The Playground to open at Frontier Mall (former Rue21)

"Coming Soon" sign indicates that The Playground is coming to Frontier Mall - Optopolis

The Playground (which has a location in Greeley Mall and features playground-like equipment such as bouncy castles), is expanding to Cheyenne, taking over the former Rue21 space at Frontier Mall.

A glimpse at the history of the space

Most recently, Rue21 was reported here at Optopolis as announced to close; on May 2nd, 2024, Rue21 filed for bankruptcy, stating that all stores would close. While Rue21 has made a comeback to many parts of the United States under new ownership including one location in Colorado, Cheyenne's most recent Rue21 location isn't expected to reopen anytime soon, especially seeing that their Cheyenne space was placed on the market.

Rue21 sign seen above the entry to their most recent Frontier Mall store, prior to closing - Optopolis

This space has some history behind it. Rue21 combined the former Famous Footwear space with a large portion of the former Boot Barn space. This Boot Barn was once known as Wyoming Ranchman Outfitters (WRO), a Cheyenne-based western store, and in more recent times but still prior to Boot Barn, it was known as Corral West Ranchwear.

The Famous Footwear space on the other hand, is listed in the 1990 and 1995 Cheyenne city directories as being occupied by Footaction, another retail shoe store. As of a 2008 archive of the mall's directory, Famous Footwear was listed at this space, and according to an archive of the Frontier Mall directory from mid-2013, the former Famous Footwear space was occupied by Nature's Touch.

The Playground announced to open Cheyenne location

For a while after Rue21 closed, it wasn't clear what was to come of the Rue21 space, but now, a somewhat unexpected twist on the space's history has come about. Signs appeared at the Frontier Mall indicating a place called "The Playground" would be coming soon to the former Rue21, but such a vague name left Optopolis uncertain as to what that kind of business that could entail... speculating that maybe it could be a skate park, trampoline facility, or something else. But alas, it was none of these!

The former Rue21 space seen with "Coming Soon" signs, advertising soon-to-be The Playground - Optopolis

Lo and behold, CBL leasing and marketing manager, Ashley Haefs, recently made a Facebook post confirming that Cheyenne's The Playground is indeed tied to "The Playground" located at Greeley Mall in Greeley, Colorado. When someone asked Ashley if there was a Cheyenne page for The Playground yet, Ashley linked to Greeley's The Playground website which includes photos of similar elements that are anticipated to appear at the Cheyenne location.

Although some bouncy castle-style facilities such as Bounce Empire are relatively wide open to audiences of all ages as can be seen in a YouTube video of a visit made by Living The Dream 710, The Playground's website and Frontier Mall's website both indicate that The Playground primarily offers their facilities for those 10 years of age (and younger) to, "play, learn, and explore." The storefront of their Greeley location can be seen at 15:23 in this Greeley Mall Tour video on YouTube, posted by @ERA_Productions.

According to CBL's Ashley Haefs, the opening date of Cheyenne's The Playground (as well as Twinkle Twinkle Little Store) is still yet to be determined. As of December 10th, the former Rue21 space is still undergoing preparations for the new facility.

Update 12-17: Website is active, opening by end of year

The website for the Cheyenne location is now online. Under a section titled, "Bring your camera!" they state that, "The Grinch will stop by our store...to take pictures with kids, hand out candy canes and admission coupons to our new indoor playground opening at the end of the year." Normal rates aren't currently listed, but the website does list the cost to book a birthday party; the cost is $159 for two hours either in the morning/afternoon or late afternoon/evening.

Have you visited The Playground's current Greeley location? And in either case, what are your thoughts of different places like this coming to Frontier Mall? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Originally published: 12/10/2024 at 9:09 PM

Updated: 12/17/2024 at 1:29 PM to include new info.

Location: Cheyenne, WY, USA

Comments

Post a Comment
Get new posts by email:

follow.it Follow/Subscription feed is powered by follow.it.

Popular posts from this blog

Sprouts Farmers Market is coming to Cheyenne! First Wyoming location!

Image
Truck sits in front of Bed Bath and Beyond while construction work takes place inside - Optopolis Cheyenne is getting a new competitor in the grocery store market! Sprouts Farmers Market is in the process of setting up shop in the former Bed Bath and Beyond. The space has already been gutted! A glance at the Bed Bath and Beyond space If you've been following the journey here at Optopolis, you probably already know this story, so here's a quick run-down of the history of Bed Bath and Beyond as it relates to Cheyenne. Building built 2007 according to property assessor, part of the then-Cheyenne Marketplace Bed Bath and Beyond would be the original tenant of its space In the first week of February 2023, BB&B was silently announced to close Final day was on Apr 23, 2023, the same day BB&B filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Spirit Halloween set up shop for the 2023 season, opening in August and closing shortly after Halloween Spirit Halloween inside of Cheyenne's Bed Bath ...
Read more

Dutch Bros Coffee is coming to Cheyenne (for real)

Image
Dutch Bros Coffee sign on the North Lincoln Avenue location in Loveland, Colorado - Optopolis That's right, Dutch Bros Coffee is trying again, and it looks significantly more promising this time around! A Dutch Bros location is slated to be built along East Pershing Boulevard just west of the Pershing Marketplace. Previous events with Dutch Bros and Cheyenne Back in late 2021, site plans visible in the Cheyenne City Planning and Development website indicated the old Dell Range Rolando's Mexican Grill would be demolished and that Dutch Bros was planning to build a restaurant there. View of former Rolando's on Dell Range - Optopolis About a year later in late 2022, there was a "Building Permit Reimbursement" item added to one of the permits, requesting closure of the account and reimbursement of the building permit at the site of the former Fernando's. Not long after, the former Fernando's was put back on the market, and a temporary sign advertising the lo...
Read more

Old Chicago closes Cheyenne restaurant!

Image
Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom sign illuminated after closing on the final day - Optopolis This was quite last minute, but it's true. Cheyenne's Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom permanently closed yesterday evening, at least an hour before their normal closing time of 10 PM on Sundays. A glance at the history of it According to Old Chicago's about page , Old Chicago dates back to its 1976 founding in Boulder, Colorado. They brag about their "tavern thin and classic thick crust pizzas" and their "110 local and legendary beers." Here at Optopolis, their pizza and broccoli-cheese soup (pictured below) were go-to items to eat in visits to the restaurant throughout the years. "I think this was the first place I ever tried the broccoli and cheddar soup," recalls Optopolis while recording a brief video clip. "I don't think I tried anywhere else before that, as far as I remember." The Laramie County Property assessor notes that Cheyenne...
Read more