Six Flags Mall Arlington Texas

Here is the Six Flags Mall in Arlington Texas which closed sometime earlier this year (possibly June), before I had a chance to visit this mall. Opened in 1970, Six Flags Mall was t-shaped mall with Dillard's (closed 2002, reopened in 2005 currently open as a clearance center), Sanger-Harris (Foley's closed 2005), JCPenney (closed 1997), and Sears (closed 2002) as anchors. For a good history of the mall click here for an article on the mall around the time the mall closed. 

A large portion of the mall has been purchased and the mall may reopen in a few months (click here for the story. It looks like the mall will be redeveloped similarly to the La Gran Plaza Mall and the property will be donated to charity after the mall is profitable again.

The former Sears anchor and mall entrance from the Dillard's parking lot. 

The former Sanger-Harris which was later re-branded as a Foley's. Photos from the Labelscar article show the Foley's logo was still in place after the store closed.

The Tinseltown Cinema is still open. 

The former JCPenney anchor which as later a college. The food court entrance is to the right of the closed anchor. 

The former JCPenney up close. 

The Dillard's clearance store is still open, and you can see the mall through the windows of the closed off mall entrance. The Dillard's wing of the mall was added later as shown in this photolink.

Here are some views of the closed mall from the windows of the Dillard's old mall entrance. I was surprised to see that the entrance to the mall had not been covered up and you can see right into the closed mall from Dillard's. In the future this mall may be alive again if the redevelopment goes as planned. 

This is the view going towards the former Sanger-Harris/ Foley's.

La Gran Plaza Mall Fort Worth TX

La Gran Plaza Mall is located in Fort Worth Texas. This mall originally began as an open air shopping center in 1962 called Seminary South Shopping Center. In the mid 1980's the shopping center was enclosed and included JCPenney, Sears (original anchor), and Dillard's as anchors. By the early 2000's all of the anchors had left and the mall was in trouble. For more historical information click on the following three links. The first link shows the mall before the most recent renovation. 

http://www.fortwortharchitecture.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4255

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/fort-worth-tx/TP5P8OBRMOHGM0AJT

http://mall-hall-of-fame.blogspot.com/2008/07/seminary-south-center-interstate-35.html

The mall was purchased in the mid 2000's by a group that included Boxer properties and the mall was renovated and brought in several new businesses to fill the mall. The result has been a successful transformation of the property that has benefited the community. Boxer properties is the same company that manages operations at the PlazAmericas Mall in Houston. 

The former Dillard's is now a three level El Mercado

The Ross and next door Burlington are in the former Sears building. 

The food court is attached to El Mercado on the first floor. The second floor is where the majority of the mall stores are located. 

Many of the pictures of the mall were taken at closing time, but the mall was packed when we first arrived. This mall is very successful and a great example of how to re-position a mall that was failing. 

For a full store list click on the following link.

http://www.lagranplazamall.com/en/store_directory.aspx

The sign for the Cinema Latino at the entrance to the mall concourse. 

This is the central part of the mall and where Sears was originally located. Burlington and Ross are the main anchors of the mall along with Factory 2 U.

The Food Court area. There are also several restaurants throughout the mall. 

As you can see the mall is nearly full of a mix of name brand and local merchants. 

The front of the former JCPenney which is now a college. 

How about a retro 1980's style Foot Locker store. 

The Footaction is also a retro late 1980's-1990's style. 

The former Dillard's which is now El Mercado. El Mercado is packed on all three floors shops and businesses. These photos were taken after closing time, but this place was packed when we first arrived.  

Inside of El Mercado.

More new articles coming soon including a return to San Antonio.

Mervyn's Ingram Park

Happy day after Thanksgiving. Here is a short post until I finish the remaining Dallas/ Fort Worth mall posts.  

Here is the former Mervyn's near Ingram Park Mall in the Northwest San Antonio metro area. This store lasted until the end of Mervyn's in Texas and was similar to the Mervyn's that was in Pasadena Texas. 

The Mervyn's was a typical 1980's style like nearly every Mervyn's that was in Texas and Louisiana. There were a few Mervyn's that opened in the 1990's in Texas with a different design. 

A peek through the windows shows some fixtures still left in the store. 

Coming soon more new malls from Dallas/ Fort Worth and San Antonio.