Memorial City Mall is a large

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

in Houston, Texas, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Houston at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Gessner Road. The mall is in the Memorial City Management District, whose official legal name is the "Harris County Municipal Management District No. 1" under Chapter 3810 of the Texas Special District Local Laws Code. The mall is adjacent to the large

Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center The Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center is a hospital in Memorial City, Houston, Texas. It is a part of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System and houses the system's headquarters. Pediatric care to the hospital is provided by doctors fro ...

. Constructed in the mid-1960s, the mall was renovated extensively in the early 2000s. It has since become one of the city's most popular malls. The anchor stores are American Girl,

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

, Sun & Ski Sports, Cinemark,

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

, Dillard's,

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

, and

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

. There is 1 vacant anchor store that was once

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

History

First mall

When the Memorial City Mall was completed in 1966, it was a middle-market shopping venue that included a

store as its first anchor. The Memorial Theater, which was a single-screen cinema in operation since June 1962, was connected with the interior of the mall. A

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

store opened in 1972 as the mall's second anchor store.

Foley's Foley's was a chain of department stores owned by May Department Stores and headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. On August 30, 2005, the division was dissolved and operation of the stores was assumed by Federated's Macy's West and Macy's ...

opened a store in 1974 in the mall's new East Wing.

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...

opened a store in 1977 in the western side of the mall. With these additions, the mall had of leasable space. Memorial City Mall was developed by MetroNational’s founder, Joseph Johnson.

Rivalry with Town & Country Mall

Town & Country Mall opened in 1983 at the intersection of Interstate 10 and

Beltway 8 Beltway 8 (BW8), the Sam Houston Parkway, along with the Sam Houston Tollway, is an beltway around the city of Houston, Texas, United States, lying entirely within Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway maintained by the Texa ...

, only one mile west of Memorial City Mall, The new mall featured more upscale stores, such as

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

and

Marshall Field and Company Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...

. For a time, the Town & Country Mall was considered more fashion-conscious. To regain market share, Memorial City Mall underwent renovations and added "Fame City," which was a multi-faceted family entertainment complex with an indoor mini golf course, kiddie ride area, video game arcade, teen disco, roller skating rink, and an eight-screen Loew's Theatre. These attractions opened in 1989. The mall also began hosting specialty conventions for items such as model trains. Fame City was not successful, however, and the mall continued to decline. In 1989, Lord & Taylor closed its store and was replaced by a Mervyn's store.

announced in 1997 that it was moving its store from the Town & Country Mall to the Memorial City Mall. During the construction of the

Sam Houston Tollway Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

, the visibility of the Town & Country Mall declined and access became difficult. In addition, the

1980s oil glut The 1980s oil glut was a serious surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s energy crisis. The world price of oil had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel (equivalent to $ per barrel in dollars, when adjusted for inf ...

had a severe impact on Houston's economy and marked the beginning of the end of Town & Country Mall. The mall became less popular with shoppers as its interior became dated and important tenants like anchors Dillard's and

moved to the Memorial City Mall. Town & Country Mall closed in 2004 and was demolished shortly thereafter.

Revival

By the early 2000s, the area surrounding Memorial City Mall had returned to prosperity thanks to a US$500 million renovation project that took place from 2001 to 2005. During this period, over 100 retail shops were added to the complex, including five anchor stores. In January 2001, Montgomery Ward closed its store. In November, Foley's moved into a larger, two-level store. Lord & Taylor returned to the mall in March 2002 with a two-level store. The eight-screen Loew's Theater closed in 2002 after its owner, Trammell Crow Co., filed for bankruptcy in early 2001. In October 2003, an extended east concourse and a Dillard's store replaced Foley's original store, which had been demolished. Two parking garages were constructed as well. That same month,

opened its newly constructed store on the site where the now-demolished Montgomery Ward store had stood. With the goal of "creating a total family experience", large-scale renovations of the mall continued through 2004 with the construction of a large play area for children and a

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

-standard sized

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

. A new 16-screen Cinemark movie theater with stadium seating opened adjacent to Sears in May 2007. In 2005, Lord & Taylor closed its anchor space, which JCPenney moved into in February 2006. Mervyn's stopped operating in Texas in 2006, and its mall store was demolished soon thereafter. During 2009 and 2010, a

skyway A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of enclo ...

was constructed across Gessner Road that connected the mall to a 267-room

Westin Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain owned by Marriott International. , the Westin Brand has 226 properties with 82,608 rooms in multiple countries in addition to 58 hotels with 15,741 rooms in the pipeline. History Wester ...

hotel under construction next to the Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center. The hotel opened in March 2011.Memorial City — Latest Development
, Memorial City Mall website In 2015,

Sears Holdings Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th- ...

spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Memorial City Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties. On August 22, 2018, it was announced that

would be closing as part of a plan to close 46 stores nationwide. The store closed in November 2018. After the store closed,

Macy’s Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

Dillard’s Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...

and

are remaining anchors left.

Anchors

* Dillard's * Forever 21 *

(

2002-2005) *

(

2001-2006) *

References

External links

* {{Houston Shopping Shopping malls in Houston Shopping malls established in 1962