Dillard’s has no official plans to close. They have, however, been officially converted to what they have unofficially been for years. They are now prominently advertised as a regional clearance center for all the local Dillard’s outlets. Since the changeover, they have closed off the upstairs completely. (The escalators have been turned off and barricaded.) They then tore out the jewelry and cosmetics counters to accommodate all the clothing and moved the home goods (linens, dishes, what have you) into what used to be the junior department. They have also sealed off the mall access from the junior department, leaving just the main mall entrance remaining. (For whatever reason, Dillard’s and Joslyn’s before it had two mall entryways adjacent to each other.) Sears and JC Penney are still full-line, two-story department stores.

Recent closings:
Zumiez and Trade Secret both threw in the towel before Christmas. They were replaced through the Christmas season by The Tie Guy and The Perfume Shop, respectively.

Aspen Coffee is selling off its fixtures, and will then presumably close.

Star Makerz, aka that creepy glamour shot place across from What Knot’s, closed. Some of the creepiest photos taken there have been left in the storefront as its “we’re closed” display.

One of the twin Juliuses (the one in the photo “Looking Out from JC Penney”) finally, finally closed.

New Tenants:
A caramel-corn store called Corn Ltd. opened in the former Chick-Fil-A. Their machines make a creepy rustling noise and they sell these mysterious red popcorn blobs with big googly frosting eyes. They look like the popcorn you could be saving with Geico. It remains to be seen if they are just a temporary holiday tenant.

Ironically, an actual golf course (“eXtreme Minigolf”) opened in the Woodley’s space, complete with the scariest gorilla statue you have ever seen.

Food Court Madness:
The last three tenants have closed, leaving the food court officially abandoned. What Knots pulled out sometime in November by the looks of things, taking the innovation of the sprinkle-covered pretzel with it. The final two hangers-on, Subway and Teriyaki Express, both closed up shop just after Christmas.

Another food court tidbit:
A few friends and I have pieced together the tenant lineup as it was in the late ’90s, going more or less counterclockwise from What Knots, which is not a lettered space on the mall map:
Stall A (in the photo “Even More Food Court”): The Great American Cookie Company
Stall B: Teriyaki Express
Stall C: Renzio’s Greek Food
Stall D: Aiden’s Pizza
Stall E: We aren’t completely sure of this one’s identity, since it closed before 2000, but we’re positive it was a taco joint, and we’re fairly certain it was called Taco Via
Stall F/G: A&W
Stall H: Subway
Stall I: Fortune Express
Stall J: By process of elimination, Hot Dogs and More

More photo updates:
I had a bit of an epiphany and remembered that the greenish food court stall in “Dead Food Court Stall” (on the other side of What Knots and also not a lettered space) was one of two Dippin’ Dots places. Both left the mall in 2004 (the first major exodus) along with KB Toys, B. Dalton, Gloria Jean’s, and San Francisco Music Box Company, among others.

When I looked at it from just the right angle, I noticed that “Dead Glasses Shop” had a faint Merle Norman labelscar.

I re-discovered Westminster Mall in 2004. Both theatres were still open at this time, and both were first-run theatres, but featured lower than normal ticket prices. I remember seeing Open Water, Farenheit 911 and Robots there with my toddler! The Disney Store was our favorite place, and was always, always packed. My son was also totally enchanted with the hot air ballons.
That year, 2004, we did the mall trick-or-treating as well as our Christmas shopping there. It was busy. Not packed, but definitely crowded and busy and I got no sense that it was on its last legs. I remember walking down the mall by the theatre, down to the Disney Store and thinking “well, this is a huge mall, there must be some more stores here, right?”, and starting to head down to another wing, only to find the stores mostly empty. I also remember that I didn’t even find the food court the first time I was there, and when I did, being greatly annoyed that there was virtually nothing there to eat, and it was situated in a kind of dead-end, poorly lit alcove. There was a very strange children’s toy shaped like a mushroom, and the child could go in and it would spin and play music. Weird.
It feels like i was just there yesterday…I can’t believe that in the less than five years since I was last there, 50% of what was left then is now gone. This is so sad to me. I went to high school in Boulder, and of course my high school mall Crossroads was razed and rebuilt as the generic lifestyle center.
I wanted to share the fun of a mall with my son, and I just don’t think it is really possible anymore. And malls were like virtually the last place arcades were welcome, now all we get is a bank of a dozen overpriced movie-theatre arcade games. Where will my son hang out in high school? Walmart????

Dreiseszun died in 2007; his family still owns the company (MD Management) from what I can tell. He also owned the former Buckingham Square in Denver, as well as the current zombie malls Metcalf South and Metro North in the Kansas City area. Metro North even had hot air balloons, it seems!

First off, it really is weird seeing two Orange Julius places so close to each other. Second there are three or so gumball stores. One in the entrance of the old theater which contains some classic arcade games that have auction tags on them (Lethal Enforcers anyone?) near the Macy’s wing. One is a couple stores south of the food court, and one is in the food court.

The mall really is in a sad state. Except for the space between Dillards and JCP, and a few stores north of the main area, you can probably count the stores on one hand. In the Macy’s wing there is the pet store. After Sears the only store is a Lidz until the food court. Then north of the food court which only contains a Teriyaki place, subway, and What Knots, is a lens crafters and a place you can make dog tags. In the same wing (dont know what the anchor was) are two stores that creeped me out. One has a huge train set in it and the colorado themed kids play area pictured above. Both were closed and I was there around 4 o’clock. It’s Your Turn is also pretty eerie with the blue lighting and chess setup. I’ll probably be back in a few years when the place is totally closed and you have to sneak in.

One of my best memories is the trick-or-treat WM would host for kids during Halloween. We’d stand out in front of our stores and pass out candy and such. I also greatly enjoyed the car shows that would take place on the occasional weekend. I was in charge of opening the store on Saturday mornings and was sometimes astonished to look out my storefront and see antique automobiles driving by.

Even as a young kid my mom would take me for ice cream and we’d sit and watch the balloons. Even throughout my teens I have lots of memories of wandering around the mall, seeing movies, playing arcade games, cruising around the food court (anyone remember Big Al’s?), and just plain having fun. Odd that a mall would be a venue for growing up, but that’s kind of what it was for me.