KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
—
As retail shopping spaces evolve and adapt, Independence Center’s pivot to filling storefronts with service-based businesses alongside its traditional shopping options is gaining steam.
“We have the Missouri driver testing center for the Missouri (State) Highway Patrol, which will bring in that Monday-through-Friday daily use right next to retail, then we have also made an addition with the Missouri Division of Family Services Counseling Center, which is set to open this summer,” Independence Center Leasing Director Holly Solomon said.
RELATED | Independence Center shops share secret to navigating shifting consumer trends
The mall’s push to transform from hawking goods to a mix of goods and services started last year — and it’s gathering steam.
Distinguished Body Art, a tattoo and piercing shop, plans to open in May, while Let’s Go BBQ will take over the former Applebee’s space and a kids clothing store, Club 22, is planned to open later this year, according to Solomon.
“We'll offer full services for piercing, tattooing, waxing,” Distinguished Body Art Co-Owner Anthony Karnes said. “My wife's (Brandy) a licensed aesthetician, so it's a family shop.”
Karnes and his wife already own OG Tattooing and Piercing in Grain Valley. It will remain open, but they’re also pouring their energy into a second location inside what used to be a candy shop on Independence Center’s lower level.
“Mr. Bulky’s, I do believe,” Karnes said. “It's a very sweet location.”
That may seem like an odd thing to hear about Independence Center, but Karnes is excited about the new space.
“I've been coming here for years and I always thought it would have been a good idea to have a location for tattooing and piercing available to the public at a big space like this,” he said. “This location has been perfect for us.”
He was drawn to tattooing and piercing by a love of art and the chance to be part of people’s journey.
“What drew me to it was just the artistic value that you get working for yourself and making a difference in people's lives,” Karnes said. “I do a lot of memorial tattoos — people that have lost children, stuff like that. It's a good job to have, not just for the personal freedom and being able to do art, but changing people's lives or getting them through a hard time. That has always been an awesome thing for me.”
The renaissance he perceives in Independence drew him to the mall.
“They've tightened up Independence over the last couple years,” Karnes said. “I think they've tried to rebrand and rebuild it.”
He said adding a police substation inside the mall and contracting for private security ensures he feels safe at the mall, which opened in 1974 and many believe still has a bright future.
“There's a lot of things that can be added to this mall that aren't just retail to drive traffic through here,” Block and Company Commercial Real Estate Vice President Bill Maas said.
Block and Company recently signed on as a leasing agent for Independence Center — a sign of their belief in the property.
“I believe that they can help us with our next step, which is adding medical development and educational uses to the mall,” Solomon said. “So, not only will there be these services, but making this place a lifestyle center.”
Eventually, that could also include apartments on the mall property.
“This has opportunity to make a comeback, and we want to be a part of it,” said Maas, a two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman with the Chiefs and the 1984 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. “Look, if you wear bell-bottom pants one time, they're going to come back. You wear straight-leg pants, they're going to come back. This mall has some opportunity.”
—
