Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

[GRID]

No gang violence at Town Center.

Town Center is the last place in the entire metro I would choose to see a movie at.

[KCMax]

Town Center is the last place in the entire metro I would choose to see a movie at.

You are racist against white people.

[Pendergast]

I agree. I go to this mall often and have never had a problem.  All I can figure is that it has a lot of black customers and some people automatically feel like there is more crime when there are more minorities around.  The teens hanging out at the movie theater there are not any better or worse than teens at other movie theaters.

I think Ward Parkway mall has held on despite this perceived notion of "gang violence" or urban groups(which I guess would only mean blacks to some ignorants) because its in a neighborhood where people still give a damn.  Bannister was isolated and was more of a destination place.  Ward Pkwy is part of a bustling neighborhood, and seems to be constantly evolving. For example, Baja Fresh gives way to a new joint etc. 

[tompendergast]

Uh-oh, apparently Tom Pendergast has two apparitions on this forum! Whoever is part of the "Pendergast Poltergeist Project" really should look into this.

[Pendergast]

Sorry about that, I thought knowing my KC history would make me stand out LOL!

[aknowledgeableperson]

Ate at Chick-A-Fill the other night.  Food was good.  And looking at the parking lot on the north side and along State Line Rd I would say that the mall is doing quite well,  Earlier during the day I drove along the Ward Parkway side and that parking lot had many cars.  So the Center appears to be back strong.

[SamPierron]

We (the Wizards, my employer) had a kiosk at Ward Parkway this holiday season, and it certainly out-performed expectations. I think they've found a pretty good shopping mix there.

[GRID]

Hey, Sam, why can't you buy more Wizards stuff at places like Dicks?  They have pretty cool looking jerseys.  Even if they sat on the shelves, seems like it would be free marketing.

[SamPierron]

Without taking this thread off-topic for too long, the short answer is that Dick's inventory is not our decision. 

To be honest, adidas has not exactly provided us with great merchandise support over the years, not to mention that the logo hasn't been...particularly appealing.  Some of the jerseys have been quite nice, particularly since 2000, but the secondary stuff has been lousy.

Since the ownership change, we have taken merchandising in-house; under HSG, they let Centerplate and adidas handle everything, and didn't make merchandise a priority.  Our merchandise sales greatly increased this year, and the variety isn't comparable. We started customizing jerseys at the games, which was very popular.

We also now have a store at our office, which at least provides people with one place where they know they can get our gear.

We will now have merchandise available at the T-Bones store at The Legends; several of the Sports Clips locations have been carrying our gear this year, spcialty soccer stores, etc.

Your broader point is correct, there isn't enough gear in mainstream stores, but that's mostly due to historical neglect that's hard to overcome.

[justin8216]

Steve and Barry's files for chapter 11 BANKRUPTCY protection.

Shucks just when Ward Parkway and The Great Mall get a new tenant it goes bankrupt.

[trailerkid]

Steve and Barry's files for chapter 11 BANKRUPTCY protection.

Shucks just when Ward Parkway and The Great Mall get a new tenant it goes bankrupt.

We're lucky Steve and Barry's wasn't propping up more retail centers in KC. Ward Parkway is already quite stable, but GMofGP was toast a few months out of the starting gate.

There are many malls and shopping centers that are using S+B's like a full-on IV. Sad... 

[mgsports]

It's been in the Great Mall of the Plains for awile.
Maybe the TJMAXX can be come a TJMAXX and More because there's not one in the KC area yet and should be.
Maybe Mega Marshalls or even Ross Dress for Less or Kohls or Hobby Lobby or Costco or so on can be added to it.

[Auggy]

Just saw on the news-  Ward Parkway is being foreclosed upon.

[KCMax]

Yikes! Anyone want to own a mall on the cheap?

Lender forecloses on Ward Parkway Center

Ward Parkway Center is scheduled to be sold on the Jackson County Courthouse steps on March 26 as part of lender-initiated foreclosure proceedings....

Robin Lybarger, a spokeswoman for Developers Diversified, said Tuesday that the foreclosure initiated against the Ward Parkway Center ownership resulted from “our majority partner’s failure to fund a mortgage paydown.”

She said Massachusetts Mutual anticipates obtaining ownership of Ward Parkway Center as a result of the foreclosure, though the property is being marketed for sale. Developers Diversified is in negotiations to continue to manage and lease the shopping center in the interim period, Lybarger said.

[justin8216]

Did business ever recover after the Ward Parkway Shopping Center Massacre a few years back?

[aknowledgeableperson]

The times I was there business was back.

[justin8216]

The times I was there business was back.

So Starbucks replaced the broken windows, cleaned up the splattered blood, and people went back to usual, unfazed? I am very proud of how Kansas Citians refuse to let rampant gun violence all accross the metro from Olathe to Independence dictate to us how to live our lives. Gotta love those guns...we all should have semi-automatic assault riffles in case we need to hunt our own food...it is guaranteed to us in the constitution you know. We can tolerate a few weekly massacres at universities, city council meetings, and shopping malls as long as we can protect ourselves with our very own assault riffle.

WE GOTTA GET THESE GUNS UNDER CONTROL!!!!

[KCMax]

Not to minimize the three people that died in a shooting at Ward Parkway years back, but is that really considered a "massacre"?

[dangerboy]

Justin, you are breaking your promise to never, ever post in a Missouri thread.

[NDTeve]

Not to minimize the three people that died in a shooting at Ward Parkway years back, but is that really considered a "massacre"?

Didn't the Boston Massacre only have like 5 deaths?