Dead Mall Website

[CreekDweller]

I came across a website devoted to "dead malls" (which Wikipedia define as malls having a high vacancy rate, low consumer traffic, and/or dated/decaying appearance).

www.deadmalls.com

They have articles about Greenspoint, Mall of the Mainland (quite possibly the most awesomely bad mall I've ever set foot in), and Town & Country. No pictures though, as they have on some of the other malls.

[Scharpe St Guy]

Speaking of Mall of the Mainland, driving home the other day I saw a Hummer H3 decked out in logo's / signage for Mall of the Mainland. I figured it must be the manager of the mall perhaps??? Or are they trying to remake / resurrect the mall?

Thanks,

Scharpe St Guy

[HtownWxBoy]

I came across a website devoted to "dead malls" (which Wikipedia define as malls having a high vacancy rate, low consumer traffic, and/or dated/decaying appearance).

www.deadmalls.com

They have articles about Greenspoint, Mall of the Mainland (quite possibly the most awesomely bad mall I've ever set foot in), and Town & Country. No pictures though, as they have on some of the other malls.

Never been to Mall of the Mainland... is it worse than Almeda??

[Cobra]

Never been to Mall of the Mainland... is it worse than Almeda??

Not sure what qualifies as "worse". MoM has always been pretty empty, so you don't get the same nostalgic "what happened to this place? it used to be great!" kind of feeling like you do with Almeda.

I haven't been to MoM in a couple of years, but I used to love shopping there because you could get great parking and didn't have to fight any crowds in the stores! Of course, I always figured the mall would die a quick and painful death. I'm amazed it's lasted as long as it has.

I remember when it first opened. I used to go to movies there because it was the first THX-capable theater in this part of Houston. Anchor stores were Dillard's, Sears, and J. C. Penny. Not exactly the latest fashions from Paris, but good stores for the blue-collar population in the area. The mall was probably 40% occupied when it first opened...LOTS of empty spaces. These empty storefronts were shielded by tall sheetrock walls, and were covered with generic "coming soon" signs (one genre per sign, with approximately one sign per empty store space; there were many duplicates as you walked around the mall):

Coming Soon: Men's Fashions!

Coming Soon: Pets & More!

Coming Soon: Restaurants & Snacks!

Coming Soon: Women's Fashions!

Coming Soon: Luggage & Gifts!

Coming Soon: Shoes & Accessories!

Coming Soon: Electronics & Games!

After about two years, mall occupancy was up in the 60-70% range, and they finally took down the old, tired, "Coming Soon!" signs. They weren't fooling anybody anymore.

About five years ago, they built a three-story Foley's, which is now a Macy's. For a brief time, I considered MoM to have a better anchor selection than Baybrook, since MoM had all the stores Baybrook had, *plus* they had a Foley's!

I still like shopping there at Christmas time. Christmas crush crowds are smaller than an average Saturday's crowd at Baybrook...

[Trae]

With the population growing in that area, hopefully that mall can see some crowds. Christmas Shopping at Katy Mills, or ....Memorial City Mall (the worst) is hell.

[crunchtastic]

I have a Town & Country Mall story--- geez I can't even remember when this was, 20 years ago? James Doohan ("Scotty" of Star Trek fame!!) is how the posters described him, so sad. Anyway, he was there to do a christening on--I kid you not--an elevator. Big round cage thing that went up three stories, if I remember right he was on a platform on 2 near the the food court. I was buying a white leather jacket at a store on level three, above Scotty. They were cool because Peter Wolf had one on in that J Geils video, Centerfold. It was one of the 4 videos running nonstop on MTV at the time. Poor Scotty at Town & Country Mall. He probably couldn't even get beers at the food court.

[crunchtastic]

correction, more like 25 years ago. We were shocked that this huge mall opened right down the highway from Memorial City. How cheeky and how could they ever stay in business? But it had a Neimans and we were starstuck. Back then you had to at least get down to Memorial City or the old bowling lanes on Bunker Hill for midnite bowl to escape the teenage hell that was Katy. Of course it didn't take long to go from midnite bowl to lower westheimer. How far could you get from the suburb without coming out the other side and ending up in....another suburb? SO totally off topic, but now I remember going down Harrisburg as a teen when the serious low rider action was going on. It was like another world! Back then my mom and dad used to have 'nights out' at the Athens Bar and grill down on Navigation (?) Even my folks had to get out of Katy for fun.

OK. sorry, rambling....

[Reefmonkey]

I came across a website devoted to "dead malls" (which Wikipedia define as malls having a high vacancy rate, low consumer traffic, and/or dated/decaying appearance).

www.deadmalls.com

They have articles about Greenspoint, Mall of the Mainland (quite possibly the most awesomely bad mall I've ever set foot in), and Town & Country. No pictures though, as they have on some of the other malls.

I remember when Mall of the Mainland went up, in the early-mid 90s. It is too young to be a dead mall by having gone through the standard 25 year life cycle. It must have just been badly located. It seems like it took forever for them to get stores in it after they finished building it - I definitely remember the "coming soon" signs being up forever. I used to go see movies there when it was raining at my beach house on Galveston (well after the old Galvez Mall became a dead mall and then was torn down).

[plumber2]

I was pretty p.o.'d when J.C. Penny's closed it's store in Mall of the Mainland. They closed the store in Almeda Mall also and opened a single store in Baybrook in the old Montgomery Wards building to take the place of these two closings, or so they said.

Funny thing about Baybrook. It opened with a Sears (freestanding for a year), Wards and Joske's. Then Mervyns was added, along with a Macy's (1st attempt). Dillards bought Joske's and then Federated bought Macy's and sold the Texas Macy's to Dillards. Dillards actually operated 2 stores in the same mall for a few years. Wards closed all of it's stores and then Dillards closed it's original (Joske's) store. Penny's then went into the old Wards location and Foley's opened a store in the old Dillards (Joske's) location. Sometime around then Mervyns called it quits. Federated bought Mays and in doing so acquired Foleys. Macy's then changed the Foleys (formerly Dillards/Joskes) into a Macy's.

Soooo... Baybrook has had two Dillards and two Macy's, both in the same two different locations.

Confused enough? Shop at Sears.......it's still the same.

[musicman]

I was pretty p.o.'d when J.C. Penny's closed it's store in Mall of the Mainland. They closed the store in Almeda Mall also and opened a single store in Baybrook in the old Montgomery Wards building to take the place of these two closings, or so they said.

well if you asked at almeda penney's they said it was replaced by the fairmont one and the pearland one. the way baybrook and almeda WERE was best. each anchor store was unique so competition wasn't there.

[Vertigo58]

Strangely enough the nearby Motel business seems to be ok, I think? The nearby Greyhound Dog track was on the news for low attendance and losing money each day. Possibly closing too.

I only go to the Macy's on rare occasion at this mall and it was working with a skeleton crew like Almeda and yep the only salesperson I could grab was too busy handing about 10 other customers and was visibly stressed out. One woman to run the register in the center of the floor and take care of Mens suit's dept, shoes and apparel, plus nearby teens dept. Surprised she didn't have a flask of white lightening under the counter to cope. I walked out so they lost a over $100.00 sale, then I walked into the mall and it was a ghost town. I left.

This one is on the choppping block or needs to be.

[Pumapayam]

Speaking of Mall of the Mainland, driving home the other day I saw a Hummer H3 decked out in logo's / signage for Mall of the Mainland. I figured it must be the manager of the mall perhaps??? Or are they trying to remake / resurrect the mall?

Thanks,

Scharpe St Guy

Sounds like he wasted his money on a Hummer and claimed it was a taxable write off by making it business related with the M.O.M. logo.

[infinite_jim]

I've been on an eat fresh! zombie mall kick this past summer. I'm not exactly sure what the juice behind this desire comes from but I'm leaning towards this new fascination of the decay aspect of development.

So here's Hong Kong City mall, which boasts an authentic casian food court (in fact some of the spiciest crawfish in town) and one active E/W double loaded corridor. The layout is perpendicularly "T"d with a crossing N/S corridor that I have yet seen activated. Unfortunately, I have no photos of this "ghost wing."

This view is looking west from approximately east of the food court, which is the eastern termination node of the E/W corridor. The second floor above is office space.

Not quite sure what to make of most of these strange beauty parlors..

First time I've ever seen a liquor store at a mall.

The kiosks were used mostly for promotional purposes.

W/R/T the thread topic, I find some the reviews on deadmalls.com to be really amateur, if not outright vindictive in tone. Courtesy of another poster on this forum, Labelscar.com is a better resource for your zombie mall needs.

[Trae]

I was pretty p.o.'d when J.C. Penny's closed it's store in Mall of the Mainland. They closed the store in Almeda Mall also and opened a single store in Baybrook in the old Montgomery Wards building to take the place of these two closings, or so they said.

Funny thing about Baybrook. It opened with a Sears (freestanding for a year), Wards and Joske's. Then Mervyns was added, along with a Macy's (1st attempt). Dillards bought Joske's and then Federated bought Macy's and sold the Texas Macy's to Dillards. Dillards actually operated 2 stores in the same mall for a few years. Wards closed all of it's stores and then Dillards closed it's original (Joske's) store. Penny's then went into the old Wards location and Foley's opened a store in the old Dillards (Joske's) location. Sometime around then Mervyns called it quits. Federated bought Mays and in doing so acquired Foleys. Macy's then changed the Foleys (formerly Dillards/Joskes) into a Macy's.

Soooo... Baybrook has had two Dillards and two Macy's, both in the same two different locations.

Confused enough? Shop at Sears.......it's still the same.

Nordstrom should have opened stores in Baybrook and Memorial City. It's sad that they only have one store in Houston, but four in DFW.

[sifuwong]

I've been on an eat fresh! zombie mall kick this past summer. I'm not exactly sure what the juice behind this desire comes from but I'm leaning towards this new fascination of the decay aspect of development.

So here's Hong Kong City mall, which boasts an authentic casian food court (in fact some of the spiciest crawfish in town) and one active E/W double loaded corridor. The layout is perpendicularly "T"d with a crossing N/S corridor that I have yet seen activated. Unfortunately, I have no photos of this "ghost wing."

This view is looking west from approximately east of the food court, which is the eastern termination node of the E/W corridor. The second floor above is office space.

Not quite sure what to make of most of these strange beauty parlors..

First time I've ever seen a liquor store at a mall.

The kiosks were used mostly for promotional purposes.

W/R/T the thread topic, I find some the reviews on deadmalls.com to be really amateur, if not outright vindictive in tone. Courtesy of another poster on this forum, Labelscar.com is a better resource for your zombie mall needs.

What day and time were you at HongKong mall?

[cosmic08]

Where is Hong Kong mall?

[cosmic08]

W/R/T the thread topic, I find some the reviews on deadmalls.com to be really amateur, if not outright vindictive in tone. Courtesy of another poster on this forum, Labelscar.com is a better resource for your zombie mall needs.

Thanks for the latest zombie mall link - it's great!

[Pumapayam]

W/R/T the thread topic, I find some the reviews on deadmalls.com to be really amateur, if not outright vindictive in tone. Courtesy of another poster on this forum, Labelscar.com is a better resource for your zombie mall needs.

Labelscar.com is very well done. They actually have an entry on a non dead mall, the Galleria, but I think Galleria III should be enough for consideration, and a nice sarcastic entry on Mall of the Mainland. The Nikki and Gloria banter is just sad, as is the painted stores.

[cosmic08]

Labelscar.com is very well done. They actually have an entry on a non dead mall, the Galleria, but I think Galleria III should be enough for consideration, and a nice sarcastic entry on Mall of the Mainland. The Nikki and Gloria banter is just sad, as is the painted stores.

I totally agree about Galleria III - It's like a different world! The only reason I venture over there is for the shoe department at Macy's. I didn't start shopping at the Galleria until the late 90's, and Galleria III has looked like it does today since then. I'm sure it was more alive back in the day.

[Dan the Man]

Galleria III used to be more active when it first opened in the early '90 (or was it late '80s?). It's a ghost town now, compared to the new wing with Nordstrom. The problem with Galleria III is that it is not directly connected to the main areas of the mall - you have to go through Saks to get to it.

[infinite_jim]

Galleria III is a great laid back area, harlon's bbq (UH memories), frozen yogurt, and the occasional dj set at Bice.

[westguy]

I like these pictures. I think I've been to this mall.

[ssullivan]

Galleria III used to be more active when it first opened in the early '90 (or was it late '80s?). It's a ghost town now, compared to the new wing with Nordstrom. The problem with Galleria III is that it is not directly connected to the main areas of the mall - you have to go through Saks to get to it.

It opened in the late 1980s.

It would help Galleria III if they'd renovate it to at least look like the rest of the Galleria. A few years ago when they replaced nearly all of the interior furnishings and d

[cosmic08]

It opened in the late 1980s.

It would help Galleria III if they'd renovate it to at least look like the rest of the Galleria. A few years ago when they replaced nearly all of the interior furnishings and d

[Pumapayam]

I totally agree. I would be willing to walk through Saks if Galleria III looked more inviting. And what's up with the lighting there? It's all dim and sad

It's the step child Galleria, watch is become rubble soon, and Galleria IV renamed Galleria III.

Maybe the proposed residential Macy's condo will extend into some of Galleria III.

[IronTiger]

I wrote the Galleria one...

[TexasVines]

I wrote the Galleria one...

did it reply back?

[IronTiger]

did it reply back?

No, I wrote the Galleria one on Labelscar.

I did submit to DM though the following: The Shops at Willow Bend, Manor East Mall, Sunrise Mall (of Corpus Christi). None were ever posted. Jerks. The Sunrise Mall one was rewritten though by me and resubmitted to Labelscar later (http://labelscar.com/texas/sunrise-mall)

[TexasVines]

No, I wrote the Galleria one on Labelscar.

I did submit to DM though the following: The Shops at Willow Bend, Manor East Mall, Sunrise Mall (of Corpus Christi). None were ever posted. Jerks. The Sunrise Mall one was rewritten though by me and resubmitted to Labelscar later (http://labelscar.com/texas/sunrise-mall)

I believe deadmalls only updates every few months now if not longer....that site seems to have died and I think some info has even been removed

you were born about 20 years too late you seem to love the mall and yet malls are dead as a doornail now....or maybe malls are coming back with the younger crowd and the mall owners just don't know it yet.....I used to love malls.....then I worked in one

[Ptarmigan]

Galleria III used to be more active when it first opened in the early '90 (or was it late '80s?). It's a ghost town now, compared to the new wing with Nordstrom. The problem with Galleria III is that it is not directly connected to the main areas of the mall - you have to go through Saks to get to it.

Galleria III feels more confined than the other parts of the Galleria.

Galleria III used to be more active when it first opened in the early '90 (or was it late '80s?). It's a ghost town now, compared to the new wing with Nordstrom. The problem with Galleria III is that it is not directly connected to the main areas of the mall - you have to go through Saks to get to it.

Galleria III feels more confined than the other parts of the Galleria.