Heather Catlett has been visiting Great Lakes Mall in Mentor for as long as she can remember. Now 40, she can trace the arc of her life through these corridors.
“From my standpoint, the mall is more than a building. It’s a long-standing staple of Mentor that’s been frequented by generations of my family,” Catlett says. “My grandparents and parents remember the old Higbee’s store and what it looked like back in the day. My grandma always took me to Hot Sam Pretzels for a pretzel and a Pepsi. We always parked outside Sears and entered through the South entrance.”
Her childhood milestones took place under the mall’s fluorescent lights: She got her ears pierced at Claire’s, begged her mom for fashion finds at Gadzooks and Spencer’s, and would dive into the huge piles of plush toys at the Disney Store. As a young adult, the mall remained woven into her life — her father brought her to Dillard’s to buy a suit for her first “big girl” job, and years later, she returned to the mall to pick out a dress for his funeral, using a Christmas gift card he had given her…