WICHITA — PS Designs is heading back to the mall.
The home and garden accessories shop left Towne West Square in early 2007 to open at the Collective, J.V. Johnston’s development at East 21st Street and K-96.
Now, the store is moving to Towne East Square.
“They just got too far behind on their rent, honestly,” Johnston says. “It happens. I hope they do well.”
Co-owner Bobby Peltier says the rent at the Collective was too high for the amount of shoppers he had.
“Just with the recession . . . there’s no traffic out here,” Peltier says. “We’re so far out to the northeast side of town that, you know, we’re basically just drawing from the local neighborhood that’s here close to the store.”
His new store, which should open by late March, will be by Specs Eyewear on the upper level of Towne East.
“I feel comfortable that we’ll at least be able to survive the recession,” Peltier says of his move there.
He’s leaving 3,000 square feet at the Collective.
“I’ve got a couple of people looking at it, actually,” Johnston says of potential tenants, “which is kind of amazing in this economy.”