The 1000 block of Post Oak Mall covers the little wedge between Sears and the original Dillard's. In 2005 it was gutted for a Steve & Barry's University Sportswear that fall (later it dropped the "University Sportswear") and kept the #1000 designation. Of course, Steve & Barry's had expanded too quickly and the location at Post Oak Mall closed in fall 2008, just a little over three years after it originally opened. After it closed, it left a huge hole to be filled by a variety of uses, a "publisher's clearinghouse" book sale (all junk), a job fair, and a Halloween store. A couple of years later (2010, 2011?) it was replaced with the largest Shoe Dept. store yet, Shoe Dept. Encore. I can say that unlike Steve & Barry's, I've actually bought a pair of shoes here.

Today, the 4000 block contains what's left of the food court, and follows the mall from Visionworks (EyeMasters) over to the entrance of "Dillard's South" (originally Wilson's, then Service Merchandise). The food court was much more grandiose than today, featuring eateries on both sides and called "The Gourmet Court". Charter food court tenants included Chick-fil-A, Corn Dog 7, Funnel Cakery, The Great Hot Dog Experience, Giovanni's, Ken Martin's Chicken Fried Steak, Peanut Shack, Pepe's, Potatoes Etc., Salad Bartique, Sesame Hut, and Seafood Shoppe. Orange Julius opened soon after (it was leased but did not open with the mall, apparently), and Taste of the Tropics and McDonald's opened later. I know for a fact that Taste of the Tropics opened a few years after '82, and also Subway opened in 1984 (after the Parkway Square location). Because the food court had been reconfigured at one time (the corridor to the restrooms was different), it's hard to tell what became what.

Currently, the "numbers" are what was listed in mall directories up until 2003, they have real "suite" numbers, so I'm going to do my best.

#72 / 1000
There's no 71 because even from day one, suite 1002 was incorporated into 1000, making it an extra large store. 1004 was incorporated too, but it wasn't numbered. Town & Country Furniture
Original tenant in the early 1980s.

Oshman's Sporting Goods
Oshman's opened here in the late 1980s. Oshman's was based out of Houston (their headquarters and distribution center were just off the Gulf Freeway, although it's since been torn down for a new Walmart), though by this time, they were all over the region. Oshman's has since sold out and closed its mall-based locations, but for an idea of what a late 1980s Oshman's really was like, there's a small portion of an Oshman's in the film Bill & Ted's Excellent Journey, where Ghengis Khan (it makes sense in context, just go with it) trashes the Metrocenter mall location.

Hibbett Sports
At some point, Oshman's left and Hibbett took its place. Hibbett would later re-join the mall (now in 8016), but it left for several years. The current location only sells sports apparel, not full sporting goods (not sure if the 2004 Hibbett ever did).

#70 / 1006
Jo-Ann Fabrics/Singer
This fabric and sewing machine store lasted a good part of the 1980s but was gone around the end of the decade. Currently, I can't find anything else that occupied this after Jo-Ann but before Steve & Barry's (my 2003 and 2002 directories I haven't looked at yet) #69 / 1008
Gallenkamp Shoes
Penco Toys & Gifts
Found in 2004 mall map. I can't recall this store specifically.

#68 / 1010
Royal Optical
Here in the 1980s and most of the 1990s as well. Flag Expo
Flag Expo's selling space was a tiny, cramped store (not the smallest, but still pretty small) that sold little flags (of countries), and a few other things (including clothing, which was evidenced by stickers on now-defunct Red Oak Sportswear Aggie shirts, sold from Military Depot...in 2011, that's right, they were selling clothing that had not been sold in about 7 years, but kept the 2004 new price). Seeing as flags (of countries and states) were one of the things I had loved when I was much younger (far younger than I was in 2004, mind you) I took a liking to the store, but the flags seemed a bit too pricey for me (five or six dollars). That doesn't seem like much today, but that was about an hour's wage of pay (if you worked at minimum wage) and even more for a kid with a meager allowance of a few bucks a week. According to the owner at the time, there was some kid out there who bought a new flag weekly.

#6x / 1012
The Limited
While Limited Too would continue on for many more years, The Limited was a large store that took up a good part of what would be later be Steve & Barry's. I'm guessing that the closure of this store prompted the conversion of the entire wing.

#62 / 1020
Hit or Miss
This was a store in the 1980s, and owned by the Zayre Corporation. I'm guessing that this was closed after T.J. Maxx opened, as it was basically the same concept (but on a larger scale) owned by the same company. All during this time, Zayre sold its Zayre discount stores to Ames and rebranded the company to the TJX Companies. I can't find a tenant here to place in the 1990s directory. In Style Fashions
This was another 2004 tenant, but it sounds like the type of store that sells cheap, unfashionable clothing or at the very least is one of those "fly by night" tenants that doesn't last long.

#61 / 1022
Coach House Cards & Gifts
Original home of Coach House in the early 1980s. The late 1990s directory I have shows nothing f.

Dollar Corner
Personally, I have never seen a mall with a dollar store that wasn't in visible trouble in other ways. Now, you could argue that Post Oak Mall may be dying TODAY, but that wasn't the case in 2004, when Post Oak Mall was still a decent (if small) mall and going to Houston to shop could've still been considered more snobbish than a necessity. Either way, Dollar Corner didn't last long and was one of the last tenants here before they gutted the wing.

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