We need to support Sharpstown Mall for the sake of the other malls :)

I think when they say "ghetto" they mean "lots of black people". I guess they don't think it sounds as bad or as racist. Yall make Sharpstown Mall seem worst than it really is. It's not like you walk in there and get robbed/shot/killed right away. I've been there plenty of times and never encountered any danger. I wonder how many people here actually have been robbed/mugged/whooped while at Sharpstown.

 

pretty much the only mall i go to is the galleria

every other houston mall ive been to is crappy

memorial city is ok though

and baybrook if you can get all the way down there

 

About 6 months ago, 2 SECURITY OFFICERS at Sharpstown got into a gunfight with one another. I kid you not.

 

What is wrong with The First Colony mall? They've really fixed that place up. There's even an Apple store there. I also like with they've done around the outside of it.

 

When I moved to Houston some 24-25 years ago, I lived right across the street from the Bally's and Finger's Furniture store there at Sharpstown Mall. It was ghetto back then and has only gotten worse since. I'm suprised it stayed open this long. Get ready for new townhomes that all look alike.

 

Ghetto =

A) Urban/minority youth dressed in the clothing attire of the day (white tees, baggy pants, lots of bling).

B) Lower income folks living in the surrounding area (see all the apt complexes).

C) Higher rumored or reported crime than most other malls.

Since Sharpstown has some of C the presence of A & B makes some feel unsafe or in a "ghetto" environment. The shoppers are no longer lilly white like they used to be, or like they are currently in most suburbian malls. I would say the majority of the ghetto folks are just kids or poor minorities. But again, enough of C exists....so folks don't feel bad about putting everyone in the same bucket.

 

Greenspoint is "ghetto".
My mom works for Marwin Group, the company that owns most Cici's Pizza in Houston and she has told me stories about the cici's in greenspoint.

Managers in that stores have asked customers to pick their pants up because they are showing their ass with their baggy pants.. lol

Customers who are so cheap they order water, (when you order water i think you're given a clear cup) and they go fill it up with soda..

Most of the mall is dressed up like this. Seriously

 

It was bound to happen with Sharpstown. You know things are bad when a GAP can't survive. I think they closed 10 years ago along with Express.

The Village has an interesting way of keeping thugs away.
No cheap food
No where to just sit around and loiter
Footlocker has the least urban items ever. I mean it is a pretty crappy footlocker if you ask me and it closes early.

Memorial City mall is very nice now compared to how it used to be. i enjoy going there and eating at CPK every now and then.

I work by Greenspoint. It is the herpes covered crotch of shopping malls. Everything about that place is crap from the food courts, to the footlocker. Even the Dillard's is not normal. it is a huge clearance Dillard's with all kind of weird stuff.

First Colony is fine but anywhere you have a bunch of Asian and Indians living you will have tons of want to be thugs. There are my people but they love fronting like they are hard while their dad the engineer and their mom the nurse work to keep buying them nice clothes and nice cars.

West Oaks mall is nice. I think it is just too far for thugs to get to.

I do most of my shopping at the Galleria. The thugs have come but they don't shop at the stores I go to so I only see them hanging out in the food court or sneaker stores. I do see some urban shops open here but it is always a matter of time before they close.

 

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

 

LOL...

If you think the "Sharpstown area" is ghetto, you must watch Bill O'Reilly religiously and think that there is such a thing as Republican and Democrats... Oh and you probably believe in some type of God too...

You people haven't seen ghetto.

 

different levels of ghetto-ness...

there is upperclass, middleclass, and poverty ghetto lol

whatever you want to call it, sharpstown is a bad area IMO.

 

Willowbrook looks like it's moving further upscale, with pricier stores like Metrotown and Lucky Jeans.

The Galleria is still far and away the best mall in town, though

 

To me, the ghetto = you're going to get robbed, murdered, and/or raped. For example, standing in the parking lot of Sharpstown Mall or walking down Scott Street near Frenchy's.

 

I remember hanging out at Sharpstown Mall when the Food Court was called "Good Time Charlies!" in the 80's.
Nothing like a slice of pizza from "Roman Delight" and playing some good arcade games at the arcade near the food court,
Then go over to Babbages and see what hot new Commodore 64 games are coming out, maybe go flirt with some girls at the pet store.
That mall was a HUGE part of my young days.
Then the $1 movie theater was put in and things started turning south in the early 90's. Became a mecca for young thugs and punks.
I say tear the craphole down.

I live in First Colony and there is NO WAY First Colony Mall will become ghetto like Sharpstown became. First of all, no cheap apartments close and no mass transportation in Sugar Land.

 

Basically you mean no black and mexican people? Thats kind of messed up how we don't have any real public transport in Sugar Land.

 

FCM is ****e now imho. Yeah more stores but more crowded as well. I remember when i was in school around there in the late 90s, the mall was decent then, not too crowded and not too "ghetto". I hate the use of that word "ghetto".

 

If looks could kill then it would be one of the most dangerous spots, but luckily clothes are harmless. i can just imagine people walking around in fear. Of course if you are looking for trouble it may find you rather quickly in some places more than others.

 

46-year-old mall has urban flavor — but a new owner could mean major changes
Will Sharpstown keep its niche?


By DAVID KAPLAN
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Two major tenants are pulling out, its owner is in Chapter 11, and the mall has been put on the block.

Few would argue Sharps- town Center's future is uncertain. Even if a new owner doesn't overhaul the 46-year-old mall, questions remain about what will happen to the vibrant mix of urban retailers who have developed a healthy business selling hip-hop apparel and accessories.

Will they be able to survive once Macy's and Finger leave? Will a new owner try to work with them or try a different concept?

It would make sense to keep the urban stores while bringing in big-box retailers, said Ed Wulfe, president of Wulfe & Co.

"You've got to work around them," he said.

Wulfe, who redeveloped Meyerland Plaza and Gulfgate Mall — two other malls that had seen better days before he got a hold of them — was asked if he'd be interested in putting in a bid. "Probably," he said. "But only after doing an analysis and seeing if it made economic sense."

The challenge for any owner would be to redevelop the mall in a way that would "reflect the niche market that's already there while remerchandising the bigger spaces."

New tenants in the big spaces should reflect neighborhood demographics and offer promotional mass-market merchandise, and possibly include discount stores and home improvement centers, he said.


But the successful mom-and-pop retailers should not be discarded, said Wulfe, who noted: "People are coming from great distances and nearby to shop at the urban stores."

Edward Wolochin, with the Woodmont Co., which manages Sharpstown, said the mall is "operating successfully."

"The mall is not closing," said Tracy Suttles, principal of mall owner Urban Mall.

Citing the strength of some businesses in the mall, which is 74 percent leased, Wolochin noted that one tenant, the owner of urban apparel store It's On, opened a second concept store on Tuesday, and two other retailers want to expand.

He also noted that the court has ordered that any future owner honor all leases.

Mike Eddy, managing director of General Capital Partners in Denver, the firm brokering the sale, said there has been a "strong level of interest" in buying Sharpstown Center, though he said he was not permitted to identify any bidders.

Sharpstown's new owner is slated to be confirmed by the bankruptcy court in Houston on Feb. 27, after an auction two days earlier.

Wolochin said the reason Urban Mall filed for Chapter 11 is "some of the debt to our lenders had come due, and instead of refinancing it, the lenders wanted to take control of the mall."

Urban Mall also wanted more time to find other sources of financing, he said.

David Neff, lawyer for the mall's biggest creditor, Philadelphia-based real estate investment trust Rait Partnership, said Urban Mall filed for bankruptcy protection after his client sued the center's owner and Suttles, seeking to obtain management control of the mall.


Located at the corner of Bellaire Boulevard and U.S. 59 in southwest Houston, the mall, which court documents indicate is worth $70 million, is "a great piece of real estate at a major intersection," said Scott Shillings, senior vice president of Staubach Retail.

The mall property benefits from having Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital and Houston Baptist University nearby, he said. "I would see the mall being scraped and doing what Northline or Gulfgate did," Shillings said.

Northline Commons, at Loop 610 and Crosstimbers, is being transformed from a mall into a more outdoor, power center concept with big-box retailers, as has Gulfgate Mall, at the Gulf Freeway at Woodridge.

Residents surrounding Sharpstown Center want something less upscale than the neighboring Galleria and First Colony, Shillings said.

There is a need in the area for a discount retailer such as Wal-Mart, a grocery store, a home-improvement store or possibly a hotel, he said.


Still, Sharpstown Center has many loyal shoppers who like it the way it is.

"It's a good mall for more modern, new styles," said Nai- shon Jones, a fast-food restaurant employee. He was buying a hoodie at Jeans West.

The store sells hoodies emblazoned with images of Al Pacino as Scarface, skeletons, dragons and U.S. currency, as well as shirts and jeans.

David Dewey, chairman of Houston-based Jeans West, has another store in San Jacinto Mall, but Sharpstown is his best location. Last year, it posted a 34 percent increase in sales over the previous year, he said.

Jeans West's neighbor, fashion casual chain Journeys, has more than a dozen stores in the Houston area, and the Sharpstown Center location had one of the highest same-store sales increase in 2007, compared with 2006, according to its manager, Kevin Brown.

Within urban music culture, Sharpstown Center is well-known nationally, Dewey said.

Before opening Jeans West, he toured several big cities. "Every city we went to has its own version of Sharpstown Mall," he said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5468893.html

 

Fun Time.