3 Forever 21 Locations In Kansas City Closing For Good

Kansas City's retail landscape continues to change as fast fashion retailer Forever 21 is closing three locations in the Kansas City area, including one at Country Club Plaza.

Fox 4 Kansas City is reporting that Forever 21 will close their Country Club Plaza location towards the end of March, however, the store could close sooner depending on how fast the remaining merchandise sells. The television station also reports that Forever 21 will be closing its stores at Legends Outlets Kansas City and Independence Center.

The Kansas City Star reports that employees at Forever 21's locations at Oak Park Mall and the Zona Rosa indicated those stores are not closing. And that the three stores that are closing are all advertising 50% off merchandise store-wide.

The store closures aren't anything new for Independence Center or Country Club Plaza.

A KCTV 5 news story from this past December on the potential sale of the century-old shopping center counted 18 empty storefronts while doing a story on the potential sale of the plaza and what current tenants would like to see happen with Kansas City's historic plaza.

Fox 4 reported that Independence Center's Director of Marketing and Leasing, Holly Solomon, sent a letter to tenants at the mall talking broadly about how Independence Center could partner with developers specializing in mixed-use projects and innovative ideas to position the mall as a vibrant community destination.  This was in response to Independence city officials floating the mall's location as a new ballpark site for the Royals.

So, no. A fashion retailer closing three locations in the Kansas City area isn't anything new. It's not the dagger that will do in any of the three shopping malls where these stores were located. However, it certainly doesn't make redeveloping these places any easier either.