SOUTHEAST AND SOUTHWEST HOUSTON SEARS STORES GOING SOUTH 
Included in the latest round of Sears store closings: the mall-anchor locations at the Baybrook Mall (off the Gulf Fwy. at Bay Area Blvd.) and the Westwood Mall (off the Southwest Fwy. at Bissonnet). Liquidation sales are scheduled to begin by the end of this month; the stores will shut down completely by the middle of September. This will bring the the number of Sears Holdings stores scheduled to close this year to 265. [USA Today; Business Insider] Aerial view of Sears at the Baybrook Mall: CBRE
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I keep wondering when they will finally close the Sears at Richmond and Main. There is hardly any business in the store and the 2 1/2 blocks of property they own (mostly surface lots) are over ripe for redevelopment
I just commented to my wife as we were passing by on 59 how that Westwood Sears store just won’t die. ha
It’s kinda ironic that Sears started out as a mail-order business and is now dying, at least with regard to their physical stores, due to online shopping.
Malls are goin down fast it seems.
Sears is in real trouble if they can’t make it at Baybrook – long known as one of the Houston area’s top performing malls.
I don’t know why it’s still called Westwood “Mall” as its only retail there (for the last two decades) is Sears. The mall existed from 1975 to 1998 when – with the sole exception of Sears – was converted to commercial office space.
Sears doesn’t own the property on which it sits at Wheeler & Main, they have a long-term lease on the land from Rice.
Just noticed the Sears Automotive Center on Fanin at Eagle St. in midtown is closed and equipment is being removed today.
1. Ditto on Native’s comment that the Baybrook Sears should be holding its own. That whole area is booming with lots of new stores and further migration down the freeway. For them to not be able to make the scratch needed to keep going means that the Sears honchos are pretty bad at the basics of selling stuff.
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2. Wheeler/Main inner city Sears: That place gives me the creeps since the transit center attracts a motley-looking crew. And, the homeless love to loiter in that big parking lot between the Sears and the Fiesta. If I have to shop at Sears, I may as well drive to Memorial City from my inner loop place. Or, order online.
No joke, I’ve lived here for four years now – always in Midtown – and I had no earthy idea that the Sears @ Richmond & Main was actually an open and operating retail location until I read the comments on this post. It looks abandoned from the street! Mind blown.
The Baybrook closing prolly has more to do with the value of the property than anything else. Sears had already been trying to lease out the auto center and half the store to other businesses, so clearly they know there’s money to be made there. Kinda like when they sold the Sears location at The Woodlands Mall to GGP (also the owner of Baybrook) who turned around and landed Nordstrom as a replacement.
Under all that hideous metal cladding is a stellar at deco building:. http://www.houstondeco.org/1930s/sears.html
Whatever Sears does I hope the structure survives…
Art ^^. Duhhh
It’s kinda interesting to note that Baybrook, Willowbrook, and Deerbrook Malls were all developed in the late ’70’s/early ’80’s by the real estate development arm of Sears Roebuck, called Homart Development. . Now they can’t even make a go of it in a mall that they developed.
I can’t believe they still have the North Shepherd store open.
I think it would be so ripe for The Sears store in the Baybrook Mall to become a new Nordstrom store because that area is booming with McMansions in The Clear Lake area. Baybrook has recently gone a huge transformation in this year, adding several stores including a DIck’s, A Dave & Buster’s, and a Maggiano’s.
I can’t believe the N. Shepherd store is still open either. Sears’ big draw was always appliances, tools, and lawn and garden. If you go in that store, good luck getting help with anything, and the lawn and garden department is dismal. Parking lot never has more than a handful of cars in it, and it’s occupying some seriously prime real estate. Shame, it’s just around the corner from my house, and I never even think of shopping there. In fact, if I want something I would buy at Sears, I look on-line.
A take on Sears’ trajectory:
http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-stores-closing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1
Hang on Shepherd store!