Note 1 – This paper was written by me in 2012 but has been not only a piece I’m proud of but also one I often discuss amongst friends as well. I think it serves as a time capsule for a time when most people had moved on from the Metro North Mall but kept it in their minds, and it’s interesting to see what plans they had that eventually fell through.
Note 2 – When I originally completed this assignment, I had cited Kansas City Star articles copied from microfiche at the Kansas City Library. I turned in printouts of the articles mentioned (as specified in the assignment’s requirements) instead of citing the sources traditionally.I don’t recall the exact dates of the issues of the Star I used, but I wanted to give them at least as much citation as I could.
It becomes almost impossible to imagine that only 12 years ago the Metro North Mall was once a shopping and social haven for old and young alike, and not a place that served the needs of joggers more than anybody. It’s hard to believe the mall contains empty space after empty space and chain fence after metal barricade within the unapologetic neon colors that nobody in their right mind in 2012 would decorate their home with. Many fountains have been emptied of the water, now leaving only the machine that cycled it as if someone dumped a motor in it. Some shops still leave signs of what was there once before; power cords for ovens, tables with chairs attached or shelves and racks for hanging items. Others, such as the Orange Julius, the movie theater and the Fun Factory arcade have been replaced by walls, leaving no signs that they ever existed for years and years in the first place, as if they have been erased from the records. It’s hard for someone who has been to the mall all their lives to see what has become of it. Likewise, it’s tough for someone who sees it now for the first time to see anything but a piece of scenery on the side of the road. What was the Metro North Mall like in its heyday? What is it truly like now? And what does the future hold?
The Past – Fly Away! Spend a day!
The Metro North Mall was constructed throughout the mid-1970s as a shopping mecca for the Kansas City area. Nearly 40,000 attended its grand opening in 1976. The Mall was developed by Sherman Dreiseszun and his nephew Frank Morgan.
Dreiseszun and Morgan both owned and operated several properties throughout Kansas City. When the Metro North Mall opened in 1976, it was the second biggest mall in the Kansas City Area short of the Oak Park Mall, which opened in 1974 and was owned and operated by Dreiseszun and Morgan. Both of them ran several successful businesses within the Metro Area, including the Town Pavilion and One Kansas City Place in the late 80s. They were also successful bank operators, having each been placed on Forbes list of the richest Americans in 1991. A bank scandal eventually hit them hard in the pocketbooks. Frank Morgan would pass away in the early 90s having never confessed to any wrongdoing in the scandal. During this time, Dreisezun lost control of many of the banks he owned, thereby cutting him off from the profits those banks were making. Dreiseszun would eventually confess to crimes of bid rigging and would pay a $375,000 fine and retain control of his banks. He passed away in 2007.
When it opened in September 1976, the Metro North Mall hosted 125 stores and 4 anchor stores across two levels. One aspect of the mall’s original layout shows stores that don’t tend to market themselves towards a youthful crowd. This, along with very few food options for its time show that the Metro North Mall was intended to be a one-stop shopping center first and foremost, and its role as a social hangout wasn’t prioritized. This isn’t to say there weren’t sights to see and places to visit however. A large part of Metro North’s marketing gimmicks have always revolved around balloons. Many people who have visited the Metro North Mall and do so to this day still recall the ironically miniature (though still several feet tall) hot air balloons that would levitate up to a certain level; sometimes only up to the second tier, and sometimes clear to the glass ceiling of the central pavilion, and then float back down gently. These balloons would often change color depending on a theme of the season or holidays; when the 4th of July came near, the balloons would take a patriotic red, white, and blue scheme. During the fall, the balloons would be adorned with a yellow and brown hue to reflect the colors of the season.
The mall has always retained a neon blue scheme to its design. There are neon lights strung out in various places and many of the walls are painted this same neon color, as if you’re in the year 2012 through the eyes of the 1960s. There have always been fountains of various sizes throughout the mall, with the most notable one surrounding the balloons. For years people would toss any change they have into the various fountains, with a few crumpling and throwing dollar bills in.
A mall culture would cultivate in the late 80s and early 90s, with the Metro North Mall starting to cater to that demographic. A large amount of stores began to crop up aimed at a younger market; Spencer’s Gifts offered a large (though sometimes leud) selection of items for teens and young adults. The Disney Store still remains an often-cited memory of the Mall, containing several Disney related items and merchandise, as well as numerous televisions playing Disney films along the black floors and walls. While the Orange Julius always existed in the mall, the Sam Goody candy shop, Topsy’s Popcorn, and Original Pizza offered a wider variety of mall food than when the mall opened with only a couple “food-on-a-stick” joints. Also, the Fun Factory Arcade was a place many youngsters spent time and money at. Many of these places, along with the movie theater (while it was around, a murder within one of the 6 theaters shut the place down with no plans to reopen) kept the mall running strong. While many of these places sound like typical mall mainstays, it was close to a large amount of people that were interested in such a place and had nothing near them that offered what the Metro North Mall did. As well, the KC Metro busses always have stopped at Metro North (and still do), so a simple bus ride and spare time is all a young person would need to travel there.
[Redacted] often visited Metro North during the mall culture’s prime. He said he visited around once a week on average, and was usually there on Fridays after school. When I showed him a map of what the Metro North Mall had when it first opened in the 70s, he remarked that the stores were a lot more adult oriented in comparison to Spencer’s, Topsy’s Popcorn, Software Etc. (now known as GameStop), Mr. Bulky’s, KB Toys, and so on that lined the mall in the 90s and early 2000s.
[Redacted]’s lasting memory is of the atmosphere. “You had parents yelling at their kids and how it echoed through the halls. You could walk by the Fun Factory and hear all the games making noises. And there was that chill-out mall music that you’d never want to put on your iPod, but it just fit the place so well”.
As time went on though, many stores in the mall started to depart. Many people attribute Zona Rosa’s construction to the downfall of the Metro North Mall and while that must certainly be considered, it was hard not to see the signs even beforehand to [Redacted]. “Did Zona Rosa run it out? It was on its way out already. People always crave new stuff, and the Metro North Mall had trouble delivering in competition with many other fronts such as Tiffany Springs and the Boardwalk, as well as Zona Rosa. But I promise you, Zona will arrive at the same point in almost the same amount of time as Metro North did, and Tiffany Springs and the Boardwalk will shut down even before that”. [Redacted] also has his own theories to things that could have contributed to the Mall’s downturn. “It only takes a few stores to shut down. Usually people will go to a store with only one destination in mind and decide to check the other store’s items in the process. It would only take a few of the stores with more regular customers to close down or move for people to just stop going to the mall altogether”.
In 2001 a project began for a food court in the Metro North Mall to be built where an old 6-screen movie theater was. This forced the mall to shut down many of the restaurants within so they could be rebuilt as part of the court. However, this project would never be completed, and all of the restaurants involved would not be relocated within the mall or reopened in their previous spots. As development of Zona Rosa started to near completion, many stores left not only the Metro North Mall, but Barry Road altogether. Both Dillard’s and JCPenny would leave for much nicer stores either within Zona Rosa or nearby Tiffany Springs. The entire Montgomery Wards corporation was shut down, which left a vacancy within their anchor of the mall. This left only The Jones Store, which eventually left and became Macy’s. Macy’s was in fact around when the mall originally opened as well, leaving a small bit of full-circle irony to the life of The Metro North Mall as it stands today.
The Present – “As If Time Stopped”
The Metro North Mall is still open to this day, but it is undoubtedly a far cry from what once existed before. You can tell on the drive up to Metro North that things just feel off. The instant feeling you get from seeing gigantic parking lots with only about 10 cars each parked in them gives an eerie feeling to say the least. And that’s if you park in the lots connected to Macy’s. A drive around to the lots that connect to the former anchor stores contain even less cars, often times not a single car at all. The buildings around the mall that received business from mallgoers have become scenery. Two auto shops as well as a movie theater in the back of the mall property are all closed. Even across the street the lack of business is evident. What once was another movie theater eventually became a church, but has also shut down as well. And recently the Best Buy store that had resided there for years and years shut its doors as well. The other smaller stores and restaurants have either cycled around for some time, or have seen the bare minimum of business it takes to keep it around. It’s as if somebody took a decrepit mini-mall and increased its size tenfold without actually adding anything to it.
Within the mall itself, the theme continues. Store after store has been shut down, leaving little subtle hints as to what was there before. Where TCBY once stood near the central pavilion still contains white tiles with random blue and red tiles scattered, a signature of the franchise’s style. The Disney Store’s old storefront still uses a neon blue and pink color scheme and still has the black floors and ceiling inside, but they contain health supplement ads from the still-open GNC center inside the marque instead of advertisements and related merchandise for Disney’s next theatrical offering. The Orange Julius opened along with the mall and was the final store of those that originally inhabited the mall to shut down, with the area now covered in a wall with a wooden door in the middle with no hint as to what could be behind it. Though this is often a sign of construction, this wall has remained up for many years now with no advertisement of an oncoming business. Safe to assume its bit the dust. A Topsy’s popcorn that is only opened during the holiday season is the only place to purchase any food in the mall anymore.
The mall is still open, but the market within has become incredibly niche. Unless you are looking for something incredibly specific, you really don’t have any financial business being in the Metro North Mall itself aside from the Macy’s anchor store. Kay Jewelers still stands near the central pavilion, even if its workers probably spend more time standing idly and chatting amongst themselves than with customers. The aforementioned GNC store that sells vitamins and health supplements still stands down one wing of the mall, with “The Wig Shoppe” still standing a few fronts down. This was a store me and my friends would always joke about, that there was no way it would stay opened longer than the stores we frequented. Seeing the wood panels, the orange sign that begins with a grammatically incorrect lowercase “t”, and all the merchandise popcorned all around the cramped store makes me feel like karma spent 10 years sharpening its fangs before biting me in the ass.
The most prevalent of people in the store anymore are mallwalkers, specifically during the Winter and Summer seasons. Many of them dressed in loose t-shirts and windbreaker pants, they simply graze the perimeter of the climate-controlled store, not needing to worry about temperature or precipitation. They pay little attention to the locked up storefronts as they walk/speedwalk right by. It’s hard telling whether they care or if they’re just so used to the sight that they can ignore it. Most of these people can be found on the second floor of the mall, where even though only an Eyemasters and Hair California still exist, the entire perimeter of the mall is accessible, unlike the bottom floor where the area for the nonexistent food court is still blocked off.
It’s still amazing that so much care is put into this place even due to the severe lack of business. Floors are still clean, trash isn’t stacked up, nothing is knocked over. You can still see janitors walking the floors, sweeping dust, and picking up loose trash, as if their jobs wouldn’t change whether Metro North sees 30 or 30,000 people in a day. It’s as clean as it was in its prime, maybe even cleaner. Many of the visitors still sit at the gigantic stairway in the middle of the mall and watch the balloons. Though instead of eating and/or checking their merchandise, it only serves to reflect. You can hear the balloons hit the hot air jets that protrude from the fountain, even though the jets themselves are almost silent. The sounds of Eric Church and other country singers fill the air now, a far leap from the gentle mall music, as if the mall wants to remind you you’re in a rundown part of town, and not in a mirrored, neon utopia. You can even hear the Sirius commercials kick in if you listen hard enough, which is puzzling considering the Muzak service is still quite commonly used even among smaller businesses, such as the Big V Country Mart in my hometown of Smithville. There is also a bird that has made its nest inside a plant in the mall and flies around the central fountain, even willing to eat food from people sitting on the steps willing to offer it. It all contributes to the eerie aura of the mall, as if you’re trespassing in an area that’s about to be destroyed and you need to leave immediately.
The Future – Rediscovering the “Pleasure of Shopping”
The Metro North Mall’s official website does indeed provide information of a rebuilding process. However, details on this are blurry at best. Their description of the re-launch provides a lot of rhetorical statements. This website states that redevelopment is to begin this year, 2012, with construction completing in 2014. They also claim the renovated mall will be 103 acres of land, which is noteworthy due to the size of the current mall taking up 105 acres. There were proposals of the mall being turned into an outdoor area similar to Zona Rosa, but when Dreiseszun passed away the project was scrapped. A friend of [Redacted]’s who also works at the Metro North Mall has stated to him that they are “redoing everything” though he could not go into further details, and that he honestly believed Zona Rosa was in for some real competition.
The Oak Park Mall was in similar straits but recently finished a rebuilding of its own and is now enjoying a large amount of success, with almost every lot in the store occupied by a business. It is possible that a similar reconstruction could provide similar results. However, there have been many obstacles to clear in the process. There is still an ongoing conflict between the old Dillard’s property and the Metro North Mall. This would seem like an easy conflict to solve if Dillard’s was not backed by ZR Metro, the firm that owns the rival Zona Rosa shopping district that Dillard’s now occupies. And while construction is said to be ready to begin in 2012, a sign outside Topsy’s popcorn claims that they will return during the upcoming holiday season of 2012. Unless construction is going to take place in segments and not all at once (which is difficult to believe if the mall is aiming for a 2014 relaunch), then this would not be possible. Also, while Metro North claims other stores have signed on to become a part of the mall and replace the vacant anchor stores, no corporation has stepped up and said they are involved.
However, while doing research for this article I did stumble upon one interesting discovery. There is a website devoted to bringing Von Maur, an outlet store whose closest branch resides in Overland Park, to the new Metro North Mall. This appears to be an official site, as it is linked to Von Maur’s official page and includes quotes from the President of the Northland Regional Chamber and from a Legislative Aid to Kansas City. Most noteworthy are concept photos of what the store would look like inside a renovated Metro North Mall. Right now, these are the only verified photos hinting the visual appearance of the New Metro North project.
[Redacted] however, sees a different image. “I think the delays in reopening will continue, and eventually an entirely new shopping district will pop up and either force Metro North to get its act together or fold up and go home for good”. That being said, he is optimistic that a renovated Metro North could succeed “Part of me hopes they keep the corny tiles and the neon, just to keep it unique. I also wonder if they will keep with tradition and have the balloons, and finally get that food court done…if there is a good Metro North Mall in the winter, especially during a brutal winter and around Black Friday, Zona Rosa would take a humongous hit from it”.
It would be incredibly easy to de-value what the Metro North Mall represented. And yes, it could be interpreted as a defeat for capitalism and so on. With all of that being said, it takes something beyond words to describe a ghost mall such as this, where there’s no guarantees of a non-bleak future. This mall, over its nearly 40 years of existence has taken a life of its own, a character of its own. All that’s left to wonder is if the Metro North Mall has a Rocky Balboa ending of an old dog learning new tricks, or if it’s just a matter of time before all that’s left is what once was.