What Happened To The Great Mall Of The Great Plains 

That was the OG hangout spot 👌🏼

It's so weird to watch a video about my home state much more having it be about my home town. I've grown up with this mall and seeing it demolished years ago was disheartening.

Just reminiscing and paying tribute to the greatest mall that ever was. Death: It’s time to go. Great Mall of the Great Plains: Are you sure? Death: Yes. Great Mall of the Great Plains: Did I do okay? Death: No, as your name implies, you did Great.

My childhood mall

I NEED THAT GLOW IN THE DARK MINI GOLF IN MY LIFE RIGHT NOW

I am from KCK and when we lost Indian Springs (my heart still hasn't healed from that) the GM became our home and way from home. My mom made me see Titanic 14 times there hahaha. Every single Saturday, no matter if it was summer, winter, 103 degrees or 34 below lol, we were there. Then they closed it and my heart broke all over again. :(

Sup fellow Olathe people? :) A lot of memories at this mall. Too many to count.

Great video. I was enthralled by this mall as a kid. But it seemed finished shortly after it started. Went back a few times in my teen years and it was a sad sight with half of the mall gated off.

The moment you open up a government office in the mall, you know it's dying. That's your erratic heartbeat.

I worked in this mall from 1997-2001 at the Black & Decker outlet store with one of my best friends. I have a lot of great memories from this place. I’ll never forget watching Starship Troopers and The Matrix at the movie theater. My other best friend worked at Old Navy which was about a minute walk away from Black & Decker. Good times were had. I was shocked at how fast they demo’d the mall after it closed. I guess that’s better than leaving a huge eye sore.

Remember going here as a kid. It was pretty fun and I miss it a lot.

So many memories here! I loved the plastic breakfast foods items we’d play on as kids

My mother went in to labor with me here 😂 she always tells me you was almost born in the great mall 😂😂

Does anyone remember the one and only hall that existed about halfway through the mall that would allow you to curb through the mall? Man, that thing was a lifesaver!

I remember going to zonkers here when i was a kid

Going to this place was so fun especially the kids zones. It was such an amazing place, it looked amazing on the inside and it was close by because I lived in Olathe. After seeing it being torn down was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. It was like seeing my childhood being destroyed. I have many pictures of me in the mall having a fun time and it reminds me of the great times. The last time I was there was for voting and it hurt to look inside to see it nearly empty with no stores open. The only thing I saw active was the rollerskating area and it was tiny and only a mom and child was there. Nothing could ever compare to the greatness of this mall and nothing could replicate it.

I used to live in the Lenexa/Olathe area and I remember when this mall was built. Only went there a few times compared with Oak Park where we went often. Oak Park is right in the center of everything whereas this mall was more on the outskirts.

When I was a kid in Kansas we went there to play glow in the dark mini golf in the great mall, and when we were last there it still looked the same from 1997. I think the pictures with the Nokia phone on them were still up there, not sure, but this was only in 2013 give and take.

Beautiful. I'll never forget this place.

I remember going here as a kid and going to Jeepers and it was alot of fun . Sadly the mall didnt take long to look dated because it had that late 90's aesthetic as well as wild colors everywhere.

Something so uncanny, nostalgic and fucking depressing about old retail stores

I still miss Metcalf South

This brought back so many memories. My first job was at Lotus Express, the Chinese restaurant, in the food court. I think the location and the variety of shops was the issue. Oak Park just had a much better selection.

I used to enjoy the playground next to the Burlington coat factory and all the other cool sitting areas in the hallways. The carpet amazed my young eyes as I walked over it. In the later years of the mall, there was a model train display and a fire engine museum which I enjoyed visiting a bunch. I used to love walking around malls as a kid and this mall and Metcalf South were my favorites

I remember the wedding shop that was there and I always wanted to get my wedding dress there. When it closed I felt so bad, I remember going there with my mom and playing on the food play pieces. Running through the halls and paying on the random structures littered through them. I miss it and it's the reason behind my want to explore abandoned malls

I remember this place seemed old just a few years after opening. Very funky 90s, like something out of Rocko’s Modern Life. Even by the mid and late 2000s it was clear this place was doomed. It got so bad that to force people to go there, they put the DMV inside it. I think it was just too garish and sketchy compared to Oak Park.

I remember going to that mall when I was little (like 10+ years ago when I was 4) and the only thing I ever wanted to do was get to the second part of the playground thing outside the Burlington going into the mall

The writing was already on the wall for malls. I went there exactly twice under duress. Not surprised it was leveled. Thanks for posting this.

That mall looked cheap from the beginning. Like a cheap garden shed on a massive scale.

I remember going to the dmv there before it closed and seeing old people going into there to jog around the mall

I grew up in De Soto and this mall shutdown not long before I graduated High School. My brother and I would spend loads of time here while I was in High School and he was in college. Even got my driver's license here!

So the original revision was to turn it into a plaza like KC Legends, but then Garmin bought it and now they're gonna make a complex there for additional operations

Jeepers was fun, we took our kids there. Right before it closed we went there to get our drivers license renewed and I hasn't been there in a while an it was real shocking to see how vacant it was.

This Mall was Huge!! For 1 Floor you could walk around for a good hour before getting all the way around lol sad that its gone now.

Oh man I had no idea it’d been totally demolished. My mom used to take me there to practice walking when I was a toddler not long after it opened. I got my learners permit there in the summer of 2015 and was shocked at the state of things. So dated, but so strangely beautiful and sad. Glad to see oak park mall is still thriving these days.

I was in 6th grade when this opened. That was the first time I ever smelled burning oil from the food court. Between then and 2015 I watched it slowly close; more empty stores than new ones. The area it was placed in was a bad spot. A hospital and hotel are across the street and the restaurants built to accommodate the shoppers died with the mall. It's more or less an industrial site with zero neighborhoods nearby.

This mall was my childhood Even had a couple of stores under my family's name

god, i had so many memories there. that arcade, the gamestop where i got banjo-kazooie grunty's revenge, everything. i miss it so much.

That place was cost reduction strategy gone wrong, it was a dark tunnel filled with poorly circulating air.

I used to go to the great mall every weekend with my grandpa up until it closed. I was devastated when I learned as a 9 year old boy who didn’t understand why my favorite place in all the world was leaving me. RIP great mall i miss you

Johnson County is so short-sighted. This mall was great, and of they felt that it cannot serve a commercial or Community purpose, it is perfectly situated to be a hub for the airport that Johnson County will surely build in the near future. At a hotel on one side and a runway on the other and all of these stores would be full today.

So sad that these malls are dying.

The news anchor christa dubill is my friends mom. I did not expect to see her in this video

This open the same year we built our house in Olathe. Truly enjoyed it in its heyday.

I remember when that mall first opened and was there when I closed. We held a couple car shows there also. I liked the lay out of the mall. But hated the carpet. It would distract you to much as you walked. lol. I think being so far south in the metro area played a part in its short life span. It was just more easier to just go to Oak Park and other malls closer to the metro . But the tax increases was also a huge reason the it died off.

I miss it so much right now. Thanks for all the pics. It’s wild how early 2000s that food court checkered tile looks. I tried driving past the other night just to see it, but I hadn’t realized they’d torn so much down. Wild.

Outlet malls were a joke. The draw ended very quickly when customers realized the prices weren't discounted significantly, if any at all and so didn't deserve the name "outlet." After seeing how much of a disappointment the Lawrence outlet mall was in 1993, I expected that the Great mall of the great plains would fail, even before its grand opening. The only outlet mall I ever visited, that I would want to return to, was off I-70 near Wentzville, Missouri in the 1980s. All stores were brand names, and prices were 40 to 50% off normal retail. It was always worth the drive when I lived in that area. If the 90s outlet mall fad had followed that Wentzville business model, they would probably all still be thriving today.

I went there when I was just a little child. I miss this place so much 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

The internet ruined the malls. Let me tell you something... Going to the mall, any mall in the 80's was a thrill. High quality merchandise, no vacant stores, endless food court choices, packed parking lots, waterfalls in some malls, etc. Now you get cheap crap buying online and prices aren't that much cheaper. The mall was also a good place to socialize and meet new people.

I always hated the interior design of this mall. Even Metcalf South's dated interior was more appealing to me. This place just gave me a headache. But I did always have fun at Jeepers.

I liked the train part of the mall now that was my childhood

I’ve been fascinated with this mall for a long time. Only a few edits to the history: Oshman’s closed in 2003, with Saks OFF 5TH and Linens N’ Things following in 2004. OFF 5TH opened in 2000, replacing Kitchen & Co. which had closed in 1999. Old Navy left in 2003 and was replaced by Hibbett Sports in 2005 ish. Marshall’s left in 2006. The Oshman’s became Cosmic Mini Golf then Steve & Barry’s, OFF 5TH became Cosmic Mini Golf then Famous Labels then Sportibles, DSW closed in 2007 and became the final location for Cosmic Mini Golf, and Linens N’ Things was replaced by Monkey Bizness in 2008. The mall had so many anchors it’s so confusing keeping up with all of them.

I remember when this opened up back in 97. One memorable thing were these kiosks with a video that had this host that would introduce you the mall and it's many features. I think her name was Anita or something like that. I don't know if they knew how loud it was because you could really hear it from a long distance. Didn't live in Kansas when the mall was demolished, but did hear about it later second hand through some friends. Burlington really hung in there didn't it.

Went to this mall a lot when I was a kid, got my drivers license here before they closed.

This mall had the absolute worst layout I've ever experienced. Since it was all one floor and went in a gigantic square basically, if you passed a store you wanted to visit you would have to walk forever and ever to get back to it vs. hopping on an escalator on the stacked floor style malls etc. Also, that area is way out too far from KC Metro and there are other easier options to reach (OP Mall, Independence Center) coupled with internet sales boom hurting mall traffic, this thing was just a big whale built way too late in time to succeed. If it was was made in say 1970 or so it may have been more prosperous though still out in the middle of nowhere.

Went there not long after it was open with family from out of town. It had nothing that I couldn't find at Oak Park Mall. I actually complete forgot about it till I heard that they were closing it. The comments my family made was that it was too spread out inside, didn't feel as cozy as other malls.

This place was a shithole from day one. Purple spotted carpet, 35 cell phone accessory stores and I vividly remember cockroaches in the movie theater popcorn machine. I kinda miss it.

That was pretty good. I just subscribed! Have a nice weekend. Looking forward to seeing more videos from "The Gray Light". Love the name.

Something happened to get those anchors to leave. It doesn't add up that they would leave while the mall was busy. It sounds like the novelty wore off and other malls took their traffic.

So dope. At its peak it had 2 KB Toys. It was a great mall if you didnt wanna go to Oak Park. I miss this place and the people that I knew when I went there.

I'm shocked to learn to it was open until 2015. Last time i went in there had to have been 2006. I remember many tortured Sundays being dragged around that place by my parents when i was a kid.

Where's my GEAR ZONE people at in 2018? xD This place takes me back to middle school. The age when parents were afraid to let their kids go to Hot Topic. It's slowly going to evolve into baby clothes with your favorite band on it.

Whoever was responsible for the Bizzare Carpet in that Mall, may have done too many drugs, while in college !!!

It was just too far in the middle of nowhere to go there. Why would you drive past 95th to go to a mall?

Some places you show in the video i have been at. Very nostalgic

Too damn close to Oak Park to succeed.

This mall lacked decent stores. I think that was part of the problem. Did like going to the movies there.

Some of my first memories were at that mall, I used to love zonkers and playing at the playgrounds inside. Miss that place

I miss this place so much ):

I missed this mall a lot

It looks like it was basically an outlet center with cheap architecture and some regular stores to give it some street cred.

Thanks for this, very informative.

Every year the place my mom worked at would have a Christmas party at zonkers that was amazing

i remember when this was built, it was supposed to be a big deal and it was, for kids. its first few years it was very popular. there was so much for kids to do there, the jeepers was fun. the movie theater was very popular at first. that was the place to go see movies and it was packed all the time. pokemon had just started to get popular and so many people would line up in the toy store to buy the cards. the pet store was actually nice and always had people shopping there even up until the place closed. it was one of the last stores. one problem was they didnt do any maintenance or updates to the place at all. i remember going back to it a few years before they tore it down and when it rained, there were leaks in the roof everywhere so water would drop everywhere inside. instead of fixing the roof their solution was to put out dozens of buckets to catch the water whenever it rained. one time about a year before it closed, i was a poolee joining the marines and we would run outside in formation a few times a week. one day it was raining and we were nearby. we decided since the mall was dead we could wait it out inside and do some workouts in there and they kicked us out lol.

New Royals Stadium location? Wait, I live in Johnson County. Rates would go from a huge 10.5 now to 14%. Love it!

That mall was so tacky!! Aside from the fact...the set up was terrible.

The mall had all this 70s plaid carpet it just never felt like a modern mall even though it was built in the late 90s

I remember the first few days of opening, you couldn't stretch your arm out in front of you without touching someone it was so packed. Every store had a pair of Ruby red slippers in their window. Burlington is still standing.

Great video! :) I was pretty young when our family would go to the Great Mall, so I used to get it mixed up with Oak Park until a few years ago haha I do wonder what it is about Burlington that makes it so resistant. Similar to the Bannister Mall, the only store that stayed open long after was a Burlington.

I remember being told that they were closing this for medical expansion, it was a lie

Honestly the location was the worst part. Had it been built where Garmin is currently located, it would still be open and successful

Crazy how I'm older than this.... and I'm in my early 20's...

Man that Burlington lasted a long time by itself but recently closed this year :( there’s only 2-3 restaurants left in that area

so sad.. it seems malls were overbuilt.. more and more are disappearing..

Thanks for getting back with me the gray light

I remember the commercials promoting the mall. It was packed for weeks after it first opened. Then it just slowly died...

I used to go to that mall but it’s sad they tore it down but the good news is that they will build apartments and stores

Steve & Barry's was going out of business late 2007 and selling $60 jackets for $2 which I bought and they were giving the the coathangers away for free which were high quality wooden hangers

Sorry for your loss.

Man I spent a lot of time here in high school I the mid to late 2000s. After it closed, the Olathe Police would use it for testing and training (circa 2014-2015)

I used to live in olathe I used to go to this mall to the theater to see movies or to walk for exercise sometimes window shop I used to go to this really good coffee shop and get coffee can't remember name of it yes went to the drivers license place I was renewing I used to eat at the eatery places enjoyed that.I miss that mall like I do so many others that have been torn down or turned into something else.RIP Great Mall Of Great Plains.

Thank you for giving me credit for the Drone Footage of the demolition. That is my drone video. Here is the original footage I shot there: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-25kAj00K1Jo.html

Burlington coat factory recently just closed

I'm not gonna lie I was really upset when it closed! Even if I was like 3 years old

What a sense on nostalgia): Man I always tell people that I can't wait to get out here because fu k Olathe honestly but we Olathe kids gotta stick together, we got memories that we didn't even know we shared

that place was so fucking cool

Please, someone can explain me what is the first goal for people to go to a mall ? shopping or intertain things ? i m european and we never had such big "things" Like that. What i found strange is that shops items sold seems to be very cheap, not a single luxury brand or even a well known trade mark, food offer seems to be very poor quality too. Please tell me more, i want to know why those mall were popular and then disappear faster than a race car ?

Wow ... it didn't even last 20 years.

Last time I've been in that mall was in 2006 I was at Steven Berry store with my dad looking at some college basketball shirts

The movie theater was great.