KCRag Forum

I was reading an article today and it looks like Bass Pro is once again looking @ the Banister Mall site, the new owner of the mall is in talks with owner of Jones store that stoped the previous developement talks out there I really think this is the best site for it here in the metro it would bolster that area and bring it back economicaly.

Where did you read it at?

I like the Bannister Mall site. It's a very stagnant area although reading the cityscapes section in the paper the other day they announced the signing of 5 new retailers in the old Bannister Plaza area. I really don't want to see Bass Pro go downtown because of the same reasons I don't want them in downtown St. Louis. Now how much was Bass Pro going to get as far as tax concessions from the city and state?

There's really no reason why Bannister can't be successful again. The nearest competition is Town Center and Independence Center.

What I'd like to see happen is to demolish the mall and build a huge mall that integrates outdoor plazas and indoor corridors. Don't compete with Town Center on upscale, but have the latest trendy stores (Hot Topic, Wet Seal, American Eagle) mixed with bigger versions of other stuff (Gap superstore, multi-level flagship Old Navy, multi-level Borders). Have 6 anchor stores (Jones Store, Dillard's, Sears, JCPenney, Bass Pro, and Von Maur). I do think they need to wipe the slate clean and build a brand center to get rid of their reputation.

SummitWoods in Lee's Summit is pretty close to Bannister, and is probably capturing a lot of the south Jack market that used to shop at Bannister back in the day. Something radical like busting it up would probably be a good thing. Perhaps the biggest hurdle Bannister has the nagging perception of crime. Accurate or not, many people who used to shop there just feel flat out unsafe there now. That is going to be hard to change.

The old indoor mall scheme just isn't fashionable right now. With chains like Target and Kohls building in the smaller suburbs there is less and less need to make trips to the big regional malls. Independence Center and Oak Park Mall are really the only traditional malls that are doing well lately.