Schwegmann Plaza New Orleans East

This shopping center at Bullard Rd & I-10 is one of the surprising casualties of the Hurricane. The center was very popular before the Hurricane and at a great location. Only Pep Boys and some of the restaurants have returned to the center. The rest of the center is overgrown with weeds and small trees waiting for a rebirth. Since most of the retail along Read Blvd & I-10 was wiped out by the hurricane I am surprised that this center has not been reopened.

This is the namesake of the shopping center a former Schwegmann supermarket that closed in 1999. This operated as a Sav A Center market until Hurricane Katrina flooded out the site. The back of the center is fenced off to vehicles.



This was where the Big Lots formerly McFrugals operated. There were also some small retail stores in this section of the center.



Circuit City closed before the hurricane.




Toy's R Us another casualty of the Hurricane.



On the outer ring of the center; yet another casualty of Hurricane Katrina the Taco Bell. The Taco Bell was consolidated with the KFC a couple of buildings down saving space. There is also a McDonald's and a buffet on the outer ring that are open.

West Oaks Mall: In trouble?

The vacancies are on the upswing at West Oaks Mall. The Disney store is gone and several other stores have left or have been replaced by independent retailers. The children's area has been moved to the front of the vacant JCPenney. The mall is in a very busy area of Houston and still in great condition, so why is the mall declining?

Dillard's West Oaks is now a clearance store. I wonder if there is room for two clearance stores in Houston?



The nearly empty former Mervyn's/ Steve & Barry's wing. They have put up the research office to block the rest of the empty wing. Some stores have moved to the Macy's & Sears section of the mall and Journey's will be moving there soon as well. The mall may be trying to empty out this entire wing for redevelopment.




Blurry pictures of the food court. This is when my camera started to mess up. Only seven food/ snack outlets are left.

May 26th Update Greenspoint Mall

A view of the entrance sign that greets visitors coming in from Beltway 8.



The former Sears; the labelscars have been painted over. Half of the Sears wing inside of the mall has been sealed off to hide the vacancies.




The former Sears auto center behind the mall.



The faint Montgomery Ward labelscar is visible behind the paint.



The Dillard's clearance center; a faint labelscar in the middle of the photo of the Joske's logo is visible from this angle.



The former JCPenney is nothing more than a shell.

Now Open Clarewood Mercado at Plazamericas Mall

Welcome to the Clarewood Mercado at Plazamericas Mall in Houston Texas.







The first of the two Mercados is now open for business. The site is still under construction and about half of the stores tonight were open and doing business. It is a rare event that a twelve year vacant department store re-opens into a mini-mall. This mercado breathes new life into this long vacant section of the mall and appears to be nearly fully leased. The mercado includes a supermarket, laundromat, a mini food court, and several small stores. Most of the stores closed early and I took these pictures just before the market closed for the night.

Only ten months ago the former JCPenney was a vacant rotting shell.





Now the building has a new beginning; here is a look at the new mall entrance.




Here are a couple of shots in the nearly finished Supermercado which will have entrances from the food court and outside access.




There is a small food court here on the first floor; five of the six outlets are filled. Notice the mirrors still on the poles from the old JCPenney. There are a few signs still in place from the old JCPenney including the one above the escalator below.




I am not sure what is going in here on the second floor; maybe a junior anchor or storage. There are three entrances to this area under construction.




The owners of the new mercado kept the escalators exactly the same from the old JCPenney. Gotta love the nostalgia here.




Clothing stores, jewelers, snack shops, cell phone booths, car stereo outlets, furniture stores, toy and novelty stores, tattoo shops, and several other businesses are open or moving in.










This is the space behind the Laundromat; it appears to be a dollar/ discount store.