The Great Mall of the Great Plains was formerly a shopping mall located in Olathe, Kansas, United States. The largest outlet mall in the state of Kansas, the Great Mall in 2007 had over 80 stores and restaurants. Burlington Coat Factory is the mall's last remaining anchor store; amenities included indoor glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course, a food court, a Game Zone arcade, and a Dickinson Theatres movie theater with sixteen screens. Great Mall of the Great Plains was owned & managed by Glimcher Properties Trust until January 2009. On September 18, 2015, the mall permanently closed its doors. Demolition is scheduled to begin on the mall in June 2016. Burlington Coat Factory will remain. Demolition commenced on July 11, 2016, and is expected to last for six months. As of January 1, 2017, all that remains is Burlington Coat Factory.
History
Great Mall of the Great Plains was co-developed by Glimcher Realty Trust and Jordan Robert Perlmutter & Co. The mall was intended to feature a "value oriented megamall" with a mix of outlet stores, traditional mall stores, big box retail, and entertainment venues, comparable to malls developed by the former Mills Corporation. Construction began on the Great Mall of the Great Plains in 1996.
Originally scheduled to open in March 1997, the mall did not open until August 14 of that year, due to leasing issues. Upon its opening, the mall had several anchor stores: Linens 'n Things, Burlington Coat Factory, Oshman's SuperSports USA, Marshalls, Group USA Clothing Company, Foozles Bookstore, and Dillard's clearance center. Other original features of the mall included a family entertainment center called Jeepers, later to become Zonkers. A food court, and a Dickinson movie theater was also in the mall. Great Mall of the Great Plains opened with 150 stores laid out in a half-mile "racetrack" pattern. The mall was the largest outlet mall in the state of Kansas.
Closures
Despite a highly successful opening which attracted more than 1.5 million visitors, some analysts' assert that the Great Mall of the Great Plains saw its success waning with time, due in part to a retail saturation in the market. Others point out that its anchor store tenants were of a variety usually relegated to strip malls that did not require the higher rents of a large enclosed destination shopping mall.
Although Off 5th opened as an additional anchor store in 1999, the mall lost three anchor stores soon afterward. Dillard's closed its clearance center in 2001, and was soon replaced with VF Outlet. A year later, both Oshman's and Linens 'n Things closed as well, as did Off 5th. Marshalls also relocated to a nearby strip center in 2005, while Steve & Barry's opened in 2005, and Famous Labels opened in 2007 but soon closed at the end of 2009. The food court had few restaurants in it. In early 2009, The Steve & Barry's closed as part of a national bankruptcy.
In an early 2008 Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Glimcher Realty Trust expressed a desire to sell the Great Mall of the Great Plains. On January 6, 2009, Glimcher sold the Great Mall of the Great Plains to focus on more valuable assets to Cecil Van Tuyl of the Van Tuyl Group. The mall is currently managed by MC Realty Group, LLC.
On Monday, February 16, 2015, The Great Mall of the Great Plains announced it would be closing in either the summer or fall of 2015. All tenants left the mall as well.
As of October 2017, the only remaining tenants are 54th Street Grill And Bar Restaurant, Burlington Coat Factory Department Store, Chili's Grill And Bar Restaurant, Days Inn Hotel, La Quinta Inn And Suites Hotel, Taco Bell Restaurant, and Toys R US Retailer.
The website announced that after August 31, 2015, they would be going dark. The mall closed on September 18, 2015.
The mall is scheduled for demolition beginning in June 2016.
Demolition commenced on July 11, 2016 at 8:00Â a.m. and is expected to last six months. Burlington Coat Factory will remain at its location. When demolition of the mall itself is complete, it will have to change locations so they can start demolition on Burlington Coat Factory's building.
The minimum vacancy of The Great Mall of the Great Plains in percent was 30% due to the low amount of leasing. These vacant spaces have been taken over by other stores over the years.
References
External links
- Official website - Dead link