Mall to reopen Saturday but not department store

OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha's Westroads Mall remained closed Friday as police continued to investigate Wednesday's shooting rampage, but mall officials expect it to reopen Saturday with enhanced security.

It isn't known when the mall's Von Maur department store, where the shooting occurred, will reopen. But it won't be Saturday.

"The genuine answer is we do not know," said Megan Hakes, a Von Maur spokeswoman. "We obviously would like to have the store open as soon as we can, but we are not going to rush the process. We want to make sure the store is ready to be reopened."

Von Maur officials are considering "an appropriate remembrance" at the store of the six employees and two customers who were killed Wednesday, Hakes said. She acknowledged that the reopening could be a difficult time for some people.

"It will be done with the utmost compassion," she said.

So far, because of the police investigation, Von Maur hasn't been given access to the store so that officials can assess the damage. Until that happens, the company won't know how long repairs will take.

Von Maur employees are being fully paid while the store is closed, Hakes said. The company also has arranged for grief counselors and is setting up a memorial fund to support the victims' families.

"Our concerns are dealing with employees," Hakes said. "That has been the focus of our entire day."

Westroads Mall officials initially expected to reopen Friday but changed their plans late Thursday afternoon.

The four stand-alone restaurants on the perimeter of the mall — the Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Romano's Macaroni Grill and Granite City Food & Brewery — are open.

David Keating, spokesman for the mall's owner, General Growth Properties, would not speculate about the sales that stores are losing during the shutdown, which comes during the peak holiday shopping season.

"I don't want to talk about loss of money," he said. "Whatever that is, it will never compare to what others have lost."

Keating said shoppers and employees will have additional protection when they return to Westroads.

"There are changes that are going to be visible to shoppers and some that won't be," he said.

Keating declined to outline those security plans, although he said the mall would have more guards on duty. Omaha police also have said that they will deploy more patrols in and around Westroads and other local malls.

What isn't likely is for customers to have to pass through a metal detector and submit to a search when they enter the Westroads or another mall.

The expense for that would be enormous, said Joseph King, a security expert who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York. But cost is only one reason that U.S. shopping malls and other public places won't adopt such stringent measures.

"I don't know if people are willing to go shopping in places where they're going through airport-style security," King said. "It's impossible to protect it if you want to keep the same amount of people moving through the mall."

King said it would be "financially devastating" for retailers to limit access to their stores. The heightened security measures would cost money, he said, and sales would plunge.