WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — At the beginning of May, we reported that Dillard’s in Wichita Falls would be closing, but sources now say that is no longer the case after new negotiations between the store’s corporate offices and owners of the Sike Senter Mall.

Going out of business sale signs that were up in the store have now been taken down.

On Thursday, May 12, a Dillard’s spokesperson confirmed we could expect to see the Wichita Falls store in the Sikes Senter Mall close sometime this year. Recently, sources say the store will remain open after a deal was made with Dillard’s corporate office.

Frequent customers of the department store are relieved to hear this decision.

“I’ve never come to the mall and not went into Dillard’s,” shopper Dana Sprott said. “It is the main store, as a rule, that I come to the mall for. It has a certain product that other places in Wichita don’t provide.”

Most Dillard’s customers mentioned that without Dillard’s, the mall would not be the same.

“If Dillard’s closes – the mall is already dead, so it’s truly truly going to die,” shopper Chelsie Lane said. “Nobody will come to the mall, nobody will proably even come to this side of town anymore.”

The Sikes Senter Mall has been in Wichita Falls since 1974, but today, shoppers spoke up about what they would like to see added.

“I feel like it’s a little outdated,” shopper Casandra Durdn said. “It could use some updates, especially with it being a military town, they can definitely add more to it.”

“Well, whether or not they add to it, I don’t think they need to take away Dillard’s,” Sprott said.

In February, the mall was purchased by the Kohan Retail Investment Group, a company that specializes in reviving struggling shopping centers.