the long-delayed Taco Bueno in Humble is now open. This strip of restaurants on FM 1960 just North of the airport has been growing steadily. One of the few remaining Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the Houston area is in this strip as well. If we can only get In and Out, Bojangles, and Del Taco (please come back to Houston!) in the area as well it would be fantastic news. In and Out's expansion is very similar to what we saw with Raising Canes, NE Houston was last on their list. Now Raising Canes has 3 locations in the area with constant drive through lines and decent dine-in traffic as well.  

Hope everyone enjoyed this quick look at some happenings around.

Toys R Us OST and Fannin Houston Tx

Here is a Toys R Us location near the Texas Medical Center and NRG Stadium. This store closed on June 29, 2018 on the final day of operations for all United States Toys R Us locations.

This was an awesome location to visit especially in the final days because the whole store was open with no barricades. 

Along with this post, I created a short video of the store in the final days click here.

My first visit to the store was early on in the sale when the store was mostly full. The store closing signage at this point was limited. This location was a good alternative to the busier locations and was one of the cleanest locations I have been to.

I did my best to capture every section of the store. The photos speak for themselves, enjoy.

The LEGO department was really cool, they really went all out to display what you could build. 

NFL and NBA licensed lego toys.

The store also had a Babies R Us department.

Another product that Toys R Us featured a huge selection of. Interactive train displays and a huge wall of Thomas and friends.

Normally the bikes were put together for sale on the floor. At this point in the sale, all of the bikes were put out in boxes unassembled.

Toys R Us also had a good selection of different sports items.

Nerf guns were one of the most popular toys at the time Toys R Us went into bankruptcy.

Even the off brand Fast Lane toys had Toys R Us trailers.

Toys R Us had recently modified the action figure departments to make them more interactive.

The fan vault was an addition to the action figure department and featured collectibles and action figures geared more towards teenagers and adults.

Nintendo Switch was a little more than a year old when this photo was taken. The majority of what was in the case was already sold out. The remaining items were consolidated to other video game cases.

The Animal Crossing amiibos were way overstocked. In 2020, these would be much more appreciated. Nearly every Toys R Us store I visited, had a lot of these amiibos in stock.

Xbox, WiiU, 3DS, and Nintendo Switch games were all consolidated into this display.

One remaining Xbox, for a whopping 5% discount! Games were 15% off, video game accessories 10% off, and systems were 5% off.

As you can see, the display models were already pulled. The remaining ones were for sale at the front desk.

PS4 and PS3 games were limited as well. 

Even at 20% off, movies and music CD's were still overpriced.

Wall of RC cars, just past the video game department.

The video game department here was smaller than most Toys R Us locations. 

2nd to last day of operation June 28, 2018. There is a huge difference in how the store looked at this point. Nearly everything was sold out.

Sparse product selection at this point.

Thankfully the liquidators did not barricade the store, so you could roam freely throughout the store.

I wonder if this balloon is still stuck. 

Baskets filled with random leftovers. 

Last day of operation June 29, 2018. 

Even though only a day passed, the store seemed much emptier than the day before. Maybe it was because I knew this was the end.

Lots of noise from shelves being taken apart and hitting the ground could be heard. 

Besides the small amount of inventory, the store was empty except for the fixtures. It was a sad, yet perfect way to see the store. You could almost imagine that the store looked similar to this prior to opening for the first time. Empty shelves waiting to be filled with product. Anyways, enjoy the rest of the tour.

The saddest part of the store, the now empty video game department.

I was not the only person in the store, but there were not too many people still here. The employees were cool with letting me and a few others get pictures.

  

One chapter of Toys R Us history ends and another begins. The new TRU kids brand that acquired the Toys R Us name has been bringing Toys R Us back to life. On November 27, 2019 in New Jersey Toys R Us reopened their first retail store since the liquidation. Toysrus.com is also open for business once again, and partnered with Target to fulfill orders. Pictured here is the second new Toys R Us location in the Houston Galleria that opened on December 7, 2019. These new stores are only about a quarter of the size of the older Toys R Us locations. The Houston Galleria store will be featured in a later blog post so please stay tuned.