My dad said the mall in Council Bluffs would never close, and I drove past it 3 months ago
He worked at the Sears there for 14 years and swore the anchor stores would keep it alive forever. Drove past on I-80 in October and the whole lot was fenced off, with a "future redevelopment" sign from some company in Omaha. Anyone else have a parent who was dead sure their mall was untouchable?
Man, that hits close to home. My mom was the same way about the Westroads Mall in Omaha, swore it would outlive us all because of the food court and the movie theater. But here's the thing people miss, it's not just one mall closing, it's the whole idea that any of them are safe. Once one anchor store bails, the others start looking at their lease and doing the math, and next thing you know the whole place is a ghost town with a mattress store hanging on for dear life. The Omaha redevelopment signs are popping up all over I-80 now, it's like a chain reaction. Your dad spent 14 years there so of course he believed in it, that place was his whole world for a while.