September 23, 1960. San Antonio has just started to shake off the last of a brutal South Texas summer, but the heat still presses flat against the open land along San Pedro Avenue.
A piece of rough, empty land on the North Side just months ago now has something completely new for the city.
Inside, it feels completely different. The heat drops away. The air is cool and quiet. Fountains run along broad Saltillo-tile walkways.
Wooden trellises break up the light overhead. Near the walkway, two mynah birds, Fred and Geraldine, chatter in a 16-foot cage.
Tropical plants fill both sides of the corridors. The opening promotion has promised shoppers "60 acres of air-conditioned landscaped shopping comfort" and a "perpetual springtime."
For anyone who has spent a summer in San Antonio, those words need no selling. Outside, about 12,000 cars pack the parking lot.
Overhead, a helicopter flies in circles, scattering discount coupons onto the crowd below. Lady Bird Johnson is there for the opening ceremonies.
It is a new kind of place, one that turns a routine errand into an outing worth getting dressed for and promises a comfortable afternoon no matter what the weather outside might be.
How North Star Mall Changed a City in 1960
North Star Mall opened at San Pedro Avenue and Loop 13 - later renamed Loop 410 - about 10 miles north of downtown San Antonio.
The developer was Baltimore-based Community Research & Development Corp., which later became the Rouse Company.
The land was largely open at the time, with San Pedro running just two lanes wide and Loop 13 marking the city's outer edge.
The mall opened with 50 stores in roughly 310,000 square feet.
The original tenants included H-E-B, Wolff & Marx, Walgreens, Luby's, Zales, Guarantee Shoes, La Fuente Mexican Restaurant, and Mr. Dunderbach's Deli.
Former mayor Henry Cisneros later called it "state-of-the-art" and a place that helped make San Antonio feel like "a big city."
The mall's location shaped where the city grew next. Its opening made downtown Houston Street look outdated by comparison.
New subdivisions, new schools, and growing retail traffic - including shoppers from Mexico - followed on the North Side.
North Star Mall did not just open a new place to shop. It helped steer the entire city northward.
From 50 Stores to a Suburban Town Square
In 1963, North Star Mall added about 50,000 square feet, bringing in Frost Bros. as a new anchor along with 13 specialty shops.
Twin Cinemas opened inside the mall in 1964. MacArthur High School held junior and senior proms by the large indoor fountain during the 1960s.
In 1965, Joske's bought rival Wolff & Marx and opened its second San Antonio location at North Star Mall.
That expansion pushed the mall to about 610,000 square feet on 55 acres and added 13 more specialty shops.
By then, North Star Mall was not just somewhere to buy things. People camped outside Joske's for concert tickets. They bought wedding rings at Zales.
They treated the mall the way people once treated a downtown main street - as a place to meet up, spend time, and take part in everyday public life.
The fountain ended up in prom pictures, and afterward, people went to La Fuente to eat.
North Star's sales per square foot rose 15 percent in 1972, even though the mall was already more than a decade old. That loyalty kept bringing people back even after new shopping centers opened in other places.
How North Star Mall Got San Antonio's Giant Boots
North Star's most recognizable landmark came along nearly two decades after opening day.
In 1979, artist Bob "Daddy-O" Wade built a giant cowboy boot sculpture in Washington, D.C., for the Washington Project for the Arts.
Wade was paid $7,000 to construct it from scavenged steel, wire mesh, and urethane foam on a vacant lot near the White House.
Joan Mondale visited during the roughly three-month Washington installation.
After that run ended, the Rouse Corporation paid $20,000 for the sculpture.
The boots were taken apart, loaded onto three flatbed trucks, and hauled 1,600 miles south to San Antonio. They were installed at North Star Mall in January 1980.
Wade later wrote a song about the journey called "Too High, Too Wide, Too Long."
Guinness World Records measured the boots in San Antonio in 2014 and recorded them at 35 feet 3 inches tall, 33 feet 4 inches long, and 9 feet wide.
During the holiday season, 8,000 LED lights cover the sculpture. It has also been lit pink in connection with a breast cancer fundraiser.
The boots are now so tied to North Star Mall that many visitors recognize the landmark before they know anything else about the mall.
The Decades That Reshaped Every Corner
In 1982, Foley's replaced H-E-B and became the mall's first national department store, adding about 75,000 square feet.
The former Wolff & Marx space became Star Court. A food court and a below-ground area called "Music Court" were added around the same time.
That lower level started as an arcade and later became home to Oshman's Sporting Goods, with a batting cage, tennis court, and skiing simulator, plus record stores and other shops.
The mall's movie theater complex and an underground gas station also closed during this renovation period.
In 1985, Saks Fifth Avenue opened as the anchor of a new wing. In 1986, Marshall Field's opened, the food court expanded, and 60 more retailers moved in.
Mayor Henry Cisneros and San Antonio native Carol Burnett attended the celebration.
Dillard's took over the Joske's space in 1987.
The 1990s and early 2000s kept things changing. Mervyn's took the former Frost Bros. space in 1992.
Macy's opened its first San Antonio location in 1997. The Cheesecake Factory opened its first San Antonio location at North Star in 2002.
A major renovation in the mid-2000s replaced Saltillo tile with limestone, removed the wooden trellises, and rebuilt entrances and common areas throughout. Apple opened at North Star in 2008.
Still Moving Forward After More Than 65 Years
North Star Mall marked its 50th anniversary in 2010 by opening a time capsule placed inside the mall during the 1985 Saks expansion.
The mall also staged a "Stars of North Star" historical display that year.
One year later, the Luby's that had operated since opening day in 1960 - the chain's longest-running location - closed in December 2011 after its lease expired and renewal costs were expected to double.
Round1, a bowling and entertainment company from Japan, opened its first San Antonio spot at North Star on March 4, 2023.
The place is over 50,000 square feet and has bowling, arcade games, pool, and karaoke. It is open every day from 10 am to 2 am.
In October 2025, Novo Brazil Brewing Co. opened a 10,000-square-foot space at the mall as the California brand's first location outside that state.
Journeys is scheduled for a $630,500 renovation starting July 6, 2026.
Saks Fifth Avenue, which has anchored its wing since 1985, is set to close by the end of May 2026 as part of a wider Saks Global retrenchment.
The mall continues to operate with Dillard's, JCPenney, Macy's, H&M, Express, Zara, and Victoria's Secret among its tenants.
