Walk inside the Riverfront Plaza’s east tower on 6th and New Hampshire and you can still see the bright green tile on the floor. The tile was put down more than 10 years ago hoping to lure customers to Lawrence's first enclosed mall. Now on one side of the former mall sits a hotel, while the other side was converted for a Pregnancy Care Center. Problems with parking lot access, competition from another new outdoor mall in North Lawrence, and the rise of online shopping meant the Lawrence mall never got off the ground. City Commissioner Mike Dever thought Lawrence was a bad fit for a mall from the start.
"Many successful outlet malls are located in isolated areas on major interstates or in tourist havens that have a large supply of pent up demand from visitors,” Dever said, “I think the City of Lawrence is not located in either of these two areas."
A few years after its opening, the Riverfront Mall went out of business, and other malls in the area were starting to see their glory days as a retail attraction come to an end.
Business at enclosed malls has been going down steadily around the country for the last ten years. Customers and their credit cards are choosing to shop at box stores and open air malls like The Legends in Kansas City, Kan., or Town Center Plaza in Leawood. Malls have reacted in different ways to the change in shopping habits. Some malls locally like Oak Park have become even more popular, by bringing in new stores and tenants. Other malls in Kansas City failed to adapt to their new conditions like Bannister Mall and died a slow death . Finally there is Ward Parkway Mall, which has evolved with the times, and gives hope to other malls in the area looking for one last chance.
To really see how far some local malls have fallen, you look 40 miles east of Lawrence to Metcalf South Mall in Overland Park. Almost 40 years ago, the opening of Metcalf South Mall was celebrated throughout the city. A whole section in the Kansas City Star was devoted to the first enclosed mall in Kansas. It became the hangout spot for teenagers in the 1970’s and 1980’s, families would crowd the mall on weekends, and kids would flip coins from their allowance in the fountain. The mall had everything anybody could want, from the hottest new clothing stores, to a barbershop, and even an arcade, Metcalf South Mall was the place to be. Over time the competition from other malls increased, while Metcalf had a tough time keeping their stores from going out of business. The mall quickly lost touch with the times. Today, if you walk through the mall, you can still see the Footlocker sign above the store, as well as some of the old store logos that haven’t been torn down, but most of the stores and people have left and the mall only seems to be reminder to people in the area of what was once a landmark in the community. For Jennette Fulster, exuctive assistant to the mayor of Overland Park, she has fond memories of the mall.
“ It was so big, it was like Oak Park is now,”
Oak Park Mall doesn’t have to look to the past to remember their glory days, they are living in it right now. Despite being 30 years old, Oak Park is still the crown jewel of malls in Kansas. Director of Marketing Kate Peterson thinks there is one major reason for the malls sustained popularity.
"You have to keep getting new stores and tenants so customers have a reason to keep coming back," Peterson said.
Oak Park is planning major renovations for early 2008, the mall plans to add new stores such as XXI which is a popular Forever 21 brand. Unlike Metcalf South, Oak Park has taken advantage of being rooted in the middle of the richest county in Kansas.
"Being in Johnson County does help because this area is big on the income and we get a lot of college students, so that doesn't hurt either."
One of the malls that hasn’t been helped by its location is Bannister Mall in South Kansas City. Bannister Mall, built just 27 years ago, was once one of the hottest malls in Kansas City. As the years passed the mall saw the area around it rise in crime and drugs. Shad Bailey, who owned a telemarketing company that was located inside the mall, heard crazy stories such as people hiding under cars and slitting ankles with knifes, but most of those stories were never proved to be true. Bailey though, said the mall’s reputation took a hit.
“I would have people call in looking for a job, and once I told them we were located inside Bannister Mall, they wouldn’t show up for the interview,” Bailey said.
By the turn of the century, JC Penney, one of the mall’s anchor tenants left the mall, but Bannister was already into a free fall as empty store fronts dotted the inside of the mall. After failing to land a Bass Pro Shop, the mall continued to decline until it eventually closed in May of 2007. Bailey felt the mall management never adapted to the changing landscape and demographics of the mall. The stores that were making the most money weren’t the ones selling high priced clothing items, but rather gold teeth.
“By the end, most of the shoppers and people that worked there were African-American,” Bailey said, “ The people running the mall never got out of the mindset of making it a suburban mall, when it should have been more of an urban mall.”
One mall that looked like it was going to join Metcalf South and Bannister as another failed mall was Ward Parkway Mall. Once one of the biggest malls in Kansas City just 20 years ago, by the late 1990’s the mall started to notice a severe drop in customers. As mall management watched open air malls gain in popularity, they decided to make a drastic change. They started making more of their stores accessible from outside as well as inside the mall. Customers could go to the store they wanted to without ever stepping foot inside the mall. This is a new trend known as a "Hybrid Lifestyle Center". While Ward Parkway has the traditional stores inside the mall, it also accommodates larger square footage users such as Dick's Sporting Goods, 24 Hour Fitness and Old Navy. Known in the industry as Mid-size boxes. Ward Parkways is also currently under construction adding its newest business, “Staples.” This new development has breathed new life into the mall making it a viable place to shop once again. General Manager of Ward Parkway Chuck Oglesby thinks this could be the future for declining malls.
“This evolution is a trend across the Unites States as developers seek opportunities to capitalize efforts on existing retail locations surrounded by good demographics and placed in highly visible areas,” Oglesby said, “The costs of renovation are substantially less than new construction and zoning and entitlements are already in place. With increased costs on construction goods and steel, it is very probable that this trend will continue for some time.”
While Ward Parkway shines a light of hope for other declining malls in the area, Metcalf South Mall has yet to write its final chapter. Developers from Colorado have offered a plan to turn the mall into an outdoor plaza combining new stores with office space. While a decision on the final plans won’t be made on Metcalf South Mall until next year, Shad Bailey notes one thing malls have to do to stay alive.
“Malls have to adapt to the times and the areas surrounding them, if they don’t they won’t be around long in today's market.”