Midway Mall; Sherman, Texas
Midway Mall, located in Sherman, Texas, is the only major shopping mall for a section of Texoma comprised of the cities Sherman and Denison, Texas, and Durant, Oklahoma. With a population of about 150,000, Midway Mall’s trade area is located approximately 70 miles northeast of downtown Dallas; however, the mall itself as well as the Texas side of its trade area are technically located within the behemoth Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area. With that said, the nearest of Dallas-Fort Worth’s malls are over an hour away, which should make Midway Mall a tier ‘A’ mall and successful, especially considering its size at 600,000 square feet with three anchors and several junior anchors. However, this is not the case; Midway Mall is currently challenged by an alarming and rapidly increasing vacancy rate. But why is this?
The faltering probably isn’t due to the mall’s location. Midway Mall’s location is ideal, situated on Texoma Parkway smack dab in between the cities of Sherman and Denison, and only half an hour from Durant, Okla. as well as the booming sprawlburg of McKinney. In addition to being located in between all the population centers in its trade area, Midway Mall is also adjacent to US 75, a major north-south freeway connecting Dallas and its suburbs to Oklahoma and points north. Also nearby is Sherman Town Center, located along US 75, featuring Wal Mart, Target, Home Depot, and 30 other stores, as well as a JCPenney which relocated from Midway Mall in 2007.
Recent problems may have also arisen due to competition. Although Sherman and Denison are some 70 miles north of downtown Dallas, the suburbs of Dallas-Fort Worth start in McKinney, which is just 30 miles south of Sherman. Although McKinney doesn’t have a traditional mall of its own, per se, it has nearly every store under the sun along the US 75 corridor, including many upscale options. In addition, several of the DFW Metroplex’s best malls are in Plano, Frisco, and north Dallas, and they are all approximately an hour away from Sherman and Denison. Also, Sherman’s own Sherman Town Center, an outdoor strip mall, appears to have more retail activity than Midway Mall, and in 2007 the Town Center stole the mall’s JCPenney. Whoops.
Ironically, competition somewhat recently favored Midway Mall, as it opened directly up the road from another mall, the Sher-Den Mall. Sher-Den Mall opened during the 1960s, which was anchored by Montgomery Ward and JCPenney (anything else?). Despite extensive renovations in the 1980s to compete with the larger Midway Mall, Sher-Den Mall closed with a whimper when Montgomery Ward went bankrupt and closed in 2001; it was torn down in 2004.
Perhaps the most telling statement of trouble is the condition of Midway Mall, which is amazingly dated in terms of decor and atmosphere. The entire one-level mall can best be described as cavernous, and the dimly lit corridors suggest slumber rather than the brightly-lit exuberance found in most modern, successful shopping centers. Perhaps not utilitarian nor functional by modern standards, the mall’s corridors do evoke a certain sense of the past, with bland carpeting, giant palm trees, sterile marble planters and three circus-like tents which puff up some 50 feet toward the sky at three spots/courts throughout the mall, and are a sight to see. So, too, are the mall’s maze-like corridors, which zig and zag and even double back on each other, and the nearly empty food court. Since there are few shoppers, there are fewer kiosks, too, and frequently lots of open space throughout the mall.
We visited Midway Mall on a recent Monday night and discovered that the mall’s online directory was way out of date, having missed the departures of Mervyns, JCPenney, Goody’s, the movie theatre, and probably some in-line stores as well. Bealls, Dillard’s, and Sears remain, and Mervyn’s has been replaced by Burlington Coat Factory. JCPenney moved to nearby Sherman Town Center in 2007, and Mervyn’s and Goody’s exited the market only to close outright some time later. Also, junior anchor Famous Labels has taken what was obviously an Old Navy space, and the mall was so dark and drab. There weren’t many shoppers, either, and the fact that the Day By Day Calendar Company kiosk boy was spaced out and listening to headphones while sitting on a nearby planter is probably telling as well (see pictures). Did we mention how dark it was?
Midway Mall is a dim, dank, outdated mall with an amazing layout. We were shocked at not only the mall’s condition, but at the alarming rate of vacancies; we expected this to be a much more typical, modern successful mall and not a cavernous maze. Being retail historians, we of course found this to our liking, but we feel kind of bad for the citizens of Sherman, Denison, and Texoma. We’d like to think they could use this; their population supports it, but it must be choosing to drive down to Dallas and its suburbs or to the outdoor strip centers rather than to patronize - or at least update – this mall. We’ll put it on deathwatch for now and keep our eyes peeled.
Rich
January 27th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
In Texas, an hour’s drive is no big deal. Proximity to DFW and the local presence of big boxes mean that this place should have died years ago. I think there’s also a large, not entirely healthy outlet mall due East on the interstate to Ardmore which probably doesn’t help either.
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Jonah Norason
January 27th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Unusual floorplan + dated yet sterile layout + low ceilings + Texas that I didn’t submit + wrong Bealls logo = priceless.
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Jonah Norason
January 27th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Seriously, the Bealls logo on the directory is Bealls Florida, which is not connected with the Bealls Texas in any way. See, Bealls in Florida has Bealls Outlet, which is Burke’s Outlet everywhere else. For Bealls Texas not in Texas, it’s Stage.
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Jeremy
January 27th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
My suggestion is to put up fresh coat of paint, new signage, and add some stores with an outlet format on to regular stores already located here. If it can be affordable, give a renovation. I believe that this mall would thrive if it was more clean, and bright on the inside and out.
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AceJay
January 27th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
That floor plan is really weird. Anyway, I found this random piece of land just south of Midway, and decided to research it:
http://i39.tinypic.com/2rqimns.png
It was Sher-Den Mall and was anchored by (at least) Wards and JC Penney.
Check out some photos here:
http://www.pinballrebel.com/mall/mall.htm
So that Penney’s has now moved twice! Where is is located in Sherman Town Center?
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Benjamin L.
January 28th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Here are some more photos of Sher-Den Mall.
http://news.webshots.com/album/309855865iRoLEN
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Panda
January 28th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Wow!, AceJay! That’s some find! Thanks so much! I put that link right in my “Vintage Retail” bookmark folder!
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Jon
February 4th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Sherman is simply not a lively place, so it’s no surprise the mall isn’t very popular.
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Dustin
February 4th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Just thought I would say the exterior of this mall looks very much like Hot Springs Mall in Hot Springs,Arkansas exterior.Hot Springs mall opened in 1982. I know that for a fact.
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Irene
February 6th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
For New Englanders looking at this, does the inside of this mall remind you of a very large version of the Bristol Centre Mall?
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Allan
February 10th, 2009 at 4:34 am
This mall is very interesting. Especially because of its layout, and airy ceilings that remind me of pics I’d seen of the now dead Eastland Mall in Tulsa.
Am I right in suspecting the part of the mall that’s shaped like the number 4(and inbetween Sears, JCPenney, and Dillards) was added later on in Midway Mall’s history, and wasn’t original to when this mall was first constructed? I have a hard time telling if that portion was added on later to this mall or not, since that portion surprisingly doesn’t look too different(at least at first glance of these pics) than the part of the mall inbetween Burlington Coat Factory, JCPenney, Bealls, and Sears.
Also, thanks to AceJay for posting a link to the history of Sher-Den Mall. I found that extremely fascinating, and it would be a shame if this mall suffers the same fate as Sher-Den Mall. I think a little interior and exterior renovation, and possibly either redesigning this mall’s layout(such as eliminating the weird ‘4′ portion of this mall), or shrinking down its size could give it a needed boost whenever the national economy rebounds again. Ha, I probably should work for Simon(or another mall developer/REIT), considering my natural interest in reading about malls like this!
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Susan
February 15th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
My mom and I went to Midway every Saturday, when my daughter was born she joined us. We started dwindling our shopping sprees when the restaurants and cinema left. When the air conditioning didn’t work well we went even less. We finally just quit going a few years ago. My 14 year old prefers going to Frisco. We are from Durant, OK and there’s nothing here but Walmart, fast food and the Indian Casino. I don’t know why we’ve never had a mall or decent cinema.
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Jamie
March 14th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
What really hammered the final nail in the coffin for Midway Mall was the Sherman Town Center. Plain and simple. Until 15 years ago or so, US Highway 75 routed directly in front of the property, but since the completion of the Sherman-Denison bypass, most of the major north-south traffic stays a good mile west of this location. Once the Town Center was completed, it was for all intents and purposes adios Midway Mall. As the article states, there are a few stores wheezing along (namely Dillard’s), but most of the major retailers jumped ship along time ago (supposedly not helped by rent that is still through the roof or the large herd of local tweens and their faux gang-like activities).
It’s a shame really. In the mall’s heyday, it offered a wide selection of retail options with the convenience of enclosed shopping, which you don’t get with “modern” aspects of the newer Town Center (and don’t get me started on T.C.’s atrocious traffic flow design/parking layout).
Due to the age ol’ adage of “location, location, location,” a fresh coat of paint and spending more coin to turn many of the interior lights back on probably won’t save this one.
For many of us local folks, we’re reduced to reveling in the glory of Friday and Saturday night shopping trips of long past, while cruising to the iPod on our way to Frisco or Plano…
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James Jones Reply:
May 21st, 2009 at 7:16 pm
The new highway 75 opened in 1985.
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Allan
April 7th, 2009 at 12:19 am
I actually didn’t realize that most traffic now goes along the Sherman-Denison bypass, so that changes my thoughts about the likelihood(even lesser odds than I thought) of this mall surviving. Thanks to Jamie for posting what you did, since you’re obviously right about this mall not having much of a chance, if at all, of surviving.
Would still appreciate it if someone could answer my questions about what parts of the mall are original to when it was constructed, and which parts/wings were later additions to this mall.
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Laura
May 4th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I have lived in this area for almost 2 years and visited this mall for the first time this weekend. Of course, I have been to the Sherman Town Center about a zillion times. Being a vintage mall fan, I wanted to see it before it went.
Your photos make it look nicer than it is. It looks to me like it was ugly even when it was new – what is with all the pink?! And the circus tents? That was the 80s for you I guess.
The incomes here are lower than in the Metroplex, and I think people who have greater than average income have been used to just driving South to spend it and don’t spend it up here.
I noticed that the mall still has some stores that teens like (Pac Sun, Buckle, etc.) so I guess people still drop their kids off there. It is a shame there is no movie theater.
The only busy part of the mall on a Sunday afternoon was the tool department at Sears.
I can’t see it surviving in any fashion.
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Casey Jones
May 5th, 2009 at 9:28 am
It’s all original.(sort-of) Before the mall was constructed, Sears was the only store there. The rest of the mall was built around them. I beleive they were in the JC penny store. Oddly enough when the mall opened for business Sears got a new but smaller store around back and JC Penny moved from the Sher-Den mall into the old Sears in front. But as for the part that looks like a 4, thats all original. The entire mall has gone from initial construction and grand opening in 1986, to this day with absolutely no modifications or remodels of any kind, except where Goodys used to be. That store was added later. The odd tents, the green carpet, and pink paint and tile and crazy layout — all original 1986 my friend!
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James Jones Reply:
May 21st, 2009 at 7:13 pm
The old Sears store was demolish in 1985 to make room for Midway Mall.
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Jonah Norason
June 4th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Why is this on “Death Watch” and not “Dead Malls”?
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Laura
September 13th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Oh boy! The mall is “Under New Management.”
http://www.heralddemocrat.com/hd/News/2009_09-11_news_Midway-Mall-under-new-management
Good luck with that.
Note the comments in the news story – the usual “unsavory people / aggressive kiosk people / everyone goes to the new place now.”
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