When Crossroads Mall opened in 1974, it was one of the 10 largest malls in America at ~1.3 million square feet. It was built about five miles south of the spot in Oklahoma City where I-35 crosses I-40, thus the name. Its centralized location made it instantly popular, but years later as people moved to the suburbs and businesses began to focus on downtown OKC, the mall died.
There was a big fountain inside, of course. There was also a huge permanent carousel, and a big area where Santa set up his temporary North Pole every year. Right in the middle of the mall was a huge ramp that allowed wheelchair access to the second level. Later in life I dreamed about riding a skateboard or bicycle down that thing.
My favorite place in the mall was Bally Le Mans arcade. Anytime a new game was released, you would see it there. That was the first place I saw Gauntlet, and Dragon's Lair, and lots of games. Later, they had a Galaga 3 (the big projector one inside a dark room) and two Namco race cars. In the late 80s they added a wall of televisions that played music videos. It may have been the best arcade I ever visited in the 80s.
Two stores down from the arcade was the game and hobby shop. They had a lot of models, including tons of Warhammer stuff. It was the go to place for D&D manuals, and the front counter was loaded with all kinds of dice. I bought a six-set of D&D dice from there once that were see-through green. I still have them somewhere.
Upstairs on the opposite end of the mall was an oriental store called Eastern Treasures. The front half of the store was filled with fans and kimonos and stuff like that, but in the back is where all the cool stuff was -- swords, throwing stars, nunchucks, and blow guns. Later when the mall went downhill they moved all the swords and stuff up front to try and draw in customers.
A bit further down in the mall was the Software Etc. which turned into Babbages I think? There was also a Wizard's Computer Store (
Commercial) that eventually moved over to Shepard's Mall. I think later a GameStop moved in but that was a lot later. There were a couple of bookstores we used to always hit when we were there, and a big pet store where you could walk by and pet the puppies in the front window.
I used to love going to Crossroads Mall. It was about halfway between our house and my grandma's house so we used to meet her there all the time and go shopping.
One unique thing I remember is that there was no food court. Some of the food places like McDonald's, Chik-Fil-A, and A&W were big enough where they had a few tables and booths inside. Other places, like the corndog place and all the dessert places didn't have anywhere to sit at all.
The neighborhood around the mall got pretty bad in the 2000s. In 2006 there was a gang related shooting inside the mall and in 2008 there was another shooting in the parking lot and that was the end of that. People quit going to the mall and vendors left in droves. The mall closed and went up for sale for $24 million and in 2011 a group of Hispanic investors purchased it for $3.5 million. They opened it for a couple of years and it closed back down.
There are several videos on YouTube of Crossroads Mall that people made before it closed, but I can't imagine any of you wanting to watch one. If anything, jump to the 11 minute mark of this one and you can see the old arcade.
When Crossroads Mall opened in 1974, it was one of the 10 largest malls in America at ~1.3 million square feet. It was built about five miles south of the spot in Oklahoma City where I-35 crosses I-40, thus the name. Its centralized location made it instantly popular, but years later as people moved to the suburbs and businesses began to focus on downtown OKC, the mall died.
There was a big fountain inside, of course. There was also a huge permanent carousel, and a big area where Santa set up his temporary North Pole every year. Right in the middle of the mall was a huge ramp that allowed wheelchair access to the second level. Later in life I dreamed about riding a skateboard or bicycle down that thing.
My favorite place in the mall was Bally Le Mans arcade. Anytime a new game was released, you would see it there. That was the first place I saw Gauntlet, and Dragon's Lair, and lots of games. Later, they had a Galaga 3 (the big projector one inside a dark room) and two Namco race cars. In the late 80s they added a wall of televisions that played music videos. It may have been the best arcade I ever visited in the 80s.
Two stores down from the arcade was the game and hobby shop. They had a lot of models, including tons of Warhammer stuff. It was the go to place for D&D manuals, and the front counter was loaded with all kinds of dice. I bought a six-set of D&D dice from there once that were see-through green. I still have them somewhere.
Upstairs on the opposite end of the mall was an oriental store called Eastern Treasures. The front half of the store was filled with fans and kimonos and stuff like that, but in the back is where all the cool stuff was -- swords, throwing stars, nunchucks, and blow guns. Later when the mall went downhill they moved all the swords and stuff up front to try and draw in customers.
A bit further down in the mall was the Software Etc. which turned into Babbages I think? There was also a Wizard's Computer Store ([url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0K1ar4jX80]Commercial[/url]) that eventually moved over to Shepard's Mall. I think later a GameStop moved in but that was a lot later. There were a couple of bookstores we used to always hit when we were there, and a big pet store where you could walk by and pet the puppies in the front window.
I used to love going to Crossroads Mall. It was about halfway between our house and my grandma's house so we used to meet her there all the time and go shopping.
One unique thing I remember is that there was no food court. Some of the food places like McDonald's, Chik-Fil-A, and A&W were big enough where they had a few tables and booths inside. Other places, like the corndog place and all the dessert places didn't have anywhere to sit at all.
The neighborhood around the mall got pretty bad in the 2000s. In 2006 there was a gang related shooting inside the mall and in 2008 there was another shooting in the parking lot and that was the end of that. People quit going to the mall and vendors left in droves. The mall closed and went up for sale for $24 million and in 2011 a group of Hispanic investors purchased it for $3.5 million. They opened it for a couple of years and it closed back down.
There are several videos on YouTube of Crossroads Mall that people made before it closed, but I can't imagine any of you wanting to watch one. If anything, jump to the 11 minute mark of this one and you can see the old arcade.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC2cqCSlWrg