Trolley Square reopens with care

Business owners and customers returned to Trolley Square mall on Wednesday as the building reopened its doors to the public for the first time since Monday night's tragic shooting spree that left six people dead, including the gunman.

Mall owners met with tenants Tuesday night to decide on the best way to move forward. Trolley co-owner Tom Bard said the group concluded that the mall itself would reopen Wednesday, but each business owner could set his or her own schedule for opening.

Opening on Wednesday was not to re-establish a "sense of business as usual, but to let the healing process begin," Bard said.

Yellow police tape that had surrounded the mall since Monday night was taken down in the early morning. The doors were unlocked at 8 a.m. Many store owners reopened their own doors at 10 a.m. Bard expected the vast majority of businesses to be open again by Friday.

A steady stream of people flowed through the mall. Some were just curious and wanted to see what had happened. Others were shoppers anxious to let the businesses know of their support.

Andrew Wright, a regular visitor of the mall, arrived early in the morning just to look around.

"This is a historical part of Salt Lake City. It sucks something like that happened here," he said.

Wright said his young daughters are afraid to visit the mall now. But he wanted to encourage them, and everyone else, to visit the mall, so that the healing process could continue.

"I think people need to make a thoughtful, concerted effort to come and get back to normal," he said. "(We want) to try and feel normal about this place again. I'm surprised they opened so quickly. But it's appropriate."

Wright said that as he was entering the mall, he passed a security guard and asked how he was doing. The guard's reply was that he was just trying to get back to normal.

"That's why I'm here, too," Wright told the guard.

Mayor Rocky Anderson also visited the mall Wednesday to lay flowers at the fountain and to chat with store owners, as well as encourage the community to unite.

"Trolley Square has been a real institution in this community for a long time," he said. He urged residents to return to the mall "to recall what happened, but most importantly, to show a sense of unity."