Crossroads Mall

[cas]

I remember Orbachs well. That was where I bought my Polo's as a teenager.

[jacodenn]

Might make for a great NASCAR parking lot in the future...

[oneforone]

I think the retail days of Crossroads are numbered.

I predict the mall will be demolished for other use or it will be converted to office, residential (like a retirment community or something like it) or a community college.

I would love to see INTEGRIS build a large hospital comparable to Baptist on that site.

[oneforone]

Crossroads Mall loses Dillard’ but stays optimistic.

BY DEBBIE BLOSSOM
Published: October 24, 2008

Sprawling Crossroads Mall, which sits on 46.5 acres at the intersection of two interstates and opened in the mid-1970s, has had a tough time of it for the past several years.

The mall will lose anchor-store Dillard’s in late December. The J.C. Penney Co. Inc. store closed in 2007, and Macy’s shut its doors in March.

"We are in the process of working on a redevelopment plan, for which any specifics would be premature to announce at this time,” mall general manager Jim Swenson said in an e-mail. Swenson was speaking for management at Springdale, Ark.-based Midwest Mall Properties, which bought the 1.27 million-square-foot mall at the end of 2006.

Crossroads not near closing, manager says
Despite the exodus of three well-known anchors, the mall is far from empty, Swenson said.

"Crossroads has over 120 stores and restaurants, and we will continue to provide a wide variety of goods and services to meet the needs of our customers,” he wrote. And shoppers could see some new names soon. "This holiday season we anticipate eight new stores will open between now and Thanksgiving, both local and national retailers,” he said.

Dillard’s store manager Shawn Morris said his store has sale-priced fall apparel and accessories for men, women, juniors and children. The store also has spring-summer merchandise from all Oklahoma stores that is 75 percent off. Shoes, coats and home merchandise have been moved to other locations, he said.

News that a major retailer is closing a store is unfortunate, but the impact on the city’s sales tax could be negligible, said Alison Oshel, community redevelopment director for the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.

Sales tax still healthy

Retail sales tax collections through July are up 9 percent over the same time last year, Oshel said. And while some national retailers are in trouble, like Linens ‘n Things, "Oklahoma is somewhat insulated from national trends right now.” And the Crossroads closing doesn’t mean Dillard’s isn’t doing well in this market, she said. "Our local economy is strong.”

The redevelopment plan sounds like a pipe dream. How can you convince a national/regional retalier to stay in a mall where three well known retail companies closed up shop and left. Two of those retail companies chose not to relocate to a location in the area of the old stores. I would like to know the names of those eight stores. I am willing to bet they are seasonal stores like Eskimoe Joe's Joe's Clothes and Hickory Farms.

[Soonerman]

I wonder if Dillards is going to convert the Crossroads store into one of thier clearance centers?

[ssandedoc]

I wonder if Dillards is going to convert the Crossroads store into one of thier clearance centers?

No, other stores are shipping their clearance items to this Dillards. 12/29 is the last day because they arent making money anymore.

[Soonerman]

I'm sure Steve and Barrys will probably move to another location in OKC unless they fold up altogether like Linens N Things. Steve and Barrys is the only reason I really go to Crossroads Mall. I'm not really suprised that Dillards is closing the Crossroads Mall store. Most people in that area will probably go to the Norman store which is a lot nicer than that one.

[scootinger]

Why is everyone so pessimistic about Crossroads and saying that it needs to be closed/demolished/etc? I think that the building could be put to very good use if its use were positioned right (non-retail)...as has been done with Shepard Mall here in OKC or Eastland in Tulsa (or countless other "dead malls" as well.)

Such a use could possibly be the "redevelopment plan" mentioned by the owner...hopefully it's finally clear to them (if it wasn't before) that Crossroads has practically no future as a retail center. Or looking at how Crossroads has been managed in the past...they could very well do nothing and let it become even more blighted until eventually someone comes along with a plan to redevelop it themselves.

[Chase]

The old Eastland Mall in Tulsa will be really nice when they finish converting the mall to office space.

[rondvu]

This is just wishful thinking on my part, but a Super Target, Home Expo and a Crest foods would be great anchors. Don't think Crest will happen. I believe Harroz owns his own buildings.

[Thunder]

This is just wishful thinking on my part, but a Super Target, Home Expo and a Crest foods would be great anchors. Don't think Crest will happen. I believe Harroz owns his own buildings.

Target does not want a building like that. lol

Crest is impossible to be there. Two floors!

[scootinger]

Target does not want a building like that. lol

Crest is impossible to be there. Two floors!

Actually I've seen a mall with a 2-story Target store before so that wouldn't be out of the question. If Crossroads' owners had put more effort into finding new anchors in the past, then maybe they could have lured Sears and/or Target into the mall from their current location at 44th and Western.

[Lauri101]

I've started some light campaigning to get our federal agency moved out there. It would make so much sense on so many levels, I doubt it would ever happen. But it can't hurt to try!

[Generals64]

This is just wishful thinking on my part, but a Super Target, Home Expo and a Crest foods would be great anchors. Don't think Crest will happen. I believe Harroz owns his own buildings.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, Haroz has the money to buy the mall.....don't give up on the big elephant. There are still plenty of other companies that would relocate if the mall owners made it appetizing enough.......

[hoya]

With better management, Crossroads might have survived. With current management, it looks like it will be a swift decline. It is sad. 10 years ago, the mall was booming. Just 5 years ago, it was still fairly crowded and had a lot of stores. It isn't Heritage Park yet, but it is close.

[metro]

Did anyone announce that Dillards will be gone completely from the mall by the end of the year? I saw the article in the Oklahoman a few days ago.

[SeinfeldBlock]

I went into that Dillards about a year ago, and I thought it needed some updating. The carpet was kind of dingy and ratty. I was in the purses/handbags section, and it was in clear need of some love. I kind of figured then that Dillard's wasn't interested in keeping Crossroads' store a priority.

I can remember (not too long ago) when I was in middle school and we used to head up to OKC on school trips and hit Crossroads. It was a bundle of good times.

I don't know if Crossroads could really be a "Shepherd Mall" type situation because it's so....alone...it seems. I don't know how else to describe it. Not really a lot to pull in around it.

I wonder if they will build a freestanding Dillard's somewhere. That would be awesome.....but completely unlikely.

[Patrick]

I know a lot of people have blamed management, and rightly so. The mall has needed serious updating for years now. But honestly, even with updating, the demographics around the mall would still hold it back. Having areas like Valley Brook nearby are huge turn offs to upscale retailers. Crossroads doesn't have the privilege of having a Nichols Hills right on its doorstep.

The key would've been for mall management to make Crossroads a destination, where folks from outlying areas would've been attracted to drive the distance.

Also, I think development in Moore, especially with JC Penney moving out, really started the downward spiral.

[oneforone]

The only way to save Crossroads at this point would be a massive make over the area similar to what the city has done with Bricktown.

I do not see that happening because the city has a full plate with C2S, Midtown and the other city wide projects.

My prediction is that Crossroads will hang on for another year at the most as a retail center.

I cannot see office space there because of all the office space that is under construction/renovation in the suburbs of OKC and downtown.

The best case scenario is for Crossroads to be torn down and replaced with a manufacturing/warehouse district, a hospital or a large hotel/convention center several years from now.

[ssandedoc]

Maybe we can turn it into a Union Station.

[ssandedoc]

So fragrances are now 20% off. Will someone keep us updated when the prices drop again?

[Jesseda]

Its going to be really wierd the the southside of oklahoma city will not havea mall, okc is a large city, why cant we even have one stable mall onthe south side of okc, we have moore, we have the income of almost everything south of 89th street, the north side has 3 malls that i know off hand.

[BradR]

norman is just down the street...i consider it the "south side" because i live out of town

[jbrown84]

Its going to be really wierd the the southside of oklahoma city will not havea mall, okc is a large city, why cant we even have one stable mall onthe south side of okc, we have moore, we have the income of almost everything south of 89th street, the north side has 3 malls that i know off hand.

You have plenty of malls, you just won't have an indoor mall anymore.

[Jesseda]

it would be nice to havea a indoor mall that was organized and had anice shops. I justcant see myself walking a long outside shopping strip, in freezing, humid, rainy weather, its nice to have the indoors here in oklahoma.