End of Crossroads Mall near? - Page 4

Thunder · #76 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 12:42 PM

Crossroads can reattempt to interest Sears in taking up available space. There is 4 and only 2 is available, right? Sears could get the one that is facing the highway.

Bobby821 · #77 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonerDave

That "reputation" thing that hit Crossroads really frustrates me, because I think it was blown *way* out of proportion. Not saying that some bad stuff hasn't happened at Crossroads, but most people don't realize the first publicized "gangbanger" shooting in an OKC mall was at the ever-trendy, chronically hip Penn Square, not Crossroads. Even as recently as the last few years, we still visited Crossroads to shop at Penny's and never encountered any problems at all, or even felt threatened. There are some who wanted to create the illusion that there was an armored gang of thugs hiding at every corner, and you're life was in danger if you dared to show up at the parking lot, and that simply wasn't true or accurate. Again, I don't pretend there has never been a crime problem at Crossroads, but I think the degree to which it has been perceived is in direct proportion to at least some people's preconceived notions about the area in which Crossroads exists.

As far as losing the retail, I always thought Steve n Barry's as a "anchor" tenant was a losing proposition from the word go. A two-story, glorified T-shirt shop? Gimme a break - and just this week they file for bankruptcy - gee, that's a shock.

Crossroads best hope for some type of "reinvention" passed about three years ago (give or take) when Wards went belly up, and the space couldn't be re-let until the bankruptcy action was concluded. During that time, I think there was activity behind the scenes to get Sears from 44th and Western to take over that space, but couldn't because of the legal issues. Sears lost interest, and the rest is history. Obviously, we'll never know if that would have "saved" Crossroads, but it would have at least given them a boost; that old Sequoyah/Reding location is getting scarier by the day -- and I've been going there since I was a kid....then again, I'm not at all sure Sears will be around in another five years..

God I hope not I sure would hate to see Sears close down on SW 44th and Western. I went there all the time growing up as a kid and I hated it when they took the old Cursive neon red signs down and put up those bland blue and white Sears signs on the building.

Thunder · #78 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 04:00 PM

It looks like Sears is planning to close their stores. I notice that their SEARS signs on the buildings are poorly made and maintained. They are falling apart and never being replaced.

Bobby821 · #79 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thunder

It looks like Sears is planning to close their stores. I notice that their SEARS signs on the buildings are poorly made and maintained. They are falling apart and never being replaced.

Maybe the sign companies are just backlogged and it will take time to get to fixing the Sears signs...

Thunder · #80 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby821

Maybe the sign companies are just backlogged and it will take time to get to fixing the Sears signs...

Months, if not a year or two. lol

MonkeesFan · #81 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonerDave

This slow, agonizing death for Crossroads is really, really painful to watch for someone who remembers when it was first built and opened. It was awesome. It was a first of its kind in Oklahoma, and its unique location along two major interstates made it all the more compelling.

My son advised me the other day that Subway is gone, and Sbarro's has checked it in as well.

Going to Crossroads when I was a kid was almost like going to a theme park. Orange Juliuses and hotdogs, a trip to LeMans to ride the bumper cars (though they were gone by the time I was old enough to ride them), Toys By Roy (one of the last "real" toy shops you'll ever see), the two-story Emmer Brothers clothing store, John A. Brown's, the annual MDA Telethon in center court, July 4th fireworks, it was all incredible. Part of its demise is its owner(s)' own doing over the years, and part of it is lousy circumstance.

There's very little that Crossroads can do about the deterioration of the area north and northeast. That just crept up around them. And the addition of a movie theater was about a decade too late (remember that the AMC wasn't the first one - that General Cinema was). What Crossroads' owners failed to do over the years was keep the interior fresh and inviting - I think the interior has been renovated once, maybe twice in 34 years. Now its just a matter of atrophy.

I know the open-air "supersized" stripmalls are the wave of the future, but I'm not crazy about them. I don't like JCPenny's in Moore, because its too big, sprawling out over a single story. I used to like to run through to see if they were running sales on Dockers, but now I just let my wife go by herself...but I digress...

Crossroads was a site with a host of potential that was just never realized. And that's truly a shame.

-sd

Opening Subway in the mall was a stupid move because there is a Subway just across the mall

Thunder · #82 (**permalink**) 07-13-2008, 12:37 AM

How can it be a stupid move? It is not stupid to me. When I shop and feel hungry, I just may want to eat at Subway, rather than wasting gas to make a stop for another Subway.

Resturants are built all over the place in close locations. Look at Sonic, they got two in Del City on the same street, even two Braums on the same street.

ssandedoc · #83 (**permalink**) 07-13-2008, 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonerDave

That "reputation" thing that hit Crossroads really frustrates me, because I think it was blown *way* out of proportion. Not saying that some bad stuff hasn't happened at Crossroads, but most people don't realize the first publicized "gangbanger" shooting in an OKC mall was at the ever-trendy, chronically hip Penn Square, not Crossroads. Even as recently as the last few years, we still visited Crossroads to shop at Penny's and never encountered any problems at all, or even felt threatened. There are some who wanted to create the illusion that there was an armored gang of thugs hiding at every corner, and you're life was in danger if you dared to show up at the parking lot, and that simply wasn't true or accurate. Again, I don't pretend there has never been a crime problem at Crossroads, but I think the degree to which it has been perceived is in direct proportion to at least some people's preconceived notions about the area in which Crossroads exists.

As far as losing the retail, I always thought Steve n Barry's as a "anchor" tenant was a losing proposition from the word go. A two-story, glorified T-shirt shop? Gimme a break - and just this week they file for bankruptcy - gee, that's a shock.

Crossroads best hope for some type of "reinvention" passed about three years ago (give or take) when Wards went belly up, and the space couldn't be re-let until the bankruptcy action was concluded. During that time, I think there was activity behind the scenes to get Sears from 44th and Western to take over that space, but couldn't because of the legal issues. Sears lost interest, and the rest is history. Obviously, we'll never know if that would have "saved" Crossroads, but it would have at least given them a boost; that old Sequoyah/Reding location is getting scarier by the day -- and I've been going there since I was a kid....then again, I'm not at all sure Sears will be around in another five years..

Maybe it was a tad overblown, but I went to see a movie at the Crossroads cinema when it was turned into a dollar theatre back in 04. During the movie a bunch of thugs kept coming in and out yelling obscenities. We told them to shut up, and we were threatened. Shortly after, the police surrounded the theatre and everyone was ordered outside. They even had a helicopter circling the place. So this is JUST the movie theatre next to the mall, and not even Crossroads. I worked at the Penney's while it was closing and at night some rough people did pass through. But I didn't feel unsafe, however other employees told me their car would get broken into while they worked.

JWil · #84 (**permalink**) 07-13-2008, 02:53 AM

Won't be missed at all.

kevinpate · #85 (**permalink**) 07-13-2008, 06:39 AM

It's been close to a year since I've been inside Crossroads, perhaps just over a year. That didn't used to be the case.

I've never felt unsafe there, but I'm not a maller in general. There has to be a right fair selection to draw me in, and nothing has given me a sense I should return.

okcustu · #86 (**permalink**) 07-13-2008, 03:30 PM

Soonerdave I'll agree with you there I worked at AE for a while never felt any danger I feel more unsafe at that shifty dollar theater thank God they changed the 50 cent policy

jbrown84 · #87 (**permalink**) 07-13-2008, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmonroe

How about shawnee mall...??

I've heard it's doing better. They lost Gap a few years back, but they've added Old Navy and Ross and still have Hot Topic, Buckle, and American Eagle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Architect2010

Quails interior is not in a decline...I go to that mall all the time. Its furnishings and finishes are the same as those in Penn. Nice floors, Glass barriers, same elevators, comparable stores.

I agree. Although they may be having some clientele issues, the interior is NOT getting "run down" as someone said.

scootinger · #88 (**permalink**) 07-13-2008, 07:51 PM

really I wouldn't be surprised if Dillard's stays around for quite a while, as a lot of the time they turn their stores in dying malls into "clearance centers." their Crossroads store is in a pretty good location (traffic-wise), they own their building (and it would be worth very little if they closed and tried to sell it seeing as there would be 2-3 other anchor buildings for sale/lease and only one or possibly no other anchor stores), and there are no other "clearance centers" in the OKC area. There used to be one up at Eastland Mall in Tulsa, and it was open even when the mall was completely empty and being remodeled to become an office complex. However I read that they recently closed it only because they sold the building to the developers to be turned into office space. That said, I'm guessing that there's a good chance that Dillard's will do just that with their Crossroads location and probably keep it open for a good while.

sammiam832 · #89 (**permalink**) 07-13-2008, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soonerfever

The wife and I were at Steve & Barrys last night looking around. I walked out into the mall and I just kind of had this erie feeling. It was about 7:00 and the mall seemed deserted. S&B was pretty busy but as you looked through out the mall it was pretty dead.

Try being there on a Saturday afternoon, it's the same way! Kinda scary!!

Jesseda · #90 (**permalink**) 07-14-2008, 08:30 AM

I worked at the mall in highschool, the beanie baby stand that was overpriced, well a bunch of the other stands around my area had highschool employees at well, we had to park at the end of the parking lot so we had to walk in the dark back to our cars when the mall closed every night, a bunch of us walked in groups because of the fear of gettting shot or robbed, crossroads is a sad place and needs to go, its is past time, unless they can do a 180 its hopeless

jbrown84 · #91 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 03:45 PM

No one should meander alone in a dark parking lot alone at ANY mall. That's just common sense.

Bobby821 · #92 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jesseda

I worked at the mall in highschool, the beanie baby stand that was overpriced, well a bunch of the other stands around my area had highschool employees at well, we had to park at the end of the parking lot so we had to walk in the dark back to our cars when the mall closed every night, a bunch of us walked in groups because of the fear of gettting shot or robbed, crossroads is a sad place and needs to go, its is past time, unless they can do a 180 its hopeless

Crossrods is not a sad place and doesnt need to go anywhere.

SoonerDave · #93 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby821

Crossrods is not a sad place and doesnt need to go anywhere.

Compared to what it was when it opened 34 years ago, its pathetic.

I wish they could bring it back, but I'm also a realist.

bdub02 · #94 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonerDave

Compared to what it was when it opened 34 years ago, its pathetic.

I wish they could bring it back, but I'm also a realist.

Its pathetic comparing it to what it was 8 years ago.

As somebody above said, it seems like the loss of Wards is what started the decline and it has become progressively worse from there.

Oh GAWD the Smell! · #95 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 03:28 AM

I was in there at noon today, and it was bustling with people.

**EDIT***

Noon YESTERDAY.

Stupid graveyard shift screwing up mah days.

Thunder · #96 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 03:06 PM

It happened a lot to me when I worked overnights at WalMart. I always had my dates confused.

Luke · #97 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 08:38 PM

I wonder what mall management is doing to try to get retailers there? I mean are they just sitting on it collecting rent or are they trying to build their mall?

MonkeesFan · #98 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 09:20 PM

I went to Crossroads mall yesterday to get Chickfila and I saw a new store called "Hook-ups", I was like WTF, what kind of store name is that? I mean, really?

Luke · #99 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 09:29 PM

Oh, that's nothing. Have you heard of Eargasm?

MonkeesFan · #**100** (**permalink**) 07-17-2008, 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luke

Oh, that's nothing. Have you heard of Eargasm?

For real? Who thought of the dumbest names for a store?

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