Remaining Towne West mall businesses preparing to close gates for good

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - The few businesses left in Wichita’s Towne West Square mall have three days to vacate.

On June 11, the remaining tenants of Towne West received a notice from property management that they needed to vacate the space by the end of the month.

“It’s like the end of an era,” said Superstar Sports Owner Sam Stuart, among those preparing to close the gates for good.

The remaining businesses in the west Wichita mall said they knew they’d have to move, and that being forced to move in less than a month hasn’t been an easy transition. Stuart has owned his business in the mall for more than 20 years. He said the news that he has to leave didn’t come as a surprise.

“I mean, we saw the writing on the wall,” he said. “The ship has been sinking for quite a while, unfortunately; everybody knows the drama and the history of the power outages, the water getting cut, and you know, everything that’s been going on.”

Others say they’ve made their peace with what’s happening.

“It’s time to move on, and I’m okay with that now,” said C’s Scents LLC Owner Caria Christenbury.

Stuart indicated that he’s also accepted what’s happening.

“You’re on the Titanic, you see the iceberg, and there’s no steering wheel and you can’t control what’s out of your hands,” he said. “So we’re just kind of riding the waves and we’ve just been trying to enjoy every second of it.”

In these final days for Towne West Mall as we know it, customers and business owners are reflecting on their time there.

The business owners said the property management at the mall has allowed them five additional days to finish clearing out their belongings after they close for business on June 30.