Woodlands Mall adds new restaurants; keeps pace with shifting shopping trends

The courtyard and south entrance of The Woodlands Mall in on Mall Ring Road and within walking distance of The Woodlands Waterway. The mall is open Mon. -Sat. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sun. noon to 6 p.m. The courtyard and south entrance of The Woodlands Mall in on Mall Ring Road and within walking distance of The Woodlands Waterway. The mall is open Mon. -Sat. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sun. noon to 6 p.m. Photo: Cody Bahn, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Photo: Cody Bahn, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 99 Caption Close Woodlands Mall adds new restaurants; keeps pace with shifting shopping trends 1 / 99 Back to Gallery

In an era of online shopping and the closures of big box and chain stores across the nation, malls have faced challenging times.

However, at The Woodlands Mall, on-site Senior General Manager Ted Harris and officials from the mall’s parent company based in Chicago are working hard to keep the massive shopping and dining mecca both fresh and relevant, as well as responding to customer input for new amenities, stores and other features.

In addition to a new, yet-to-be announced retail store being worked on in the mall, Harris said a new Torchy’s Tacos location will join the South African restaurant Peli Peli as the newest eateries at the mall. There is also a pop-up art installation focused on renowned Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh as well as some other smaller changes such as re-situating escalators near the food court.

Related: Popular South African-themed restaurant Peli Peli to open in The Woodlands

“We’re doing an art event that is kind of tied in with the Houston Fine Arts Museum. That is located in the Nordstrom Court on the lower level, it has about another four weeks to go and it ends the Mother’s Day weekend,” Harris said of the van Gogh pop-up. “That is a very interesting event. It was created and brought in by the people who work at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. That is a very nice thing.”

Harris said the Van Gogh pop-up idea is one strategy that malls across the nation are using to attract shoppers and visitors, and in addition to the temporary stores, various other vendors visit the mall, including the Hello Kitty truck, which visited on March 30.

“Typically with a pop-up, if a (mall) has a lot of open space that can be utilized. Pop-ups are becoming an integral part of the malls (across the nation). We don’t do as many pop-ups as other malls, because we tend to have long-term leases,” Harris said. “Peli Peli will be taking over the former Mi Cocina location in our courtyard. Another one that has people excited is Torchy’s Tacos, which is taking over the old Bonefish Grill location. We have another (restaurant) location, called Tikka’s, that will take over the Noodles location next door to Torchy’s. It is like Indian-type cuisine.”

What restaurants come to The Woodlands Mall is a result of collaboration between officials from the mall’s parent company — Chicago-based Brookfield Properties — and representatives from restaurants or businesses seeking new locations. Mall officials try to utilize both consumer data, customer input and other information to analyze what concepts or brands are desired by local residents and that would do well.

“(New business acquisition) Is kind of a combination (of strategies). We do listen to what customers want, and I do know The Woodlands is a very diverse restaurant area,” Harris said. “We didn’t want to just stick something in there. We’re working behind the scenes negotiating with both these concepts (Torchy’s and Peli Peli) to bring something different and fun to the mall. I think they should do well. The Woodlands has a very diverse palate.”

In addition to shopping and dining features, many people do not realize that The Woodlands Mall employs more than 2,000 workers, Harris noted, which at times can reach as many as 2,500 workers — making it one of the largest areas for employment in The Woodlands. The mall is part of a national company that owns a total of five malls in the Houston region — Deerbrook Mall, Baybrook Mall, First Colony Mall and Willowbrook Mall. That large presence in the Houston market helps attract new stores and restaurants, Harris noted.

“You can have certain concepts that want to come in. To use the Gap as an example, they want economies of scale…they might be abe to bring in two or three locations in a region and we can accommodate that,” Harris explained. “(Companies) Say, we want to go into Dallas, into Los Angeles, or Houston, what can you do for us. We say, ‘Hey, we have this mall, that mall, all within a 50 mile radius.’ So it might make it easier for (the companies) The national scale works for us because of having the parent company with resources that are established. When someone journeys into a certain market, they can rely on us to have the proper infrastructure in place for them to succeed.”

Harris said while malls have had a difficult time in recent years, officials with The Woodlands Mall and its parent company are committed to the community — whether by its vast employee pool to varying shopping amenities and dining options that allow residents to avoid a long drive into downtown Houston.

“Sometimes mall tend to die, and it is a sad kind of thing,” Harris said. “(Here), We employ anywhere from 2,000 to 2,500 people. A mall can be a very significant element of a community employing people in varying capacities. We have Market Street and I think that brings a lot of synergy to the area. They are more high-end, we are more mainstream. Having Market Street and Portofino (in Shenandoah), I think in this two-mile area, there is a lot of retail synergy.”

jeff.forward@chron.com