Matt F.
Yelp
Cross County gave itself a nice facelift.......about a decade and a half too late.
On the outside, they did do a fascinating job in changing up the mall and making it look really nice, from the crap it looked like before. Cross County was a decent mall in the area to go to when I was a kid. I used to like the often dead Adventures, Gimbals's, and the nice varied selection of stores. I never did understand why for a time there were two Woolworth's in one mall, but I had no problem with that. Hermann's Sporting Good's was nice, as was the pretzel stands that occupied the place. The CVS was convenient. I could go on and on about the good and bad stores that made their way over the years into this mall, but it would be pointless.
These days, it looks good but it is really a boring mall now. Gone are a lot of the trash that used to hang at the mall (though some still carouse around). Way too many clothing stores - no variety. The movie theater is a douche haven at night and tends to get very crowded - and no stadium seating. Sears is ok, but with Macy's across the way, unless I want a power tool or on a budget, I'm going to Macy's. I always thought a Target-type store would be fitting in the Sears spot....even with that dirty National Wholesale Liquidators outside the failed indoor mall.
Variety....the only store that looks different than any other clothing store, sneaker and shoes store, eatery, and jeweler is Spencer's, a fine and unique fun store to walk in. Perhaps Game Stop as well. What we have now is clothing stores, sneaker stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, clothing stores, and a few jewelry stores between both indoor and outdoor malls. With Blockbuster thankfully gone and the Circuit City mess in the indoor mall gone, maybe some sort of movie store or even Best Buy express would be nice. The Toys R Us a few blocks away is fine, but since that Kaybee's location closed, there's no other options to Toys R Us inside the mall. A young kid going to Cross County is going to be really bored. The pet store closed recently as well. Walden books has been long gone. That "playground" with statues in it is really no fun at all for a kid. As someone who sometimes like to go out to just walk around the mall and window shop, Cross County doesn't quite do it for me. I prefer the Palisades Mall, which has the excellent variety a mall should have. I'll even take the White Plains Galleria at this point - and I can't stand them anymore, but hopefully you'll get my point here. If you're a clothing fan, well this is your place then.
Burger King is now gone, so you're left with the pizzeria (with rising prices) for a quick bite, BGR (I've always liked it, but they have dipped) or Boston Market. After that, it's Applebee's/Friday's, Olive Garden, Longhorn's, or Red Lobster mainly. Shake Shack is coming, so it's not terrible. They've expanded Macy's and added an indoor parking lot. They did lose some spacing in favor of restaurants and some other areas renovated - which especially sucks for those who drive and shop there during the holidays. Parking is free unlike the nearest mall, Ridge Hill. They're putting up a hotel here in the old college building, but that's mainly for Empire City Casino guests - but I suppose the restaurants add appeal to those who decide to stay in the hotel.
I used to take my kid here for the Santa thing, but after experiencing the blah and unorganized for the 3rd year in a row, I will be going elsewhere for that. Make sure the "Santa" there is in a good mood and not sick, because it will affect those expensive pictures you get. And make sure you're bundled up for that, because waiting outside in the blistering cold is not going to feel good for you or your kids.
Bottom line, it definitely looks a lot better than it did, but in my opinion they waited too long to make this change and they do not have enough variety of stores. If you want clothes, it's a great place to go. If you want something else, well you're a bit out of luck.