Gretna outlet mall to reopen April 24

Governor Pete Ricketts says a Gretna outlet mall can reopen if it wants to, so long as it follows state health orders.

The owner of a Gretna outlet mall says the mall plans to reopen April 24, despite concerns about the spread of COVID-19.

Governor Pete Ricketts says Nebraska Crossing can reopen if it wants to, so long as it follows state health orders.

Ricketts said the state hasn’t ordered any shopping centers to close and that those that have closed did so voluntarily. What Nebraska has done is issue limits on crowd sizes, which Ricketts said the mall would have to abide by if it does reopen.

When asked about concerns regarding people from out of state visiting the mall, Ricketts says he doesn’t think many people will be traveling in general.

Owner Rod Yates sent the following statement to Channel 8 Eyewitness News:

” Retailers are looking for leadership and developing best practices for landlords and retailers to work together to bring physical shopping centers back online and creating safe conditions for our customers and employees. Nebraska Crossing will be in a leadership position to make this happen. Our global retailers have asked us to take on this role and be the first shopping center back open in the U.S. We will walk before we run here and obviously if you have any underlying health issues we will encourage shoppers and/or employees to not participate in the center’s soft reopening. Communication and new best practices are key. Median age of our workers is 35.”

If it did reopen, the mall would be one of the first of its kind to do so in the nation.

A day before it was set to reopen after suspending hours at most stores, Gateway Mall said on its website it will continue to stay closed through April 30. Some of the mall’s exterior restaurants have decided to stay open and are able to provide food for takeout, curbside pick-up and/or delivery depending on the restaurant’s operations.