The American suburban mall has seen better days. After its heyday in '80s and '90s consumer tastes changed and an indoor, centralized shopping center became less appealing. And by the dawn of the new century we saw the rise in online shopping meaning folks could get their retail fix without so much as rolling out of bed.
These days the shopping malls that are left are often clinging to a few anchor tenants and looking for unorthodox business schemes to fill out those empty shopping spaces. West Ridge mall is no different. It still boasts a Dillard's, Sears and JC Penney, as well as such teenager focused mall mainstays as Spencer's, Hot Topic and Journey's. But it's also trying non-traditional things like an ATA Taekwondo gym, an urban trampoline space, and massage parlors.
I generally use this mall as an indoor walking space on my lunch break when the weather in Topeka is too hot or cold for me to go to Gage Park. In that respect it has a lot of space and good walking routes. The biggest draw used to be the Chic-Fil-A in the food court until a freestanding version of the restaurant opened up just a block away. For some reason the old Chc-Fil-A still operates in the mall for those nostalgic for the pre-2017 days, which is a weird market to be catering to at this point.
That said, this is still a decent mall for a mid-size city like Topeka. It's lost the Gap but a new Victoria's Secret is opening. There's a place to hold your pet's birthday as well as an arcade, a carousel and a cookie shop. When it's hot outside, stop by and stretch your legs. One day, when we do all our shopping on a chip implanted in our brains you'll miss the mall. read more