CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — If you’ve been itching to shop, the wait is over. La Palmera Mall is re-opening its doors at 11 a.m. Friday.
La Palmera Mall said its got a plan in place to begin re-opening, but it doesn’t include all of its stores. Plus, it’ll be operating under reduced hours.
"Seven days a week, and we’ve decided 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” said mall spokeswoman Sarona Winfrey. “We’re keeping it consistent.”
She said that, while the mall will be open Friday, it won’t be forcing every stores inside to open. That decision is left up to each individual store owner.
As of Thursday afternoon, 20 stores -- out of about 100 that have store fronts -- have made plans to open.
“Carter's, Coffee Beanery, Laiba Jewelers,” said Winfrey. “And Macy’s opens on Monday.”
The restaurants in the food court also will be allowed to re-open with space markers in lines to encourage people to continue practicing social distancing.
“Chick-FilAa and Steak N Shake, for instance, who have been doing curbside delivery only can now do counter service,” said Winfrey. “However the food court seating area is closed.”
Some things that will also remain closed are areas that are ‘crowd magnets.’
“The children’s play area is closed,” she said. “We’re not doing any of our monthly entertainment, we’re not doing the regular kids' clubs or mall walkers' club and all those other things.”
She adds that the mall staff is stepping up its cleaning procedures, and hand sanitizing stations also are available to customers at each entrance.
“We’re using all the Centers for Disease Control-approved products around the mall,” said Winfrey.
The list of stores that are re-opening changes every day, so Winfrey said to visit the mall's website for the latest on what is open.