Willowbrook Mall (Houston)

Willowbrook Mall is a regional shopping mall located in the Willowbrook area of Houston, Texas that opened in 1981. Located at the intersection of State Highway 249 and FM 1960, the enclosed, single-level mall houses 160 retail stores and five anchors. The mall is owned by General Growth Properties and among the five largest Houston-area retail developments based on net rentable area, ranking third in 2000,^[2] and is considered a major retailing center of northwest Houston.^[3] The mall targets 954,920 residents in the northwestern Greater Houston region, which is projected to increase to 1,104,755 residents within 5 years.^[4]

History

The mall opened in 1981, during the rapid growth phase of northwest Houston during the early 1980s, with anchors Foley's, Joske's, Montgomery Ward, and Sears. The final two anchor locations were developed when Macy's opened a new store in 1984 and JCPenney added a new store in 1992.

Homart Development Company, a unit of Sears, Roebuck and Co., sold the mall to a group of investors in 1990.^[5] The mall underwent extensive remodeling in 1992.

The Joske's chain was bought by Dillard's in 1987. After opening a larger location in 1997 that was originally occupied by Macy's, Dillard's planned to operate its original Joske's location featuring a men's department and housewares and stock the usual merchandise in the space formerly occupied by Macy's. But Dillard's abandoned plans to operate two stores at the mall in 1998 and sold the original Joske's store to Lord & Taylor,^[6] who opened its new 122,212-square-foot (11,353.9 m²) store later the same year. As part of May Department Stores' reconfiguration of Lord & Taylor in January 2003, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would close all Houston-area stores, including its five-year-old Willowbrook Mall location. The store closed in January 2004, and the location is now being demolished as part of a new project that eventually became Nordstrom Rack.^[7]

Montgomery Ward closed in March 2001 after the 128-year-old company went out of business. The store was taken over by Foley's in 2003 for a second location specializing in menswear and a furniture gallery. In 2006, the two Foley's stores became Macy's as part of Federated Department Stores' conversion of multiple store names into the Macy's name following its acquisition of May.

The mall was bought by General Growth Properties in 2001 from a pension fund managed by Lend Lease Real Estate Investments Inc. The 1,500,000-square-foot (140,000 m²) mall was cited as "one of the most successful retail shopping malls in Houston, consistently ranking near the Galleria, Memorial City Mall and Baybrook Mall as one of the area's top-grossing malls per square foot," producing "...sales of about $430 per square foot."^[8] Dillards completed a renovation of its Willowbrook store the same year, expanding the anchor space by 50 percent.

In 2016, Willowbrook Mall added Dick's Sporting Goods, one of five locations developed for the Greater Houston region by the national sporting goods retailer.^[9]

Anchor stores

• Dillard's (opened 1984 as Macy's, became Dillard's 1997)
• JCPenney (opened 1992)
• Macy's (opened 1981 as Foley's, became Macy's 2006)
• Macy's Men's & Furniture (opened 1981 as Montgomery Ward, became Foley's Men's/Home 2003, became Macy's Men's/Home 2006)
• Sears (opened 1981)
• H&M (opened 2012)
• Nordstrom Rack (opened 2014)
• Dick's Sporting Goods (opened 2016)^[9]

See also

• List of shopping malls in Greater Houston

References

External links

• Official website
• General Growth Properties: Willowbrook