JC Penney’s Wichita stores are ‘operating with fewer layers of management’

May 1, 20122:41 p.m.

WICHITA — A source says there were layoffs at both JC Penney stores in Wichita Monday and that it appears to be mostly managers who were affected.

The Plano, Texas-based company will confirm only that it is “operating with fewer layers of management.”

“We are unable to provide specific details on how the restructuring impacts jcpenney stores on a local level,” wrote spokeswoman Sarah Holland in an e-mail.

The company has stores at Towne East Square and Towne West Square.

“The Company’s new approach to pricing, promotion, merchandising and the customer experience has simplified our business and removed a lot of the process-oriented work that was previously required,” Holland wrote.

“These changes are essential to helping us achieve our long-term goals. Over time, we expect that the likelihood for new and more enriched job opportunities will develop as our business grows. We would not have moved forward with these difficult decisions if we did not believe it was absolutely necessary for the future growth of our Company.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under layoffs, Retail | Comments Off

‘Til We Meet Again gets its first franchisee

April 25, 20125:00 a.m.

UPDATED — Two years after opening ’Til We Meet Again, the custom casket store in Towne West Square, the Willow Group has its first franchisee.

The franchisee is opening a ‘Til We Meet Again in the Glenbrook Square Mall in Fort Wayne, Ind., next month.

Several more likely will follow in short order. That’s even though Willow Group partners Nathan Smith and Traci Smith-Cone never planned to franchise.

“We said, ‘Absolutely not. We’re going to do this on our own,’” Smith-Cone says.

What changed?

“The YouTube video,” she says.

There have been a few videos about the store, one of which has been viewed almost 124,000 times on YouTube. Calls from around the country started coming from people who wanted to open similar shops. Then a January story in Entrepreneur piqued even more interest.

“We’ve been flooded with inquiries,” Smith says.

“My limited knowledge about franchising was we would lose control of those businesses,” Smith-Cone says. “For two type-A personalities to do that, that was very tough.”

They realized they didn’t have much choice, Smith says.

“Once it got out there, to prevent anyone else from doing what we were doing, we had to move quickly,” he says. To secure exclusive deals with manufacturers, who create all kinds of unique caskets and urns, they needed to open more stores than they could afford to do on their own.

“Our fear was more of other people starting their own and creating competition for what we wanted to do,” Smith says. “Before we didn’t have that buying power.”

Now they do, but it hasn’t been easy.

Read More »

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , Filed under Franchises, Retail | Comments Off

It’s A Wrap to open near food court at Towne West Square

March 19, 20125:20 p.m.

WICHITA — Instead of continuing to work for other restaurants, Brahim Elhamdaoui and Destiny and Raed Mansour are now going to open their own.

“It’s been a dream of ours for a few years now, and we’re finally doing it,” Destiny Mansour says.

They’re opening It’s A Wrap at Towne West Square, just outside of the food court.

They’ll sell wraps, paninis, salads, smoothies, coffee, energy drinks and juice.

The kiosk opens April 1.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , Filed under New business, Restaurants, Towne West Square, West side | Comments Off

You don’t say

Jan. 17, 20124:46 p.m.

“It just blew us away. … We were not ready for it whatsoever.”

– Nathan Smith of ’Til We Meet Again on an Entrepreneur article on the Towne West Square casket store that ran a month early and has led to a deluge of calls

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under You don't say | Comments Off

Kay Jewelers to open at NewMarket Square

Nov. 22, 20117:02 a.m.

WICHITA — Every kiss begins at … NewMarket Square?

Some of them soon will, anyway.

Kay Jewelers, known for its “every kiss begins with Kay” tagline, is opening at the development at 21st and Maize.

The chain is taking 2,224 square feet where Meritrust Credit Union used to be. That’s the same building as Pei Wei.

April Reed of Slawson Cos., who handled the deal, says the store likely will open in early February – probably in time for Valentine’s Day.

“This is our first national jeweler,” Reed says.

A local jewelry store, Powell Jewelry, is in the same area. Reed says there isn’t a conflict.

“Historically jewelry stores have clustered in the mall,” she says. “People in that category cross-shop so much.”

There are Kay stores in Towne East Square and Towne West Square, but Reed says Kay has also been going into open-air retail centers such as NewMarket for years.

There’s only one other space left to lease in that part of the development. There’s 1,900 square feet available facing Best Buy in the same building as Doc Green’s.

The new Kay will face Maize Road. Reed says there’s only one NewMarket space left along Maize Road. It’s in the same building as Sport Clips Haircuts.

“That would fill up everything on Maize Road that Slawson owns.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Filed under New business, NewMarket Square, Real estate, Retail, West side | Comments Off

Towne West Square to be home to an ice rink

July 27, 20112:04 p.m.

WICHITA — Towne West Square has what sounds like some cool news: It’s getting an ice rink.

Wichitans may enjoy the rink, but it’s not likely to cool anyone off this hot summer.

That’s because the Glide Plaza that Salvador Marroquin is bringing to the mall next month is made of synthetic ice instead of water-based ice.

Abby Marr, the mall’s director of marketing and business development, says the plastic surface will look and feel like the real thing, though.

“It will draw people to the property who just want to try something new in the middle of the summer,” she says.

When the mall is open, the rink will be, too.

Read More »

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , Filed under New business, Towne West Square | Comments Off

Kwan Wah owner to open Wok Hey at 13th and Maize

July 12, 201111:16 a.m.

WICHITA — Kwan Wah owner Andy Diec has signed a lease for a second restaurant.

He’s opening Wok Hey in 1,300 square feet at 1444 N. Maize Road.

That’s the center at 13th and Maize where All Paws Pet Center, Little Caesars and the Starting Block also are.

“I’m pleased to announce that we are 100 percent,” says Dan Unruh of InSite Real Estate Group on leasing the 9,100-square-foot center.

“I’m really pleased that we were able to complete the leasing of this particular building in this particular market, especially when there were a lot of doubters out there about the viability of 13th and Maize as a retail trade area,” he says.

“With the right landlord and the right economics, deals can get done.”

Read More »

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under Leases, Real estate, West side | Comments Off

‘Til We Meet Again to open second custom casket store, this time in Hutchinson

May 4, 20115:28 a.m.

WICHITA — The YouTube video “Death Comes to the Mall” has created more than just curious customers for ‘Til We Meet Again, the custom casket store that opened at Towne West Square in March 2010.

It’s also leading to a second store, this one in Hutchinson, in what owners Nathan Smith and Traci Cone hope will be a franchised chain.

“This whole thing has just taken . . . off and just taken us all by storm,” Smith says.

“I expected us to be open at least two years before we started putting (more) stores in.”

Hutchinson residents James and Robin McComas are two of the more than 120,000 people who have seen one of the videos that customers have made about the unique store.

“We actually drove down to take a look and see what it was,” James McComas says.

Then, Robin McComas’ father died, and her family ordered an urn from ‘Til We Meet Again that was customized to look like her father’s Harley-Davidson.

“It was a wonderful experience in the sense of closure for so many people,” James McComas says.

“Right after that, I kept hounding Nathan. ‘Hey, we’d really like to be partners with you.’ ”

He says the biggest trigger to open the store was when he lost his job as vice president for operations at Promise Regional Medical Center due to restructuring.

“It opened the door to this,” McComas says.

The Hutchinson store will open at 306 N. Main St. on May 19.

“I’m calling mine the Main Street model,” McComas says. “It’s designed for rural America. It’s a little bit different market niche.”

Read More »

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Filed under Hutchinson, Kansas State University, New business, Towne West Square, Wichita State University | Comments Off

Back Porch to close after 16 years at Towne East Square

April 25, 20111:55 p.m.

WICHITA — The Back Porch has been a fixture at Towne East Square for 16 years, but that’s about to end.

“Business has just continued to slow down for us,” says Bart Bath, who owns the store with his wife, Pam.

They closed their Towne West Square Back Porch last summer.

“What we sell isn’t something people have to have,” Bart Bath says. “It’s more of a luxury.”

The Back Porch is now mainly a gift store.

In past years, it also sold items made of wood, such as shelves, that you might find at a craft fair. In fact, the Baths often traveled to craft fairs in the past.

“We tried to evolve as best we could,” Bart Bath says. “Things just change.

“Go look around at people’s houses. . . . Just the tastes change.”

Online competition also is a factor, he says.

“That’s the way everybody shops is online.”

The store will be gone by late June or possibly a bit earlier depending on a new tenant.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , Filed under Closings, Retail, Towne East Square, Towne West Square | Comments Off

Lazy Day Games to open in west Wichita

Jan. 28, 201111:18 a.m.

WICHITA — Lazy Day Games, a new gaming center, will open at the corner of Maple and Anna across from Towne West Square on Feb. 4.

Partners Daniel Lozano Jr., Oliver Wimbley Jr. and Michael Espinosa had a previous business in Derby that repaired gaming consoles and computers. They decided there was a need for a gaming center where people could gather and play games such as Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

“We’re providing the whole experience,” Lozano says.

Why not just play at home?

“Gamers are a different walk of life,” Lozano says. “We like to play with other people. We like the competition.”

There will be high-definition monitors and special gaming chairs.

The 5,000-square-foot center will be open daily noon to midnight, with expanded hours in the summer. There’s an extra 2,000 square feet that will be used to continue the repair business.

Games will cost $7 an hour, and there will be frequent promotions for cheaper rates. Memberships also will be available.

Lozano says there will be special charity events for kids and tournaments for everyone, which he expects to be raucous fun.

“We get loud. We have fun.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , Filed under Real estate | Comments Off