Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

Jackson/Cass Suburbs, including South KC
aknowledgeableperson
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Re: Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

Post by aknowledgeableperson »

Stix did not come into the area until way after Oak Park Mall opened. It is very likely it was a Macy's. Don't forget the Macy's of today is a different Macy's from back then. Can't remember the exact years (late 80's, early 90's maybe) but Macy's did fall on hard times. Since then it's been merged, sold, corporate name change, you name it.
moderne
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Re: Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

Post by moderne »

Stix was in Ward Parkway long before Oak Park opened.
empires228
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Re: Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

Post by empires228 »

mistervinix wrote:I think the Macy's at Oak Park Mall was where Dillard's Men is now. I clearly remember a Macy's name plate embedded in the sidewalk outside the store before all the expansion happened in the 90s. Although I guess it's possible I'm remembering a Stix name plate...
That's what I listed in my post. Dillard's bought Stix and rebranded the three metro stores to their name (the Oak Park mall store had an identical twin in St. Louis) and then Macy's sold their Macy's Wichita-KC division to Dillard's as well giving them a third store in Wichita and locations at Red Bridge, Antioch, Indian Springs, Downtown, downtown Topeka (promptly closed as Dillard's had a larger store already under construction) The Plaza, two in Mission, Red Bridge, Metro North, The Landing, Bannister, a second store at Oak Park, and a second anchor slot at Independence Center, which they sold to Jones. Dillard's purchased Stix Baer & Fuller in 1984 and the area Macy's stores in 1985. The Macy's-KC stores were supposedly underperforming for the most part (research implies that downtown Wichita store was the most profitable out of the group and Dillard's did try to operate there for a short while) and Dillard's was known for purchasing turning around floundering regional chains like Stix at that time. Stix had been at Ward Parkway for years by the time Independence and Oak Park opened. In the 90's Dillard's would also purchase Mercantile Stores, the parent company of The Jones Store and who had also maintained regional offices in the metro that covered the area and Denver, and sold the Jones locations to May because, well, at that point they didn't need more stores in KC and Topeka haha. Dillard's sold around 26 Mercantile nameplate stores to other companies. Dillard's didn't operate many of the Stix or Macy's KC stores long term. They inherited a lot of deadweight in KC and STL, and the downtown Wichita store, which had been a draw as a Macy's, having been THE Macy's in Wichita, wasn't able to draw the same traffic as it had to compete against the Towne East and West stores. The Plaza store was probably deemed too close to Mission Center and Ward Parkway, and would have been smaller than even the smaller Dillard's stores you find in towns like Manhattan, Kansas.
aknowledgeableperson
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Re: Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

Post by aknowledgeableperson »

moderne wrote:Stix was in Ward Parkway long before Oak Park opened.
I stand corrected. My initial recollection was that section of the mall housing Stix was built later than 1974.
herrfrank
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Re: Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

Post by herrfrank »

In the 1970s, I would hang (we said "hang out" in those days) with the older kids (I had older brothers) from Rockhurst, SME, and Pem-Day at the east parking lot to the Ward Parkway mall, near the movie theater entrance. GM muscle cars with windows down and playing loud pop/ rock were part of the scene. I distinctly remember hearing the song "My Sharona" for the first time in this milieu.
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Highlander
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Re: Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

Post by Highlander »

herrfrank wrote:In the 1970s, I would hang (we said "hang out" in those days) with the older kids (I had older brothers) from Rockhurst, SME, and Pem-Day at the east parking lot to the Ward Parkway mall, near the movie theater entrance. GM muscle cars with windows down and playing loud pop/ rock were part of the scene. I distinctly remember hearing the song "My Sharona" for the first time in this milieu.
We might have crossed paths then. We certainly hung out there, first on bicycles and later in cars in the 70's. There or at Allen's.
earthling
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Re: Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

Post by earthling »

I go to Trader Joe's at WPC fairly often and keep forgetting to check the S end expansion - old Dillards spot. Did that ever complete, are new restaurants open? I was just there last week planning to check and forgot to head that way.
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chrizow
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Re: Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

Post by chrizow »

the south-end expansion/restaurant zone thing is still under construction. i dont know when it will be complete but it does not look remotely close to completion to my untrained eye.
aknowledgeableperson
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Re: Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

Post by aknowledgeableperson »

Highlander wrote:
herrfrank wrote:In the 1970s, I would hang (we said "hang out" in those days) with the older kids (I had older brothers) from Rockhurst, SME, and Pem-Day at the east parking lot to the Ward Parkway mall, near the movie theater entrance. GM muscle cars with windows down and playing loud pop/ rock were part of the scene. I distinctly remember hearing the song "My Sharona" for the first time in this milieu.
We might have crossed paths then. We certainly hung out there, first on bicycles and later in cars in the 70's. There or at Allen's.
The bowling alley was my place till the end of high school in '69.
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