Oak Park Mall

My family stopped here on our way home from a trip and were denied access to the Disney store because my wife and I were wearing gator style masks (full cloth and legal). Our 4 year old cried and my wife was upset. Happy not to give them my money.

If it weren't for the false arrest, I would say that Oak Park is a pretty good mall if you are a fan of malls.  I used to go occasionally if I needed something that they have that I can't get an easier way, and when I was younger and had more energy, I went often.



However, something happened a couple of months ago to color my views so that I now see that mall as a threatening place.  My daughter was browsing in Sephora, then wandered out into the main part of the mall.  She couldn't find her cell phone, so she stopped and removed several items from her purse until she could find it.  As she was putting things back, a man and woman from security came up and said that she had to go with them.  Apparently they found her fishing in her purse outside the store suspicious.  She asked what was wrong several times, and not only would they not tell her anything, they were acting like her calm questions were hysterical "resisting".  She also announced her intention to call the police, so they snatched her phone away from her and threw it into her purse.  They then roughly handcuffed her, leaving her with scratches and bruises, and hauled her off to the office where they held and questioned her for two hours.  They kept telling her that she might as well confess to stealing the makeup brushes in her purse (that she had bought from a different Sephora a few weeks earlier).  Besides her being meticulous about her own makeup, the brushes are tools of her trade; she's a professional makeup artist.  Their boss made them uncuff her as he thought that they were being ridiculous, but that was the only thing that he did.  They kept her so long that she had to pee.  The woman insisted on going into the restroom with her, and there was no privacy.  The woman stared at her the entire time and sneered that she must not really need to go when it took longer because she was so uncomfortable.  They finally turned her over to the police.  She got a lawyer who advised her to plead guilty, even though the only evidence that they had was the brushes in her purse that they sell in the store where she had been.  Security refused to let her see the video--she thought that she could follow her movements and point out that she was just a normal shopper who had not bought anything that day.  They had not seen her take anything, but still charged her.  



There's something wrong here--security apparently did not need any evidence of wrongdoing, they only needed the charge to make the fishing expedition into her purse, where they found items bought at the store where she was shopping (big surprise--don't we tend to shop at places where we have bought things before?).  Guilty until proven innocent.



This incident cost her $1700 in attorney's fees but her lawyer may manage to keep it off her record.  A very expensive trip to the mall.



I wonder if they thought that she was a teenager and found her more suspicious because she's tiny and looks much younger than her 27 years.  Somehow, that would make it worse--a teen would feel more defenseless in this situation than an adult.  Or maybe they were bored and just needed someone to harass.



So I guess that you have to carry around receipts for everything in your purse so that you can prove your innocence when you get charged with shoplifting.

Still one of the best malls around. Be careful it is very busy at times.