Town East Mall Mesquite Texas August 2020

Town East Mall in Mesquite Texas is a bustling mall located East of Dallas. The mall is listed at 1,223,724 square feet of retail space and opened in 1971. This mall has three floors with the third floor being the food court area. Even though this is a sizable mall, the floor plan and layout of the mall make it feel smaller. This is a very busy mall with tons of good shopping and eating options.

Anchors are Macy's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Dillard's, JCPenney, and the now closed Sears. 

Here are some photos of the Sears store, we will visit this store in more detail in the future.

As you can see, this Sears store had a unique logo. Very few Sears stores received this logo update which was used in the mid-2000's. This is the first level of Sears. This Sears also received a fairly recent interior update unlike any store I have visited.

A modern F.Y.E. store. At this point the store had not reopened after the Covid lockdowns.

As you can see from the directory, this mall has an odd shape. The layout is unlike anything I have seen before at a mall.

One thing to keep in mind as we tour the mall. Some stores had still not reopened at this point after the Covid lockdowns a few months before. A lot of stores had limited days and hours as well. The mall is doing very well in 2022. In this photo we see part of the third level food court.

Each anchor corridor had these enormous signs in front.

Even though the design of the mall is fairly bland there are some nice touches like this massive light fixture.

The corridor going to Dick's Sporting Goods which is a recent addition to the mall.

The center of the mall above the food court. This point can be seen clearly from just about everywhere around the parking lot of the mall. This is the view from the Dick's Sporting Goods corridor of the mall.

The Sears logo looks just as good on the second floor.

The backside of the Sears corridor sign shows which direction to find the other anchors and featured stores.

So good to see neon signs at a modern mall.

Going up the escalator to the third-floor food court. We have a very clear view of the second-floor Sears corridor.

View of the mall from the third-floor food court area near JCPenney.

View from the food court to near Dillard's.

These are what the food court stalls look like. There are a lot up here and most were filled on our visit.

Another view from the third floor looking towards Macy's.

A view from the food court down escalator towards the Sears corridor. 

Now for a few views of the first floor of the mall. The play area is located just past this Town East Mall logo.

Some parts of the first floor are fairly bland.

Other parts are vibrant and full of natural light.

I know this post is a bit on the shorter side, but we will have a full tour of the Sears store here in the near future. This is a perfectly good mall that is doing very well.

Like I mentioned earlier, this is the center point of the mall which is visible from all around the mall.

Stay tuned, more content to come!

 

University Mall/University Plaza Update 2021

Before we get started with our 2021 visit, here are some newer photos generously sent in by our friend Philip Hudman from 2022.

Inside of the former Aladdin's Castle arcade.

Here is the exterior of the Aladdin's Castle, pre-renovations from my visit in July 2020.

Now for my 2021 visit, things have certainly changed.

The JCPenney corridor has mostly been cut off from access by this new wall. The remaining storefronts facing East are still intact, but now they can only be accessed through this small hallway. The mall is listed at 191,356 Square feet of retail space on Loopnet, but I believe this is without the anchor spaces listed.

The JCPenney entrance in 2011.

A door separating the old mall corridor from the small hallway was open, so we had to peek inside.

Bath and Body Works storefront.

Looking towards the JCPenney entrance.

Nail salon and Foot Locker spaces.

2011 Comparison of the above section of the mall.

One of the most glaring things is that the remainder of the neon has been pulled.

Here is what the front of the Bath and Body Works looked like in 2020.

Hard to tell without the storefronts, but the above photo is close to where this was taken in 2020.

Here is the small hallway that leads to the center hallway with the East facing stores still intact.

View from 2011 visit.

One of the stores is now a martial arts facility.

The sandwich shop is still in business, but it was closed on our Sunday visit.

The same sandwich shop in 2020. The corridor in the middle is now sealed off.

You can also see this storefront in the above picture next to the Sandwich shop.

Now for the center hallway which has changed greatly since our last visit.

The former Gordon's was open to walk into as well.

And another small portion of the old corridor is found. This is across from the sandwich shop.

This spot is so strange. I guess they walled it off like this to make another future store space along the remodeled center corridor.

Taken from almost the same spot in 2011. The trash can is probably the same on in both photos. You can also see the right side of the Gordon's in both photos.

The former checkout counter at Gordon's.

The vault is wide open.

Back out into the remodeled center corridor, we see the former entrance to Bealls. This is the current entrance to the sandwich shop with tables inside for dining.

A look down the renovated corridor, Aladdin's Castle was on the right side.

The same corridor in 2020.

The doors that lead into the JCPenney corridor hallway.

The center court skylights, no more neon though!

2011 view of the same skylight. The entire corridor leading to Belk shown here is completely gone. The stores with exterior entrances have taken over that space.

Here is the small mall corridor leading to JCPenney. The wall separates the front facing storefronts. The sandwich shop has their old signage still intact.

JCPenney is peeking out at the end of the hallway. JCPenney is now Ollie's and does not open up into the old mall.

A USDA office has taken up space in one of the former storefronts as well.

Not much to see here.

The weird coin-op games and candy machines. The mall restrooms remain open.

Even though we were the only people inside of the mall, the doors we open to walk in. This hallway is about the only part of the property that has not been renovated yet.

The Fairy Nails that was previously inside of the mall relocated to this space.

The main entrance to the mall.

The front of the mall near Ollie's has been heavily modified to showcase the newly separated store spaces for future tenants.

The Belk side of the mall is fully leased.

The main entrance before the new logo was put up.

Now for some shots of the newly created exterior storefronts looking through the new glass doors. The larger Foot Locker space was divided in half as show here. This space was used for a gym that appears to have moved to the back section of the mall. Maybe they will move back up front once the renovations are completed.

The old Fairy Nails space.

The long closed off space next to the JCPenney mall entrance.

A random back-room janitors closet looking area. This was also visible from the new entryway glass.

More to come, stay tuned!