Amid hugs and prayers, the Von Maur department store was open for business in Westroads Mall yesterday in Omaha.
(dave weaver/associated press)
OMAHA - About 50 employees held hands and lined across a department store's entrance yesterday before parting to let a crowd of holiday shoppers enter for the first time since a gunman killed eight people there 15 days earlier.
Eight wreaths were placed near the entrance to memorialize the six employees and two shoppers killed; a blue ribbon crossing each wreath carried the message: "We remember."
Customers applauded as the gates opened, and employees greeted them at the entrance. Many shoppers took escalators to the third floor, where most of the victims were shot.
By midday the store was crowded - more than similar stores nearby.
"We always think about the victims and their families," said Pamela Perry, 39. "But I'm not scared to go in the store."
Mary Lu Courtney, 75, said she was shopping for her 22 grandchildren. "I couldn't live without this store," she said.
Customers and employees talked together about the shootings. One cashier told customers that she was glad to smile again after thinking she would be unable to do so; some customers paused to look down from the central balcony in silence.
Von Maur officials asked reporters not to speak with store employees.
Von Maur president Jim von Maur said the company expected nearly all of its employees to return to their jobs at the store in the Westroads Mall. More security was being added but no physical changes were planned for the store's third floor.
The Rev. Harry Buse of St. Leo Catholic Church in Omaha led a prayer before the opening, saying, "May this store again be not only a place of commerce but a place of giving."
Von Maur is planning a permanent memorial to the victims.
Fred Wilson, 61, a longtime manager of the customer service department at Von Maur, said he looked forward to returning to work once his bullet wounds were healed. He was released from the hospital yesterday to continue treatment at a rehabilitation center.
Micky Oldham, 65, another Von Maur employee who was wounded, was in fair condition at Creighton University Medical Center on Wednesday.
The third surviving victim, a shopper, was treated and released the day of the shooting.
The Westroads Mall reopened three days after the shooting in which Robert A. Hawkins fired more than 30 rounds, striking 11 people, before he killed himself.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
