Chahanie Development announced the shopping center in 1967 and began construction in 1969. The first announced tenants were
JCPenney,
G. C. Murphy variety store,
Arlan's discount store,
Walgreens, an
IGA supermarket, and
Kinney Shoes. Official opening ceremonies were held in October 1971, by which point many stores were already open. Both IGA and a branch of the
Springfield, Illinois-based department store Myers Brothers opened on October 27.
Sears joined the mall in 1972. After Arlan's declared bankruptcy in 1973, their store closed and was converted to
Kmart the following year. According to mall developers, this made Cross County Mall the first shopping center in the nation to include JCPenney, Sears, and Kmart, then the nation's three largest retailers. G. C. Murphy closed in 1976 and work began that year to convert the space to
Meis, a department store based out of
Terre Haute, Indiana. The Meis store opened in 1978. The same year,
Bergner's purchased the Myers Brothers chain and converted all stores to the Bergner's name. By 1981, the IGA space on the southeast end of the mall had been vacated, and it was converted into a new mall hallway. This venture proved unsuccessful and by 1988, the mall owners had attempted to turn the space into a
food court. At the time, the only food options in the mall were a sandwich shop and a restaurant located inside Kmart, as Walgreens had removed its in-store diner around the same time. The food court was unable to attract restaurants, so the space was converted to an antique mall in 1990. Meis was bought out by
Elder-Beerman in mid-1989. Bergner's closed at the mall after the Christmas 1989 shopping season, due to the space being too small for a full-line department store.
Maurices and other stores repurposed the former Bergner's space. Kmart moved to a larger store outside the mall in 1993; one year later, Sears moved from its existing location to the former Kmart. Soon afterward, the original Sears building became Wolf Furniture. The space was later a medical training center, and became the offices for the city's newspaper. Walgreens moved out of the mall in 2003. In 2011, Elder-Beerman was rebranded as
Carson's. In September 2011
Borders bookstore closed. Sears closed at the mall in late 2014. Major tenants in the mall as of 2014 included
Jo-Ann Fabrics,
Bath & Body Works,
Maurices,
Christopher & Banks,
Claire's,
rue21,
GNC and
Shoe Dept. On March 26, 2016,
RadioShack closed its doors. In 2017, the farming supply retail chain
Rural King acquired the mall and announced plans to move a store support center into the former Sears. On April 18, 2018, it was announced that Carson's would be closing on August 31, 2018, as parent company
The Bon-Ton Stores went out of business. This left JCPenney as the only traditional anchor until January 16, 2019, when Rural King opened in the former Sears. On July 2, 2018, a new 11 for $10 store opened in the former
Hallmark space in the mall and would later close less than a year after being open, closing in June 2019. On July 12, 2018, Rural King announced they would move their Mattoon store into the former Sears location which opened on January 16, 2019. On August 31, 2018, Super Jumbo Buffet Chinese restaurant closed and was replaced by
Scotty's Brewhouse which opened December 10, 2018. This space was briefly tenanted by Scotty's Brewhouse for almost one year before its doors closed in late 2019. McQuarter's Pub now occupies the space. In the spring of 2019
Payless ShoeSource closed as the company announced it would close all of its locations.
Marshalls moved in to the mall and opened November 24, 2019. On March 18, 2020,
Glik's returned to the mall and opened in the former 11 for $10 store location. On December 17, 2020, it was announced that
JCPenney would be closing in March 2021 as part of a plan to close 15 stores nationwide. The former JCPenney would become Dunham sports at some point. ==References==