Towne East Square is an enclosed, two-story

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

located in the eastern section of

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, United States.

Overview

Towne East Square has 122 stores and restaurants in of

gross leasable area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured in square metres or square feet) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the bui ...

. The anchor stores are

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company a ...

Round One Entertainment , stylized as ROUND1, is a Japan-based amusement store chain. In Japan, the amusement centers offer bowling alleys, arcade games, karaoke, and billiards. Select larger locations also include SpoCha, which is an abbreviation for “Sports Challe ...

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...

Von Maur Von Maur, Inc. ( ) is an American department store chain based in Davenport, Iowa. Founded in 1872, the chain operates over 36 locations across the United States, primarily in the Midwestern United States, Midwest. History Beginnings In 1872 ...

, and

Scheels Scheels () is an American privately held, employee-owned and operated sporting goods and entertainment chain store headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota. Scheels operates thirty-four store locations in sixteen U.S. states. Company Overview The ...

. In summer 2019, a Round One Entertainment complex started construction in the former

J.M. McDonald James M. McDonald (July 20, 1881 – September 21, 1956) was an American retailing executive. He helped to build the JCPenney department store chain, as well as a chain of department stores under his own name. History James M. McDonald Sr. was born ...

Service Merchandise Service Merchandise was a retail chain of catalog showrooms carrying jewelry, toys, sporting goods and electronics. The company, which first began in 1934 as a five-and-dime store, was in existence for 68 years before ceasing operations in 2002 ...

Stein Mart Stein Mart is an American discount men's and women's online retailer & former department store Chain store, chain based in Jacksonville, Florida. Stein Mart had locations primarily in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, Texas, and Califor ...

Steve & Barry's Steve & Barry's was an American retail clothing chain, featuring casual clothing, footwear and accessories. Headquartered in Port Washington, New York, the chain operated 276 stores in 39 states before liquidating throughout 2008 and 2009. The ...

/Mattress Hub Superstore/ Wright Career College/Glow Golf space. It was later confirmed that the

Complex was slated to open in 2020. It was intended to open on July 1, 2020, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the store officially opened on July 18, 2020. The area around the mall was changed heavily in recent years as several businesses and hotels were demolished for the expansion and addition of a flyover on Highways 54/400 (locally signed Kellogg). Simon has purchased much of the vacated land for redevelopment.

History

The mall was first planned in 1972 as Kellogg Mall, but was later changed to Towne East Square. Construction began in 1973, and officially opened on August 14, 1975, and was the first large, modern, multi-level enclosed mall in Wichita. The original anchors were

, Henry's,

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

(which opened soon after the mall opened), and

liquidated in 1983 as part of parent company Wickes filing for bankruptcy, and was replaced by

around 1985. In 1992, Henry's closed and stayed abandoned for eight years until it was demolished in 2000 to make room for

. That store would open two years later on August 3, 2002. Meanwhile, Service Merchandise closed in 1998 due to low sales, and was taken up by

in 1999. Stein Mart had financial troubles and closed in 2002. The store was later bought by

around the mid 2000s, and liquidated in late 2008, following Steve and Barry's bankruptcy. In late 2008, Towne East Square received a renovation to give it more of an upscale look, including escalator movements. During the summer of 2009, Mattress Hub expanded their store at the mall into the former Steve and Barry's space, and moved in mid-2010 for Wright Career College that opened in 2011. A BJ's Restaurants opened outside the mall on July 16, 2012. On September 17 of the same year, Longhorn Steakhouse would open in the surrounding area. Wright Career College later went bankrupt on April 16, 2016; Glow Golf later replaced Wright Career College on April 29, 2017, after moving from Reflection Ridge Plaza at the west side of Wichita. In 2018, Sears announced they would be closing 80 stores, including this one, which would close in March 2019. Glow Golf Wichita then announced on Facebook that they would be closing.

later took up the space on July 18, 2020, causing four other businesses at the mall to move elsewhere in order to accommodate the tenant expansion. Meanwhile, on December 28, 2018, it was announced that

would be closing as part of a plan to close 80 stores nationwide. The store closed in March 2019.

was confirmed on July 14, 2021, to replace Sears. The store opened on July 1, 2023. On December 14, 2021, it was announced that Towne East Square would get a major overhaul both inside and outside of the mall. This overhaul would include the entrances getting wood and glass details and new signage, outdoor seating areas would be added, and the parking lots and entryways would get new landscaping. The parking lot also would be repaved. In 2021 it was reported that the mall's second level would get updated flooring. On March 18, 2022, at around 5:30 PM, a shooting happened inside the Towne East Square close to the ROUND1 establishment. There was one death of a 14-year old child. Police captured two suspects, one aged 16 and the other 17. This all stemmed from an argument between the teenagers when eventually one of them pulled out a firearm and fired it five to six times. On August 31, 2024, a little before 6:00 PM, a fight between some teenagers caused

mass hysteria Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder, epidemic hysteria or mass hysteria, involves the spread of illness symptoms through a population where there is no infectious agent responsible for c ...

of a supposed shooting. There was no evidence of a shooting except for a witness saying they heard gunshots. On August 8, 2025, at around 3:30PM, a shooting at the Scheels anchor store caused the store to go on lockdown. Two people were severely injured following the shooting.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Simon Property Group Shopping malls in Kansas Simon Property Group Buildings and structures in Wichita, Kansas Tourist attractions in Wichita, Kansas Shopping malls established in 1975 1975 establishments in Kansas