The mall opened in 1991. Official opening ceremonies held on October 3 of that year and included an appearance by
Vanna White. At the time, the mall was the first enclosed mall to be built in Omaha in over 20 years. Melvin Simon & Associates (now known as
Simon Property Group) developed the mall with local developer KVI Associates. After only one year, Simon sold the mall to Heitman Retail. A
Barnes & Noble store opened outside the mall on July 7, 1995.
Sears began negotiations to open at the mall in 1996. In 2005 the mall was the location of an attempted mall shooting similar to
what happened at
Westroads Mall in Omaha in December 2007. A security guard supervisor was allegedly fired for disarming and apprehending a suspected mall shooter before
Omaha police were called to the scene. In August 2007 the
Firefighter's Combat Challenge was held at the mall and broadcast on
ESPN.
Recent History Shoe Dept. Encore opened a store in the mall in 2013. In 2015-2016,
Wet Seal,
Eddie Bauer,
Deb Shops,
Aéropostale, and
Hollister Co. closed stores at the mall. In 2016,
Payless ShoeSource and
Vanity (clothing) closed their stores at the mall as part of a nationwide bankruptcy liquidation. In 2018, both the
Sears and
Younkers stores closed at the mall. In 2019, a The Rush Market Furniture Store assumed the vacant Younkers space until later, it moved to the Sears space. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic the occupancy rate has declined to 79%, as of October 2020. The mall in April 2021 was sold for $7.5 million to the
Kohan Retail Investment Group. In October 2023, the Oak View Mall was put up for sale. In December 2023, 4th Dimension Properties purchased the Oak View Mall and announced that new restaurants, businesses, and entertainment options are moving in. ==References==