 Oak Park Mall in Overland Park and Lenexa, Kansas is one of the most successful indoor shopping malls in the United States. Anchored by J. C. Penny, Macy's, Nordstrom and two Dillard's department stores, the Oak Par Mall has over 185 stores, 1.5 million square feet of retails space, and nearly 100% occupancy. At a time when most indoor shopping centers are dying, Oak Park Mall keeps changing and expanding. It is a safe place to shop with a wide variety of interesting shops. One of the biggest additions to Oak Park Mall in recent years is American Girl with its popular selection of line of dolls, books, and accessories. Oak Park Mall is child and family friendly with a double decker carousel, Disney Store, a Build-a-Bear workshop, a large food court, and a soft play area where children can slide down the back of a Range Rover, climb under the bridge and run around a race track. If you have a wifi enabled computer or device, Barnes & Noble Booksellers offer free internet access. The biggest weakness to the Oak Park Mall is the restaurant scene. After the food court, options within the mall are limited to a couple of snack places, a Panera Bread, and the only place worth making a special visit for a meal is Café Nordstrom, which will leave when Nordstrom moves to the Country Club Plaza in 2021. The coolest seasonal event at the mall is Canstruction Kansas City in February, which benefits Harvesters - The Community Food Bank in Kansas City. Teams create art from nonperishable food and the art is displayed at Oak Park Mall. When the exhibit closes, the cans, bottles and boxes are donated to Harvesters. This review would have more detail and photographs, but I was only about halfway through the mall when Security told me to stop - that taking photographs in Oak Park Mall is forbidden.
Overland Park Restaurants & Attractions
Kansas Art Musums
copyright 2009-2020 by Keith Stokes |
