Author: Mike

My name is Mike and I am the founder of the Houston Historic Retail! I have been running this site since 2015. For more information check out the About page!
Entrance A is the main gate for both malls, and was where Piccadilly once had a separate door.

Visiting Almeda Mall for the first time

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In light of the recent publicity of my website thanks to a Chron.com Article I decided to visit the literal twin of Northwest Mall, Almeda Mall. The following may come as a surprise to my readers, prior to yesterday I had never set foot in Almeda Mall. I had of course driven by it many times, knew where it was, and knew its shared lineage with Northwest. Both malls opened in October of 1968, they …

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Northwest Mall July 2018 Update

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Well, we’re coming to the end of July, which means it’s finally time for another biannual trip to Northwest Mall, before you read any further not much has happened. However, everything is still there, at present there are no plans for demolition. The last stated plans were to remodel and redevelop the inside with a possible grocer taking the space of a former anchor. I have since been contacted by the group wishing to purchase …

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Laredo Taco Company Greensburg, PA

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Laredo Taco Company, is a fast food concept owned by Stripes Convenience Stores. In 2015, Stripes was acquired by Sunoco. Some experimentation was undertaken by Sunoco to help improve their convenience store operations. Outside of Stripes switching to Sunoco brand gasoline there was little change for the  Texas based Stripes customer to notice. However, outside of Texas Sunoco chose to build a new store concept, including co-located Laredo Taco Company locations. Three stores were built …

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Katy Mills Renovation

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Katy Mills which has been previously covered in this blog, is undergoing a renovation. Simon who purchased the malls original developer (The Mills Corporation) had not invested much in Katy Mills in terms of upgrades. Individual stores had updated their store fronts, but nothing in common areas. One of the first things to go was the “Star Family” a common mascot among the Mills malls. My understanding is that the idea was that you and …

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Northwest Mall December 2017 Update

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As it had been nearly 6 months since my last visit to Northwest Mall, I figured it was time for me to stop by. From the outside it looks like not too much is going on, and the views from the inside support that as well. All the stores with exterior entrances are still open, including Thompson’s Antique Center, Palais Royal, The College of Health Care Professionals, The Post Oak Club, and Chapa. Upon speaking …

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Katy Mills Opening Day

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All images in this post were taken by Darel Rex Finley. With his permission, I have used them to write this post. When Katy Mills Mall opened in 1999, it wasn’t surrounded by much. To the South, two recently developed and unfinished neighborhoods, Pin Oak Village and Falcon Point. To the North, downtown “Old Katy”. With no development to the East or West. Even the outparcels of the mall were underdeveloped, with a Walmart and …

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