Category Archives: Towne West Square

Shesha Tobacco Shop to open Tuesday at Towne West Square

12 hours and 6 minutes ago

WICHITA — A new tobacco shop is opening in Towne West Square Tuesday.

Mary and Maher Gerges are opening Shesha Tobacco Shop near JC Penney.

“My husband’s just always wanted a place over there,” Gerges says.

She says their small space is where another tobacco shop was a few years back.

“He just decided that would be the perfect place for it.”

They’ll sell a variety of tobacco, including cigars and tobacco for hookah water pipes.

There will be a few odds-and-ends items, too, like mints, gum and incense.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , Filed under Retail, Towne West Square | Comments (1)

Waldenbooks to close, most likely after Christmas

Nov. 5, 20095:46 p.m.

WICHITA — Wichita’s last Waldenbooks is closing.

The Waldenbooks at Towne West Square is one of 200 stores Borders Group plans to close in its Waldenbooks and Borders Express segment, which includes outlet stores.

“We think it’s a good strategy for our overall business,” says spokeswoman Mary Davis.

Borders Group, which is based in Ann Arbor, Mich., is the nation’s second-largest bookstore chain.

“The rightsizing allows us to reduce a number of stores with operating losses,” Davis says.

She won’t say how well the Waldenbooks performed here.

There’s no firm closing date, but it likely will be early in the new year.

“Our goal really is to emerge with a significantly smaller, more profitable Waldenbooks small business,” Davis says.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , Filed under Retail, Towne West Square | Comments (4)

Bungee Jump to open at Towne West Square

Sept. 10, 20094:48 p.m.

WICHITA — If tattoos aren’t your thing, maybe you could try bungee jumping instead.

Bungee Jump will open at Towne West Square on Oct. 22.

Alper Mutluturk is opening the business. He has eight others nationally at properties owned by Simon Property Group, which owns Towne West.

Mutluturk doesn’t offer traditional bungee jumping.

Instead, his business has a trampoline people can jump on — sometimes 20 feet in the air — while strapped in harnesses.

Mutluturk will charge about $7 for the experience, though he hasn’t settled on a price.

“It does attract a lot of people,” he says.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under Towne West Square | Comments (3)

Sailor’s World Famous Tattoos to open in Towne West Square

Sept. 10, 20094:29 p.m.

WICHITA — Towne West Square continues to reinvent itself.

Earlier this year, Douley’s Billiards & Sports Bar and the Denim & Diamonds club opened there.

Now, the mall is getting its first tattoo parlor.

“Tattoo has kind of evolved to being in the mall now,” says Raul Tanguma, who next month is opening Sailor’s World Famous Tattoos with Justin Haas.

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , Filed under Towne West Square | Comments (6)

Chinese Acupressure to convert from kiosk to store at Towne East Square

July 7, 20093:06 p.m.

WICHITA — Four years after first opening a kiosk in Towne East Square, Chinese Acupressure is converting its business to a full store.

“We want to provide more services to our customers and more privacy, too,” says owner Anita Chou.

In May, she opened a full store at Towne West Mall, and Chou says the reception has been terrific.

“Everybody’s happy,” she says.

She offers chair massages, full-body massages and reflexology.

Look for the new store to open Aug. 1 across from where the kiosk has been near Dillard’s.

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Mattress Hub expands at Towne East and Towne West

June 3, 20097:00 a.m.

WICHITA — Mattress Hub is taking 18,000 square feet in Towne East Square where Steve & Barry’s used to be and opening what the owners believe will be the nation’s largest store devoted exclusively to mattresses.

“That will be our big papa,” says Ryan Baty, whose primary partner in the business is Mark Barrientos. “We’re really trying to set up a destination location.”

The Wichita-based company has locations in Salina, Hutchinson and Newton. At Towne West Square, a new 8,000-square-foot Mattress Hub opened two weeks ago. Previously, the store there was about 3,200 square feet.

Baty says the larger stores fit “right into our motto: ‘You want it, you got it.’ We really think we’ve hit on a niche.”

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , Filed under Retail, Towne East Square, Towne West Square | Comments (4)