Where are they now?

WASILLA — Cottonwood Creek Mall may be a fading memory, but traces remain scattered across the Mat-Su Valley.

The mall was home to many businesses during its tenure, but with its demise former tenants were forced to venture out to find new locations for daily operations. The mall site will be the new home of a Target national chain store, which is under construction at the Parks Highway and Palmer-Wasilla Highway. While Gottschalks and Foot Locker haven’t found new homes in the Valley, other stores like General Nutrition Center and Waldenbooks have.

“For us, things have really picked up because people finally know where were at,” said Sherri White, manager of the Wasilla GNC. After leaving Cottonwood Creek Mall, GNC relocated to the Seward Meridian Plaza — a strip mall located across the street from Wal-Mart.

The plaza has been a good location, White said; however, she does sometimes miss the friendly atmosphere and foot traffic the Cottonwood Creek Mall once provided. Customers, tenants and mall crawlers all gathered not only to shop, work and exercise, but also to meet new people and share life experiences.

GNC is doing well, but White also thinks about the businesses and employees that were less fortunate.

“I feel bad for the people that don’t have jobs out here anymore [when Cottonwood Creek closed],” she said.

Waldenbooks was a tenant of the Cottonwood Creek Mall since it opened, said Mary Fox, the store’s manager. Although the book store had to end its business relationship with the mall, it maintains a Valley presence at its new location in the Wasilla Carrs grocery store complex.

“There’s a lot more people around this location,” Fox said. “The mall was kind of dying.”

Waldenbooks is adding a new page to its history in the Valley with help from new customers and loyal patrons.

“The support of our customers has been wonderful,” she said. “We really appreciate it.”

Bruce’s Street and Skate, an urban clothing and outdoor recreation store, found a new home at 467 West Parks Highway in the D&A Shop Rite Mall.

“Actually, we’re doing very well at our new location — almost better then we were before,” said Bruce Babbitt, a retail sales associate with the store.

Although the business is miles away from its former location, it’s close to a large number of customers who recreate at the local skate park, Babbitt said. The salesman also credits a loyal customer base and the limited amount of similar stores in the Valley.

Shalom Christian Books and Gifts found success by obtaining a premier location only a few blocks from the Cottonwood Creek site, owner Hannah Epperson said. Although many businesses moved into strip malls, the religion-oriented book store found refuge in its own building. The amount of space and parking available has been a plus for the business and its customers, but size isn’t the only perk. Located at 2201 Palmer-Wasilla Highway, the store is close to the main flow of city traffic, is very visible and its proximity to Wasilla Lake and Cottonwood Creek provide a great setting.

“We are on a lake and have a wonderful view of the mountains,” Epperson said. “So, it can’t get much better than that.”

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.