WICHITA — Not unexpectedly, Barnes & Noble is closing its store on East Kellogg on Dec. 30.
That’s the end of the store’s lease at Eastgate Plaza, which is at Kellogg and Rock.
A company spokeswoman says in 2007, the chain decided to consolidate its Wichita stores into one location at Bradley Fair.
That store, which moved from another North Rock Road site, opened in April 2008.
WICHITA — What’s fashionable in west Wichita soon will be on the east side as well.
The Fashion women’s boutique at Central and West is getting a sister store.
Andy Young Lee and his wife, immigration lawyer Jihyun Kim, own the 7,500-square-foot store at Plaza West.
Their second store will be at Eastgate Plaza at Kellogg and Rock.
“There’s totally two different markets — east and west,” Kim says of Wichita.
The east store will start out smaller with about 2,500 square feet.
Andy Boyd of Walter Morris Cos. handled the deal.
“We’ve been looking for this location for a while, actually,” Kim says.
She hoped for more space, but she says the only other space at Eastgate was more than 10,000 square feet, and she says that’s more than she and her husband are ready for.
The location was a draw nonetheless.
“It gets a lot of traffic,” Kim says.
WICHITA — The last Scrapbook Garden in Wichita is closing.
Bob and Kathy McCreary, who in 2008 lost their lease at Eastgate Plaza, now are closing their 12-year-old store at Maple and Ridge.
“Closing the store was a painful decision — one that we were forced to take given the current economic and retail environment,” Bob McCreary says. “We were not willing to sign a long-term lease.”
He says his landlord wanted them to sign for another five years. The McCrearys wanted to sign a two-year lease.
“Up to the very end we were buying product and hopeful that he would come to the table, but it just never did materialize,” McCreary says.
The store is closed today but will reopen at 10 a.m. Thursday for a closing sale, which will run until merchandise and fixtures are liquidated.
“We’re aggressively marking things down from 25 to 75 percent off,” McCreary says. “When it’s gone is when we’ll be out.”
WICHITA — It’s apparently going to be a beautiful year in Wichita.
Bare Escentuals is the third new beauty-supply store on its way to Wichita.
In late December, Bradley Fair announced Sephora is coming to its shopping center this spring.
Last week, Eastgate Plaza announced Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance is coming to the center at Kellogg and Rock in early summer.
Bare Escentuals, which Have You Heard? first reported was eyeing the market last summer, will open in Towne East Square in March.
“It’s a very cultlike cosmetic company,” says David Friedman, a real estate consultant to Bare Escentuals.
“Women are really into it.”
The company sells skin-care products as well, but it’s best known for its bareMinerals line of makeup.
“Oh, my god,” Friedman says. “It’s so popular.”
WICHITA — There’s another new lease at Eastgate Plaza at Kellogg and Rock, which makes the center 95 percent full.
Illinois-based discount beauty retailer and salon Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance is taking the former David’s Bridal space.
The bridal store moved from its 10,400-square-foot space to a new 6,400-square-foot space within the center next to Plato’s Closet.
Ulta started in 1990. The idea behind the store is a combination of a large beauty warehouse with specialty store attributes.
Ulta has more than 500 brands and about 21,000 products.
Andy Boyd of Walter Morris Cos. and Christian Ablah of Classic Real Estate handled the deal.
Look for an early summer opening.
WICHITA — The World Poker Tour Amateur Poker League is moving its headquarters to Eastgate Plaza near Kellogg and Rock and opening its first retail space next door.
“We want it to be open before Black Friday,” president Kurt McPhail says of the World Poker Tour Store.
His group hosts poker tournaments in five countries.
“Because of our buying power, we get such great deals on our poker-playing supplies,” McPhail says. “We decided to pass that on to everybody.”
The store, which will be in about 750 square feet, will sell poker gear and custom poker tables. Customers also will be able to book poker cruises from there.
Most of what the store will sell will be the kind of supplies the company already is buying for league owners within its organization.
The company’s office, which currently is in 600 square feet at 144 N. Oliver, will be in 1,100 square feet at Eastgate.
McPhail says there will be a rewards discount club where members can pay $69 a year and have access to about 20,000 everyday products — not just poker supplies — at wholesale prices.
There will be kiosks at the store to purchase those products or customers can shop online at www.wptapl.com.
The World Poker Tour hosts 30,000 poker tournaments annually.
McPhail and his partners, who used to have the Highlands Gastropub and Cardroom on North Rock Road, are still appealing a ruling saying that their Kandu Challenge card game is illegal.
The group also is negotiating with the IRS on interest payments on more than $435,000 it paid in back taxes. McPhail expects it to be resolved by the end of the year.
“You know, things are getting better every day,” he says.
He likes Eastgate for exposure for the headquarters and the retail space.
“I don’t think many people knew we were still in Wichita.”
WICHITA — More than a decade after opening at Towne East Square, Kirkland’s is leaving the mall.
The home decor store is not going far.
It’s moving to Eastgate Plaza at Kellogg and Rock, most likely in early September.
“It’s just more convenient for our customers to drive up, run in and run out . . . instead of walking through the mall,” says Sarah Weaver, leasing manager at the Nashville, Tenn.-based company.
The chain has 280 stores in 28 states. As the company’s leases in malls expire, they’re moving to dominant shopping centers outside of the malls.
“It’s just a corporate real estate strategy that we’ve adopted,” Weaver says.
The Wichita move will take Kirkland’s from 5,755 square feet to 10,000 square feet adjacent to Famous Footwear.
Weaver says nearby tenants, including T.J. Maxx, Toys R Us and Barnes & Noble, are part of the attraction at Eastgate.
WICHITA — David’s Bridal is moving, but not far.
The bridal shop currently has 10,400 square feet at Eastgate Plaza at Kellogg and Rock Road.
The store, one of about 330 nationally for the Pennsylvania-based company, is moving within Eastgate to a new 6,400-square-foot space next to Plato’s Closet.
That doesn’t mean there will be fewer dresses from which to choose, though.
A new prototype has streamlined the store, but part of the reduction in space is due to much less bulky bridal gowns these days.
“They actually take up less space now than they did,” says Jim Neilland, real estate manager for the company.
“That was new and shocking to me,” he says. “I’m just a poor old real estate guy. I remember my wife’s dress taking up half the church.”
That, though, was 33 years ago.
Andy Boyd of Walter Morris Cos. and Chris Hitchcock of Classic Real Estate handled the deal.
Look for the new David’s Bridal to open late this year. The existing store will remain open until then.