The Crossroads Mall was an indoor shopping mall from 1963 until 2004, in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

History

Development

Crossroads Mall opened on March 14, 1963 with 394,000 leasable square feet for retail stores, surrounded by open-air parking. Anchor stores included J. C. Penney and

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001; its common nickname was "Monkey Wards". ...

, as well as a Randall Shop, the small-format version of The Denver Dry Goods Company. In March 1976, Denver Dry Goods expanded the 10,000 square foot Randall Shop into a 60,000 square foot full-line "the Denver". In August 1979,

Macerich The Macerich Company ( ) is a real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. It is the third-largest owner and operator of shopping centers in the United States. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned interests in 52 propert ...

acquired Crossroads Mall for $12 million. A 1983 remodeling and expansion doubled the size of the mall and included the addition of a

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...

and another anchor store, May D&F (later renamed

Foley's Foley's was a regional chain of department stores owned by Federated Department Stores (1947–1988, 2005–2006), later owned by May Department Stores (1988–2005) and headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. On August 30, 2005, the divisi ...

and, still later,

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

). In March 1986,

Mervyn's Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, bath products, furniture, jewelry, beauty product ...

was added as an additional anchor. In October 1987, "the Denver" closed and was replaced by Sears. In 1990, May D&F expanded, bringing the size of the mall to . A small parking ramp was also added adjacent to May D&F on the east side of the mall.

Decline

The years just before and after 2000 saw increasing competition for Crossroads Mall from new retail developments in Superior, Broomfield, and

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

. In September 1997, Montgomery Ward closed its store at Crossroads Mall; aside from a short stint as Gart Sports, this space would remain vacant until demolition. In October 1997, the vacancy rate at Crossroads was 19%. In January 1998, Mervyn's closed. Sears took advantage of the opportunity and moved into the larger anchor space. From 1997 to 2002, various Crossroads reconstruction ideas were floated and then rejected. Fast-track construction of a

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company a ...

store was proposed, but vetoed by

. In October 1999, Macerich began a 13-month renovation project by closing the southern half of the mall and tearing down some interior walls. In July 2000, Macerich put its renovation plans on hold, stopped the project, and announced that it was looking for a buyer for Crossroads. Flatiron Crossing Mall, in Broomfield, opened in August 2000. In April 2001, J. C. Penney closed its store at Crossroads Mall. In June 2002, the owner of Flatiron Crossing Mall ( Westcor) was acquired by the owner of Crossroads Mall (Macerich).

Demolition

On January 23, 2003, the Sears store at Crossroads Mall closed. Plans were submitted to the city to tear down Crossroads Mall and create a new retail district, dubbed "Twenty Ninth Street". The plans were for about 50-60 shops and a movie theatre. The city agreed, and Macerich/Westcor sprung into action. On January 8, 2004, the closing of Crossroads Mall was announced. The mall closed in February 2004, with the exception of

, the only store to survive from Crossroads to the new Twenty Ninth Street. Except for the Mervyn's building,

and its adjacent parking structure, Crossroads Mall was demolished, and on October 13, 2006, the Twenty Ninth Street retail district opened on the site of the defunct Crossroads.

The New Twenty Ninth Street retail district

The new Twenty Ninth Street retail district opened on October 13, 2006. Unlike the indoor design of the Crossroads Mall, the new Twenty Ninth Street retail district is an outdoor shopping neighborhood.

References

History source
{{Shopping malls in Colorado Demolished shopping malls in the United States Shopping malls in Colorado Buildings and structures in Boulder, Colorado Shopping malls established in 1963 Shopping malls disestablished in 2004 1963 establishments in Colorado 2004 disestablishments in Colorado Demolished buildings and structures in Colorado Buildings and structures demolished in 2004