Oak Park Mall

[KCMax]

Went to Oak Park mall for the first time in years.  Is it just me or is the area around the mall looking a bit blightened?  I think the mall itelf is still strong, but the general area has seen much better days.

Definitely. A lot of Johnson County north of Oak Park Mall is started to become blighted.

[justin8216]

is the old johnny rockets still vacant? Whatever happened with metro?

[kanasalumn]

is the old johnny rockets still vacant?

it is now the Mall Office.  Before that it was 3 restuarants.  My fav was "Say Cheese".  that was good food.    Just a bad spot ofr a resturant.

I am at the mall all the time working and I noticed for the first time, there is some kind of construction near Panera, any idea why?  You can tell, I hardly go around that place of the mall

[anniewarbucks]

Are there still 3 Victorias secret locations in the mall?

[KCMax]

Changes at Oak Park

•Bare Escentuals: The San Francisco-based company is one of the fastest-growing premium cosmetic companies in the U.S. and a leader in the mineral-based cosmetic market. Its store is scheduled to open in April in the former GameStop space. GameStop relocated in the mall.

•Kidsports: The locally owned children’s sportswear store is scheduled to open today in the former Perfume Pizazz space.

•Lacoste: The French apparel company sells high-end clothing, footwear, perfume, leather goods and its trademark tennis shirts with the crocodile logo. The store is scheduled to open in April in the former Taylor Shoes space.

•Lush: A fresh, handmade natural cosmetics store is scheduled to open in late spring in part of the former Aveda spot.

•Teavana: The Atlanta-based chain offers fresh teas and tea products. Its store is scheduled to open in August in part of the former Aveda spot.

•XXI Forever: A Forever 21 contemporary women’s clothing is scheduled to open Saturday in the former Spencer Gifts/Deb/Aveda/Kirkland’s spaces. Kirkland’s and Aveda closed, and the other retailers relocated in the mall.

While Aveda closed its lifestyle store, Par Exsalonce, a new hair salon, sells Aveda products.

[kanasalumn]

also Eddie Bauer is moving to the old BMW store within the next 8 to 12 months.  Not sure what will happen to the current space, most likely the stock room will become a store front as  there is an Eddie Bauer window by Macy's that could easily become a store front. 

[anniewarbucks]

I paid a visit to our local mall over here on Sunday and there are a lot of similarities between Oak Park and our mall. both are very full of retailers and is always busy. Our mall has a Sears, Dillards, Macys, JcPenny, Burlington Coat Factory and Old Navy for anchors. Where Oak Park has Macys, Dillards, JcPenny, and Nordstroms. I do not think that these two will go anywhere soon as both are structurally sound. I did notice that there is some deterioration of the sidewalks on the north side of the mall from salting the concrete but over all the mall is as nice as the day that it was built. I am sure that Oak Park is as nice today as when they opened their doors. I do not know why other malls do not take the cues from the management company's that Manage Oak Park and West Ridge.

[pstokely]

Malls require constant investment nowadays. 30 years ago if you built it they came (for a while).

[justin8216]

I heard gap wanted eddie baurers large space for a combo store. Copaken wouldn't give it to them. So gap closed its gap kids in protest. Perhaps the new owner has decided to let gap have the large eddie baurisr space and move all its gap brands to one location.

[kanasalumn]

I heard gap wanted eddie baurers large space for a combo store. Copaken wouldn't give it to them. So gap closed its gap kids in protest. Perhaps the new owner has decided to let gap have the large eddie baurisr space and move all its gap brands to one location.

At that time Home store was closing, and the Gap execs were peeping around and bought in some engineers to look around.  However the problem then was that Eddie Bauer had a long term contract that ran though like 2012 something like that, and Gap would not pay to break, there were so many issues.  Eddie Bauer execs want to make the store smaller, by making the men's side a little bigger and move both int hat side.  However costs wise it was better for Eddie bauer to move to a new space, but EB was stuck in the contract.  However, the new group bought out the contract of that location, and gave EB a big rent discount.  Plus I am so glad when we will move over b/c there are so many leaks from the stores above.

[justin8216]

I went to oak park yesterday. I hope it is just that a lot of stores are reloacting in the mall, but I saw at least 10 vacant stores.

No signs of remidling of the worn out commons areas yet, when is the Reno supposed start?

[justin8216]

I can't believe no one posted this yet. Barnes and noble coming to oakpark. They build a new 2 story store adjacent to rainforest. It will have both mall and parking entrances.

[Cheffreygo]

I can't believe no one posted this yet. Barnes and noble coming to oakpark. They build a new 2 story store adjacent to rainforest. It will have both mall and parking entrances.

That's great!  Historically speaking, a good bookstore is one thing that Oak Park has lacked.

I went to oak park yesterday. I hope it is just that a lot of stores are reloacting in the mall, but I saw at least 10 vacant stores.

No signs of remidling of the worn out commons areas yet, when is the Reno supposed start?

To my understanding, most of the vacant stores in the mall are either being built out for a new store or as you suggested, current stores relocating.

I know that Teavana and Lush will definitely be great additions and continue to end to Oak Park's high-end tenants.  Well... I know that tea and soap may not be considered high end, but when you compare a $20 can of tea to a $2 box of Lipton's and a $15 chunk of soap to a $1 bar of Irish Spring, it makes sense

[kanasalumn]

I can't believe no one posted this yet. Barnes and noble coming to oakpark. They build a new 2 story store adjacent to rainforest. It will have both mall and parking entrances.

I wonder what was going on over there in the parking lot.  That is sweet.  I like barnes and Noble. 

besides Chick-Fil-A and Target what is planning to go into the old Oak Park Plaza area?

[kanasalumn]

that B&N expansion is going on pretty smoothly. 

[mgsports]

Texas Road House Grill and other Buildings.
Foot Locker also has a location on the other side Q. Road.
Moments in Sports has opened in the Mall so has Subway and so on.

[kanasalumn]

Texas Road House Grill and other Buildings.
Foot Locker also has a location on the other side Q. Road.
Moments in Sports has opened in the Mall so has Subway and so on.

Is texas RoadHouse going where the threatre use to be???

[trailerkid]

Went into to Oak Park for the first time in a few years...

Not a favorable impression. Is there anything there not aimed at teenagers with credit cards? I was beginning to believe Oak Park was carving a niche as more of a player, but it seems they are catering to less sophisticated crowd than ever. Plaza has not a thing to worry about. Hot Topic in the center court area? Large Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe? Seriously?

Very hard to imagine this is KC's biggest, most fashionable indoor shopping center. The place is 90s gaudy and oversized with no flavor to it whatsoever. Very dated looking...Bannister had better aesthetics overall. CBL better look at complete remodeling (inside and out) to make the place more of a destination for people over 16.  Nothing about the mall says "luxury"  to me. I can definitely see the shelf life not going past 10 years with the trendy type of audience they are going after. 

[Highlander]

Went into to Oak Park for the first time in a few years...

Not a favorable impression. Is there anything there not aimed at teenagers with credit cards? I was beginning to believe Oak Park was carving a niche as more of a player, but it seems they are catering to less sophisticated crowd than ever. Plaza has not a thing to worry about. Hot Topic in the center court area? Large Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe? Seriously?

Very hard to imagine this is KC's biggest, most fashionable indoor shopping center. The place is 90s gaudy and oversized with no flavor to it whatsoever. Very dated looking...Bannister had better aesthetics overall. CBL better look at complete remodeling (inside and out) to make the place more of a destination for people over 16.  Nothing about the mall says "luxury"  to me. I can definitely see the shelf life not going past 10 years with the trendy type of audience they are going after. 

I felt the same way about Oak Park, very geared for teenagers with expendable wealth.  Oak Park does has something the Plaza does not have, two large department stores.  When looking for clothing/coats for my wife while in KC, I found the Plaza a bit limited primarily because of the lack of a department store (Halls is just too pricey).  As much as I tried to limit my spending to KC, we eventually broke down and found what we needed at Oak Park.  I'd really like to see a Nordstrom's or Macy's on the Plaza; I think it would help the area.  As I understand it, SAK's problem was not so much the business it was doing, but it closed because it was a small store and SAK's was in the process of eliminating their smaller stores. 

[LenexatoKCMO]

Went into to Oak Park for the first time in a few years...

Not a favorable impression. Is there anything there not aimed at teenagers with credit cards? I was beginning to believe Oak Park was carving a niche as more of a player, but it seems they are catering to less sophisticated crowd than ever. Plaza has not a thing to worry about. Hot Topic in the center court area? Large Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe? Seriously?

Dude, that's one of the most sought after retail demographics in the country.  The other indoor malls have failed precisedly because of the fact that they couldn't attract those trendy stores the kids want.  If you want to see the other end of the spectrum - go hang out in the department stores which are all struggling to attract customers that didn't just get off the shuttle bus from the nursing home.