Hold the kind words…
Few if any tears will be shed for the soon-to-close Great Mall of the Great Plains. It wasn’t that it was too old, like Metcalf South and some of the other failing or failed area malls that the Kansas City Star’s Joyce Smith compared it to today.
That certainly wasn’t the reason for its not untimely demise.
It wasn’t in a bad location per se. The city of Olathe has long been a hotbed of population and economic growth – well before the Great Mall’s entry onto the scene in 1997.
Nor was it a victim of the vicissitudes of the economy, technology, the Internet or any other of the popular excuses businesses like to point to when speaking at their own funerals.
The fall of The Great Mall is easy to pinpoint.
It was simply the worst clusterfuck or “bungled or confused undertaking” in the modern history of Kansas City retail.
From the get go everything about The Great Mall was wrong, with little to nothing right.
It opened as a glorified outlet mall at a time outlet malls were falling out of style. The Legends in KCK has morphed mostly into outlets these past two years, but not in the “traditional” sense of outlet malls past.
The Great Mall’s decor and variety of retailers were uninviting and mostly lame. Who in Johnson County didn’t at least visit the Great Mall in its early days if only to see if it lived up to the hype? Which of course it did not.
And who in Greater Kansas City that did finally visit the Great Mall found it easy to locate and get in and out of? No one, is the answer to that question.
The Great Mall of the Great Plains was shoehorned into one of the most confusing, busy interchanges in all the metroplex.
It made 119th and Metcalf look well thought out.
Finding the Great Mall and finding one’s way in and then back out was an exercise in frustration. And once inside, it became an exercise in disappointment. The only thing halfway decent there was Dickinson Theatres Great Mall 10 theater and that was nothing to write home about.
And the mall traffic was so low even Dickinson needed to renegotiate its lease terms on at least one occasion in order to survive.
Even the mall’s name was lame and pretentious.
And even KCK’s lowly Indian Springs mall had a honeymoon. Ditto for the ill-fated, now defunct Bannister Mall in Kansas City.
The Great Mall’s honeymoon? That lasted exactly one day – the day it opened – when reportedly more than 70,000 people managed to find their way there, probably never again to return.
There simply were no great days for the Great Mall.
And precious few great memories, such as the one’s likely experienced by visitors to the other malls mentioned in the Star story. Malls like the northland’s Metro North Shopping Center and the Antioch Center.
As such, the Great Mall’s mourning period will be be short to non existent.
Instead locals will cross their fingers as they hope and wonder what its future holds. But even at that, with a legacy this brief and un-storied, it’s hard to be optimistic.
I will hold the same vigil as I did for Glazer’s old yuk yuk shack at the legends when he left tail firmly tucked between legs.
And in memoriam I will require a two drink minimum purchase.
Nice sentiment, dude but…
Glazer’s tail still had its full length and girth when he left. His lease was up and they wanted the space for something else.
Looking like a win for the Outlaw kid right now
I never once set foot inside that mall. Snore. Had it never existed, I wouldn’t have known the difference.
Take a number, Guy Who Says…
You’re obviously far from alone.
But had you gone, you’d probably never have gone back.
Me, I’m the explorer type. And what I discovered was not worthy of further exploration.
again…faceplant for hearne…another major miss…another disaster!!!!!!!
You’re wrong hearne again…the reason is a lot simpler than that.
Of course great mall never had a single goal or plan…it was built in an
area tthat should have grown…but the real reason all these malls are
failing is because the big anchors are going out of business in them.
Sears/JC penny/macys/ etc…the anchors…once they lose two anchors
the mall is essentially dead.
The ones in affluent areas will do okay….but the real problem is that
we are on the economic cliff.
People have less disposable incomes today than in a long time. Average
wages have failed to grow.
The 90’s and 2000-2008 were eseentially funded by refinancing dollars
that got dollars turning in theeconomy.
The affluent ones…the ones that attract the people who still have money
will survive. In dallas , the ones with neiman marcus are doing big numbers.
And its not like some smart people didn’t try to save thegreat mall.
They bought in …..then the economy hit the skids.
The big box stores who made up the anchors went dead. The old traditional
anchors went dead like sears. The old way of shopping wnet dead when
online took off. And we became lazy…too far to walk a few hundred
feet…so the consumers got fat…wanted low prices and low quality.
Wal mart exploded…Costco….k marts….they killed those centers.
Sure it might have been hard to reach the great mall….but it never had
a single vision and a lot of people found better access at Metcalf south
or oak park mall.
And with so many competitors jammed into a mall..not all could make
it. The guys like Barnett realized the future was in malls…made his
billions/millions…then sold out to Buffet…and made even more
millions. He got out when he saw what was happening in the future.
Then the demographics of those malls areas changed. Metcalf south
was right in the middle of t5h booming/big money growth in
the area. Now…its vacant because that entire area has changed.
Those in that area moved south…to 118/135 and now theres dramatic
growth going out to 179th and further south.
Oak Park will have problems…because the income range near there
had dropped. Section 8 housing movedin and now joco is getting
more diverse with new arrivals.
The great mall was bought by some financial and real estate geniuses.
But change happens in every business cycle.
A tough recession hit like never before and the buyers in joco
were seeing their financial situation getting hit hard for really
the first time.
How many workers still at sprint? Town square is expanding
rapidly but Harley has seen the numbers there and there will be
some changes coming in the stores who make it and those who don’t.
For the average shopping center to turn over takes about 20vyears.
That’s nationally. So they sit there vacant falling apart.
The north side of 435 was taking some hugehits but redevelopement
is bringing back some of those centers. ex: 95th and Antioch…wwhich
has comeback after literally on the verge of collapse.
So it’s not just the location…the great mall had the perfect storm hit
them.
too many owners trying to change the original idea…loss of anchors and
turnstile retailers….and not enough money to split between
all the retailers in joco.
Now 95th and Metcalf is starting to move. I thought it would never
happen because everything is moving south. But when I saw who was
doing the deal (Stan Kroenke- married to Wal mart heiress) and with
his cash and financing he will probably get it done.
But few developers want to take that chnce. Bannister mall is being
redone but that was a tif deal…and the last chance to see the stupidity
of private investors who I think are making a huge mistake…but the
government has billions sitting around…why not give these rich
guys money to rebuild and put it on the taxpayers bill.
The legends is the same…tax breaks to companies/investors made it
happen and had not there been NFM and the other large anchors
there it too would have failed.
The perfectstorm and some stupid decisions killed the great mall.
God forbid you should have to walk a few hundred feet to buy
junk….just driveon up.
And just like the large restaurants….olive garden…applebees (wich has
changed its focus at least 10 times in the last few years)…..red lobster..
they have million dollar captians sinking the ships with their poor
decisions. Why pay the head of that group millions when a 10 year
old could do a better job of running those operations. People didn’t
go to olivegarden for all the salad andbreadsticks…they came for
dinner..and got frozen ravioli.
There will be more casualties to come in the retail industry. Radio shack
couldn’t get their focus together…best buy has improved but they are a new
store now….essentially a leasor of space….
So thegreat mall dies…chance are someone will flyin…buy it cheap…
reopen with a single focus and concept…but it will take time.
The world is changing fasteer than we ever dreamed of.
The dynamics are at top speed and to stay alive you need
some common sense and a focus.
And if you don’t change…you die.
OMG, I don’t have time to read your entire diatribe, wild man…
I will say this though, Metcalf South was already long dead by the time Great Mall came along.
And while they had a couple decent looking tenants as you can see from that sign out front, the stuff they were selling was crap. And the mix was bad. They were selling mostly crap – liker the old fashioned outlet malls used to sell and the location and layout was ridiculous.
Trust me, I was living out south in Lionsgate at the time and it wasn’t THAT far out of my way. Took the entire family there to experience the adventure. It was lame. And I’m easily entertained.
Another outlet mall that failed equally miserably was the one on the riverfront near downtown Lawrence.
Everybody went to check that one out too.
But it too was the old outlet mall formula and it too never took off. It’s like they were sister failed concepts.
At least the Lawrence mall had the location going for it.
Now it’s a budget hotel and office space.
you need to read my pieces..because your stories lack
many of the significant reasons this mall failed.
Just like other malls there were circumstances outside
the few you wrote about that caused the mall to fail.
You had poor economic conditions….a war….
peoples spending habits…peoples wages…all the
reasons that contributed to this mall closing. But
this is not like they were the only ones. Sme of the smartest
real estate people were involved at one time with the
mall…including a couple of the smartest real estate
guys in the nation.
Yu failed to mention many of the reasons.
When you write you ned to talk more about things like
yyour family trip to the mall or the merchandise of the
few things you attributed to its failure.
You didn’t.
You need to read Harleys comments. You will learn
a lot from them because Harley actually did a better
job than you did in explaining the “mall” and the
tsunami that malls like that were facing.
Plus I had real facts… not some personal anguish you
showed because these stores were selling junk.
heared of wal mart…or Burlington coat outlets…or
other discounters…they too sell lots of ju nk and made
billions.
If you need some research feel free to contact me
at my email and I can provide you with more info on subjects
you might not be familiar with.
How about that fiat you bought…now that was junk…and
the fiat people were idiots in the u.s. market. We all buy
junk…its what many stores are offering right now because
that’s what people are needing and buyeing.
thanks…harley
H Man, everybody had to suffer through the poor economic conditions, the war and every other thing you could think to throw at the wall.
But everybody didn’t run an unsuccessful business from start to finish.
Naming everything bad in creation that you can think of is not an analysis.
The Great Mall failed because it was a failed concept, poorly executed in a bad location.
Nobody ever taught you the “kiss” theory?
Keep it simple, stupid.
no…when you analyze a situation you need
to examine all the facts that led to that
situation.
Keeping it simple has killed this country.
When the banks were lying and cheating
they said to people we’re keeping it
simple. They sure did and look what
happened.
Get ALL THE FACTS THEN MAKE AN
EDUCATED JUDGEMENT…YOUR ARTICLE
WAS JUST TOO SHALLOW AND HAD NO
REAL FACTS AS TO WHY BUSINESSES
FAIL AND WHY THE MALLS MAY HAVE
BEEN THE VICTIMS OF OUTSIDE FORCES
THEY COULD NOT CONTROL.
EX….POWER AND LIGHT/WESTPORT..
BANNISTER MALL/METCALF SOUTH ETC.
Don’t doubt Harley….every5hting I wrote
about was based on facts!!!!!
even though you didn’t read my comments
I receied 7 emails from those that did…
that’s better than the number of comments
you receive for stories.
Yeah, yeah, yeah – sure, sure
I understood every word.
I went one time a long time ago … it was a dump. Can’t imagine how bad it is now.
Next is the Legends … how many bankruptcies can a shopping center endure. I think they are working on number 3.
I dunno, Jack…
As a refugee of Lawrence, the Legends is close. It’s easy to park. Has a nice movie theater. The shops don’t seem overly outlet.
The restaurants are uneventful mostly and that could hurt them but having the soccer team stadium – I guess, the NASCAR – and again, I guess the stoopid T Bones has to help.
You know, plus nothing else nice really in KCK.
They could use a comedy club though
Glazed rug to the rescue! Doh!
Time to start developing new shopping areas INSIDE 435, where most people live. Now there is HUGE area of ruined paved ground in the corner of the metro area that will probably still be scar on the area 5o years from now.
Or until Cerner buys it and makes it into something functional.
It was doomed from the beginning. Malls across America were closing at the time this was being built and still are. I thought it was a terrible mistake then. I couldn’t believe some developer thought it was a good idea. Shopping habits of Americans had changed. Oak Park is the exception to this but if they don’t watch it they could go the way of Metcalf South. Even the Legends has over promised and under-delivered with revolving stores/restaurants while filing for bankruptcy twice. I hope they at least tear the damn place down and not let it sit there and deteriorate for years. And yes, HNTB did a terrible job planning that interchange. If you didn’t know what you were doing there it is confusing as hell.
The Turk has his points…
It didn’t help though that it so poorly conceived and run. It didn’t have to faceplant from the get go
I was with the local newspaper when the Great Mall launched and it was pretty obvious from the beginning it was not the “A-Team” out there. The mall’s marketing group was convinced they had a product that would sell itself and were uninterested in our several attempts to put together advertising ideas.
We identified immediately that a key need for potential mall customers was a guide to the layout and location of stores within the sprawling complex, so we presented the mall’s marketing group with an advertising proposal which incorporated a detailed mall diagram, store listing, etc., which they immediately dismissed.
As a Plan B, we approached the individual stores to see if there was any interest on their part in being involved for a modest per store advertising rate. Many of them were interested, but said they had no available advertising budget left because they had to pay the mall a hefty marketing fee (which they felt was being used ineffectively, by the way).
In the end, we just ran the damn thing as a public service of sorts without any sponsorship from the mall or the stores. The next day after running what amounted to a large free ad for the mall, we received a call from one of their marketing team threatening legal action because of the unauthorized use of their logo. Go figure.
Lemme get this right. You are telling us that Scott Pioli was in charge of marketing at the Mall Of The Great Plains?
Amazingly, the Independence Mall seems to be doing pretty darn well. In fact, that whole area out on 39th St seems to be booming.
good news …..finally…
but hearne wants thedreadful awful bad news for his stories.
why has independence mall been working and others
haven’t…probably because there aren’t three major
mals in the area.
People will drive long distcances for these large malls…
glad to hear business is good out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Independence Mall has gone from show piece to third rate to whatever it is now.
Been a few years since I was there. And it was a little better, but far from Oak Park Mall levels and far from what it was when it first opened.
Great mall could become a warehouse for the outdated, the Kansas City Star, gas station attendants, pens for cursive writing, Big Chief tablets, bobby sox, automotive fins, number 2 pencils, airplane propellers, and Kansa City Athletics paraphenalia.
Hey, don’t give up on the KC Athletics paraphernalia!
I’ve been keeping my Jerry Lumpe and Norm Siebern cards for that very reason !!
Congrats on spelling Siebern right (I checked)…
Looks like he’s still kicking so maybe you can finally get it autographed. He’s 81 and played for KC from 1960 to 1963.
How old are you again? A million?
Looking at Independence center’s tenant mix, it does appear that the mall has made quite a comeback…
However, unlike the Great Mall, Independence Center started out with a bang. Kickass stores and a huge, well deserved local buzz. I remember going by there after a Chiefs game in like the 80s because it was nearby and the talk of the town.
I also remember going by there several years ago when they had a bunch of loser tenants like Metcalf South did in its later years.
I’ll go by and check it out and report back.
It does appear a little weird that it seems to house a police station.
Shades of Indian Springs, anyone?
Independence Center has managed to reinvent itself. A big move that saved them from Bannister Mall-like destruction was the curtailing of loitering teens and other riff-raff. As I understand it, kids under a certain age are only allowed in very small groups, and the security keeps a tight leash on those who just seem to be hanging out and doing nothing but taking up space.
The in house police station can’t hurt…
Seriously though, I was in there a handful of years back and they had all these mom and pop storefronts that looked really lame.
Again, like Metcalf South…desperation tenants.
Looking only at the list, kudos for coming back from the dead.
I’ll be pretty surprised if it looks anywhere near as impressive as it first did though. Although it’s possible.
That thing kicked ass when it opened.
The only ass Great Mall ever kicked was its own
while out there…see if you can find the notorious jewel theif.
Maybego in the centersand see whats going on.
You’re supposedly a reporter so maybe get out of the car
and see why that mall is doing what it is.
Is that too much to ask a reporter.
This ain’t gossip whereyou can muake shit up!
Make shit up, eh…
You mean like a fake name?
Easy now, big fella.
Don’t make me put a Harley Race sleeper hold on you, Stomps
I was at the Independence Center last October and it seemed kinda lame. Used to go back in the 70’s and 80’s where you had Video Concepts, B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, that yummy Original Pizza place, Spencers, two arcades, two Record stores, the small cinema(I saw Animal House there!), and oh yeah that tasty cookie store upstairs near the main entrance.
Didn’t see any of them last October. If a couple of anchors leave it’ll just be converted to an upscale center.
I bet they will turn the mall into indoor soccer fields. JOCO needs more soccer fields! HA!
I’ve seen many mixed opinions on the Great Mall in Olathe. Many loved it it, many hated it, and many didn’t really give a crap about it. What I don’t understand is why the value-oriented retail concept that the Great Mall had didn’t work out in KC like it did in other cities. In Dallas, Grapevine Mills, which is the same type of concept mall, is thriving. I’m guessing it’s because KC was already extremely overmalled and many residents favored shopping at more typical malls. The Great Mall also had high rent in the beginning which caused many of its tenants to opt out within the first 5 ish years. I know occupancy hovered around 70% for the first 10 years and after the recession it plummeted down to around 40.
Took my kids out there early on, and I suspect the location was a deal killer for many…
Don’t call it being wildly cool or unusual either.
But finding it; getting there; parking, etc was to me anyway, more of a chore.
And remember, we’re talking like 20 years ago
That’s understandable. I’m guessing had it been closer to the airport in an easier access location it would’ve done much better. The mall leasing team must’ve been pretty good in the early days because they usually replaced national chains that left with other ones pretty fast. It seemed occupancy stayed around 65-75% from 2000 up until like 2007, when many of the 10-year leases were up. I know the recession did a number on the mall, which was clearly already struggling. By 2008, Glimcher really wanted to get rid of this mall and I feel like many of the regular shoppers gave up on it once more national chains left. I know after that it really became a huge haven for small businesses, and that by 2015, occupancy was down to 30% and the new owners gave up on the mall for good and bulldozed it.
Jeepers/Zonkers, Burlington, and the movie theater were probably the only things really keeping the mall in the last 7 ish years of its existence.