Midland Odessa Shopping: A Trip Back In Time

As a "new" Midlander (only having been here about 15 months now)--I'm still discovering all the little nooks and crannies of the area in my daily travels. This time, on a trip to the Spirit Halloween store with my wife to buy a Halloween Costume for each of us for a party we're headed to Saturday night-I discovered a little piece of history in what was once known as the Dellwood Mall. In talking with coworker Kevin Chase and getting the back story as he grew up just a few blocks from Dellwood Mall and walked there regularly with his family and friends to shop and pass the time as kids do--I found out all about the stores that used to be there and about how vibrant a place it once was til Midland Park Mall and loop 250 became a thing here. Some Pictures In case It's been a while--as you can see:

The way it's set up-you can't get to the Spirit Halloween store without walking into what once was the Mall Entrance and walking around the dry fountain (I could envision what it must have been like back in the day, filled with clear water where you can see all the pennies that had been tossed in sitting on the bottom) and into their doors as if all the internal shops were still open. Unfortunately, they aren't, although there are a few access doors to a couple of stores still there from the inside. The Health Department is also there now, in addition to a school. Most former store entrances are all walled or boarded up and sealed. Painted over as if they were always permanent walls.

For folks like Kevin who will always have the memories of when this mall was THE place to go--it's bittersweet I'm sure to see it like this. But like anything else in life, time marches on. Things change. And progress is progress, even if sometimes it's at the expense of what was the norm. It's now called "The Kingsway Center". Even though for native Midlanders it'll always be Dellwood Mall.

Some former Malls are a lot luckier than Dellwood was-and when they are replaced by the shiny new thing, they thrive on in other ways... Take the old Winwood Mall in Odessa, replaced by the Music City Mall.... Winwood is now thriving as home to many stores, just not in an indoor mall setting. HEB, Ross, Michael's, Leslie's Pool Supplies, Party City--you name it. It's now a strip mall that's several blocks long and doing very well...

Who knows... Maybe in the coming years as things here continue to pick back up and the Oil Field rises again--Dellwood Mall's future may change too. For now, it was cool to see a piece of history--before it goes away or gets a makeover.