Went to West Oaks about 4 years ago for a picture and autograph session with Hakeem and Calvin Murphy. It was in front of a suit store that I think Calvin co-owns (forgot the name) From the looks of it it seemed West Oaks was doing ok, a lot better than NW Mall
I worked in Hastings Music around 1988 in NW Mall. Smoked out the stock room and banged my store manager in the back seat of her car in the parking lot. This was the closest mall to my grandparents house in Oak Forest. The kids shoe dept in Sears had a wooden pirate ship along the back wall it was awesome! Had birthday parties at Ferrell's ice cream parlor across from the gold mine arcade. Got kicked out for riding my skateboard through there so many times in the late 70's/early 80's. Loved the fried fish at Piccadilly Cafeteria. Had a lot of good memories of this mall.
Wasn't really my experience. My school was near there circa 1990 and I'd get lunch from chick-fil-a there sometimes. Maybe I just didn't see it in its weekend glory, but my impression was there wasn't much anything of interest there. Looking at it on a map, you'd think it couldn't fail. Close in to town near the wealthier in-town neighborhoods but also with good freeway access from the suburbs. Not as big as Memorial City or something, but a bigger footprint than the Galleria. They did always seem to be ringed in by perpetual road construction, but I have to think it was mismanaged. But that spot could be so valuable if put to the right use.
Almeda Mall and NW mall were built the same year and were like twins as far as architecture. I have fond memories of most Houston area malls but i lived near Brazos mall in Lake Jackson. It seems to be doing well these days. I loved malls as a young kid. Whichever mall had the coolest fountain was the coolest in my head. I loved the malls in Austin like highland and Barton Creek in the 80s. West Oaks Mall was always fun as we collected Coke Tabs and turned them in there. This was back in the Fame City days. I think West Oaks had a Bia Porretis (rockets sponsor) at one time.
Willowbrook was our go-to, but our backup was North Oaks Mall on 1960 and Steubner Airline. When their movie theater turned into a dollar theater, that's where we spent many a Saturday night. They had a great arcade, too. Aladdin's Castle, I believe.
NW Mall got killed by the hurricane. Macys got flooded and destroyed. They were set to renovate it and re-open, but just decided it wasn't worth it I guess. Between the damage from the hurricane and all the construction, that mall lost whatever chance it had. Memorial City and the Galleria are both close enough to it and are obviously much nicer.
I skipped the last two pages so forgive if I'm repeating anyone, but West Oaks Mall used to be, well, not "the" mall, but twenty years ago it was fairly humming. Now it's an elephant graveyard with dying stores and "Hasidic diamond merchants" (Aretha Franklin, "The Blues Brothers"). Ironically its Edwards Cinema, while on the small side, is actually not bad at all. Other crap-hole malls? Gunpoint....er, Greenspoint. Way down on the list. I went in there a few years back because their Macy's (I think) had the size of a dress my wife wanted. I told her we ain't lingering there. But the mall was a train wreck that lured us to stare at it, wandering through as if in one of those apocalyptic movies....."the Green Place" that Charlize Theron sought in "Mad Max Fury Road" and found to her dismay had gone to hell.
RIP Town and Country Mall. That was my favorite mall in the early 2000s. So big and yet so empty. I loved going there just for the atmosphere. NW Mall used to be good and superior to Town and Country, but I also have not gone there in probably over a decade.
That makes me happy. They had a solid movie theater and a Foleys back in the day. I got a handjob in that theater. God bless high school.
They made an outdoor mall area with fancy stores, restaurants, and bars, Dave & Busters, Star Cinema Movie Theater, etc. that connects to the main mall. Always a lot of people there when I go.
Maybe this is the model successful malls need to follow. Memorial City and First Colony have similar models. Last time I was at Willowbrook they were heavily under construction and attempting the same format. One thing's for sure: my wife is always asking me to bring the family to City Center (former Town and Country). I hate going because parking is the worst, but that place is always so packed with people relaxing and having a good time
I remember going into NW mall like 10 years ago. I think almost every single store was closed. The mall was a ghost town except for the insane number of little hut/kiosk vendors. Those guys were so starving for business they would practically yell at you to buy stuff. F- would not go back.
I was there! I lived closest to North Oaks and the dollar theater there was extremely lax about enforcing age restrictions. Spent a lot of time in that arcade too. Willowbrook was the nice place, and had stores you might actually want to go to, but it was a further drive for us. Greenspoint was closer and while it wasn't as nice as Willowbrook, I thought the gunspoint thing was unfair. It wasn't so bad. Nowadays I stay away from malls as much as possible. I occasionally get dragged to Memorial City for the iceskating.
