Town & Country Mall History At 12850 Memorial Dr.

[KatieDidIt]

This is excellent. You're absolutely right. It was open and light...and great point about the stairs. It was contemporary and felt like it was ahead of its time when you were in there.

You and I are probably roughly the same age and grew up in the same area...with the same memories of this place. Playing Ikari Warriors at Tilt was all good.

I used to walk my toddlers through T&C to Stride Rite in the late 90's,early 00's. Nicest, cleanest and quietest mall in the Houston area. It was light and happy and I always felt safe there..

I wish that Neimans could have hung on. I think it would ahve done well in the new Centre thing that's going up.

My husband claims the Beltway killed it. But it seems the City Centre marketers are counting on the Beltway to make it fly.

[Ptarmigan]

I remember Town and Country Mall. There were eating places, but they were spread out, which there was no food court. Also, the mall felt more confined than other malls I have been to. I did like the place because it was no crowded.

[MadMax]

I used to walk my toddlers through T&C to Stride Rite in the late 90's,early 00's. Nicest, cleanest and quietest mall in the Houston area. It was light and happy and I always felt safe there..

I wish that Neimans could have hung on. I think it would ahve done well in the new Centre thing that's going up.

My husband claims the Beltway killed it. But it seems the City Centre marketers are counting on the Beltway to make it fly.

I don't think it was the Beltway that killed it....it was the construction on the Beltway (which seemingly took forever) that killed it.

Had the Beltway already been there, I have no doubt that T&C Mall could have survived.

[Zippy]

I remember Town and Country Mall. There were eating places, but they were spread out, which there was no food court. Also, the mall felt more confined than other malls I have been to. I did like the place because it was no crowded.

[kylejack]

I was disappointed that Memorial City won over T&C, but then they turned Memorial City into a decent mall, so I wasn't too disappointed after that.

[marketingwiz]

I actually worked for The Midway Companies back when they first acquired T&C and made several trips through the 'bowels' of the mall after the tenants left. We salvaged some very cool commercial-grade seasonal decorations (Christmas, Easter, etc.) and recycled them for use in Midway's residential developments. One of Midway's fat execs used to squeeze himself into the Easter Bunny costume we saved and run around our corporate offices yelling "which way did da wabbit go?" We were very professional.

It was eerie to be in T&C just before they demolished it. Some of the food court vendors had actually left rotting food for all to enjoy like huge jars of moldy pickles, rotten nacho chips WITH hardened orange cheese, fossilized hot dogs still on the warmers and popcorn strewn everywhere. (I don't know why some of the food equipment was left). Very tantalizing stuff. But the funniest thing was Midway's decision to bid a fond 'farewell' to T&C by having an employee only paintball party. By then, T&C was almost completely stripped down including the safety railings on the upper floors. I, along with a couple of other sensible employees, decided against participating in this stupid and seemingly moronic exercise. Of course we were branded as not being "team players" because of our stance. Everyone put the pressure on us hold-outs to take part in the paint ball mania. However, we didn't seem like the stupid ones the next day when all these battered and bruised 'team players' came limping and whining into work. The receptionist had taken a paintball right in the face and had a huge black eye and swollen nose. She wore sunglasses at her desk for a week. Others had sprained ankles, twisted knees, contusions, massive bruises, swollen faces and busted lips. Naturally, Midway made every participant sign an agreement holding them blameless for any injuries at this fun and festive event. Best of all, the paintball 'party' left these real estate 'professionals' looking like mixed martial arts fighters who ended up on the losing end of a fight.

[IronTiger]

At peak, about how many stores did T&C have?

And what is the old Sakowitz nearby now?

[Tamale]

Does anyone remember the cafe located on the first floor of Town and Country mall? They served sandwiches and also had a shop that sold chocolate and imported candies? I remember going alot as a child in the early 90's, and believe it was still there during my last visit in June/July 2002. I only recently found out the mall closed and was wondering what happened to it? Did it re-open elsewhere? And what on earth was the name of that place??

[sheeats]

IIRC, it was Neuhaus Chocolates.

Anyone else remember? KatieDidIt? Pumapayam?

[Tamale]

IIRC, it was Neuhaus Chocolates.

Anyone else remember? KatieDidIt? Pumapayam?

I read somewhere that there was a Neuhaus Chocolates, but I'm pretty sure this was a separate cafe as they also sold Lindt chocolates in the store. Or maybe I'm wrong??

[Pumapayam]

IIRC, it was Neuhaus Chocolates.

Anyone else remember? KatieDidIt? Pumapayam?

It was some random chocolate place, one of the few places to eat in the mall.

I can't recall the name.

[Johnme]

I have attached two photos from the mall. The T&C aerial is from a wikipedia link and the second is a pre-demolition photo from me of the Dillard's wing. I had an opportunity to take pictures of the old JCPenney when they opened the space up for a weekend auction but I left my camera in the car. I went to the mall a month before it closed when there were maybe ten shops left. The Hanson Galleries that was on the first floor is still alive in Memorial City. Dillard's (Joske's), JCPenney, Saks Fifth Avenue (Marshall Field's), and Neiman Marcus were all anchors. JCPenney was only two stories even though the mall was three stories; all of the other anchors were three stories. Saks Fifth had six total mall entrances and Dillard's had taken up a large chunk of the third floor. Stores that I remember: Hallmark, Tilt (They had the arcade Michael Jackson's Moonwalker!), Kay Bee Toys, Circus World, Arby's, McDonald's, Things Remebered, Funkyard, (A old school toy and comic store), Sam Goody, Babbage's, and Express. The mall was shaped like an L with stairs in the middle. The elevators were placed in between the center court and Neiman Marcus as well as in between the center court and JCPenney. I remember the burgandy, white and blue colors in the mall and the bubbled up ceilings over the main walkways. The elevators had windows covered with a blue cage with lights facing the mall sort of like a globe. The restrooms were all the way on the third floor in between Dillard's and the empty space above JCPenney near all of the tables. The town and country signs were lit up at night with red neon. Just before the mall closed they started a multimillion dollar renovation to the third floor above JCPenney for a meeting space. Construction was halted when the new plans were laid out for the development that is there today. The air conditioning was shut off as well in the final three months of operation in most of the mall. Neiman Marcus stayed open about a year after the mall was demolished and then closed even after signing a long term lease to stay there. Neiman Marcus was demolished shortly after the closure and only the parking garages remain of the old mall.

This is a recollection of my memories in the mall from 1989- 2004. I am getting old so my recollections are cloudy.

[avexhype]

T&C was one of the malls where I was asked to stop video taping. In the early 90s I started a project to video tape all of the malls in Houston. Turns out they don't like that.

still got the footage? can you share pleasE?

[august948]

I remember Town & Country in the late 80s early 90s. I remember when Abercrombie & Fitch were OUTFITTERS--much like an upscale LL Bean or Orvis. I still have my parents' knife set that came from A&F. I also remember well that Sweeney's was the wonderful jeweler right outside the mall in the Village. I loved that store!

Banana Republic was an outfitter in the 80's, too. They used to have a jeep in each store.

[Wildcat51]

Town and Country was much better in the 1970's before the mall, when it was open collection of shops.

[Subdude]

I always liked Town & Country mall.  It was my "go to" mall for a long time, mainly because it was never very crowded and it was quick to get in and out.  They had an Abercrmobie & Fitch, on the south axis I think, back when it was an outdoor equipment store.  

[bajaok]

I always like it best coming to Houston in early 80's

 

I always wondered if the owners didn't "play ball" and curry favor (bribes?) the right people.

 

At Beltway 8 and I-10 traditionally would be an ideal location. But got blocked by the two big construction projects. Made it easy to see from highways but difficult to get to. About the time I came I-10 was expanding from 2 lanes each side to 3 lanes each side. Then the Beltway tollroad was built on what was a 2 lane road in the middle of a green space. Both projects made access much much worse. They would of had a hard time making the mall more inaccessable.

 

Memorial City down the road had two very useful exits from I-10 going east and 1 or 2 going west. It blossomed while Town and Country was starved. The closest exit to Town and Country going east was so far down you either had to go to Gessner (where Memorial City was and loop back or fight your way over and go through the neighborhood. A bunch of turns.  

 

[MartiMoser]

Late to the conversation but someone on our Houston History Facebook group was asking about a Greek gentleman who had a sandwich shop and remembered your order. Any help appreciated. I knew where to ask.