herrfrank wrote:The south end of the Ward Parkway mall (it was largely linear) was dominated, per my distant memory of the 1970s, by the chic St. Louis department store, Stix, Baer & Fuller. I recall oversized 1970s black-silver-and-mirrors décor. It was considered the most fashionable of the KC mall department stores. Not as glamorous as some of the stores on the Plaza, notably Halls, but fashionable nonetheless.
Yes. They had stores at Oak Park Mall (Men's Dillard's) and Independence Center as well. The reason that KC was able to support so many malls though the mid 90's is because the metro had access to Macy's (bought by Dillard's), Stix (also purchased by Dillard's), Sears, Ward's (liquidated in 2001-2002), JCPenney, The Jones Store (bought by Dillard's, sold to May, May merged with Macy's), Nordstrom, Saks (supposedly left because their store was too small, but they could have moved out to JoCo if they really wanted to be in KC), and Halls (down to one small store) to anchor the malls. Substitute Harzfeld's (parent company went under) for Nordstrom in the 80's and before.
Lets look at what the shopping centers of old opened with.
Oak Park Mall:
- Stix (now Dillard's Men)
- Macy's (now Dillard's Woman)
- JCPenney
- Montgomery Ward (later The Jones Store and now Macy's)
- Nordstrom added in the 90's
- Barnes and Noble and American Girl added later
Ward Parkway Center:
-Stix (later Dillard's-Dillard's Clearance Center, now demolished.)
- Montgomery Ward (demolished for Target)
- A Theater
- JCPenney (converted to mall space partially occupied by Dick's and later Ross.)
- Kline's Department Store
- Kroger
- F.W. Woolworth
Bannister:
- Sears
- The Jones Store
- Macy's (later Dillard's)
- JCPenney
- Adjacent standalone Montgomery Ward
Metcalf South
- The Jones Store (later Macy's)
- Harzfeld's (later Jones's Store Furniture and then mall space)
- F.W. Woolworth (later mall space and food court)
- Theater
- Katz Drug (I believe Topsy's occupied part of this space)
- Sears
- Safeway (later Carousel Park)
Metro North:
- Montgomery Ward (liquidated)
- Macy's (later Dillard's)
- JCPenney
- The Jones Store (now Macy's)
Antioch:
- Sears
- Macy's (later Dillard's and now Burlington)
- Levitz Furniture
- Payless Cashways
- Showbiz Pizza
Blue Ridge:
- Harzfeld's
- JCPenney
- The Jones Store
- Montgomery Ward
- Woolworth
The Landing
- Macy's (later Dillard's and now whatever Gold's is)
- Other unknown tenants because no one documented The Landing
Crown Center
- Halls
Independence Center
- Sears (who built the mall)
- Macy's (later Dillard's then The Jones Store and now ironically enough Macy's again)
- Stix (now Dillard's)
- Nearby JCP that will likely hop into Sears when it closes
Mission Center Mall
- Two Macy's (later two Dillard's)
Red Bridge
- Macy's (later Dillard's)
- Theater
The Great Mall:
- Dillard's Clearance Center (later Vanity Fair)
- Linens 'n Things
- Burlington Coat Factory
- Oshman's
- SuperSports USA
- Marshalls
- Group USA Clothing Company
- Foozles Bookstore
- Saks Off 5th
- Theater
- Steve & Barry's and Famous Labels took over other stores later
Town Center Plaza:
- Jacobson's (upscale Michigan department store that was later re-tenanted as The Jones Store and then Macy's after it liquidated)
- Pottery Barn
- Restoration Hardware
- Theater
- Galyan's Sporting Goods (now Dick's)
Indian Springs:
- JCPenney
- Montgomery Ward
- Macy's (later Dillard's)
- Theater
Leavenworth Plaza
- ALCO Discount Store (later Theater)
- Safeway (now Westlake ACE Hardware)
- JCPenney
- Montgomery Ward (later Sears)
and then The Country Club Plaza has been home to various combinations of:
- Saks
- Macy's-Dillard's
- Sears
- Woolworth's
- Halls
- Harzfeld's
- Kroger
- Theater
So maybe this shines some light on why KC lost so many malls in a short period outside of crime plaguing Indian Springs and Bannister. Department and Specialty Store bankruptcy and consolidations turned them into the same properties and deprived them of what made them unique. That's how Metcalf South for example remained so strong against Oak Park for almost 20 years despite being sandwiched between Ward Parkway, Oak Park, and Mission Center for so long. It offered three anchors that those other three malls didn't have.
