The first time I went to Independence Center after moving to West Central Missouri, my jaw dropped at how much that area of Independence had grown. There are strip malls, restaurants, and an area filled with hustle and bustle. It was indeed a change from my first visit there during a family vacation in the early 1980s when the only thing that seemed to be out there off the Interstate was the shopping mall. Independence Center is one of the Kansas City area's struggling shopping malls today.

Its struggles are similar to those of many other suburban-type shopping centers. The mall has lost anchors like Sears, which has led to questions about its long-term stability. Fluctuating foot traffic in recent years has made it harder to sell to retailers, while Oak Park Mall and the Legends don't have the same fluctuations.

Independence Center has also lagged behind redevelopment efforts. For example, both Zona Rosa and The Legends have repositioned themselves as lifestyle centers that mix dining, entertainment, and other nonretail elements.

Independence Center hasn't reached that level of redevelopment, even though much has been built around it. The City of Independence indeed discussed it as early as 2019. More recently, a couple of incidents of violence at the mall may have hampered some of those developments as well as changes in mall ownership.

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Can Kohan Retail Investment Group, the current owner since 2022, modernize and redevelop the mall? Indeed, the retail mix and vacancies haven't reached the point where the mall is in critical trouble. Yet, compared to other area malls, it's still the weakest. Keep scrolling to look at Independence Center, a surprisingly empty dead mall that still, if the data is to be believed, has 12 million visitors in a year.

Kansas City's Independence Center Mall Surprisingly Empty and Dying

As the most visited attraction in Independence, Missouri, you'd think Indepence Center would be a perfectly healthy mall. Unfortunately, it's surprisingly empty and dying.

Gallery Credit: Rob Creighton

Back In Time: The Year 1982 Scenes From A Mall

In 1982 CBS News Correspondent Charles Kuralt did a story for "CBS News Reports" looking at how shopping centers impacted communities. He used Oak Park Mall and the community of Overland Park to tell his story. Much of the story was told through video shots and interviews conducted in the mall. I call these photos culled from the video, scenes from a mall. Charles Kuralt's piece lives on today over on Youtube. You can check it out here.

Gallery Credit: Rob Creighton

 

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