The Great Mall of the Great Plains

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For other shopping malls called "(The) Great Mall", see The Great Mall.

Facts and statistics
The Great Mall of the Great Plains

Location	Olathe, Kansas, USA
Opening date	1997
Owner	Glimcher Properties Trust
Total retail floor area	783,010 sq ft (72,744 m²)^[1]
No. of floors	1
Website	http://www.greatmallgreatplains.com

The Great Mall of the Great Plains is a shopping mall located in Olathe, Kansas, United States. The largest outlet mall in the state of Kansas,^[2] the Great Mall currently features over 80 stores and restaurants.^[1] Burlington Coat Factory, Famous Labels, Foozles Bookstore, Group USA Clothing Company, Steve & Barry's University Sportswear, and VF Outlet are the mall's anchor stores;^[1] amenities include indoor glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course, a food court, two arcades, and a Dickinson Theatres movie theater with sixteen screens. Great Mall of the Great Plains is managed by Glimcher Properties Trust.^[1]

1 History
2 Closures
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

Great Mall of the Great Plains was co-developed by Glimcher Properties 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 Mills Corporation (which is now part of Simon Property Group).^[3]^[4] Construction began on the Great Mall of the Great Plains in 1996.^[5]

Originally slated to open in March of 1997, the mall did not open until August 14 of that year, due to leasing issues.^[6]^[7]^[4] Upon its opening, the mall featured several anchor stores: Linens 'n Things, Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory, Oshman's SuperSports USA, Marshalls, Group USA Clothing Company, Foozles Bookstore, and Dillard's clearance center (the first such clearance center in the chain).^[3] Other original features of the mall included a family entertainment center called Jeepers!, a food court, and a Dickinson movie theater.^[3] Great Mall of the Great Plains opened with 150 stores laid out in a half-mile "racetrack";^[3] the mall was also billed at the time as the largest outlet mall in the state of Kansas.^[2]

In an early 2008 Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Glimcher Realty Trust expressed a desire to sell the Great Mall of the Great Plains.^[8]

[edit] Closures

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Despite a highly successful opening which attracted more than one-and-a-half million visitors,^[3] Great Mall of the Great Plains saw its success waning with time, due in part to a retail saturation in the market.^[9]

Although Off 5th opened as an additional anchor store in 1999,^[10] the mall lost three anchor stores soon afterward. Dillard's closed its clearance center in 2001, and was soon replaced with VF Outlet.^[11] A year later, both Oshman's and Linens 'n Things closed as well,^[2] as did Off 5th.^{[citation needed]} DSW Shoe Warehouse was briefly added as an anchor store as well, but it soon closed.^{[citation needed]} Marshalls also relocated to a nearby strip center in 2005,^[12] while Steve & Barry's University Sportswear opened in 2005, and Famous Labels opened in 2007.^{[citation needed]}