TOWN & COUNTRY MALL
Originally briefly discussed at the Katy Freeway page and now connected to the Town & Country/CityCentre page (coming soon), the Town & Country Mall was a redevelopment of the northern end of the Town & Country Village.
DeadMalls.com has had a page on Town & Country Mall since 2005 (soon after its demise). So naturally there will be overlap. (Southern Retail also has a page on the mall.) To begin, it's important to note the current situation of Town & Country Village. The mall opened in 1983 as a redevelopment of the northern end of the Village. Unfortunately, it meant that almost all of what was there had to be torn down. The Farmer's Market was gone for good, the Country Playhouse was relocated, and the other Romana Cafeteria, built in 1974 and renamed Luby's Cafeteria around this time, lost most of its parking space. Some of the West Belt side retail remained, such as the Town & Country 6 Theatres...and most importantly, a 200,000 square foot three-story Joske's department store opened in 1969.
Initially named Town & Country Center, the L-shaped mall had three large parking garages which connected to the mall and its department stores, fabric-covered roofs (very similar to The Mall At 163rd Street in Florida) featured Joske's to the south, Neiman Marcus to the north, JCPenney to the east and nestled in the crook of the mall, Marshall Field's, the second Marshall Field's store in Houston. The only other locations of Marshall Field's and Neiman Marcus were both at the Galleria, so this was a big deal. It was also three floors (like The Galleria) though lacked an ice rink or attached hotel. Real success never materialized for Town & Country Mall partly due to three major factors, the first being a recession that really made two overlapping malls unfeasible, the second being that Memorial City Mall was practically right next to it (not close enough to connect obviously, but within a mile), and construction soon after the mall began converted the mall's western bordering road, West Belt Drive, into Sam Houston Parkway, and the tight radius of the depressed highway made the mall difficult to access or see.
Within a few years of the mall's opening in 1983 they had lost several tenants. J. Brannam, a junior anchor on the second level owned by Woolworth, was shuttered and replaced with Designer Depot (owned by Kmart, closed in January 1987 with the division never turning a profit). Another unique tenant lost within the first year was El Rancho Rin Tin Tin, an upscale pet shop owned by Daphne Hereford and selling, among other things (animals and accessories), puppies descended from the original famed German Shepherd. (While the puppies were probably pricey in 1983, a Rin Tin Tin progeny could fetch up to $50k today).
You can see a map of the entire mall with its tenants in August 1984 (about a year in) here from the Houston Chronicle.
The food court (designed around for 16 units but never had more than 10) was shuttered for a large "12 N Under" toy store (and also shuttered the third level mall entrance to JCPenney) in 1986, and in 1987, Joske's was rebranded as Dillard's. However, between the difficult access and the already-struggling center by the 1990s it was increasingly apparent there was no space for Town & Country Mall. Memorial City Mall had been somewhat damaged by Town & Country Mall being a rather dated center in terms of decor & merchandise mix, but still held onto its four department stores (Sears, Mervyn's, Montgomery Ward, and Foley's). West Oaks Mall, opened in 1984, had to trade down its nicer department stores but still had success in the 1990s, featuring Mervyn's, Sears, Dillard's, and JCPenney. The Galleria, meanwhile, had Marshall Field's, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, and Macy's, which helped ensure its success.
As far as other restaurants in the mall went, Marshall Field's closed its "Greener Fields" in-store restaurant, citing unprofitability. McDonald's, which had its own seating area near the food court remained in the upper level until it closed in 1990, along with Vie de France in the second level that same year. In 1991, Two Pesos, the Taco Cabana-inspired taco restaurant (though the courts agreed it was a bit more than inspired) opened in Town & Country Mall for a while (not 24 hours obviously) until 1993. Arby's remained through the 1990s and up until the early 2000s. Neiman Marcus appears to have closed its in-store restaurant in the mid-1990s.
In 1995, Town & Country Village was rebuilt, featuring new sit-down restaurants, Barnes & Noble, and a new Randalls supermarket. Town & Country Mall, meanwhile, was foreclosed on. In late 1996, Marshall Field's closed and reopened as Saks Fifth Avenue the following year as did stores in The Galleria and Dallas Galleria, but it closed in 2000. By December 2001, the mall's fate was sealed. JCPenney had closed that year (likely among a bunch of underperforming stores that closed) and Dillard's had inked a deal to move to Memorial City Mall. Memorial City Mall didn't take Neiman Marcus, as Target had purchased the Montgomery Ward site there.
In August 2003, it was announced that the mall would change its name to Town & Country Center to reflect non-retail tenants, with a 30,000 square foot conference center planned for the third level with an opening of December 2003. Future additions would add a food court and give the mall an exterior re-do, but with Dillard's moving out in October to Memorial City Mall, things were desperate. The December planned opening of the conference center came and went, and with only around three dozen retailers down from space for 150, the mall was sold again (this time to the Midway Companies) and in early June 2004, the remaining tenants (except for Neiman Marcus) were ordered to leave by July 31st.
You can see the list of stores as of 2003, before Dillard's closed). Among the last tenants were Dragonfire, which sold dolls and stuffed animals, and 101 Hot Dogs & More, which was the mall's only remaining eatery (but opened 2003), and after the mall closed in June 2004, many things were simply left abandoned, from thousands of books left in a backroom to hot dogs still left on racks.
The now-vacant Town & Country Mall (including the old Joske's/Dillard's) was torn down except for the parking garages, Neiman Marcus, and Luby's Cafeteria (and with it, all the other buildings in the north part of the Village that weren't already torn down). Demolition of the mall began by year-end (here the old JCPenney is being taken down). In March 2005, Neiman Marcus announced it would close in September, officially putting to rest the tale of Town & Country Mall. The impending loss of Neiman Marcus didn't phase Midway. In June 2005 it announced the new name: CityCentre, and the Neiman Marcus building was torn down the next year.
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