The Galleria; Houston, Texas
Longtime reader/commenter Jonah Norason of Two Way Roads sent us this detailed history of The Galleria in Houston, Texas, that we had to share with you. I haven’t been down to this one myself (though Prangeway has), but after looking at these photos I’m pretty tempted to try and get down to the Lone Star State sooner rather than later. Thusfar, the only place in Texas I’ve even been to is Amarillo! Anyway, thanks to Jonah for all the great swag–the remainder of the words and photos on this post are his.
“The Galleria is THE largest mall in Texas and 7th largest in the United States. It’s a massive beast buried in the heart of Uptown Houston. There is so much about this mall, it’s hard to know where to start. Inspired by Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, The Galleria opened in 1970 as a three-level mall with an ice rink, a hotel, an office building, and a Neiman Marcus. Up until this time, ice rinks in malls were not uncommon, but a mall centered around an ice rink was unheard of. This was the first. During this time, competition included but was not limited to: Sharpstown Mall, Memorial City Mall, and Gulfgate Center.
“But the Galleria expanded. Around 1977, the Galleria was expanded with an expansion entitled Galleria II. Galleria II featured upscale San Antonio retailer Frost Brothers and Lord & Taylor.
“Marshall Field’s was added in 1979, adding a fourth anchor to the mall. Then, in 1986, a third addition was added, entitled Galleria III. Galleria III was interesting because it did not connect to the main mall concourse (you had to cut through Marshall Field’s to get to it) and added one anchor: Macy’s. This was a real Macy’s store, one that was actually opened by the original R.H. Macy company (as opposed to Federated). Today, that’s the only “real” Macy’s left in Houston.
“In 1996, Marshall Field’s pulled out of the Texas market. This was not the only Texas mall affected, it included Town & Country Mall as well. In the Galleria, the store was replaced by Saks Fifth Avenue.
“In March 2003, the fourth addition to the Galleria was finished and the mall embarked on yet another renovation. This was Galleria IV. It featured a very upscale Foley’s and Nordstrom. The Foley’s addition was somewhat ironic, as Foley’s had been a Houston-based department store for years and it had also seemingly been in talks with the Galleria forever to make it happen.
“But change was on the way. In 2005, Lord & Taylor pulled out of the Texas market for good and closed their store. Furthermore, in 2006, a tragic incident happened. The Houston-based Foley’s was folded into Macy’s corporate and the Foley’s stores, which included not only the vast presence it had in Dallas and Houston, but the entire Texas area, as well as areas in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, to become simply “Macy’s”. At the Galleria, this caused the older, original Macy’s to be redubbed “Macy’s at Sage”, referring to the street it was facing.
“The former Lord & Taylor was partially demolished and redeveloped into a stunning addition featuring upscale stores and restaurants. This included a two-story Borders store. This addition has been informally named “Galleria V”, but it’s not a true addition since the other Gallerias did not replace anything and were entirely new wings with new anchors.
“The Galleria really was a truly unique urban structure, as shown in these postcards from Malls of America: here and here (note the Florsheim in the upper left corner, we’ll get to that later).
“To really understand the unique layout of the mall, you’d have to look at Simon’s official map that they made for the Galleria or this Google Maps photo. In other words, there’s four distinct sections of the mall, as illustrated by these pictures taken in March 2008.
“The centerpiece of the Galleria, Galleria I is a dumbbell-shaped wing that is three levels (two levels plus a “rink level”) and features the posh Neiman Marcus at one end. In addition, the complex features Westin Oaks Hotel and Post Oak Tower.
“Galleria II is the center portion of the mall. The floor plan resembles a cross. The north end goes toward the former Lord & Taylor area, the east side points toward Galleria I, and the south end either goes outside (1st level) or goes across a skywalk to Galleria III. There’s three levels in this section, and the third level (that goes above the 2nd level, it does not connect with the Rink Level) is carpeted and has banks and whatnot. The cool part about this section of the mall is the Westin Galleria Hotel rooms overlook the mall. I took a few photos inside Borders and the former Lord & Taylor space. Note the modern Florsheim!
“The west end goes into Saks Fifth Avenue and Galleria III. Galleria III is bizarre, because there’s no contiguous way to get from the main mall in the main building to Galleria III without going outside or walking through Saks. Galleria III is a plus-shaped wing with a few more shops and Macy’s at Sage. I really like this wing, because of its low traffic, strange layout, vacancies, and neon!
“The south end of the “cross” at Galleria II connects to the boomerang-shaped Galleria IV, which was dedicated in early 2003. This wing features Macy’s (the former Foley’s) and Nordstrom.
“Finally, the exteriors of the building, which include the detached Dillard’s across the street. Dillard’s isn’t connected to the Galleria and is not considered an anchor. Most of these pictures were from March 2008, but a few of them are from summer 2003.
danroman
June 7th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I’ve heard alot about this mall, great to see it has an entry now.
I like the fountain in that one picture. It’s simple but chic and I like the ice rink as well. More malls should have ice rinks.
I must say something aobut the layout though. It’s looks kind of…..inconveinent. Like walking through a dept store to get to the other side of the mall and all the criss-crosses and shortage of bathrooms. Yikes I would’nt want to mall walk this place.
But it looks like a cool mall, any texan natives want to provide their opinions on this mall?
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Jonah Norason
June 7th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Yeah, I actually had a list of memories of this one. I also forgot to put the Dillard’s picture in (oops). And Florsheim left the mall for an extended period of time (they didn’t immediately move). And new evidence suggests that Frost Bros. probably WASN’T in the area I thought it was, but that’s unproven at best.
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Jonah Norason
June 7th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Also, I wanted to point out that this is the FIRST Texas mall on Labelscar that isn’t dated, dying, or dead. Thanks for putting this up!
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The Leavster
June 7th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I’m approaching my 6th year in Houston and I’ve definitely made many visits to the Galleria. I’m sure frequent visitors to this website understand there are stores here that can almost pay their monthly rent with the sale of one item! This is where visitors from foreign countries come to spend their money and they definitely spend it.
Although it sounds strange, cutting through one store to get to the rest of the Galleria is not that bad. They have adequate signage and you get to see some expensive stuff that most of us will never afford.
As you can probably also guess, the Galleria is very popular during the summer months for two reasons. The first is air conditioning. The second is people watching. There are lots of people walking around with no bags or purchases in hand. They come out of the woodwork to just hang out on the weekends. But, it is by no means “dirty”. Just crowded.
What you can’t see in the photo of the fountain is that the water spouts are about 60 feet in the air. They also turn off and on in patterns. The kids spend lots of time watching this with their mouth open.
The Galleria IV addition was nice. It has a two level underground parking garage that is “kind of secret” but not really. I’ve never had any trouble parking there and getting right in. In fact, last X-mas eve I made a single last minute purchase and I parked right next to the escalator. Granted it was partially luck, but it wasn’t like I had to force my way in either. As a result, I made it in and out in 15 minutes.
Cheers to Jonah for submitting this one. If you haven’t visited, this is definitely something to check out.
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prshack
June 7th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Strange… if you check the mall map provided by the owner here: http://www.simon.com/mall/show_floorplan.aspx?ID=805 , it shows a pathway going through Saks to Galleria III. I assume this may have stayed open as a link when Marshall closed, making it even more strange.
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Jeremy
June 8th, 2008 at 12:05 am
I was visiting Houston in March this year when I went to visit the Galleria.
It was very large, but had a nice variety of stores. However, it may be a little different for outside visitors as myself. The mall becomes crowded quicky, easy to get lost, and lots of foreigners. I would suggest visiting, however I would bring along a friend. (it’s a bit overwhelming for just one!) I presumed that the Saks Fifth Avenue & Macy’s at Sage area was the original mall area due to lack of lush architecture found otherwise throughout the center. This area was very quite, and bleak. It wasn’t very easy to find, because once inside Saks Fifth Avenue, you will not see any signs leading to the other area. It appears that the Nordstrom & Macy’s addition is more organized, and easy to navigate than the rest of the center. This mall is truly a crown jewel of Texas, but it’s organization is still lacking. This of course coming from a person that didn’t lose direction in Mall Of America, but at The Galleria.
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Jonah Norason
June 8th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Just to clarify on Galleria III: The map’s pathway was added a few years ago to make the connection more clear. It was always there and just put in to show that you can access the mall from Saks. Galleria III is kind of weird, because it wasn’t in a well-trafficked area to begin with and further dropped off after Foley’s became Macy’s so there wasn’t much reason to go to the old Macy’s.
PRShack: I’m not entirely sure how the Saks was built around the Marshall Field’s link, either…
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SEAN
June 8th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
A funny story:
Several years ago my father went to a convention in Houston & stayed at the Galleria, I’m not sure wich hotel though. Anyway the story goes-the cab driver got the 2 hotels confused & pulled into the one on West Alabama Street instead of the one on West Himer Road. Understandable after all the mall is so huge & both hotels are under Westin’s ownership that I’m sure that it happens more often than one may realize.
Always good for a laugh.
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Max
June 8th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Here are some various comments:
*The Frost Brothers department store closed in 1988.
*I believe that Macy’s is required to keep both Galleria stores open until a tenant is found for one of them. (I also remember that I once read that “Macy’s at Sage” is the location that the chain eventually hopes to close.) For the life of me, I am shocked that Federated opted not to convert one of the mall’s Macy’s stores into a Bloomingdale’s, given that (1) the Galleria is such an upscale mall and (2) there are currently zero Bloomingdale’s locations in Texas.
*The size of each of The Galleria’s anchors is as follows:
–Foley’s turned Macy’s: 250,000 sq. ft.
–Macy’s at Sage: 232,600 sq. ft.
–Nordstrom: 226,000 sq. ft.
–Neiman Marcus: 224,000 sq. ft.
–Saks Fifth Avenue: 210,000 sq. ft.
*As Jonah alluded to, the Galleria III is home to far less foot traffic than the other parts of the mall.
*Forgive me for my selfishness, but I would love it if Labelscar could eventually profile all of the country’s twenty largest malls (in terms of space devoted to retail), which are listed below:
1. King of Prussia Mall (King of Prussia, PA): 2,793,200 sq. ft.
2. Mall of America (Bloomington, MN): 2,768,399 sq. ft.
3. South Coast Plaza (Costa Mesa, CA): 2,700,000 sq. ft.
4. Millcreek Mall (Erie, PA): 2,600,000 sq. ft.
5. Aventura Mall (Aventura, FL): 2,400,000 sq. ft.
6. Sawgrass Mills (Sunrise, FL): 2,383,906 sq. ft.
7. The Galleria (Houston, TX): 2,298,420 sq. ft.
8. Roosevelt Field Mall (Garden City, NY): 2,244,581 sq. ft.
9. Woodfield Mall (Schaumburg, IL): 2,224,000 sq. ft.
10. Palisades Center (West Nyack, NY): 2,217,322 sq. ft.
11. Tysons Corner Center (McLean, VA): 2,200,000 sq. ft.
12. Del Amo Fashion Center (Torrance, CA): 2,100,000 sq. ft. (tie)
12. Ala Mona Shopping Center (Honolulu, HI): 2,100,000 sq. ft. (tie)
14. Lakewood Center (Lakewood, CA): 2,092,710 sq. ft.
15. Scottsdale Fashion Square (Scottsdale, AZ): 2,049,169 sq. ft.
16. Oakbrook Center (Oakbrook, IL): 2,018,000 sq. ft.
17. Westfield Garden State Plaza (Paramus, NJ): 2,000,000 sq. ft. (tie)
17. NorthPark Center (Dallas, TX): 2,000,000 sq. ft. (tie)
17. Jordan Creek Town Center (West Des Moines, IA): 2,000,000 sq. ft. (tie)
20. Riverchase Galleria (Birmingham, AL): 1,900,000 sq. ft.
Of course, in addition to The Galleria, Labelscar has already profiled Mall of America and Woodfield Mall.
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Jeremy
June 8th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
^^ Max, I have to agree with your suggestions about new profiles. It would be nice to here MORE about lively & thriving malls, then depressing malls that die everyday. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking for profiles for just new malls, I just mean a nice happy story would be nice once in a while. It would expand the thought on how some malls are, and have turned into real treasures.
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Jonah Norason
June 8th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Max, many have those have inflated numbers due to the outparcels. And I forgot to mention that Frost Bros. did close in ‘88. I also tried to put up my “memory” list, but it wouldn’t allow it.
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Sherrodzilla
June 10th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Glad to see this blurb on the Galleria. True, the addition of Borders to the mix has greatly improved the attractiveness of this mall. However, be careful when visiting this mall. The Dillard’s has a history of sanctioning and even endorsing racism against African-Americans, up to and including on-site murder. Best to avoid crossing the street altogether and remaining inside the actual mall.
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SEAN
June 10th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I second you Max! Let’s get to it. This is not Extreme Makeover Mall Edition. LOL
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Matt from CLT
June 11th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
So are the two Macy’s stores identical, or a split operation (men & home in one, ladies in the other)?
What a massive complex…complex.
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Jonah Norason
June 12th, 2008 at 11:01 am
I believe they are two identical stores, which explains why traffic in Galleria III is so bad these days.
http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/index.php?showtopic=16318
This has a few pictures, including the view from the other Macy’s (Foley’s) with the huge tower jutting out of the mall, and many other views you’ve never seen before, such as the entrance to the ice rink.
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SEAN
June 12th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I recall reading that Macy’s at Sage was going to close & simon was looking for a residential partner to build a condo tower there. However for what ever reason the deal never happend & Macy’s remains open.
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Jeremy
June 13th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Yes, both Macy’s are the same. It’s a shame that they don’t put different things in each store ex: different departments. That way both would get equal attention. Otherwise, the Macy’s at Sage is basically pointless, and so is the empty corridor attached to that of & Saks Fifth Avenue.
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Jonah Norason
June 13th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Jeremy: Galleria III is not totally empty. Although the pictures do paint a gloomy picture, it still has several businesses plus Fox Sports Grill. The reason why everything looks depressing is because it was about half an hour till closing time at the mall, it was night, Fox Sports Grill wasn’t at peak hours, and I focused on the dead tenants and the dated facades.
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Rich
June 17th, 2008 at 11:26 am
I stayed at one of the Westins a few years ago–surprisingly cheap furnishings and not very well run. The mall, itself, was impressive in its size and noise level (the ice rink doesn’t help), but not with respect to shopping. The store selection seemed very generic, with few locally distinctive stores or mall rarities. It was a much less interesting experience than a trip to Lenox Square (I was living in Atlanta at the time), and Atlanta is a pretty generic place with narrowcasted retail. It also disappointed in relation to the similarly sized Tyson’s Corner. A Bloomie’s would make sense and its omission seems odd esp.given the demographics of the area and of the visitors that the mall attracts.
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BIGMallrat
June 17th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I had to really use my imagination to see the inspiration of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Anyway, this is a great mall. It was good to see such awesome photos. Glad they still have the ice rink.
Scott
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kris-alyx devereux
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:11 am
um just what the heck do you mean by “that dillard’s has a history of sanctioning & even endorsing racism against African-Americans, up to and including on-site murder” is this just a texas thing, but i also remember that the dillard’s at chesterifeld towne centre in chesterfield county va also did that as well, but as i said can you clarafly that statement, i mean if that was true in malls from virginia to arizona there would be just tons of unsolved cases or is just a case of an urban legend growing to some sort of mass hysteria.
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Jonah Norason
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:46 pm
What about this case in a Dillard’s in Alabama?
http://www.courttv.com/people/2006/0425/dillardssalon_ctv.html
Also, I do think the mall needs another retenanting (though not a full remodel). Close down the Foley’s-Macy’s and convert that to a full Bloomingdales. Then remix the tenant mix by adding better tenants like Rich was complaining about.
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James
June 25th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Lol Galleria III looks awesome! It’s more dated than the others, kinda preserved. The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale in Florida is alot like that. Has a strange spot one hundred percent vacant for such an upscale mall.
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Thomas
June 28th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I could never understand why Saks couldn’t have moved to the old Lord & Taylor spot so the old MF/Saks store could be converted into a concourse that would finally connect Galleria III to the rest of the Gallerias. I guess they love where they are and would never give the spot up. Which is why we’re not hearing about them taking over the Macy’s at Sage spot.
The Galleria is a really nice, and really interesting shopping complex. I worked in one of the office buildings there for a couple years, and used to always go to one of the pretzel places there and watch the figure skaters practice on the rink.
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Margaret
July 15th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I have unfortunately lived in Houston 17 years and have not been impressed by the Galleria. Its just a very over priced mall to me.
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Jake
August 16th, 2008 at 2:08 am
This is a bit ironic, but I just realized that the exterior facade of Saks is identical to the Saks at the Dallas Galleria, both stores are former Marshall Fields locations.
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Jonah Norason
September 13th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Those skylights might be smashed out by Hurricane Ike…
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Jonah Norason
March 18th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Went to the mall today. Must make a correction: because of the large skylights, the mall is quite different-looking in the day.
Anyway…
Rainforest Café is opening in the former Bennigan’s.
Club Libby Lu is closed now (as the rest of the locations—yay! that place literally stunk! The bad news is it’s because of Saks’ cutting the flack)
The Galleria III area is still empty…even in the middle of the day. With Sharper Image gone, it’s still bad.
Turns out there is a way to avoid Saks to get into Galleria III…go to a side hallway, a covered (but not enclosed) walkway and an empty, creepy corridor. But it’s not really worth it, and it was mostly designed as parking access.
There’s a small aquarium too…well, that’s an ice rink, aquarium, and fountain…what malls have those features nowadays?
The worse nearby business is the Zone D’Erotica, behind Dillard’s. Tear that down!
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eddie
July 15th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I have always wondered, where exactly was Frost Bros. in Galleria II located at? Does anybody know?
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RD Jewish American an in her world
August 10th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
@RD Jewish American an in her world, here are some other things what areas of Intrest were in the 1970-1990 re locators wish they had what was hinted in several tv mini series such ideas such as flip open cell phone and what was at most areas suport strip specialty retail back then 1970-1990 pro shops of frequent an TPC an Opens an such spring boards demolished and at such as nite spots such as Gerry Fanchers and like such localy Motels an famous haunts an small watering holes the colmorgrates wish the office staffs stop and get a nite caps an bar tenders lose lips an old unlisted numbers
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Brad
October 7th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Those pictures don’t do the Galleria any justice. I also think things worth mentioning are, after Simon purchased the mall and after The Galleria IV expansion opened, Simon has been focusing on creating a “Luxury Corridor” (street level between Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue). A lot of stores relocated to Galleria IV to make room for upscale designer stores.
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Mitty
October 15th, 2009 at 5:23 am
About Galleria 3, it is called the dead zone. I never saw a higher turn over in tenets. Fox is gone, Bice has been gone and Bio Silk has been empty over a year. The only long time survivors is the Tourist Shop and Miss Fields Cookies. All depend upon employees of Saks and Macey’s in G3.
Interestingly, a while back it was rumored that there would be condos in place of that Macey’s. Now that would be cool.
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Brad
October 29th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Galleria III hasn’t always been a “dead zone”. In its heyday (if I recall correctly) it housed a Crate & Barrel, Gap, Victorias Secret and Sharper Image among others. Its interesting to see that when the mall was remodeled in 2003, no real change was made to Galleria III, it still has the old hand rails, old escalators, and old flooring that the Galleria used before the expansion and renovation.
I hope that one day Macys at Galleria III will be converted to Bloomingdales and that whole section remodel to match the rest of the mall. South Coast Plaza opened a low foot traffic corridor that has a Louboutin, De La Renta, and Canali boutique maybe Galleria III can pull in some “rare” boutiques someday after the section is remodeled.
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Pseudo3D Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
@Brad, I didn’t notice that Galleria III did not get remodeled, but now I notice! Cool! Sharper Image did stay (it was still open when I took pictures), and now Galleria III has gotten a little emptier because FOX Sports Grill has left.
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David
November 18th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I remember how before the remodel most stores had the same store front (Wolford still has it). I think it was mall policy for every store to use the same store front. A lot of local boutiques closed and were replaced with designer boutiques and chain stores.
The section where Borders is located is actually called Galleria V, its quite small but holds a number of stores and restaurants with outside entrances. As of now there is Galleria I ,II ,III ,IV,and V. The mall layout can be confusing at first. I think the reason why Saks Fifth Avenue has never moved to make Galleria III more accessible is because, its a flagship and is the second largest store, second only to the 5th Ave store in New York City.
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Pseudo3D Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
@David,
First off, the Lord & Taylor redevelopment was unofficially called “Galleria V”, it was never really “official”. Secondly, Saks is not the second-largest store, there are larger ones (Chicago Place).
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