West Oaks Mall (Houston, Texas)

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = West Oaks Mall


caption =
location = Houston, Texas, USA
opening_date = 1984
developer = JMB/Federated Realty Associates Ltd. [http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1985_15515 5th Macy's for Houston] , "Houston Chronicle", June 14, 1985.]
manager =
owner = Investment Properties of America
number_of_stores = 110
number_of_anchors = 3
floor_area = 1.1 million sq. ft.
floors = 1
website = [http://www.shopwestoaksmall.com www.shopwestoaksmall.com]

West Oaks Mall is a mall in the Alief neighborhood of Houston, Texas, USA, that opened in 1984. [ [http://www.shopwestoaksmall.com/mimages/factSheets.pdf Fact sheet] , West Oaks Mall.] It is located at the southwest corner of Westheimer Road and Highway 6 and has anchor stores Dillard's, Macy's, Sears, and Steve & Barry's. The mall not only serves Alief but also is the closest non-outlet mall to Katy/Cinco Ranch and burgeoning Fulshear. The mall was purchased by Investment Properties of America from Somera Investment Partners and Coastwood Capital Group in 2005. [ [http://www.shopwestoaksmall.com/go/PoolbUrban.cfm?MallID=74&FPURLID=2130556370 Investment Properties of America Purchases West Oaks Mall] , West Oaks Mall, October 4, 2005.]

History

Foley's built and opened their store in 1982, two years before the mall opened. In the foyer of the north entrance to the store, on both walls, there are handprints of children on terra-cotta tiles with a plaque dated May 22, 1982.

When the mall opened in 1984, it was built in the Mission style prevalent in Houston in the 1980s and was built to serve as a second upscale shopping center serving heavily affluent West Houston, competing with Town & Country Mall for the title with a tenant mix that consisted of anchors Foley's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, and Mervyns, as well as over 120 stores, a six-screen movie theater, and a food court dubbed the Fiesta Food Court (not to be confused with the locally-based Fiesta supermarket chain). The mall attracted customers from newer developments in west Houston and the Alief neighborhood, as well as the affluent, burgeoning Katy and Sugar Land areas to the west and southwest. In 1985, Macy's announced that it was building a fifth Houston store at the mall but it never materialized. [http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1985_15515 5th Macy's for Houston] , "Houston Chronicle", June 14, 1985.] The store would have opened in late 1987, a year after the flagship Houston Galleria store (now dubbed as Macy's at Sage after the 2006 merger) opened. In fact, the mall failed to meet its original purpose of being a luxury mall as Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor closed around May 11990, [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE3DD1438F933A15757C0A966958260 COMPANY NEWS; Saks Store Closing] , "New York Times", April 20, 1990.] replaced respectively by Sears and JCPenney as part of a repositioning strategy to attract middle-class shoppers. [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2004/01/19/newscolumn5.html Planned renovation to give West Oaks Mall new identity] , "Houston Business Journal", January 16, 2004] It did however attract Dillard's as a fifth anchor in 1991 in place of Macy's. This was the first Dillard's store in Houston to be built as a Dillard's as the other Dillard's locations at the time were converted Joske's.

In 1996, West Oaks Mall underwent a renovation to better compete with First Colony Mall, which opened in Sugar Land the same year, which led to the removal of the various fountains that were spread out throughout the mall. Other renovations in 1996 were the replacement of the original dark brown tile in the hallways and the removal of a tall clock at the intersection of the Arcade and the Dillard's/JCPenney concourses. An elevated seating area in the food court used as a smoking area was also removed. Somera Investment Partners and Coastwood Capital Group purchased the mall in July 2003 from an affiliate of CB Richard Ellis Investors. [ [http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2003_3675462 West Oaks Mall purchased] , "Houston Chronicle", July 29, 2003.] [ [http://www.shopwestoaksmall.com/go/PoolbUrban.cfm?MallID=74&FPURLID=2130555834 Purchase of Houston's West Oaks] , West Oaks Mall, September 16, 2003.]

In 2004, the mall was renovated into the Texas Ranch Style to compete with the recently renovated Memorial City Mall and the expansion and renovation of The Galleria, as well as the impending expansion of First Colony Mall. The interior was extensively renovated, including the filling of the sunken part of the Park Court with concrete and the addition of a fireplace to the food court, while the tile from the 1996 renovation was replaced by marble. Park benches were replaced by comfortable seating areas while the exteriors of the anchor stores remained relatively the same but the mall's exterior was repainted.

Retail mix

The first Alamo Drafthouse in Houston opened in the mall after Alamo Drafthouse owners granted the franchise location in 2003 in the former movie theater. Linens 'n Things opened in the former Palais Royal space in the Park court. After Palais Royal left in 2000, it was subdivided into halves with the half facing the mall becoming a pottery store while the other half facing the parking lot sitting empty until Linens 'n Things opened.

After the July 4, 2005, Independence Day sale, JCPenney announced it would close its store and that all purchases made after July 4 were final. The store closed in late July, but a new stand-alone store opened October 7 at The Grand Promenade in Katy. The old store lacked a salon, which the new stand-alone store incorporated into the design, which may have prompted a move out of West Oaks to keep JCPenney's "It's all inside" slogan consistent. [ [http://ir.jcpenney.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=70528&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=762109&highlight= JCPenney Welcomes Shoppers to New Store in Katy, Texas] , JCPenney, September 28, 2005.]

Unlike neighboring Willowbrook Mall, Memorial City Mall or First Colony Mall, West Oaks does not seem to support higher-end retail as evidenced by Gap Inc. closing its Gap and Gap Kids stores in March 2006. Gap Kids was eventually succeeded by Finkle Fashion in November 2006, which offers women's clothing and maternity wear. Furthermore, the Macy's and Dillard's locations at West Oaks lack some higher-end selections such as Calvin Klein that are offered at comparable neighboring suburban-oriented stores. This could be due to the oversaturation of middle/upper-middle class malls in Houston, especially in the Westside where most Houstonians live. Macy's started offering men's I-N-C around February 252008, but Material London is not carried at this store as of yet. Zoom System's iPod vending machine was finally installed in late-March 2008, 18 months after their debut in Macy's stores. In mid-May 2008, a selection of the Lacoste spring selection appeared. The selection was expanded around Memorial Day. This change in product mix may be a sign of the store upscaling to cater to Cinco Ranch and Energy Corridor residents. One way that West Oaks can differentiate itself from the neighboring middle-class malls is to go back to its luxury roots.

Limited Brands renovated its Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works locations and built a new Express store. Most of the first-tier specialty stores in the mall are owned by Limited or are former Limited stores like Lane Bryant and New York & Co. One cause of the lack of higher-end retail is that most residents from the Greater Katy area prefer to shop at Memorial City Mall due to its location on the Katy Freeway (which played a part in the demise of Town & Country Mall nearby) versus the slower Westheimer Parkway and running through the Barker Reservoir even with the traffic and construction on the freeway or at Katy Mills due to the location and outlet store prices. The mall additionally lost a large chunk of customers in the 1990s from Fort Bend County, including affluent and rapidly growing Sugar Land when First Colony Mall opened.

The mall's retail situation was made even more ironic in 2006 when teen retailers Aéropostale and Hollister Co. moved into the mall, joining long-time tenant American Eagle Outfitters, but lost the Forever 21 store in 2007. The addition of these stores raised speculation that the mall is improving from its decline despite the onslaught of competition from new developments such as La Centerra in Cinco Ranch. It remains to be seen if the mall can attract and retain middle class homeowners as customers from the rapidly expanding new housing developments in the Alief, Clodine, and East Fulshear areas.

When La Centerra opened on March 1, 2007, Claire's and Limited Too were the stores that had a location in both La Centerra and West Oaks. Limited Too became the first tenant at West Oaks affected by La Centerra's opening; the store closed at the end of April 2007. Claire's still remains at both locations. Concerns about the mall have also been raised with the impending construction of The Grand in Katy, which is located adjacent to the JCPenney store that opened following the closing of the West Oaks JCPenney. This, along with continued retail growth in Sugar Land and other parts of Fort Bend County, could push the mall back into a state of decline similar to the one that befell Town & Country Mall or if it survives, like Sharpstown Mall.

As the Christmas season of 2007 came to a close, The Limited store closed a few days before Christmas (around December 222007). A few months before, Limited Brands, the parent company, sold their flagship Limited chain to Sun Capital Partners. The new owners may have decided to shutter it. After being vacant for a few months, Image, a new independent clothing store opened around March 12008.

In July 2008, Linens and Things announded their liquidation sale due to Linens 'n Things Chapter 11 proceedings. It was shuttered on August 15, 2008.

Restaurant mix

After the renovation, the Birraporetti's restaurant briefly re-opened in November 2004 at the untouched former location that was shuttered in the mid-1990s, later closing for remodeling, but on August 3, 2005, it was announced that it would close permanently. [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2005/09/19/story5.html Doors close on original Birraporetti's, second restaurant] , "Houston Business Journal", September 16, 2005.] Also, as part of the renovations, a new Applebee's was built on an undeveloped outlying parcel north of the mall.

In the food court, the food-service tenants are in the larger half of the food court while retail stores are in the smaller half. Additionally, the park court is slowly turning into a second food court or a snack court. As part of the renovations, a Coffee Beanery opened in the middle of the court, which closed in October 2007. A few weeks later, A&J's, an independent sandwich café opened in its place. An independent restaurant, Hello Josephine, moved from the food court and reopened in the court with a new menu, eliminating food and serving only drinks and ice cream. A B&B Newsstand opened in February 2008 in the former La Chocolatier space (Before that, it was a Select Comfort retail store before it moved to Katy Mills around 2002). It could be related to a convenience kiosk that opened a few months before. Between the two establishments, there are chairs and tables behind the coffee shop and a seating area with a sofa and three plasma televisions mounted on the back wall of the kiosk.

Anchor stores

*Dillard's (opened 1991; 227,600 sq. ft.)
*Macy's (opened as Foley's in 1982, became Macy's 2006; 250,000 sq. ft.)
*Sears (opened as 50,000 sq. ft. Saks Fifth Avenue in 1984, closed 1990, became Sears apparel store 1990, became Sears department store 1998; 102,036 sq. ft.) [ [http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1990_710686 Sears' Brand Centrals to open here] , "Houston Chronicle", June 19, 1990.]
*Steve & Barry's (opened as Mervyns in 1984, closed 2005, [cite web | publisher="Houston Business Journal" | title=Mervyn's to close 62 stores, exit Houston market | url=http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2005/09/05/daily23.html | date=September 7, 2005 | accessdate=9 October | accessyear=2006] became Steve & Barry's 2006; 75,000 sq. ft.)
*"Vacant" (opened as Lord & Taylor in 1984, closed 1990, became JCPenney in 1996, replaced and closed 2005; 100,000 sq. ft.)

References

External links

* [http://www.shopwestoaksmall.com/ West Oaks Mall] Official website
* [http://www.ipofa.com Investment Properties of America] Official website