Deadmalls.com Update

Nick Brim's Commentary

Metro North Mall is a 2-story, large mall, built in 1977. Metro North features 4 anchors: JCPenney, Montgomery Wards, Dillard's, and The Jones Store (a May Dept. Store, only in Missouri and Kansas). The mall had a very large parking lot, 2 pretty fountains; one by Wards, one by Jones, and a courtyard with a stage. The courtyard was a special feature, that I have never seen in any other mall, it was a stage surrounded by water, with hot-air balloons floating up and down around it. They hold magic shows, singing contests, and Santa in the courtyard stage. Metro North was decorated with lamposts, benches, plants, and many other decorative items. The lamposts and walls are supposed to look 'retro', they are a pastel green color. The mall did well, until about 2000.

Metro North lost Montgomery Wards in 2000-2001, when the company went bankrupt, and the Wards end died off, especially the top level. The lower level did a little better, but it lost quite a few stores.

There was a movie theater inside mall, at Wards end, but it closed in late 90s. They built a small, 6-screen theater outside, behind Wards and they had both theaters running at once, but they closed all of a sudden, at same time. With the 2-screen movie theater, they boarded up and planned on opening it up as a food court (mall never was built with one), a carroseul, and bouncy toys, like Independence Center had. The food court was to open in July 2003, but never did. It is now 3 years later, so I doubt it will ever open.

The mall continues losing stores at a steady pace, losing the clothing stores, The Buckle and The Avenue after the Christmas season in early 2006. Famous Footwear, Hat Zone, and Trade Secret all closed recently, within about last 3 months. The mall continues to get a fairly decent business, but it is slowly dying. The parking lot remains at about 25-50% full, even on a Saturday. Metro North is still my favorite mall, and I hope it does well and stays alive, but it doesn't look so good for it.

In September 2006, The Jones Store was renamed Macy*s, due to a merger of Macy*s and May Dept Stores. Metro North still has some popular stores in it including; Helzberg Diamonds, Foot Locker, New York & Co., Bath & Body Works, Regis Hairstlyists, Pretzel Time, Gamestop, Original Pizza, Mr. Bulky's Candy Store, Lane Bryant, Hallmark, EyeMasters, The Limited, and more. The mall is probably about 45-50% occupied, and contains about 60 stores, of the 125 storefronts.

A good thing about the mall, is that it has tons of holiday shops, because it has room, but it still does enough business to support them. Country Parlor and Country Hearts sell beautiful candles, paintings, christmas figurines, lawn ornaments, and other cute items, They have a Halloween store, selling many halloween decorations, as well as costumes and make-up products. They have a Throws n' Such, selling large throws and rugs, and a Writer at Large, selling poetic-themed items and wall hangings.