Remembering Owatonna’s Cedar Mall

I was poking around on YouTube and ran across an old video taken at the Owatonna Cedar Mall. This got me to talking to a few co-workers, Brad Fischer and John Connor, about the mall.

John's first job when he came to Owatonna was at Hal's Clothing. Some other businesses the guys brought up included:

• The Golden Stack. Brad really liked their pizza.
• C.J.'s
• Paffrath Jewelers
• St. Paul Clothiers
• Team Electronics
• Radio Shack
• Cheese Barn

It was brought up that the Owatonna State Bank was in the mall, along with Schultz Family Store and Prangeway. There was also Trade Home Shoes and Bostwicks.

The mall was also home to Hy-Vee and Lundbergs Hardware.

There were certainly many other businesses located in the Cedar Mall besides the aforementioned.

I have just a few memories. One of them is maybe the darkest day in mall history, the shooting of Officer Welinski. I had heard about it Saturday morning and went over to the mall. The area was roped off in front of Sterling Drug. No official would or could say anything. I had to wait till the press conference downtown later.

KRFO and Kat Kountry 105 for a number of years gave away movie tickets for Valentines night at the theater in the mall.

I recalled the day I stopped at Prangeway during their final days. Shoes were marked 90 percent off. Our daughter Hannah probably wore Prangeway shoes for who knows how many years. I was definitely going to take advantage of 90 percent off the price of shoes.

Here's the video clip I found. Judging by the cars, it looks to be pre-1990. Recognize anyone?