CHEYENNE - Last Tuesday, a water main break happened at Frontier Mall, resulting in water flooding the west end of the mall. Most of the businesses from Bomgaars clear over to FYE were impacted in some way. While most of the stores (east and north wings of the mall) are open, many mall stores including Twinkle Twinkle Little Store and Asian Gifts are temporarily closed while remediation takes place.
Water main at former Joann floods west end of mall
At about 2:07 PM on October 14th, Twinkle Twinkle Little store posted to Facebook that their store was flooded. Less than a half hour later, Twinkle Twinkle Little Store estimated that about 3 inches of standing water was covering their floor. In a follow-up video clip, the store posted footage of the water level being much higher than before.
 One of Twinkle Twinkle Little Store's updates regarding the flood, view the video here - Twinkle Twinkle Little Store via Facebook |
About two hours sooner (shortly after noon), as reported by Wyoming News Now's Akili Bonner, the owner of Nay&Jays received a call saying that Frontier Mall was flooded; at that point, about one to two inches of water reportedly was standing in the Nay&Jays space as well as neighboring spaces. Many of these businesses that were affected were previously discussed here on the Optopolis BlogSpot page (see Frontier Mall tag).
In a visit made by Optopolis out of concern in the late afternoon of Tuesday, Optopolis observed vastly many people working together to begin remediation efforts. Business owners/staff, Frontier Mall staff, and various third parties (including ServPro and Walter's Plumbing who both had vehicle(s) parked near or at mall back doors) appeared to be working to take care of the flood and/or water main break.
Several businesses involved in the flood told Optopolis and/or posted on Facebook that the water main break occurred inside of the former JoAnn Fabrics space. Although Optopolis isn't aware of what exactly was in the flood water, the standing water that Optopolis observed along Frontier Mall's floor had a light brown hue--a similar coloration to the water Cheyenne residents may notice after their-area fire hydrants get flushed.
➥[What places were affected?]
The places most significantly affected by the flood that had a large portion or all of their floor flooded includes but isn't limited to Asian Gifts, Madhouse BJJ Studio, InteractionAE, Twinkle Twinkle Little Store, Nay&Jays, La Mekicana, Sherman Hill Model Railroad, and Compass Rose. Although not confirmed by Optopolis, Kay Jewelers likely saw some flood water seep into their store, likewise is possible at Riddle's Jewelery and several other neighboring spaces.
In the Tuesday visit, Optopolis observed some small puddles of water in Five Guy's dining room near their interior mall entry; one Facebook user stated that some water came into Dickey's BBQ Pit's dining area (not confirmed by Optopolis). Optopolis observed that Five Guys, ;Dickey's, and Crumbl all appeared to be open to the public in spite of the flood. Maurice's and Mexican Candy's were still open, but the mall was blocked off beyond that point, preventing visitors from going further west inside the concourse.
Although Bomgaars remained open and is still open as usual, flood water did begin entering their store. They were able to close their glass window gates and place bags of various materials along the bottom edge of said gates to prevent flood water from coming into their store anymore.
Appliance Factory appeared to be mostly if not entirely unaffected; most of the flood water present in Optopolis' visit was at least if not significantly more than twenty feet away from Appliance Factory's mall entry.
➥[Is the mall open? Are any stores open?]
In a visit early Thursday afternoon made by Optopolis, Frontier Mall was open, but only accessible via the north-facing entry (near the food court) and the southeast entry (next to Shoe Carnival). Most businesses between and including FYE and JCPenney appeared to be operating like usual.
 As of Thursday, this entry next to Ulta and Five Guys only provides limited access; this entry is completely closed beyond Chinese Massage. - Optopolis |
Bomgaars was open, but their store is still only accessible via their southern-facing exterior entry; the mall entry for Bomgaars is temporarily closed.
Most of the west side of Frontier Mall was closed to the public, but FYE, All Wild and Western, Finish Line, and Pro Image Sports were all now open again; on the other hand, Ulta Beauty was temporarily closed. Although Chinese Massage is beyond the mall closure signs just beyond the southwest mall entry, their "open" sign was flashing, and at least one individual appeared to be sitting inside of the space in spite of the flood. Kay Jeweler's gate was raised up, but it wasn't clear to Optopolis if the store had reopened yet since their store was beyond the yellow tape.
| TOP: Mall visitors are blocked from going west beyond FYE and Pro Image Sports. FYE, Pro Image Sports, All Wild Western, and other businesses are open and were affected minimally or not at all by the flood. BOTTOM: Chinese Massage's "open" sign seen flashing, even though the mall is closed at that point; Five Guys is open, but Ulta was temporarily closed. - Optopolis |
Five Guys and neighboring exterior-facing businesses appeared to be open as usual, and businesses in the food court and on the east side of the mall all appeared to be operating like usual.
➥[When will the temporarily-closed stores reopen?]
Some businesses including Twinkle Twinkle Little Store want to reopen as soon as Friday, but whether that happens depends on how clean up goes. During Optopolis' visit on Thursday, Optopolis observed workers making repairs to electrical outlets along Frontier Mall's tile floor.
Some businesses had fans blowing on their carpet, including Bomgaars (which is open). Other businesses like Twinkle Twinkle Little Store either have or will be working to clean the residue off the floor, left behind by the flood water.
Frontier Mall has been posting updates on their Facebook page, and they stated that, "[Frontier Mall will] keep [the public] updated as more information comes available." Some businesses including Twinkle Twinkle Little Store have been making similar posts regarding updates to the status of the clean up.
➥[Do any of these temporarily closed businesses have other locations?
Twinkle Twinkle Little Store still has their original store operational, located on Ridge Road near East Pershing Boulevard. The owner of La Mekicana also owns Mexican Candy, and while the clothing store isn't open, the Mexican Candy shop is open; it hasn't been confirmed by Optopolis whether La Mekicana's Greeley Mall store is still open or not. Although Nay&Jays does have a food truck, it's not clear to Optopolis at this time when and where is next for their food truck to open.
The chains do have other locations, and based on their store locator pages, here are some of their nearby locations:
- Riddle's Jewelry has locations in Scottsbluff, Casper, and other nearby cities
- Kay Jewelers has locations in Fort Collins, Windsor, and other nearby cities
- Hickory Farms (which was set to open on November 11th) has locations in Loveland, Westminster, and Broomfield and other nearby cities
- Ulta Beauty has stores in Laramie, Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, and other nearby cities
Update 10-18: West end of mall opens again!
Frontier Mall posted to Facebook on Saturday, October 18th that the west end of the mall is now open. They state that the majority of the stores are open, but some shops will still be closed for a few more days. Their post states that the following stores are now open: Interaction AE, Twinkle Twinkle Little Store, Beautiful Addictions Tattoo and Piercing, Nay&Jays, and Asian Gifts.
Optopolis visited Frontier Mall to confirm that Riddles Jewelers and Kay Kewelry are both open, Chinese Massage was open and giving massages, as well as Window Siding and Outlet which had their door open. Hickory Farms isn't open yet, and fans were still set up inside of Sherman Hill Model Railroad space. The west-side bathrooms and JoAnn both had tarps shielding the areas from the public (to no one's surprise, as this is the area where the flood was said to have started). Compass Rose also had the gate to their store closed as of the time of Optopolis' visit.
Update 11/20: Repairs continue
Compass Rose recently reopened after lightly remodeling their store. Interaction Amusement Experience is in the process of a light remodel to their store. Twinkle Twinkle Little Store told Optopolis that they were able to do most of the repairs from behind the scenes in their space. Nay&Jays likely won't do much remodel; they indicated that their store is more capable of handling a flood.
PUBLISHED: 10/16/2025 at 7:25 PM MT
UPDATED: 10/18/2025 at 2:04 PM MT, again at 4:29 PM MT to add additional details and an update.
UPDATED: 11/20/2025 at 6:07 PM MT to add more information.
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