Sunrise Mall; Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi, the largest city in South Texas, is home to 285,000 people with over 430,000 in the metro area. Home to HEB grocery stores, the Whataburger fast food chain, Corpus Christi is also the 8th largest deep sea port in the U.S. The following submission is from reader “Jonah Norason” and his experience with Sunrise Mall, one of Corpus Christi’s two adjacent malls:
“I have a special connection with this mall. It was my first dead mall experience. Owned by Tom Morris, the slumlord of Six Flags Mall, Sunrise Mall is another story of why moving very close to an existing mall is generally a bad idea.
“From what I could tell, the mall started out as pretty upscale, virtually right next to Padre Staples Mall. The opening tenants in 1981 included Sears (which predated the mall by six years),Frost Brothers, Joske’s, and a pre-existing HEB(I’m pretty sure H-E-B did not open into the concourse). Many existing tenants at Padre Staples, such as Foot Locker and GNC, opened new locations at Sunrise rather than moving. The mall was popular at first, even starring in the 80s movie The Legend of Billie Jean(you can see the comparison here.
“But all that would slowly come to an end. Sunrise Mall’s upscale feel dropped off pretty quickly during the ‘80s. It became more discount oriented. Joske’s did not convert to Dillard’s, since there was already one at Padre Staples, so it closed was replaced with Montgomery Ward. Frost Brothers gave way to Burlington Coat Factory. H-E-B closed and became Stein Mart (which has an interior entrance, I’m pretty sure of). Mervyn’s was added as a sixth anchor. Still, over the period of the next decade, demographic shifts, the generally bad local economy, and competition from Padre Staples slowly squeezed the life out of Sunrise. Wards closed in December 2000. From what I can tell, Sunrise Mall’s prosperity (or what was left of it) went from bad to worse around 2004-2006. This was judging by the outdated mall directory that we’ll get to (it still had Mervyn’s).
“The mall was thoroughly uninviting. Partially obscured by uninviting parking garages, untamed shrubbery, and an outdated sign, it was surely to be a treat. Inside the mall, I was overjoyed as it had all the trademarks of a “dead mall”. Escalators shut off. Sections converted to office space. Wooden facades. Dead fronts. Nontraditional tenants. Neon. I love neon, it made me sad because it seemed like there used to be more neon in my local mall that disappeared over the years. There was a Montgomery Ward, which was still mostly intact. The directory, made somewhere between 2000 and 2006, showed that at one time, it was slightly better, but based on the bizarre things listed, like “Girls Rock” and other miscellany, it was obviously proceeding to the dark side.
“The food court was interesting. A dark corner of the mall, it almost was if the whole food court was subterranean. A Wendy’s was getting good business, but the majority of the food court tenants were dark. I didn’t pay attention, but there was a shell of a Chick-fil-A within those corridors. Other food court stands included one “Orange Creations” (guess what that used to be!) and “Anna Ice Cream & Deli”.
“What was more impressive, though, was the full-size sails. I liked them, they were a nice touch, but pretty depressing at the same time. There was also a dollar theater, but it was only four screens and the movies showing at the time were pretty sub-par at best.
“And that’s when we left. The mall is currently anchored by Burlington Coat Factory, Stein Mart, Sears, and a brand-new “HomeSource by Wilcox Furniture” in the former Wards store. However, not all is well. The mall faced foreclosure in April to be auctioned on May 6th but May 6th came and went without a buyer. Good, I suppose.
“I took these photos in summer 2007, actually before the Cherry Hill Mall pictures I took.”
Thanks for the submission, Jonah! I also visited Sunrise Mall, in April 2007. I found it and its more successful neighbor mall, Padre Staples Mall, to be a curious set. Considering these two malls are the only two for Corpus Christi, the pair together don’t even really add up to what I’d expect in a market this size. Padre Staples, Sunset’s more “successful” neighbor, was (as of 2007) pretty dated as well. In fact, I’d even expect another mall to serve a different part of town, considering the population here.
My pictures:
More of Jonah’s photos:
on July 24th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Even “Burlintgon Coat Factory” is misspelled on the directory! How pitiful!
Does that mall have ANY national tenants (other than Sears/Stein Mart/Burlington Coat Factory) or ANY customers?!
on July 24th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Hmm…there is a Wendy’s, a GNC, and a few service-oriented tenants. But dead mall? Very yes!
on July 24th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
When were your photos taken? (mine were taken in June 2007)
Also, the summary (it may be my fault) is messed up a bit. It should be “I’m pretty sure H-E-B did not open into the concourse). The italics should end after “Billie Jean” and then space, (you can see the comparison [link]here[/link])
on July 24th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
The Burlington was open on my trip two months after Prange’s. The Anna Ice Cream appears to be closed in this shot:
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/sunrise-mall-25.jpg
but open in this shot:
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/21-closeup-of-the-neon-drenched.JPG
One of the photos I botched was this cool model railroader’s club sign. It was a wooden facade where they mounted a whole railroad crossbucks with lights on it, and the photo got really messed up. Rats!
on July 24th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
My photos were taken in April 2007. I went pretty early in the morning though, so that might be why some stuff wasn’t open then that was open a few months later. Anyway, I think I fixed all the link problems, let me know if anything else is wrong.
on July 24th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
There’s some spaces that need to be in:
“(which predated the mall by six years),Frost Brothers, Joske’s, and a pre-existing HEB(I’m pretty sure H-E-B did not open into the concourse). Many existing tenants at Padre Staples, such as Foot Locker and GNC, opened new locations at Sunrise rather than moving. The mall was popular at first, even starring in the 80s movie The Legend of Billie Jean(you can see the comparison here.”. Spaces should be after the comma after “years),”, the word HEB, and the word “Jean”. Seems like we both found Orange Creations and Montgomery Ward to be very interesting…
on July 25th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
The design of the mall itself doesn’t look too bad, could do with some sprucing up. Its looks like its pretty well and clean, those escalators in that first shot at the top look almost new, but not a single soul around except for the receptionist at the dental office (oh and the old people exercising in that other shot, haha)
on July 26th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
http://www.macon.com/102/story/414769.html says Macon Mall in Macon, GA is in the foreclosure throes. A company has been appointed by the court to run the mall. On a side note it has a Steve And Barry’s which itself is troubled. Some say the mall is run-down, others say it isn’t “all that bad”. Parisian’s has gone and so has the Piccadilly (formerly Morrison’s) Cafeteria. Tarps cover the skylights where a tornado on May 11 made vent holes.
on July 27th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
That center court is beautiful. Is that a waterfall between the escalators? That is very unique I have never seen anything like that before. I like all the vintage mall design in Sunrise Mall. Never seen such a nice late 80’s Montgomery Ward sign intact, really cool. I don’t know why a mall developer would build a mall right across the street from an existing mall. I don’t know anything about where is the best location in Corpus Christi to locate a mall, but maybe if this mall would have been built in another part of town, it might stand a chance of surviving. Maybe it would have been the dominant mall in Corpus Christi.
on August 4th, 2008 at 2:25 am
It’s such a shame to let a nice mall like this fall beneath. The shrubbery, trees and flooring give it a plaza-like feel.
on August 19th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Sunrise was actually the first mall in Corpus Christi. La Palmera (formerly Padre Staples Mall) was actually built second and yes it was bad design/ a bad idea to build the two so near to each other. I think it would be awesome if the new owners of La Palmera would buy out Sunrise Mall and connect the two together through like a train or a skywalk or something. Just think, two malls, with a train (such as the ones they have at DFW Airport in DFW) would be awesome. I mean it would make more sense to me and would grow interest in the other mall if travel to the both of them was made easier, and if it was fast. I have lots of cool ideas if the owners of the mall would ever like to contact me. I would love to see a Steve & Berry’s come in the mall or an Old Navy.
on August 19th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
No, PSM did open first, and Sunrise Mall was built 2nd. I’d like to see a Padre Staples Mall, excuse me, La Palmera mall entry on this blog as well.
on August 19th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
The best thing that can happen for Sunrise Mall is tenants from La Palmera will move to Sunrise once management kicks them out. A potential instance of this is “Joe’s Comidas” which featured a neon sign reading “Budweiser y Tacos”. That and the fact that Sunrise Mall has virtually full anchors…it’s gonna be OK.
Now, Six Flags Mall on the other hand…