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Britt's Department Store


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I loved Britt's at Northline when I was a kid, because inevitably we were stopping to eat in the restaurant. Afterwards, I got to run across the mall corridor to Playland Toys which was always a treat. A friend of mine and I were reminiscing yesterday, and Britt's came up. He swears there was a Britt's at Gulfgate, I'm not convinced. Can anyone confirm Britt's locations here in town? I pretty sure there was not one in Northwest or Greenspoint.

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I loved Britt's at Northline when I was a kid, because inevitably we were stopping to eat in the restaurant. Afterwards, I got to run across the mall corridor to Playland Toys which was always a treat. A friend of mine and I were reminiscing yesterday, and Britt's came up. He swears there was a Britt's at Gulfgate, I'm not convinced. Can anyone confirm Britt's locations here in town? I pretty sure there was not one in Northwest or Greenspoint.

I never heard of a Britt's. There was only the Picadilly Cafeteria at Gulfgate, as far as I can remember. And at one time, a One's a Meal, and Walgreen's cafe w/ soda fountain.

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I never heard of a Britt's. There was only the Picadilly Cafeteria at Gulfgate, as far as I can remember. And at one time, a One's a Meal, and Walgreen's cafe w/ soda fountain.

I suspected that. I never remember seeing another Britt's besides the one in Northline. Growing up, I thought it was the only one. In Northline, it was originally where the HCC campus last was before the mall was demoed. As a matter of fact, Britt's Department Store was the very last thing torn down at the old Northline site, since HCC was not ready to move out when the rest of the mall flattened. Britt's was actually like a Foley's or Sear's in that it was a dept. store with a connecting restaurant inside. To tell the truth, it was more of a five and dime quality such as Woolworth's, but had actual tables to sit as well as a counter in the restaurant portion.

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I suspected that. I never remember seeing another Britt's besides the one in Northline. Growing up, I thought it was the only one. In Northline, it was originally where the HCC campus last was before the mall was demoed. As a matter of fact, Britt's Department Store was the very last thing torn down at the old Northline site, since HCC was not ready to move out when the rest of the mall flattened. Britt's was actually like a Foley's or Sear's in that it was a dept. store with a connecting restaurant inside. To tell the truth, it was more of a five and dime quality such as Woolworth's, but had actual tables to sit as well as a counter in the restaurant portion.

It sounded like an upscale clothing store name, to me, like Margo's. I heard on an earlier HAIF post that Northline was to be torn down. Makes me sad, also hated to see the old Gulfgate go. I have one memory of Northline, one entrance that had a whole line of those coin-operated riding machines, like the mechanical horse at my neighborhood grocery store. Way before the days of ShowBiz Pizza. Is the Northline theater gone, too? It had the same design as the Gulfgate & Meyerland Cinemas.

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It sounded like an upscale clothing store name, to me, like Margo's. I heard on an earlier HAIF post that Northline was to be torn down. Makes me sad, also hated to see the old Gulfgate go. I have one memory of Northline, one entrance that had a whole line of those coin-operated riding machines, like the mechanical horse at my neighborhood grocery store. Way before the days of ShowBiz Pizza. Is the Northline theater gone, too? It had the same design as the Gulfgate & Meyerland Cinemas.

Yes it is, unfortunately. The General Cinema I-IV was closed and effectively abandoned when Magic Johnson opened his 12 screen at the old Joske's site. Northline is long gone now Nena. There are new shopping strips that have been built basically from where the old Mont. Ward's auto shop was, clear up to basically the old Craig's entrance. Where the actual mall stood is now a huge lot of St. Augustine grass. They have built all of the new "Commons" in the old parking lot, and are supposed to make the original mall site into a park, with the new LRT stop incorporated within. I remember the old riding machines as well. Those were located in the Joske's wing, heading toward the old Weingarten's grocery store and Piccadilly's. There were others in front of Kresge's as well.

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  • 4 years later...

My parents tell me the Britt's store in the Northline Mall had the roof cave in one day after a heavy rain not long after the store opened. Apparently the roof drains were clogged and water ponded on the roof. I'm not sure if anyone was injured. The Houston Post or Chronicle most likely had an article on the event and I'm guessing it must have been around 1963.

 

I do remember there was a big white Cadillac right at the mall entrance to the store. It was from the mid-1950's so was not new at all be the mid-1960's but still looked presentable. I'm not sure why it was there either.

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My parents tell me the Britt's store in the Northline Mall had the roof cave in one day after a heavy rain not long after the store opened. Apparently the roof drains were clogged and water ponded on the roof. I'm not sure if anyone was injured. The Houston Post or Chronicle most likely had an article on the event and I'm guessing it must have been around 1963.

 

There was a post on Bayou City History several years ago that mentions this cave-in and has several pictures of the aftermath. The post also has a real gem in the form of a downloadable map of the mall in 1968:

 

http://blog.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/2009/07/northline-mall-in-pictures/ 

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I don't know when Britt's closed or what replaced it. According to Wikipedia, Britt's as a department store name disappeared in the early 1980s, but a Chronicle article mentions that Britt's survived as a five and ten at Northline into 1991. The mall, meanwhile, had been a loser mall for a number of years, Joske's hadn't made a profit since 1979! (City's oldest malls try to shed ragged image, 4/21/1991)

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Thanks for the link, mkultra. As a little kid I thought Northline Mall was really cool. The fountain in the middle seemed huge to me back in the day.

 

A long-time friend of mine graduated from Aldine Sr. High in 1964. He told me the senior prom that year was held in the mall. I guess the stores closed pretty early then so there was no conflict with shoppers. You certainly couldn't get anymore Mid-century Modern than Northline either.

 

We had a realtive who worked at the Joske's in the 1960's (she later became a buyer for Sanger-Harris in Dallas). While Joske's was somewhat beyond our budget I do remember walking throught the store and noticing how different it was from the Montgomery Ward store at the other end of the mall. Ward's was way more appealing to me with its fishing boats, riding mowers, and motor bikes though. Ward's sold Italian built Bennelli motorcycles (commuter type, not huge cruisers) under their Riverside badge.

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We had a realtive who worked at the Joske's in the 1960's (she later became a buyer for Sanger-Harris in Dallas). While Joske's was somewhat beyond our budget I do remember walking throught the store and noticing how different it was from the Montgomery Ward store at the other end of the mall. Ward's was way more appealing to me with its fishing boats, riding mowers, and motor bikes though. Ward's sold Italian built Bennelli motorcycles (commuter type, not huge cruisers) under their Riverside badge.

 

I always viewed Joske's as competing directly with Foley's and Battlestein's, and Ward's with Sears. Ward's and Sears' target demographic was primarily tool-buying handymen/homeowners and those who enjoyed outdoor activities, where Joske's and Foley's were more upscale (Foley's had a sporting goods department, but in the mall-anchor stores it wasn't nearly as big as the ones at Ward's and Sears - not sure about the one downtown). 

 

Britt's was somewhere in between, more like a Sears without the tools, but nowhere near as upscale as Joske's. The thing I remember most about the Northline Britt's is that I loved to eat at their lunch counter when I was a little kid. 

 

I did not know that Riverside-badged bikes were made by Benelli. For a second, before I read your qualification regarding commuter vs. big bikes, I had a mental picture of a Benelli Sei on the floor at Ward's, and wondered why I never remembered seeing anything like that there. That would have definitely gotten my attention!

 

BenelliSei750_000.jpg

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 I did not know that Riverside-badged bikes were made by Benelli. For a second, before I read your qualification regarding commuter vs. big bikes, I had a mental picture of a Benelli Sei on the floor at Ward's, and wondered why I never remembered seeing anything like that there. That would have definitely gotten my attention!

 

BenelliSei750_000.jpg

 

LOL! Yes, the Riverside bikes were more in the 125cc engine size range. I still thought they were neat and I also lusted after the big six-cylinder Benelli Sei as a teenager. I couldn't even afford a 125cc Suzuki and my mother would have had a cardiac arrest if I got even one of those. Ah, Benelli; E' una bella moto.

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I always perceived the pecking order (from the top down) as Sakowitz - Battelstein's - Joske's - Foley's - and then Britt's rolling around with Palais Royal, a notch above buying your clothes at Sears.

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I always perceived the pecking order (from the top down) as Sakowitz - Battelstein's - Joske's - Foley's - and then Britt's rolling around with Palais Royal, a notch above buying your clothes at Sears.

 

Was Sakowitz equivalent in the market to Neiman-Marcus today?

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^ Sakowitz was close to Needless Markup in perception, but not quite there.  In terms of actual quality of goods, though, perhaps a bit better in reality.  Stanley Marcus was a tremendous marketer.

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I always perceived the pecking order (from the top down) as Sakowitz - Battelstein's - Joske's - Foley's - and then Britt's rolling around with Palais Royal, a notch above buying your clothes at Sears.

 

I think that's a pretty accurate assessment. I forgot about Palais Royal, but they're probably the store that was most similar to Britt's. The only major difference was that PR sold clothing exclusively, but Britt's had a few additional departments like the lunch counter and a music department.

 

I am forever indebted to the Northline Britt's music department for being my introduction to King Crimson's "Red", via a then-state-of-the-art 8-track tape in a hot pink case. It still kind of boggles my mind that such musical/cultural artifacts could once be commonly found in garden-variety suburban department stores, given how far removed that scenario is from the current reality. 

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Speaking of bygone department stores, one of my favorite unintentionally funny TV ads of all time had a gaggle of young schoolgirl types excitedly jumping up and shouting "Weiner's!!!! Weiner's!!!! Weiner's!!!!!!!!!!"

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  • 3 weeks later...

Britt's in Northline Mall was a great store...there was a big Britt's neon sign ontop of the building outside.
I still remember when the 'Born Again' record came out for Black Sabbath, they set up a display for it in the records section: they painted a child mannequin jet black, painted the eyes red and added some sparkly red devil horns. It was weird....like something an early 20's stoner dude would've done.
Britt's also had an amazing Halloween aisle during October. The creepiest masks...

Wish I could go back, just one afternoon...

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Britt's in Northline Mall was a great store...there was a big Britt's neon sign ontop of the building outside.

 

I don't remember the Britt's sign, but Ward's had a huge neon sign on their roof that spelled out "MONTGOMERY WARD". Can't find any close-up pics of it, but it's barely visible here, near the top left:

 

northline1.jpg

 

and the sign's support framework is obvious in this shot taken during the building's demolition:

 

IMG_0856_demolition_mongomery_ward_2006-

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So, when was Northline gutted? And what is there now? That's a nice b/w photo showing the theater behind the mall (like Gulfgate and Meyerland's). 

Nice mod accordion or fan awnings visible in the demo pic. 

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Northline Mall closed in 2007 and was torn down for a strip center anchored by a Walmart Supercenter. 

 

 The blue and gold, of course.

 

And I see the movie theater is gone, for a parking lot.

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And I see the movie theater is gone, for a parking lot.

 

The old Northline General Cinema theater closed in 1996 and was demolished in 2001, long before the mall itself closed. After its closure, a 12-screen Magic Johnson theater was opened in 1998 amid great fanfare. It was located where Joske's used to be, and was closed and demolished in 2007 when the mall came down to make way for the new Walmart and the Northline Commons strip center.

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I can verify Jermaine's recollection of the Britt's sign atop Northline. It was a darker red color than the MW sign, and faced Fulton & the Cinema I & II. Weingarten's did not have a neon on top of the Northline Mall (contrary to popular belief). Weingarten's did have a roof mounted sign at Gulfgate but not at Northline. The sign that always attracted my attention was the super tall Weingarten's sign atop the tall black legs in the parking lot, which stood directly behind the present day Sonic on Crosstimbers. You could see that sign at North Main and Crosstimbers when it was still standing.

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  • The title was changed to Britt's Department Store

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