the benefit of the "open air" concept is that it can be tweaked over time to accommodate changing trends. Look at the Village Arcade for instance.

A big ass enclosed mall is just not what people are looking for these days. Maybe that will come back, but I'm not holding my breath.

Petrino1 said:

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Milwaukees Best Light said:

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They razed the mall in Baytown. I don't even recall the name.

And Almeda is next to go.

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San Jacinto Mall? The most depressing mall Ive ever been to. I miss that place lol.

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There was a mall in Huntsville that I went to while visiting a friend at Sam Houston in the late 80's. It was sad. Worst one I've seen. It depressed me just being inside. And the people working all looked like the crew being left on a sinking ship.

Probably because they were mall workers in Huntsville.

drumboy said:

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Milwaukees Best Light said:

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They razed the mall in Baytown. I don't even recall the name.

And Almeda is next to go.

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Baybrook is gone?! I got banned from there for 30 days in the early 90s, always liked Deerbrook more anyways.

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Baybrook is alive and well. San Jac is the one gone.

98Ag99Grad said:

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drumboy said:

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Milwaukees Best Light said:

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They razed the mall in Baytown. I don't even recall the name.

And Almeda is next to go.

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Baybrook is gone?! I got banned from there for 30 days in the early 90s, always liked Deerbrook more anyways.

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Baybrook is alive and well. San Jac is the one gone.

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San Jac is what I was thinking....derp.

Being an East Tx kid, the Woodlands Mall and the Conroe Outlets were our big school clothes shopping places to go. The outlet mall looks to be all but gone, I'm surprised it hasn't been torn down and redeveloped by now.

Diggity said:

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Coog97 said:

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drumboy said:

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Seems like there are only a few traditional malls around here still doing well, Baybrook, Galleria, Memorial City, maybe Katy Mills & Woodlands.

The outdoor malls like CityCenter, La Centerra, Pearland Town Square seem to be doing much better and the expansion at Baybrook 5-10 years ago is more like that style.

I go to WeWork in the Galleria sometimes and walking around at 3PM on a weekday is fine. Weekend traffic might scare the Cypress folks.

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Full circle... CityCenter built on the old Town & Country Mall location (which was an awesome mall for a short time,) which had been built on the property previously occupied by Town & Country Village, one of the early open air mall concepts.

My family made a lot of Saturday trips to West Oaks over the years... I loved that place.

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Is that accurate though? I think (most of) T&C Village still exists right? They built the mall on the north end with Dillard's as one of the anchors. That all got torn down when the mall closed (mainly due to the Beltway construction IIRC) then Midway bought the land and developed City Centre

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When Beltway design came out and the mall was going to sell Metro National stepped in to ensure there would not be anchor stores because they didn't want competition. If I remember Macys and Foleys had recently merged and they wanted the only Macys. That is when Dillard's was added to Memorial City.

maroon barchetta said:

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Petrino1 said:

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Milwaukees Best Light said:

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They razed the mall in Baytown. I don't even recall the name.

And Almeda is next to go.

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San Jacinto Mall? The most depressing mall Ive ever been to. I miss that place lol.

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There was a mall in Huntsville that I went to while visiting a friend at Sam Houston in the late 80's. It was sad. Worst one I've seen. It depressed me just being inside. And the people working all looked like the crew being left on a sinking ship.

Probably because they were mall workers in Huntsville.

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West Hill mall. I used to inspect the fire extinguishers there when I was in college, 2009ish. There was a palais royal, a few small shops, and one restaurant in the food court. The rest of the mall (probably 2/3 of the space) was used for TDCJ office space. I kind of applaud the owner for getting some rent money instead of sitting empty like most of the other defunct malls.

I think Dillard's was just the rebranding when Joske's was bought by them.

That whole Macys and Dillards with the parking garage was redone late 90s early 2000.

Ag_07 said:

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So which is next up on this list?

My vote is Katy Mills

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Wow. Didn't know Katy Mills was struggling. Read about a few different articles about crime happening in the parking lot, but thought those were isolated incidents (a few armed robberies and something else). It is probably the largest outlet mall along with Houston Premium in the Greater Houston area. Katy Mills has nice suburbs on the south, north, and west: Cinco Ranch, Cross Creek Ranch, Seven Meadows, Cane Island, Fulshear, Jordan Ranch, and Elyson. Plenty of people with disposable income to spend on retail. Katy Mills was pretty nice back when I went there in 2002. I bought a bunch of nice Christmas gifts at super cheap prices. I guess this means indoor outlet malls are dying.

JSKolache said:

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First Colony Mall is Sugar Land is like 80% shoe stores and 90% non English as a first language patrons.

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I think Sugar Land is something like 50 percent South Asian, and Fort Bend County as a whole is something like 30 percent South Asian. I am neutral on Indian food, but Pakistani food is amazing. Whatever you order make sure to get it with garlic naan bread.

The line between Indian and Paki is so blurred in Houston that I'm surprised you can tell the difference (besides the beer offering).

Does Katy Mills still get the tax relief?

Texas A&M said:

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I imagine the Woodlands mall will continue to do well. It doesn't seemed to have slipped much (if any) over the last 10-15 years. That area seems to work well with the combination of the mall, Market Street, the theater, the waterway, and the pavilion.

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Higher end dining in a suburban mall area is the most unique thing about the Woodlands Mall area. Flemings, The Audrey, Mastro's, Sorriso, Morton's, Kirby's, Truluck's, Del Frisco, Fogo, Churrascos, TRIS and North Italia. Don't know of any other suburban mall area that has so many higher end dining options.

Diggity said:

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The line between Indian and Paki is so blurred in Houston that I'm surprised you can tell the difference (besides the beer offering).

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I think many restaurants call themselves Indo-Pakistani and have both cuisines like Aga's Restaurant (rated number 1 Indian-Pakistani restaurant in North America). I like the Pakistani meat dishes. I think many Indian restaurants are vegetarian. I believe Hindus worship cows so they cannot eat beef, so many items are vegetarian in their Indian cuisine. I think most Pakistanis are muslim so they can eat beef but just no pork. I would recommend the following Pakistani food dishes: Chicken Karahi, Beef Nihari, Beef Haleem, Chicken Biryani, Chicken Tikka, and Beef Seekh Kebabs (every Pakistani restaurant should have all of these). Make sure to get plenty of naan bread for the Chicken Karahi, Beef Nihari, and Beef Haleem. Dipping the naan bread in the different Pakistani curries is great. Also ask them for their green yogurt sauce to dip the grilled chicken tikka and grilled beef seekh kebabs.

yeah, the Indian places will usually distinguish between Northern and Southern for that reason.

TheWoodlandsTxAg said:

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Diggity said:

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The line between Indian and Paki is so blurred in Houston that I'm surprised you can tell the difference (besides the beer offering).

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I think many restaurants call themselves Indo-Pakistani and have both cuisines like Aga's Restaurant (rated number 1 Indian-Pakistani restaurant in North America). I like the Pakistani meat dishes. I think many Indian restaurants are vegetarian. I believe Hindus worship cows so they cannot eat beef, so many items are vegetarian in their Indian cuisine. I think most Pakistanis are muslim so they can eat beef but just no pork. I would recommend the following Pakistani food dishes: Chicken Karahi, Beef Nihari, Beef Haleem, Chicken Biryani, Chicken Tikka, and Beef Seekh Kebabs (every Pakistani restaurant should have all of these). Make sure to get plenty of naan bread for the Chicken Karahi, Beef Nihari, and Beef Haleem. Dipping the naan bread in the different Pakistani curries is great. Also ask them for their green yogurt sauce to dip the grilled chicken tikka and grilled beef seekh kebabs.

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I am obsessed with this stuff after discovering it a few years ago when my wife brought a sample home from a Pakistani wedding caterer she came across in helping plan an event. It was from some place off Hillcroft, but then I tried the same from Aga's and it was even better. Found a place about 5 miles southeast of my house (Larosh Grill) that does is pretty damn good, but this stuff is hard to find, you have to search it out. One of my top 3 foods for sure....feels like I'm eating some type of ancient, primal porridge.

MelvinUdall said:

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Jason_InfinityRoofer said:

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So, for West Oaks, is the mall closed and abandoned or is it still open but with no businesses inside or what?

Man, that was the place we went for shoes prior to the first day of school. That was, of course, assuming Wiener's didn't have anything.

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Grew up in Alief in the 80's and early 90's, my mom would take us to Westwood Mall in the early 80's but then we started to go to West Oaks mall and as a teenager we would hang out there and go to the movies on the weekends….that mall is where my love of Brothers Pizza started.

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I'm so old I remember when Westwood Mall opened.

We used to ride our bikes down Bissonnet to go to the Gold Mine arcade there. In high school, almost all my friends worked somewhere in the mall -- many at the movie theater.

El Gallo Blanco said:

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TheWoodlandsTxAg said:

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Diggity said:

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The line between Indian and Paki is so blurred in Houston that I'm surprised you can tell the difference (besides the beer offering).

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I think many restaurants call themselves Indo-Pakistani and have both cuisines like Aga's Restaurant (rated number 1 Indian-Pakistani restaurant in North America). I like the Pakistani meat dishes. I think many Indian restaurants are vegetarian. I believe Hindus worship cows so they cannot eat beef, so many items are vegetarian in their Indian cuisine. I think most Pakistanis are muslim so they can eat beef but just no pork. I would recommend the following Pakistani food dishes: Chicken Karahi, Beef Nihari, Beef Haleem, Chicken Biryani, Chicken Tikka, and Beef Seekh Kebabs (every Pakistani restaurant should have all of these). Make sure to get plenty of naan bread for the Chicken Karahi, Beef Nihari, and Beef Haleem. Dipping the naan bread in the different Pakistani curries is great. Also ask them for their green yogurt sauce to dip the grilled chicken tikka and grilled beef seekh kebabs.

---

I am obsessed with this stuff after discovering it a few years ago when my wife brought a sample home from a Pakistani wedding caterer she came across in helping plan an event. It was from some place off Hillcroft, but then I tried the same from Aga's and it was even better. Found a place about 5 miles southeast of my house (Larosh Grill) that does is pretty damn good, but this stuff is hard to find, you have to search it out. One of my top 3 foods for sure....feels like I'm eating some type of ancient, primal porridge.

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LOL. Porridge is the exact same word my family and I used to describe it. Delicious savory spicy porridge.

Speaking of Alief, I remember field trips to Funplex. Good times.

BowSowy said:

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Ag_07 said:

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So which is next up on this list?

My vote is Katy Mills

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Katy Mills stays pretty busy, especially on the weekends.

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I don't know, when your primary anchor store is Bass Pro, and Bass Pro has gone to **** recently as well, I don't think that bodes well for your long term viability. I used to love Bass Pro, but it's steady and recent rapid decline is disheartening.

It's the only reason I have ever been there

Bass pro in general is ass. But damn I'd like to go see the hotel at the Memphis pyramid.

Agreed! We went a few years ago to Bass Pros Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri. Mostly against my will as I figured it would be a super cheesy, white trashier version of an amusement park, but I was very pleasantly surprised, it was a nice place. If that Memphis thing is on par, I bet it's great.

Katy Mills is doing fine. The new slick city action park and Cheesecake Factory are booming. I drive by the mall every day

bigjag19 said:

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TheWoodlandsTxAg said:

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Texas A&M said:

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I imagine the Woodlands mall will continue to do well. It doesn't seemed to have slipped much (if any) over the last 10-15 years. That area seems to work well with the combination of the mall, Market Street, the theater, the waterway, and the pavilion.

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Higher end dining in a suburban mall area is the most unique thing about the Woodlands Mall area. Flemings, The Audrey, Mastro's, Sorriso, Morton's, Kirby's, Truluck's, Del Frisco, Fogo, Churrascos, TRIS and North Italia. Don't know of any other suburban mall area that has so many higher end dining options.

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Baybrook is close these days. Not quite as much but close.

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What both Baybrook and Woodlands have in common is the area around the mall is still mid to upper income. Most if not all of these other malls that are tanking are in areas that have declined due to demographic changes or were killed by competition from better malls in better areas. Baybrook management seems to be very good at keeping the mall nice and relevant, even with the huge vacant Sears store there.

San Jac and Mall of Mainland probably should never have been built in the first place but were conceived at the tail end of the mall hey-day where "if you build it, they will come". The department store decline is a major factor too.

maroon barchetta said:

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Petrino1 said:

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Milwaukees Best Light said:

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They razed the mall in Baytown. I don't even recall the name.

And Almeda is next to go.

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San Jacinto Mall? The most depressing mall Ive ever been to. I miss that place lol.

---

There was a mall in Huntsville that I went to while visiting a friend at Sam Houston in the late 80's. It was sad. Worst one I've seen. It depressed me just being inside. And the people working all looked like the crew being left on a sinking ship.

Probably because they were mall workers in Huntsville.

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West Hill Mall. It had a JC Penney, Palais Royale, and The Fair as the "anchor" stores.

TDCJ started taking it over slowly for office space in the late 90s. Penney's closed just a few years ago. The only store still open inside is a tiny boutique owned by a woman who is the best friend of the wife of the guy who owns the property.

The rest is office space.