Video

everything in that place I can have delivered to my door and I don't have to deal with driving 80 miles and dealing with the ghetto culture of Wichita....

Celebrity booze is nothing but a cash grab and pure swill

I go there for the dillards clearance. I live an hour from there.

Camelot music and Music land bought all my cds from there great music we used to have back then all gone and many more

It’s not just Wichita, it’s all of Kansas. If you ask Kansas, why is this happening, they would say they don’t know. Then, refusing to listen to or accept ANY suggestions for change and improvement. Which explains why businesses are failing. It’s like watching dominoes topple. It’s sad.

The Wichita Mall has nothing there except businesses and no shops 😢

I loved the pet store and the Hallmark shop. 😢

Bath and Body Works is now gone. They closed up after you posted this.

It said hot topic right there 😂

It's just sad

Diggity Damn. From down sek and this was always a fun destination in the late 80s and early 90s. Hell the wife and I used to take the kiddos there in the mid 2010s until going gas cost hit us. We were just there maybe 2 years ago and to see this just hits differently.

I live at the boarder of McPherson county and a mile from Marion county. I drive to Wichita for the malls and other stores. There's a long reason why these places are gone. At the beginning of the 1990s and through to 2005, I would take my mom with me to Wichita to shop. I'd shop for my stuff, and I took her to wherever whe wanted to go for her stuff. It was a partner trip, a fun tip and she was my best friend. The greatest mom and friend you could have. She developed alzhiemers ( can never spell it right) but still was my trip buddy at the first. Unable to make the walking around, or see the zoo (which I recorded on my camcorder for her to see when I got home), I traveled alone. It was now hard not to go to Wichita without her. In 2016, my mom passed away in my arms trying to get her to the hospital. I lost my best friend, my mom and an all around great person. I still have those memories of us at Town West and Town East malls. But I would so dearly love to have her back for just one more trip. Miss her and those days at the mall.

Does anyone remember that Egg Roll & Fried Rice restaurant that was in that hole in the wall on the west side of the mall not far from JCP? I think it was around 83 or 84. I remember that food tasting soooo good! I wonder what happened to the owners of that place. I miss their food. I remember their egg rolls being BIG! There was also that Tobacco shop that was across the hall from the Egg Roll Fried Rice. I used to buy my collectors Star Trek plates from there. Those were the days. I seem to remember going in there around 2019 before COVID hit and Towne West was still run by SIMON. They had Express, Aeropostale, and all of the other usual fashion stores. However, I went in their last August 2023 and I was appalled! Nothing is in there now. Its so sad to see the mall go downhill so precipitously.

The passing of the Great Race by Madison Grant.

Westridge Mall in Topeka is pretty much in the same predicament. It originally had 5 anchors stores. JC Penney and Dillards are still there. One was Sears, which has never had an occupant after they went bankrupt. The other 2 have had different stores rotate through such Montgomery Wards, The Jones Store, Macy's, Burlington Coat Factory. The former Macy's space is occupied by Kansas Furniture Mart. It is a two-level Mall and most of the escalators don't run. The store that you passed, but did know the name of was Hot Topic, they are still open in Westridge along with Spencers. Lenscrafters, Champs, Asian Nail, Karate place, Cookie Place, Petland, Jewelry Store. The Food Court is open with limited choices. The rest of the Mall is pretty dead.

What's your point? Pandemic killed everyone off? Amazon ? American Greed??? Government? WHAT ?!

Damn, that's depressing! Used to visit family in Wichita during the 80's and 90's as a kid and this place was very bustling! Towne West was better than Towne East back in those times! Times and things have changed and it seems like that west end of Wichita went into retail decline since my last visit 10-15 years ago.

The power gets turned off all the time because the lousy owner never pays. Was just turned back on this week.

I've seen small businesses try to move in to the mall and get started, but between the ghostiness and the garbage owner constantly NOT paying utilities really screws them over. I was seriously hoping to catch the dough guys in one day but they weren't open when I visited and the power was reneged the one evening I was free to try to visit then. I have been plotting to take my embroidery with me once day and work on it in the quiet of the mall, lol.

it was so fun hanging out there, wish it was still full of life

That’s sad. I went to Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas in the early 80s. I remember we would get carloads of students to travel to Towne West & Towne East. I bought records in this mall, I remember seeing movies here and going to Service Merchandise. It’s sad to see it in this shape.

Wow! We have a mall in Tulsa like this. Most of it turned into a storage facility.

Man, at one time Towne West ruled over Towne East. I remember the theaters, the bigger food court, the merry go round, the roasted peanuts, and the little train which ferried kids across the mall during xmas. That was back in early 00s. Now the West side in general is just sad.. with barren strip malls and streets in disrepair. West siders must not b living right..😅

I heard it was haunted…..

Candyopolis used to be a candy store called Mr.Bulky's in the 80's and 90's.

I was told the owner wants JcPennys, Dicks and Dillards to move out so he can tear down the mall and develop the land. The problem is they own their part of the building so he can’t kick them out. That is why he doesn’t pay his bills so there won’t be any traffic and they will want to leave. Sad

I actually live in Wichita, and i agree with you. I just Wichita government come with a better plan for the homeless.

Make a great homeless shelter

Sad

Ugh! You could go a little slower with the camera!👎

So sad favorite Place to shop

XYZ'ers don't go to Malls.

i used to work there in 1986..@ regis hair stylist ‼️. so sad to see it gone down🥲

If they want the place to survive, let new vendors and businesses come in the spaces for free for a few months, or more. Rent probably too high for new business owners. When Dillard’s left , they were done. Guessing they are letting it fail.

Wow, great job covering towne west mall. I spent a lot of time there in the early 90’s. Sad to see the old mall on its last leg.

So sad.

So sad!!😢 Couldn't watch the whole video!!

My mom likes to go there and walk as it's so empty of customers

Finally a guy that knows what he's taking about. I prefer the Anejo. It's 100% blue weber agave with zero additives. Reposado is a good medal winner and Anejo is a double gold winner.

Electronics Boutique was a favorite of mine.

Going to KCAI in Kansas City in the early 1980's, I knew an interior design architect who against his will was made to do many restyling and remodeling projects on big malls during what was then a recession and the architectural firm he worked for was getting little new construction projects. Even though he was young and inexperienced everyone was asking for him by name. He kept getting giant salary increases and bonuses every time he tried to leave and go to an art colony in New Mexico. He said at the time these malls would be the ghost towns of the future. I disagreed at the time. I wonder how he knew...

Thank the commie city council and commie mayors

Both Towne East and West are NOT friendly, at all, to gun owners here in Kansas, which is a Constitutional Carry State. However, I don't give a crap, and I ALWAYS carry when I visit either Mall...as well as any other time I go further than my front porch.

Is town east in the same situation?

I too live close to the Sedgwick County Zoo but haven’t been in over 25 years

I used to be one of those market research survey people there. Got promoted to manager and 2 weeks later it closed due to a "downturn in the economy." Also remember an opening with Gil "Buck Rogers" Gerard. Lots of planter material was bagged up and given to me for my garden when they took the plants out. Mary's Pizza moved to Towne East Square Mall and they closed at the end of 2023. Many of these dead malls shown in videos have movie theatres still operating. At least there isn't a crowd for the films you want to see.

Those aren’t shoppers you see, those are mall walkers

That mall cant even keep the electricty or water bills paid and are constantly getting services shut off.

I’ve watched many dead mall videos. Kohan owns this mall. Their a horrible company that buys malls and promises that they will be fixed up and revitalized and then they lie and put no effort into them. Town west has had the power shut off at least 6-8 times according to KAKE news this year. I remember when town west was booming back in the day. Kmart and toys are us were in the parking lot and heck years ago there was a venture store on the east side of the mall across the street. It’s sad to see that mall like that. That whole area is going down hill. But that’s happened to a lot of malls in Kansas and other places.

I used to shop at Towne West, and once upon a time it was a pretty nice mall to go to. But now it's flat-out depressing to go there, since the majority of the stores in that place are shuttered. It's like a ghost town, and I'm surprised that that mall hasn't gone under long ago. On the other hand, Towne East, located on the other side of Wichita, is still doing VERY well!