Ghost Mall
December 10th, 2008
When we were in Omaha last month, my mom’s hairstylist unexpectedly had to go out of town. That meant my mom’s haircut appointment got cancelled. She really wanted to get a trim before she came back to California with us, so we went to Crossroads.
When I was growing up, Crossroads Mall was one of three big malls in Omaha, the closest one to my parents’ house, located at the busiest intersection in town. There is a Sears there, and my parents used to be big Sears shoppers when I was little so we used to go there a lot. When I was about 10 or 11, Crossroads remodeled and got a cool new food court. Then it got the first bulk-candy store in Omaha, and an Everything’s A Dollar store. (The first time I went there with my high-school boyfriend, we had been browsing for a bit when he found a salesclerk and asked, “How much is this thing?” She looked at him like he was an idiot and said, “It’s a dollar. EVERYTHING’S a dollar.” I hid behind the nearest display and pretended I didn’t know him.)
By the time I could drive myself to the mall, I preferred to shop at Westroads. It had a movie theater and more interesting stores. But I still went to Crossroads because it had a Gap (Westroads didn’t), and because I got my hair cut at Crossroads Hairstylists. I liked all the stylists there, and it was a step above Supercuts without being too expensive for my high-school budget.
Crossroads Hairstylists has been there in the same location for as long as I can remember…but it’s not there anymore! My mom and I were both surprised to see that it was gone.
Well, we weren’t that surprised because we could see what the rest of the mall looked like. There are still quite a few major stores there—Target, Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, Bath & Body Works, Victoria’s Secret, Famous Footwear and the aforementioned Sears and Gap—but there are so many vacant shops that it’s rather depressing. Even Dillards, one of the big anchor stores, is closed now. And the food court is down to two restaurants!
Crossroads has been going downhill for a while now. A few years ago the Target and Barnes & Noble were added as part of a revitalization effort. But then there were some violent crimes committed in the mall. When people read about those kinds of things in the newspaper, they tend to stay away. And of course if there are no customers, stores can’t survive. They close or move to new locations.
But the last time I was there (maybe a year ago?) it wasn’t nearly as bad as it is now. There were one or two shops with “for lease” signs, but Famous Footwear and Hallmark and Orange Julius were all still there. An entire upstairs wing wasn’t completely empty.
Anyway, we found another hair salon, staffed by a lone stylist. While my mom got her hair cut (after Annalie got the WORST haircut of her life, but that’s another story) Annalie and I explored. We went up and down in the glass elevator. We discovered, much to Annalie’s delight, that the food court had a family bathroom with a kid-sized toilet and kid-level sink. Annalie enjoyed running in the deserted mall without me telling her to slow down. And I just looked around at all the empty stores, remembering the bustling mall of my childhood. Now it’s a sad ghost mall.
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That is one lonely looking mall! It makes me sad when childhood memory spots get all desolate like that – it seems to emphasize how far from childhood I am.
Wow that is a pretty depressing thing… I was mainly a Westroads guy (we lived like right down the street from it and that was our mall even before that since we were way out west – or what used to be-). So funny you linked to The Afternoon – totally my favorite store there as well, Kassie and I were going to stop in recently but it was Black Friday so we looked for parking for 10min and then left. I went to Crossroads plenty of times in high school, had a bunch of other friends who worked there, it had the awesome food court before Westroads got one, etc. So sad that that mall got a bad rep, it has a great location and it’s still in great shape, etc. I could totally see it come back someday. Great pics too, so odd to see that food court empty, I can remember not being able to find a table it was so busy!
This looks a lot like one of the malls in my hometown (Peoria, Ill.). It’s also a Simon property, and I suspect one of the reasons (from what I remember during my days working at the local newspaper) is that Simon’s rentals tend to be pretty high.
Our mall has some big major stores, but the higher-end stores (Ann Taylor, Bergner’s, etc.) all moved out to a new outdoor mall (in central Illinois???) which opened about six years ago. Too much competition and the newness factor all doomed the malls.
Our indoor mall also had (and increasingly is having more) problems with violent crimes. It’s just sad that a time-honored way to spend teenage years is going by the wayside because people feel the need to hurt each other.
That is sad! Makes you realize how fickle life/the economy/business really is!
Also: Does Westroads still not have a Gap? Because I’m in a long-standing bet with myself that I wouldn’t be able to find an American mall (regular or outlet) without at least one variety of The Gap in it.
Oh you silly people. Just because someone got stabbed at Plaza Bonita once (like 15 years ago) didn’t mean it got any less busy. LOL It was pretty ghetto for awhile, though, but it’s all fancy now and it was busier than Parkway on Black Friday.
I’ve lived in some small towns with very pathetic attempts at malls, but this mall is ENORMOUS and no stores? It’d be kinda spooky I’d think. Ghost mall indeed!
Oh, this makes me very sad!
That’s really sad and I’m afraid a sign of the times these days – and at the least a sign of the future for the next few years. Scary. I’m so grateful I’ve got my health and my job. Wow. But on a less-serious note, I know my son would have loved running around that deserted place too! He would have had a ball.
Sorry about the bad haircut; hope the new cut remedied the problem!!
Beth (mommy to a busy 5-yr old)
What a pity to see that all empty. So sad…
Whoa. That really is a ghost town. How depressing!
the mall near my apartment was like this for years – slowly, but surely, dying. I’ve worked in not one, but two, stores that have closed down inside of it! entire wings were closed, but we still did good business up until the end. supposedly someone has bought it and is going to tear it down, but two of the anchors own their buildings so they are still open. it’s definitely creepy!
Wow that is empty. We have a few empty strip malls, but no inside ones that look that quiet.