Crossroads Center is a shopping mall located in

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...

, United States. It was built in 1970 as one of the first malls in Iowa. The mall's sole anchor store is At Home. It has four vacant anchors formerly occupied by Sears, Dillard's, Gordmans, and Younkers. It is owned by

Namdar Realty Group Namdar Realty Group is an American shopping mall investment company based in Great Neck, New York. They primarily purchase shopping malls with partner Mason Asset Management. Namdar and Mason are both family owned, and as of 2021, own over 400 p ...

. It is located in the heart of a retail hub that includes a 12 screen theater, Best Buy, Super Target (opened 2000),

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, Barnes & Noble,

Bed Bath & Beyond Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is an American chain of domestic merchandise retail stores. The chain operates many stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in 1971. It is counted among the Fortune 5 ...

and many other national tenants. The mall is located near the interchange of Interstate 380 and U.S. Highway 20.

History

Crossroads Center Inc. announced plans for the mall in 1967, along with two other malls of the same name: one in St. Cloud, Minnesota and one in

Fort Dodge, Iowa Fort Dodge is a city in, and the county seat of, Webster County, Iowa, United States, along the Des Moines River. The population was 24,871 in the 2020 census, a decrease from 25,136 in 2000. Fort Dodge is a major commercial center for North Cen ...

. The Sears anchor store opened first, on March 24, 1969. The mall itself opened one year later, in March 1970, as both the only two-story mall and the first enclosed mall in Iowa. The JCPenney anchor store opened along with the mall, as did Black's department store. Black's became

Donaldson's Donaldson's, previously known as The L. S. Donaldson Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota is a defunct department store company. History Scottish immigrant William Donaldson opened a small store in Minneapolis in 1881, located at 310 Nicollet Avenue. ...

in 1978 and then

Carson Pirie Scott Carson Pirie Scott & Co. (also known as Carson's) is an American department store that was founded in 1854, which grew to over 50 locations, primarily in the Midwestern United States. Sold to the holding company of Bon-Ton in 2006, but still op ...

in 1987. The store closed on September 30, 1989. The upper level of the JCPenney anchor store was converted to a Herberger's anchor store in 1989. In 1991, Sears rented a 57,000 sq ft portion of its anchor store to become a

Phar-Mor Phar-Mor (stylized as PHA℞-MOR) was a United States chain of discount drug stores, based in Youngstown, Ohio, and founded by Michael "Mickey" Monus and David Shapira in 1982. Some of its stores used the names Pharmhouse and Rx Place (purchas ...

pharmacy. In 1993, 1/2 Price Store (later renamed

Gordmans Gordmans (stylized as gordmans) was a retailer founded in Omaha, Nebraska. The chain is owned by BrandX as of May 2022. In 2019, Stage Stores began converting other retail chains it owned into Gordmans stores, with the goal of having 700 Gordmans ...

) took over that space. Herberger's was renamed Younkers in 1997. The mall was renovated in 1997 at a cost of $4 million. At the same time, Dillard's constructed a new 155,000 sq ft anchor store connected to the mall, at a cost of $20 million, rather than leasing space. The Dillard's anchor store opened on August 13, 1997. All 1/2 Price Store locations were renamed Gordmans in 2000. On January 8, 2015, it was announced that JCPenney would close, as part of a plan to close 39 locations nationwide. At Home replaced the store in 2016. On January 4, 2018, it was announced that Sears would close, as part of a plan to close 103 stores nationwide. The store closed in April 2018. On April 18, 2018,

Younkers Younkers Inc. is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer had evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa ...

parent company, the

Bon-Ton Bon-Ton Holdings Inc. is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded in 1898. After rapid expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s, the original company had financial troubles, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 2018 ...

, announced they would be completely liquidating and closing all stores including the one at Crossroads. The store closed on August 29, 2018. On May 11, 2020,

announced that it would be closing as the parent company is also going out of business. Just eight days later, Dillard's announced that this location would close. This left At Home as the only traditional anchor store. On August 2, 2023, it was announced that At Home would be closing within the coming weeks, which will leave the mall with no anchors.

References

External links

Crossroads Center official website
{{Shopping malls in Iowa Shopping malls in Iowa Buildings and structures in Waterloo, Iowa Tourist attractions in Black Hawk County, Iowa Shopping malls established in 1970 1970 establishments in Iowa Namdar Realty Group