Montgomery Ward Department Stores

[foxmulder]

I've never been to MW...Where are there any buildings left? The one is Pasadena is a flea market BUT has a cool escalator that is closed off to the 2nd story. Any other buildings still standing?

[cowboybud]

As far as I know, the one at Greenspoint Mall is still vacant.

[TJones]

Pretty sure the Monkey Ward's letters are still visible at the San Jacinto Mall location. Where Target stands now at Memorial City Mall is where MW used to be.

[gwilson]

The MW @ Sharpstown mall still exists. It is now a Burlington Coat Factory.

[gonzo1976]

The building at Northline Mall is still there, right? It used to have those neon letters atop the building (so did Britt's, too).

[Guest Marty]

My 1977 Montgomery Wards stand up freezer is still kicking, I still a have the receipt. My Pepal was a pack rat. LOL, but I have not been buy the Greenspoint Mall in at least two months, I think the Monkey Wards section is still vacant.

Edited August 9, 2007 by Marty

[musicman]

The building at Northline Mall is still there, right? It used to have those neon letters atop the building (so did Britt's, too).

that was dozed quite a while ago

[lunchbox]

that was dozed quite a while ago

The one in Baybrook Mall is a JC Penny's now.

[texianjoe]

The Palms Center location on MLK and Griggs is still there, it is also a flea market. Across the street from another old icon the old Kips Big Boy.

joe

[northbeaumont]

As far as I know, the one at Greenspoint Mall is still vacant.

The was a Trivial Pursuit question about who started the first department store mail order business. I thought it was Sears & Roebuck, but the answer was Aaron Montgomery Ward.

I thought that the whole MW chain went out of business. The one at Parkdale Mall closed down several years ago. Maybe I heard wrong.

[Vertigo58]

Never thought I'd see the day they went out of business. They were another true Texas icon (Houston anyway). We always went to the Palms Center location. Had everything you could need, especially at Chrismas time. You could tell the end was near for them when the product quality of certain items was going down hill. I bought several sets of window blinds and they were all screwy within a few weeks. Bad quality. Thanks, for the memories as Bob Hope would say.

RIP Wards.

[4PROP]

Never thought I'd see the day they went out of business. They were another true Texas icon (Houston anyway). We always went to the Palms Center location. Had everything you could need, especially at Chrismas time. You could tell the end was near for them when the product quality of certain items was going down hill. I bought several sets of window blinds and they were all screwy within a few weeks. Bad quality. Thanks, for the memories as Bob Hope would say.

RIP Wards.

You may say, "RIP Wards", but if there is such a thing as a corporate heaven, I personally don't think Wards made it.

From a customer's point of view, I might go along with "true Texas icon", but here's another point of view: My son worked for Wards as an Electronics Avenue manager. Now I am not a parent that will claim my child can do no wrong, but I will stand by the fact that he is an upright, honest and respected professional.

Never would I have believed a company could treat employees the way MW literally abused him. He was constantly under pressure, degraded with extremely offensive language and his employment continuously threaten based on number of service contracts pushed. It was no surprise to me the "Monkey" went out of business. Professionalism and ethics didn't seem to be at the core of their business operations.

Although there seemed to be many rotten apples in Wards upper management chain, regretfully there were many good, honest, hard-working people that lost gainful employment when they closed their doors. From what I observed, all I can say to their management style is, what goes around, comes around. I feel confident and certainly hope that most displaced MW employees found themselves much better off elsewhere. I am happy to report that Wards' closing turned out to be a good move for my son.

[TJones]

I here ya 4PROP, I had a horrible experience with Monkey Wards a couple of times, then they actually did the right thing. Once back in 1987 they overtorqued one of the wheels on my Oldsmobile after getting a set of new tires and a new front drumbrake and spindle. later that evening I was riding over a traincrossing, and all the lugs "SNAPPED" on the right front wheel and the car fell to the ground on it's right side and proceeded to make a nice little groove into the pavement while my wheel kept going forward and nearly into an oncoming vehicle. A total of about $800 worth of damage to the steering and brakedrum and components. We towed it back to Monkey Wards, at first they said "No way are they responsible." We then produced the ticket for them of the work they had just done. My father asked them just how far up the company ladder did the manager think our lawyer needed to go with this, and they reconsidered their position. They fixed the car free of charge.

[FilioScotia]

Never thought I'd see the day they went out of business. They were another true Texas icon (Houston anyway). RIP Wards.

Ward's isn't completely dead, and it wasn't just a "Texas" icon. It was a national icon, and it began in Chicago in 1872. At its height, it was one of the largest retailers in the United States, but declining sales forced the original Montgomery Ward to close all of its retail stores and catalog operations by early 2001.

After a four year absence, the Montgomery Ward brand was revived as an online and catalog-based retailer in 2004, when Direct Marketing Services Inc. purchased much of the intellectual property assets of the former Wards.

Currently, the company has no retail stores. Since June 2006, the revived Montgomery Ward has expanded to run a children-oriented online retailer.

[rreini]

The one in Baybrook Mall is a JC Penny's now.

If I recall correctly, the Penney's there is a brand new building. The original Wards building housed Foley's for a while until it built a new store where the original Joske's/Dillard's was. Then the Wards building was leveled, and Penney's built a new store there.

[Willsatx]

I will agree that MW was not known for their customer service, I remember around 1992 I was in college and was looking to buy a TV/VCR for my new apt. Well the saleperson was trying to sell me the most expensive TV that he had, when I said I wanted something a little less expensive the saleman says well don't blame me when your TV dies on you in a couple of years. Well 15 years later and that Admiral TV is setting in my spare bedroom.

[Trae]

Ward's isn't completely dead, and it wasn't just a "Texas" icon. It was a national icon, and it began in Chicago in 1872. At its height, it was one of the largest retailers in the United States, but declining sales forced the original Montgomery Ward to close all of its retail stores and catalog operations by early 2001.

After a four year absence, the Montgomery Ward brand was revived as an online and catalog-based retailer in 2004, when Direct Marketing Services Inc. purchased much of the intellectual property assets of the former Wards.

Currently, the company has no retail stores. Since June 2006, the revived Montgomery Ward has expanded to run a children-oriented online retailer.

I think Walmart, more than anything, killed MW. Montgomery Ward just couldn't keep up with Walmart. With the online portion coming back, who thinks that we can start seeing a few (not many, just a handful) of Montgomery Ward retail stores coming back?

[TheNiche]

I think Walmart, more than anything, killed MW. Montgomery Ward just couldn't keep up with Walmart. With the online portion coming back, who thinks that we can start seeing a few (not many, just a handful) of Montgomery Ward retail stores coming back?

Even the most negative brand loyalty doesn't matter if there's brand awareness, so I'm sure that the name won't die. ...but it certainly can't make it a a general merchendise store the way it was. If you start seeing the name on stores, you probably won't be able to recognize them from the inside.

[Guest Marty]

Walmart didn't kill Montgomery Wards they offed them self's. Wards stuck with the Mall concept aka trying to compete with other Mall Tenets. Walmart went after small business, like shooting fish in a barrel.

[FilioScotia]

With the online portion coming back, who thinks that we can start seeing a few Montgomery Ward retail stores coming back?

I've learned to never say never, but I think in this case we can say it won't happen. MW lives on in name only, and the name doesn't even belong to them anymore. They sold the name and all the intellectual property assets to a mail-order company.

Marty is right. MW did itself in with a well deserved reputation for poor customer service and it finally caught up with them. We didn't call them Monkey-Ward's for nothing. That wasn't an affectionate nickname.

The one single thing of lasting value MW ever did was the creation and marketing of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Edited August 11, 2007 by FilioScotia

[Watchful]

Bad memory....when my wife had her purse ripped off and credit cards used about 28 years ago, MW was the only credit card that refused to waive the $50 charge back.

Good memory....two or three times, when we would go about a year without using our Ward's charge card, they would send us a little thingie in the mail that if we used it one time, we had our choice of some gifts. Got a nonstick frying pan that we are still using 25+ years later....and don't remember what the other gifts were!

Edited August 12, 2007 by Watchful

[djrage]

You may say, "RIP Wards", but if there is such a thing as a corporate heaven, I personally don't think Wards made it.

From a customer's point of view, I might go along with "true Texas icon", but here's another point of view: My son worked for Wards as an Electronics Avenue manager.....

It was Electric Avenue. It stuck in my mind because it was odd to hear since there was a song called Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant in the early 80s. Montgomery Wards adopted the name to its electronics department not too long after the song came out.

[Disastro]

I used to call that place "Monkey wards".