PLANO, Texas — Collin Creek Mall in Plano will hold its last event on Friday.
A farewell celebration is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. before demolition crews start their work on the $1-billion, mixed-use development.
The transition comes with mixed feelings for the many people who have fond memories of the mall.
"It's not just a mall that is closing, it's a chapter of our lives," said Hava Johnston.
Johnston could fill an entire book with her memories of the place.
She said she vividly remembers coming to the mall at the age of 10. Then remembers being there with friends as a teenager, and later as a parent. She shopped, worked and even got her weddings ring at Collin Creek Mall.
"I probably spent 15 years of my life at this mall collectively," Johnston said.
Ann Greynolds said she spent nearly every morning for decades walking the mall with her best friends. In fact, Greynolds said, she was at the mall on the first day it opened in 1981.
She showed up Thursday evening to walk it one last time. "Just to think about it and have a good memory of it," she said.
The people who walked there, ate there and sat there can now only reminisce.
It's why Hava started a Facebook page called "Collin Creek Mall: An Era Gone By." She describes it as a way to connect people to a place that connected people.
"I had 400 members by the end of the night. I woke that next morning with a 1,000," Johnston said.
The Facebook page had upwards of 7,500 members as of Thursday night.
It was only fitting that on Thursday, in the mall's last days, a group of film students with DTV Studios out of Lewisville was shooting a post-apocalyptic movie.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people have RSVP'd for Friday's event. Among those attending will be, Mehrdad Moayedi, president of the development group Centurion American and Harry LaRosiliere, the Plano mayor.
If you want to attend Friday's event, RSVP here.
