Why Have So Many Malls In Houston Be Let Go?

[ToolMan]

In subdivions they just name the street names after the trees they tear down.

Before I was a regular in downtown the street names always confused me because I could never tell what direction I was going. I would prefer a numbering system (even #'s north\south - odd #'s east\west). But the names have kind of grown on me know.

[kjb434]

Most subdivision do pick a theme to naming their streets.

[TxDave]

Hunter, where is this neighborhood?

I spend a lot of time driving around this city and after years of doing this I have yet to run out of new places to explore and discover. Just the other day I found a neighborhood tucked way back where every street had the same name. (No joke) The only way to tell where you were was by the house numbers.There was only one way in and one way out if you were in a car. I later found out that thre were several little areas in the same subdivision that were just like that. Wierd.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Subdude]

About the street names:  Harris County and particulary Houston has so many streets that you have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get an original name.  The city plats and the county plats can't have duplicates.

I remember one time, a developer didn't give a co-worker the names they wanted for the subdivision when it was time to plat, so my co-worker started making up stuff and then named the main road after himself.  It subdivision was platted.  Right when construction started the developer finally decided on some names and had them all changed.  I think he left one in there for my co-worker.

Since houston doesn't have a general naming convention like numbering streets (only for a section of the city) or using states and letter, developers have had to name everything.  Not many left for them use anymore.

Cities like Galveston and Miami have naming conventions.  Many other cities do also, just those two came to mind.

Best street name in Houston: Betty Boop.

[Ashikaga]

That was the best thing to happen to Gulfgate. Eventhough the development is very siburban.

To me, malls are a good temporary escape from reality. While your in one, you have a false sense of security. The artificialness and inflated prices are a good mind over matter thing. Then when you get into your car and exit the parking lot, you're back in the "real" world.

[Montrose1100]

Greenspoint still has the crayola-knex structures outside of the entrences.

Most subdivision do pick a theme to naming their streets.

Candle Light Hills is a big victum to that.

[YakuzaIce]

Just wondering how many suburbs have you all noticed where there are multiple streets with the same name. While trying to find a friends house out in Sienna I noticed a street named McMahn (sp?) way, then the next was McMahn court, then McMahn street, McMahn avenue, etc...

Is this common?

(kind of off topic)

Edited November 8, 2005 by YakuzaIce

[TJones]

Why have so many malls in Houston been let go?

Why aren't these malls up graded?

Sharpstown

Greens Point

North West Mall

Which other malls?

All those Malls are almost as old as the Astrodome, and they quit upgrading that also.

[Ashikaga]

All those Malls are almost as old as the Astrodome, and they quit upgrading that also.

For years I've been wanting to go into the San Jacinto Mall in Baytown but I still haven't. It looks good from IH-10. But maybe some of you know some things about it that I don't know.

[TJones]

For years I've been wanting to go into the San Jacinto Mall in Baytown but I still haven't. It looks good from IH-10. But maybe some of you know some things about it that I don't know.

I know all about it Ash, I grew up in that mall. Everything is closing down in it. Very ,very sad. It was once the largest mall ever, of course now it pails in comparison. I know it sounds corny, but I have great memories of hanging out there.

[Ashikaga]

I know all about it Ash, I grew up in that mall. Everything is closing down in it. Very ,very sad. It was once the largest mall ever, of course now it pails in comparison. I know it sounds corny, but I have great memories of hanging out there.

I graduated from high school in Beaumont back in 1976. I have similar memories of hanging out a lot at Parkdale Mall. But unlike what you say about San Jacinto Mall, it has grown dramatically. Now I mostly go to Central Mall in Port Arthur. A lot of stores in it are closing down.

[sevfiv]

Just wondering how many suburbs have you all noticed where there are multiple streets with the same name. While trying to find a friends house out in Sienna I noticed a street named McMahn (sp?) way, then the next was McMahn court, then McMahn street, McMahn avenue, etc...

Is this common?

(kind of off topic)

mcmahon must have been key in developing sienna plantation...there's mcmahon court, lane and way...heh

there is also oakland lake circle and way, and sullivans lane and landing.

i chalk it up to lack of creativity...i am sure that blends in well there, though

[TJones]

I don't think it's lack of creativity Sev, I think it is overblown ego. They were thinking how to immortalize themselves.

[sevfiv]

I don't think it's lack of creativity Sev, I think it is overblown ego. They were thinking how to immortalize themselves.

hehe...well, too bad only a handful of exurbians will ever see the distinguished honor they bestowed upon themselves

Edited November 8, 2005 by sevfiv

[Ashikaga]

...

Over here at Central Mall in Port Arthur is a store called Hobby Lobby. It that a chain? I mean, are there any Hobby Lobbies in Houston? I don't see how arts and crafts stores survive.

[sevfiv]

yes, there are many a hobby lobby here...

where else would everyone get their silk plants

[TJones]

yes, there are many a hobby lobby here...

where else would everyone get their silk plants

I don't think HL charges anything extra for the collected dust on them either. What a bargain !

[Ashikaga]

I don't think HL charges anything extra for the collected dust on them either. What a bargain !

I went into the Hobby Lobby store in Central Mall in Port Arthur. Absolutely nothing in it appealed to or interested me.

[skwatra]

Before I was a regular in downtown the street names always confused me because I could never tell what direction I was going. I would prefer a numbering system (even #'s north\south - odd #'s east\west). But the names have kind of grown on me know.

that might be kinda hard since the streets don't even run north/south east/west downtown.

[GettaClue]

I remember from past visits to Houston in the early 90s when they advertised the coming of the "Copperfield Mall" at FM 529 and Hwy 6.

Obviously that fell through.

Sort of. Instead, they built one of the ubiquitous "lifestyle" strip center type malls. No big traditional department stores, but lots of other shops you usually find in or near the mall: Claires, Bath and Body Works, Lane Bryant, Zales, etc. Plus the usual generic gamut of big box stores: Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Petsmart, Linens n' Things, etc. There's also a new stadium seating movie theatre about 1/2 mile down the street.

[Modernceo]

...

Why are so many of this persons posts just full of periods ?

Ive seen lots and lots of his posts that have no value, just periods. Is he/she just trying to bump the thread, or is there something im missing here ?

[sevfiv]

apparently he was/is a disgruntled ex-poster...other than that, i do not know

[Ashikaga]

I dont think everyone goes to malls just for shopping. Many go there just to walk around and window shop. People dont like to walk around in parking lots, especially when it is hot and humid. One would go to strip a center only if one is headed to a specific store and has a specific item in mind. However, most want to compare and contrast what's available in a variety of stores including Foleys, Dillards, Gap, Express etc which they can only do so in a mall. This is precisely why online retailing for items such as clothes, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances etc didnt take off as expected because many 1) malls have a larger variety of these items and 2) customers arent interested only in buying but also in the experience of buying.

As for big-box retailers, I think most of the items sold by such retailers (electronics, home improvement gear, furniture, groceries etc) arent usually available in a mall. As for stores such as Target and Walmart, they do carry many of the items available in a mall but they are in a different kind of markets. I cant see how can they compete with malls because of 1) lack of variety 2) lack of quality 3) lack of brand names 4) dull shopping experience. I dont remember ever buying clothes or shoes from these stores.

Malls could take on different forms, such as an open-air or lifestyle center or a mix of both indoor and outdoor sections but I dont see them going away completely. Too many malls in close proximity is another story and, in that case, the underperforming ones simply die out.

I agree. To me, when I'm inside a mall, the artificialness gives me a temporary sense of security. The prices are ridiculously high. But being in one provides a good mind over matter feeling. But when you go out to your car and pull out onto the street, you're back in the "real world".

[PureAuteur]

Malls are already obsolete. But strip centers should have been obsolete before malls were. People need to walk and get exercise. I'm sick of cars everywhere.

[Montrose1100]

Memorial City has taken great strides to become such a beautiful mall. Its still developing, and theres alot of population around it. Even though it still survived dispite being close to the Katy Mills, Galleria, and the new Marq-E.

Greenspoint caters to its local residents. Dilliard's and Foley's are still there, so it can't be doing too bad. Ther renovated the food court area (which is tiny compared to most) and it looks ok. I don't fear going there, unless I have to.

[worldlyman]

Now the Westwood Technology Center. I hated seeing that place being gutted for its current incarnation. I had a couple of girlfriends that lived out in that area (off of Gessner and Braeswood) back in the mid 80s. I used to pass by that mall on the way there and remember when they would talk about going there to buy stuff. It was kind of a symbol of that time for me.

Westwood Mall was kind of nice as an off-mall to Sharpstown. We went there a lot when I was a kid. I worked there at the B. Dalton Bookseller for like a few weeks, and buddies of mine worked the pizza place.

I remember the Orange Julius when an Elsik classmate of mine working there poured me one and I went up and looked at it. I was about to ask why and he sort of muffled, "Don't worry about it. Just take it."

In the summer of '89 I took a hot blond there to see Back to the Future III. I still remember her mini-skirt...It was still a lively place for that even at the time.

It was winding down, heck it even had its own Fredericks of Hollywood, in '94 when a buddy from New Orleans (I knew him from Florida though) went lumbering about. I knew that mall's time had come.

Memories of the old Westwood Mall. It's funny how it became a different type of center but Sears still held on, it it's still holding on!

Sharpstown certainly is not the powerhouse it was during its 1980s peak with all of the big money retail. But it did transform into sort of a Vibe magazine kind of hip-hop mall...one which still feels like it has room for anyone who wants to go there.

I still watched second run movies there when I lived in Sharpstown in 2004 for eight months.

I wouldn't say Sharpstown is dead or dying or anything. Sure it cannot replace some departed shoes but it's still a lively pop-cultural magnet in other aspects. The grand old mall adds a certain genuine urban rappin' hipness to Houston's suburban construction...can't find a mall like that in largely white-bread Orange or San Diego County where I live.

[Guest danax]

Why are so many of this persons posts just full of periods ?

Ive seen lots and lots of his posts that have no value, just periods. Is he/she just trying to bump the thread, or is there something im missing here ?

27 was a prolific, and at times, controversial member. At the time of his demise, he had more posts than anyone. Then one day, mysteriously, he was gone.

An apparent cybercide. Pretty messy one at that, nothing left of him but dots.

As for Sharpstown Mall, I haven't been there in at least 10 years but, hip or not, once a retail center of any kind gets an image of unwholesomeness, the money will mostly go elsewhere. It might linger like Gulfgate did for years and like Greenspoint seems to be doing until someone comes up with a better idea.