Crossroads Never Existed?

[mrsticka]

Okay, here's a wild thought. Let's say that Crossroads Mall never gets built. Instead, something else goes in at 72nd and Dodge. So because there's no Crossroads, there's no Sears there. But then in 1967-68 when Westroads is built, Sears goes there instead? This also affects Dillard's. In the late 80's, it opens at Westroads. But where would it go? Maybe next to Younker's?

I bet if Sears went in at Westroads instead of Crossroads, it might be on the south end of the mall where Von Maur currently is. But then where would Von Maur go?

I suppose it doesn't really matter. I'm just asking since Crossroads was demolished 2 years ago.

[NEDodger]

So…….like, what’s the thing with malls?

[nebugeater]

Okay, here's a wild thought. Let's say that Crossroads Mall never gets built. Instead, something else goes in at 72nd and Dodge. So because there's no Crossroads, there's no Sears there. But then in 1967-68 when Westroads is built, Sears goes there instead? This also affects Dillard's. In the late 80's, it opens at Westroads. But where would it go? Maybe next to Younker's?

I bet if Sears went in at Westroads instead of Crossroads, it might be on the south end of the mall where Von Maur currently is. But then where would Von Maur go?

I suppose it doesn't really matter. I'm just asking since Crossroads was demolished 2 years ago.

Or if you want to get this wild on idea......

Just wait 20 More years +/- and build Sears at the first generation of Nebraska Crossing.

[BRoss]

So…….like, what’s the thing with malls?

I've been wondering the same thing.

[Linkin5]

So…….like, what’s the thing with malls?

I've been wondering the same thing.

Ok some people think it’s strange how much I care about buildings, construction, etc. We’re all bizarre here.

[mrsticka]

Yeah, okay, I guess I have gotten a little carried away with this whole mall thing. It's just that I have these thoughts and ideas in my head and I can't keep them bottled up or they'll drive me crazy.

I just hate to see what's happening to malls, how they're empty and dying and there's nothing I can do about it. It just makes me sad and a little nostalgic for the days when they were THE place to go. Especially on weekends.

But perhaps I did take it too far. I'm sorry. I never meant to pi $$ anyone off.

[nebugeater]

Yeah, okay, I guess I have gotten a little carried away with this whole mall thing. It's just that I have these thoughts and ideas in my head and I can't keep them bottled up or they'll drive me crazy.

I just hate to see what's happening to malls, how they're empty and dying and there's nothing I can do about it. It just makes me sad and a little nostalgic for the days when they were THE place to go. Especially on weekends.

But perhaps I did take it too far. I'm sorry. I never meant to pi $$ anyone off.

I don't think anyone is upset. Just want to throw it back.

Love the passion and don't hold back. If you get someone upset they will let you know!

[NEDodger]

Yeah, okay, I guess I have gotten a little carried away with this whole mall thing. It's just that I have these thoughts and ideas in my head and I can't keep them bottled up or they'll drive me crazy.

I just hate to see what's happening to malls, how they're empty and dying and there's nothing I can do about it. It just makes me sad and a little nostalgic for the days when they were THE place to go. Especially on weekends.

But perhaps I did take it too far. I'm sorry. I never meant to pi $$ anyone off.

No one is angry or annoyed - I’ve just noticed it seems like every time I see one of your posts, it’s in conjunction with malls. Wasn’t sure if you were specifically in that industry or something.

[Bob from Omaha]

You can read a little bit about the history of Crossroads in wikipedia but there's more to it. In the mid 1950s the majority of Omaha's retail was downtown. The intersection of 72nd & Dodge was still considered west Omaha, though there were developments farther west. West of 72nd and especially west of 90th was considered way out west.
Brandeis saw what was happening in other cities and took into account the change in society, especially with a baby boom going on (me, for example) and (I'm going to catch heat here) the growth in car sales. Those young families were moving out of older areas and into, in my parents case, Dillon's Fairacres between Western Ave and Underwood. You could buy a 3 bedroom house with a garage for the low $30's.
In my opinion Crossroads and its location at 72nd and Dodge was inevitable. This wasn't an Omaha thing, it was a nationwide thing. Funny, Brandeis has/had a 96 year lease on the land in the late 50's.

[Busguy2010]

I remember seeing a picture of West Lanes before Crossroads was built. 72nd street was a dirt road and none of the land to the west was developed. Hard to imagine today.

[Bob from Omaha]

When Crossroads was just starting to be built.

[Greg S]

On the malls I am up for more "what if" type discussions that are based on things that were projected or more possible. I can talk in those circles all day. The threads like if Crossroads was never built don't interest me because that's more like "fantasy" type discussions vs actually based on some sort of possibility or reality.

I too miss the reality. At the end of high school and throughout college I worked in malls. I initially worked for Brandeis at Westroads and some in Lincoln at Gateway (though it became too much of a pain to get to so I only worked there for a fall). Then I worked for Miller Paine as Xmas help in their flagship downtown store (was really cool to see that both on the floor and behind the scenes) before they got bought by Dillards. Once Brandeis got bought by Younkers I spent once summer again working at the Brandeis store at Westroads converting it to Younkers (they closed it within the year because they didn't need 2 Younkers stores side by side, even though Dillards would do that in other markets). I think spend summers and winter breaks when I came back to Omaha working at Younkers Crossroads (I was there during the major remodel and expansion). After college I worked there for a few years as a second job. Younkers even tried to get me into their management development program but retail was not something I wanted to do long term or as a career.

So I do like talking malls. Back then when traveling that always seemed part of a visit to a new city, was to hit the big or best mall in town, so I went to a lot of them.

[Garrett]

I’d say Crossroads and Westroads are basically the only two malls in the city where their locations were relatively inevitable, based on the transportation options around them. Oak View could have been basically anywhere, and VP could have been off any of the exits on Dodge. I think VP might even start to struggle before too long, depending on how some of these really western attempts at development shake out.

[mrsticka]

Yeah, okay, I guess I have gotten a little carried away with this whole mall thing. It's just that I have these thoughts and ideas in my head and I can't keep them bottled up or they'll drive me crazy.

I just hate to see what's happening to malls, how they're empty and dying and there's nothing I can do about it. It just makes me sad and a little nostalgic for the days when they were THE place to go. Especially on weekends.

But perhaps I did take it too far. I'm sorry. I never meant to pi $$ anyone off.

No one is angry or annoyed - I’ve just noticed it seems like every time I see one of your posts, it’s in conjunction with malls. Wasn’t sure if you were specifically in that industry or something.

No, I'm not. I don't always talk about malls. Sometimes I talk about other things. When I first joined this forum back in 2012, I was really into roads. In a way, I kind of still am. But not as much as I was then. And I've also posted about sports, especially Nebraska football.

About Crossroads, it's not that I wish it never existed. It's just that when Westroads was built 3 miles away, it faced stiff competition and people stopped going there. Its extension in the late 80's saved it. But then when Dillard's closed its location in 2008, that's when things really started going downhill for Crossroads.

But yeah, I like to stick my "what-if" thoughts regarding Crossroads. Like what if they had a Macy's there instead of another Younker's since Westroads had one? Or when they underwent that major extension in the 80's, they also extended their second floor above the original ground level of the original east-west wing. They should've done that. Why didn't they? That made no sense to me. Of course, if they had, they would've had to build the food court a little differently. But how? Would they have built it above the ground level of the south wing? If they had, then it wouldn't be directly under those membrane tents.

[BRoss]

But perhaps I did take it too far. I'm sorry. I never meant to pi $$ anyone off.

Please don't take the joking around as indication of annoyance or making anyone upset. You just post a lot of mall what-ifs; nothing wrong with that. Seeing this new post had me thinking about this fact, so I thought it was funny others were thinking the same.

I agree, we all geek out on certain things on this forum. I too am into roads and you'll notice most of what I post is about that. (Really any landscape changing project, but roads and highway projects tend to be some of the most visible).

[mrsticka]

But perhaps I did take it too far. I'm sorry. I never meant to pi $$ anyone off.

Please don't take the joking around as indication of annoyance or making anyone upset. You just post a lot of mall what-ifs; nothing wrong with that. Seeing this new post had me thinking about this fact, so I thought it was funny others were thinking the same.

I agree, we all geek out on certain things on this forum. I too am into roads and you'll notice most of what I post is about that. (Really any landscape changing project, but roads and highway projects tend to be some of the most visible).

Was it just joking around? If so, I didn't know. Like I've said many times before, on the net, it's hard to tell whether someone's joking or not.

[BRoss]

Was it just joking around? If so, I didn't know. Like I've said many times before, on the net, it's hard to tell whether someone's joking or not.

I would say it was just jokingly pointing out that we've noticed you really like malls. Nothing negative intended. I'm sorry if you took it that way.

[mrsticka]

Was it just joking around? If so, I didn't know. Like I've said many times before, on the net, it's hard to tell whether someone's joking or not.

I would say it was just jokingly pointing out that we've noticed you really like malls. Nothing negative intended. I'm sorry if you took it that way.

Gotcha.

[HskrFanMike]

But yeah, I like to stick my "what-if" thoughts regarding Crossroads. Like what if they had a Macy's there instead of another Younker's since Westroads had one? Or when they underwent that major extension in the 80's, they also extended their second floor above the original ground level of the original east-west wing. They should've done that. Why didn't they? That made no sense to me. Of course, if they had, they would've had to build the food court a little differently. But how? Would they have built it above the ground level of the south wing? If they had, then it wouldn't be directly under those membrane tents.

The Younkers store at Crossroads predated Westroads; it was originally a Brandeis department store, and it was Brandeis' flagship store when it was acquired by Younkers. I do argue that the worst thing that happened to Crossroads was the conversion of Younkers into the current Target, because I think it puts constraints on redevelopment. And frankly, another high-end retailer could have injected life into the mall and precluded it's final failure.

As for adding a second floor to Crossroads, the original mall had a series of peaked roofs on each bay. When it was remodeled, the stores stayed open and the peaks were wrapped on the sides to give it a more modern look...but the roofs stayed as they were so the mall and those stores could remain open. Obviously, taking the roof off of those stores to put in a second floor would have forced those stores and the mall to close.

Here's a photo of the first gen Crossroads...

[mrsticka]

That was unique giving it a zigzag roof. It's not something you see very often.

[Busguy2010]

Wow, that's a cool photo. Can you tell what vantage point it's taken from? I'm familiar that the original mall was that strip that ended up between Sears and Brandeis/Younkers/Target, but I never knew it was more or less a strip mall with each storefront accessible from the outside... So was there still an indoor corridor down the middle in the earlier years, or was that a later feature?

It's real cool to see that history, I'd go back to that time in a heartbeat just to see what life was like back then.

[NEDodger]

Wow, that's a cool photo. Can you tell what vantage point it's taken from? I'm familiar that the original mall was that strip that ended up between Sears and Brandeis/Younkers/Target, but I never knew it was more or less a strip mall with each storefront accessible from the outside... So was there still an indoor corridor down the middle in the earlier years, or was that a later feature?

It's real cool to see that history, I'd go back to that time in a heartbeat just to see what life was like back then.

There was, yes. You could enter the shops from either the exterior entryway or through the interior “hallway”/traditional indoor mall entrances.

[mrsticka]

But how did you get into the mall itself? Through one of the stores?

[NEDodger]

But how did you get into the mall itself? Through one of the stores?

Yes - if I remember right, they had "formal" entrances as well similar to Oak View/Westroads today.

[HskrFanMike]

Wow, that's a cool photo. Can you tell what vantage point it's taken from? I'm familiar that the original mall was that strip that ended up between Sears and Brandeis/Younkers/Target, but I never knew it was more or less a strip mall with each storefront accessible from the outside... So was there still an indoor corridor down the middle in the earlier years, or was that a later feature?

It's real cool to see that history, I'd go back to that time in a heartbeat just to see what life was like back then.

I suspect that it was taken on the north side, next to Brandeis, based on the shadows reaching the sidewalk, indicating the sun was shining more on the other side of the mall. This spot later likely was inside of the DIllards store.

[Busguy2010]

Wow, that's a cool photo. Can you tell what vantage point it's taken from? I'm familiar that the original mall was that strip that ended up between Sears and Brandeis/Younkers/Target, but I never knew it was more or less a strip mall with each storefront accessible from the outside... So was there still an indoor corridor down the middle in the earlier years, or was that a later feature?

It's real cool to see that history, I'd go back to that time in a heartbeat just to see what life was like back then.

I suspect that it was taken on the north side, next to Brandeis, based on the shadows reaching the sidewalk, indicating the sun was shining more on the other side of the mall. This spot later likely was inside of the DIllards store.

I was leaning toward the north side too. Thinking on the very norteast corner of the original building.

[mrsticka]

When Crossroads underwent its extension in the mid-to-late 80's, they added that north wing leading to Dillard's. It was 2 floors. But the original east-west wing remained only 1.

So if they had indeed extended the second floor above the original ground level between Sears and Brandeis, later Younker's, that would've affected the food court because some restaurant vendors were in the way of what would've been access points to the upper levels. So it would look quite different. They'd probably be split into 4 sections. This is what I came up with. I put in numbers to indicate the restaurant vendors/bays (whatever they're called). It's not perfect, but at least this way, the food court is still directly under those membrane tents which were somewhat of an icon for Omaha.

And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that there never was a Macy's at Crossroads. There should've been. Maybe more shoppers would be inclined to flock to Crossroads if there was?

But anyway, here you go:


Possible food court vendors with the corresponding numbers:


Of course, this is all basically a moot point because Crossroads is no longer there.