Tag: Sears

The infamous postcard on the wall where stores never opened at the Mall of the Mainland. Nikki's address and hometown is completely made up, but it is interesting to note that 77060 is Greenspoint Mall's Zip code. Perhaps at the time this post card was painted, the Mall of the Mainland did have more worthwhile shopping and entertainment options than Greenspoint Mall. That's not saying much though. I will say that shopping at the Mall of the Mainland was a vacation if you wanted to spend time in a public space and didn't want to see anyone else! It was paradise for those who wanted peace and quiet. (From the Anonymous in Houston retail photo collection)

A Look Back at Houston Retail in January 2014 with Anonymous in Houston’s Photo Collection

January 10, 2024January 6, 2024 Anonymous in Houston 6 comments

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston Happy new year, Houston Historic Retail readers! Today’s topic is a bit of a random retail post. Those of you familiar with my guest blog posts here at HHR know that while I enjoy discussing retail history, I am not much of a retail photographer. The wonderful retail photographers out there deserve a lot of credit for their skill in …

"A qualitative leap into the world of super fidelity...." Foley's price for this JVC CD player was a bit on the high side even for 1983 given some of the other options presented here, but those other CD players didn't promise 'super fidelity'! *Houston Chronicle*, October 4, 1983

Vintage Ads: Compact Disc Arrived at Houston Retailers 40 Years Ago

June 30, 2023June 29, 2023 Anonymous in Houston 15 comments

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston In 1983, the home entertainment options most American households had were quite limited compared to modern times. Most homes had televisions in 1983, but most people could not do much more than receive local broadcast TV channels on their TVs at that time as cable/satellite TV was still trying to establish itself. There were video games and other home computers …

Halloween Costume Conversions 2022: Featuring Randall’s, Sears, and More!

October 31, 2022January 11, 2023 Mike 2 comments

Boo! And welcome to Houston Historic Retail! Today, we’re celebrating Halloween by checking out four costume conversions in what is HHR’s longest-running theme post dating back to 2018. Man, I was really playing to an empty room back then, but thankfully my fan base has grown substantially there are dozens of you now! Ever since the 2019 debut of Costume Conversions, the series has always been a favorite of mine. It’s always fun to get …

Retail News: Sears at Willowbrook Mall’s last gasp!

September 12, 2022October 12, 2022 Mike 1 comment

Sears Hometown Store at Willowbrook Mall is having its last gasp this upcoming week. While store employees could not provide a final date, they said this week would likely be it for them, as the store slowly runs out of stock. What little remained in the store largely consisted of fixtures and merchandise that had been purchased but yet to be picked up. Many of the items in the store had been shipped in from …

Sears Willowbrook Mall Experiment is Closing

August 8, 2022October 12, 2022 Mike 16 comments

The Sears Hometown located inside of Willowbrook Mall has started the closing process for their store a short six months after opening. The scheme was a way to put former Sears Mall buildings and a few former Kmarts to use as prospective tenants for this former mainline store, which closed in 2020, failed to step up. The closure was first reported to HHR by regular contributor Anonymous in Houston, who noticed a Google Review stating …

Sears Willowbrook fills out their space, and how did it end up a Hometown any way?

July 13, 2022October 12, 2022 Mike 1 comment

Howdy, folks, and welcome to Houston Historic Retail! Today we’re back at everyone’s least favorite stomping grounds… Zombie Sears! With the recent closure of failed Pasadena Hometown Sears Conversion still looming over its head, things look somewhat bleak for a company that continues to close stores only months after opening. Despite all the tears shed for other locations of a retailer, which probably could have survived had they not “merged” with Kmart back in 2005. …

This wasn't a refront, this Sears was built like this in 1997!

The Final Chapter of Sears in Pasadena, as Hometown Store in Pasadena Town Square Mall prepares to close

May 25, 2022May 25, 2022 Mike 5 comments

Well folks, welcome to the closing chapter of a failed experiment. Sears is killing off one of their Hometowns in a Mainline store. Seemingly pulling off the opposite of “fat guy in a little coat” was not enough to justify keeping a tiny piece of the what was the final Sears in Houston open. If you’ve been following Houston Historic Retail, we’ve covered the Pasadena Town Square/Marcoplaza Mall Sears from reopening in November to a more …

One of the nicest touches was a custom made covering for what had been the Optical Center, presumably Sears is hoping to rent this space out

Zombie Sears Pasadena Texas: All stocked up, with no one to shop

April 20, 2022April 20, 2022 Mike 4 comments

Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! Your blogging source for all things retail in Houston! Today, we return to the Sears Hometown where these horrible conversions all started. The former Marcoplaza Mall Sears reopened as the first example of a Sears Hometown Store in a closed Mainline store only a few months ago in late 2021. At the time the store was pathetically stocked, using a bit of leftover shelving to form …

If the actual Sears Hometown store is in the back of the building, how does one use the mall entrance to get to the store? Well, this is something that has to be seen to believe! Yes, Sears used tarps and old fixtures to create a hallway leading shoppers to the Sears Hometown store without allowing them to wander into the closed parts of the building! The blue light clearly turned on in someone's mind! That's not just smart, that's Kmart...err...Sears smart!

Sears Willowbrook, Grand Opening Weekend! The latest on Fast Eddie’s Sears schemes

February 23, 2022October 12, 2022 Mike 11 comments

Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! Today we’re going to revisit the Willowbrook Sears location which you might have seen earlier at HHR in this post about the history of Willowbrook Mall or in this post about the Spirit Halloween store that opened in the Willowbrook Sears after it closed in 2020. Je of the Louisiana & Texas Retail Blog also has some photos of this Sears back when it was open …

Kroger Superstore, 1977 — Kroger Superstore Produce Department, 1977 (Image sourced from WFAA-TV/SMU Jones Film Collection, April 7, 1977)

Vintage Texas Retail Videos in 1080p from the Jones Film Collection

January 14, 2022January 9, 2022 Anonymous in Houston 4 comments

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston Those who have been reading Houston Historic Retail for some period of time know that I did a two-part series (Part I and II) in early 2021 about the excellent retail videos available at The Portal of Texas History website operated by the University of North Texas Library. Most of the videos at The Portal were supplied by Dallas-Fort Worth …