Comments on: The Galleria; Houston, Texas

By: Red

Red — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:39:45 +0000

Coming to this one a little late, but for those of you who were wondering where Frost Bros. was located in the Galleria: It was a pretty small two-level space close to the Westin Galleria hotel (in my memory it was about the size of the current Borders store at the Galleria, but I might be wrong about that). After Frost Bros. closed, the space was divided up; today, Eddie Bauer, Apple, the Daily Grill and whatever else is nearby occupy the space where Frost’s used to be.

The main thing I remember about the Frost Bros. store (I was pretty young when it was there) is that it had a very ’70s spiral staircase connecting the two floors.

By: mitty

mitty — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:17:52 +0000

@Paul, When I was at Saks, Houston I loved Sharper Image. I wondered if they ever sold that Super Man. I liked SI sales people, no real pressure and when I wanted something I knew what I wanted (I walked past it 4 times a day) and made for a easy transaction.
I could imagine how well SI would do in the old FYE spot by the food court.
last time I droopped by the old SI location I saw some cheap/urban clothier. sad

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:26:21 +0000

I used to work for Sharper Image corporate and visited the Galleria store many times. Our store opened in September 1986 on the first floor of Galleria III in the space that later became Ralph Lauren, IIRC. We moved to the store that’s pictured in January 1996, and closed for good in the summer of 2008, along with the rest of the chain. Houston Galleria was always a very strong store for the company, and IMHO benefitted from the crushing lack of foot traffic in the ‘main’ section of the Galleria, allowing the salespeople to offer more personalized service, especially on high-end products. During the ‘good years’, in the late 1990’s, during the week leading up to Christmas, the Galleria store would have the highest per-store daily sales of any store in the chain, . The store never received a remodel, however. I don’t know the details for sure, but it seemed to me that they were always in discussions to move to Galleria I or II once Macy’s took over Foley’s and foot traffic dropped off significantly in 2006 (by then Sharper Image had lowered their price points in hopes of reversing the downward sales trend, and personalized service wasn’t so important anymore).

By: David

David — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:00:49 +0000

@ Mitty , Thank you, the Houston store is amazing. I didn’t mean to say the store has the highest volume outside New York, I was only referring to its size.

By: Mitty

Mitty — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:26:55 +0000

@David, Saks at Chicago has their Mens dept. across the street and I don’t know if it is counted with the over all square footage (wasn’t in my region). Houston is second to NY as a single store. Boca Raton, Beverly Hills does out performs Houston, besides NY. However, since 05 Houston has the highest continual growth in the company and sometimes, in some departments, beats NY.

By: Mitty

Mitty — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:09:22 +0000

@Brad, Your right! I was speaking from at least 03-09 hence, I worked there and saw it almost every day. I remember C&B before it moved to Highland Village. I even remember when Marshall Field’s was there and Romo Pizza would serv beer in those 20 oz. cups.
Bloomingdales sounds good and I would love to see more sound businesses to anchor it down. It does have retail potential.

By: Pseudo3D

Pseudo3D — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:04:39 +0000

@David, I still hold to my conclusion that Galleria V is unofficial and while it may have been inside-referred as Galleria V, it’s still Galleria II in this article and myself.

By: David

David — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:22:31 +0000

@Pseudo3D

“Saks Fifth Avenue, today announced its continued expansion into Texas with the opening of the Company’s second largest store, a 210,000 square foot full-line store in the Galleria Mall, in Houston, Texas”.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-19742240.html

Never been to Saks in Chicago, but have been to many others. The Houston store has a fur department, a restaurant, and Salon. It was recently renovated and added 10022-SHOE department and a Louis Vuitton boutique.

The reason why I said the old Lord & Taylor was officially called Galleria V is because I actually worked in the Galleria. Management at the Galleria would send letters updating tenants on construction and openings of stores, and the former Lord & Taylor was refered to as “Galleria V”.

By: Pseudo3D

Pseudo3D — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:36:22 +0000

@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.

By: Pseudo3D

Pseudo3D — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:34:53 +0000

@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).