Future of Houston-area shopping malls discussion (Baytown, Katy: buy, movie theater, construction)

[gwarnecke]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

I tried to find the Sony store last month in the Galleria, but it was gone. They left for whatever reason, so one less reason for me to shop there.

Hah I too was sad to see the Sony store go. One of the few fun places at the Galleria that my wife could "drop me off" while she did her own shopping. I miss Borders as well. Now the only remotely interesting places are the Microsoft Store, the Apple Store, and the Tesla showroom.

[Texas Ag 93]

You've even got developers set to open some more highly upscale outdoor shopping districts, designed to capture those shoppers for whom the Galleria is not tony enough (for many of the reasons cited above). There is a big one called the River Oaks District about to launch, I believe.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93

You've even got developers set to open some more highly upscale outdoor shopping districts, designed to capture those shoppers for whom the Galleria is not tony enough (for many of the reasons cited above). There is a big one called the River Oaks District about to launch, I believe.

ROD has already started to open. They moved in some impressively large trees!

[Texas Ag 93]

LocalPlanner, are you sure Texans are falling out of love with the mall? Of course, this is in Dallas, but....

The Cream of the Shop - Texas Monthly

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93

LocalPlanner, are you sure Texans are falling out of love with the mall? Of course, this is in Dallas, but....

The Cream of the Shop - Texas Monthly

I didn't mean to imply that they were. But there's no denying that our region has been losing a lot more malls than it's been gaining since the mid-1990s. Maybe we're just consolidating our "mall love"?

And the overall structure of the consumer economy may just not be that well-aligned with the business model of the mall anymore.

[SouthernBoy205]

Originally Posted by curbur

I can't speak to all the factors as to why there's decline, but this is certainly going to be the model going forward. Now will this model prove tiresome or overdone 15-20 years in the future? Maybe so, but at least for now there's a growing desire for urban walkable centers where the lines between living, working, and playing (or in this case spending money at a store or restaurant) are not separated. Just like with large 'fortress' malls today, there will certainly be haves and have nots 'town centres' since there will likely be too much commercial sq footage to fill in all the suburbs with the kinds of stores tailored for these developments.

You can already kind of see it, any inner loop walkable area like Rice Village or the heights shopping area, and perhaps even Market st. are getting quality, unique restaurants and shopping locations, whereas Vintage and La Centerra are able to get some good brands, but still have a lot of empty or under utilized commercial sq footage. Then there will be ones that are trying to jump onto the trend and don't even necessarily warrant having such a development in the vicinity where they're going up; a good example of this to me is Valley Ranch town center going up near Kingwood. They too are going for a more urban and walkable model for a retail/office district nearby suburban neighborhoods, but thus far have only been able to sign big box stores that likely would be more well suited for a strip mall anyways. There's a new 'town centre' type development going up at 99@I-10, Bridgeland plans on having a town centre some day and the commercial sq footage in their current plans is quite massive, and so does some of the other new MPC's as well. There's going to be too much for the given population in the immediate area, and some places will more than likely fail. Perhaps this will be a good test market for a lot of big box stores to try more urban settings for their stores since this is a trend going on all over America.

What's this?

[curbur]

Originally Posted by SouthernBoy205

What's this?

Verde Parc

Although it's been a few months since any recent announcements, so this is probably on the shelf until next boom cycle.

[Dopo]

I'm sure online shopping has something to do with this

[cBach]

There are several factors that contributed to the decline of the mall. Most have been mentioned here:
* HVAC costs for conditioning a lot of space that isn't used a lot of the time (all night there are no shoppers there but the A/C still has to run), this cost is passed onto consumers. Shops that are in a strip mall don't have this cost and thus the cost to the consumer is lower.
* inefficient, if you need to go to a store in the middle of the mall you have to park at one of the anchors, go into the mall, walk past all the vendors hawking their stuff, then to the store. You waste a lot of time. At a strip mall you just drive up to the store.
* bothersome vendors annoying you
* food court features low quality fast food. Most of the town centers have actual restaurants instead of fast food, not sure why malls never realized that people that shop for high quality clothing want to eat good food not Panda Express. The malls that are smarter have upscale restaurants in them.
* amount of land needed for malls. Malls need a massive amount of land, they need their own streets, mall cops inside and mall patrol outside. So lots of extra costs born by the mall and passed onto consumers. There simply aren't a lot of spots where you can put these gigantic places. Strip malls are rectangular and fit into the existing street pattern better.
* malls are hideously ugly from the outside.

Malls will become "niche" things and the ones that offer unique "attractions" will prosper. No doubt, the ice rink at the Galleria is the reason why the Galleria has remained tenable. Kids stores, trains through the store, catering to kids, bouncy houses, that is where the future of malls is. It's a great place if there are kid attractions to bring when the weather is too hot, cold, or rainy outside.

The upscale "adult" crowd will be at lifestyle centers because malls will be associated in their mind with teen culture and "middle class" america. So, malls that reinvent themselves, for instance Grapevine Mills in DFW area has Legoland and an Aquarium, will survive. Others that won't realize that you have to cater to young ones, will die down.

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by cBach

There are several factors that contributed to the decline of the mall. Most have been mentioned here:
* HVAC costs for conditioning a lot of space that isn't used a lot of the time (all night there are no shoppers there but the A/C still has to run), this cost is passed onto consumers. Shops that are in a strip mall don't have this cost and thus the cost to the consumer is lower.
* inefficient, if you need to go to a store in the middle of the mall you have to park at one of the anchors, go into the mall, walk past all the vendors hawking their stuff, then to the store. You waste a lot of time. At a strip mall you just drive up to the store.
* bothersome vendors annoying you
* food court features low quality fast food. Most of the town centers have actual restaurants instead of fast food, not sure why malls never realized that people that shop for high quality clothing want to eat good food not Panda Express. The malls that are smarter have upscale restaurants in them.
* amount of land needed for malls. Malls need a massive amount of land, they need their own streets, mall cops inside and mall patrol outside. So lots of extra costs born by the mall and passed onto consumers. There simply aren't a lot of spots where you can put these gigantic places. Strip malls are rectangular and fit into the existing street pattern better.
* malls are hideously ugly from the outside.

Good reasons - especially bolded parts.

There have been working women for a long time. However, when online shopping became more available, I was like "Hello, there."