The former Hot Topic, now a Mexican candy store. It’s rare that I get out to the mall these days. The local mall, Ridgmar Mall, was a shopping mecca once upon a time. I don’t know exactly what happened, but like a lot of people I blame online shopping. The place was pretty hopping up until the last maybe ten years or so. It was the closest mall to where I grew up. I went there as a small child and don’t remember too much about how it looked. I know there was a Whataburger downstairs next to JC Penney. And the arcade was near an entrance. Also, the classic spiral ramp was a legendary thing people came to see. Other than that, prior to 91, it’s all a blank.
My fondest memories at Ridgmar Mall came around 90-91 when they did a major renovation. They moved the food court from its dusty hallway to an entire section downstairs where a weird playground now resides. They added an arcade next to it, and a Suncoast video store. Across the way there was a 99 cents store where I got cool WWF stickers. Time passed and I’m guessing they weren’t gaining the traction they thought they were. They made a major renovation around 98 or so, moving the food court back to its old location and then half closing the mall. The worst thing they did was get rid of the spiral ramp. They could have fixed it. I do remember it wobbled a bit toward the end. That could have been easily fixed.
I worked at that mall twice. Once as a Christmas mall decorator in 1997, and then between late 2000 and early 2001 at the A&W Restaurant in the food court. I noticed then, thanks to how not busy the restaurant was, that the mall was on a decline. Its eventual downfall started around that time. Oddly enough, there was talks then of adding a third floor to the mall for an AMC movie theater. While that never happened, they did add a movie theater, which is now probably the only thing anchoring the mall from closing 100%.
Little by little stores began to close after that. And now, it’s pretty much dead as a door nail. Major chains are gone, now all that’s left are mom and pop stores run by immigrant families, and things that aren’t even stores, like an RC car club, and a HQ for a sign printing business. Oh, and there is a radio station and event center. I remember once there was a stabbing there. While it’s sad to see the place go, it’s alarming to look at what the mall once was.
There was an episode of Walker Texas Ranger shot there. I screencapped it for you. Half the places I forgot about, and some of the places I’d never heard of. You can see those here. At one point Walker drives his motorcycle past the shop called DeJaiz, which is pronounced Dee-Jay’s, but I always called it Dee-Jazz. It was a place to get cool and trendy clothes. The women who worked there were kinda… forward. Weird thinking back now that I was a 13-year-old kid getting flirty comments from the adult women that worked in the store. Anything to make a sale, I guess. It’s the place where I bought my outfit for 8th grade graduation.
And here is a gallery of what it looks like now in 2025.
I worked at that mall twice. Once as a Christmas mall decorator in 1997, and then between late 2000 and early 2001 at the A&W Restaurant in the food court. I noticed then, thanks to how not busy the restaurant was, that the mall was on a decline. Its eventual downfall started around that time. Oddly enough, there was talks then of adding a third floor to the mall for an AMC movie theater. While that never happened, they did add a movie theater, which is now probably the only thing anchoring the mall from closing 100%.
Little by little stores began to close after that. And now, it’s pretty much dead as a door nail. Major chains are gone, now all that’s left are mom and pop stores run by immigrant families, and things that aren’t even stores, like an RC car club, and a HQ for a sign printing business. Oh, and there is a radio station and event center. I remember once there was a stabbing there. While it’s sad to see the place go, it’s alarming to look at what the mall once was.
There was an episode of Walker Texas Ranger shot there. I screencapped it for you. Half the places I forgot about, and some of the places I’d never heard of. You can see those here. At one point Walker drives his motorcycle past the shop called DeJaiz, which is pronounced Dee-Jay’s, but I always called it Dee-Jazz. It was a place to get cool and trendy clothes. The women who worked there were kinda… forward. Weird thinking back now that I was a 13-year-old kid getting flirty comments from the adult women that worked in the store. Anything to make a sale, I guess. It’s the place where I bought my outfit for 8th grade graduation.
And here is a gallery of what it looks like now in 2025.
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