We asked what you miss and would change about the Plaza. Here’s what Kansas City said | Opinion
HP Village Partners, the new owner of the Country Club Plaza, said it will start making changes to the shopping district in the next couple months. We asked the Kansas City community what you love about the Plaza and what you want to see in the upcoming changes.
Here are some of your favorite memories at the Plaza, and what you’d like to see done:
Plaza lights
“Thanksgiving Eve turning on the Plaza lights with each of our kids involved in their high school choirs and their grandparents watching.”
- Jack Kenward, 86, Kansas City
Plaza art
“I loved the Folk Art Gallery. You never knew what you would find down there … but it was always quirky and delightful. An amusement park made of junk that actually worked, with a roller coaster that had an old clamp-on roller skate for the car on the track, was my favorite. I can’t remember the other exhibits that clearly, but it was always my first stop when I went to the Plaza. Until the flood took it out.”
- Nancy Wagner, 73, Kansas City/Overland Park
Family trip
“Anytime we would have friends and family visiting, they would always ask to go to the Plaza. … Back in the day, all the Chiefs players were so accessible and we’d see them often at Houston’s, Plaza III, etc, right after a game. No dinner plans were complete without a visit to The Sharper Image. From child to grandparent, all ages were entertained there!”
- Patty Bond, 71, Blue Springs
Toyland
“When I was little, we used to come down every holiday and go to FAO (Schwarz) to look at all of the toys and walk around. Still a great memory for me today, and what made me love the plaza.”
- Jennifer Spengler, 35, Kansas City, West Plaza
Grownup breakfast
“Loved the pastries at La Bonne Bouchée, for a special “grownup” weekend breakfast with my parents. ”
- Kelly Rawlings, 55, Kansas City, South Plaza
Seeing everything
“Walking the Plaza streets, eating in the many restaurants including the departed Houlihan’s, the Plaza Lights and lighting ceremony, men’s clothing stores, Halls department store and Macy’s, parking garages, horse carriages, no stop signs/lights, Russell Stover candy shop, Easter rabbits with scary red eyes, taking out-of-towners on Plaza tours, daughter playing tennis tournaments on Plaza courts, participation in 5K runs that started/finished in the Plaza.”
- Don A. Rathbun, 86, Leawood
And these are some problems you told us that you want to be addressed in the changes:
Security
“Most of all, better security. Need to keep guns out of the Plaza. police or security regularly walking the Plaza would help too.”
- Bill Baxter, 76, Kansas City, Waldo/Brookside
Need practical items
“The lack of anything useful for sale. Kaplan’s closed, Bruce Smith Drugs is gone, I even seem to remember a Kresge’s there at one point. Now it’s all high-end national brand clothes, as far as I can tell. No more movies, just stuff I’m not interested in.”
- Nancy Wagner, 73, Kansas City/Overland Park
Bring back candy shop
“Return of a walk-in candy shop like the Russell Stover candy retail store … Our daughter was director of retail stores for Russell Stover when the Plaza owners doubled their rent/lease of the little shop and requested costly upgrades to the facility causing the shop to close.”
- Don A. Rathbun, 86, Leawood
Entertainment
“A theater returning to the plaza would be great, too, but it could be just for shows … reopening the old theater would allow for smaller sized shows. How cool to go to a concert on the Plaza!”
- Eric Ryan, 56, Lawrence/Kansas City, South Plaza
Spanish flair
“Keep and add Spanish architecture. I have hated the addition of big box structures.”
- Cristy Roberts, 71, Overland Park
More eateries
“The addition of more local dining options, fill vacant storefronts, and the addition of more high-end stores. Additionally, I really miss Fred P. Ott’s and would like a similar bar put in.”
- Tommy Watson, 32, Kansas City, Waldo
Locally owned
“More unique restaurants that are locally-owned … I don’t know how Houston’s and Mi Cocina didn’t survive at the Plaza, but those would be two chains worth having there. There should be a French restaurant and authentic, home-grown Italian.
- Geoffrey Ley, 50, Leawood
Make pedestrian friendly
“Opportunity to close streets to cars. Make it a strollable hub for all ages and budgets. Less consumerism, more community connections. Free live music and creative entertainment. Add community garden plots.”
- Kelly Rawlings, 55, Kansas City, South Plaza
This story was originally published July 21, 2024 at 5:05 AM.
CORRECTION: A caption in this roundup originally misstated the year on a photo of the aftermath of the 1977 Plaza flood.
