West Ridge Mall

West Ridge Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Topeka, Kansas. The mall has three anchor stores: Dillard's, Furniture Mall of Kansas, and JCPenney. It is the third largest enclosed mall in the state of Kansas, behind Oak Park Mall in Overland Park and Towne East Square in Wichita.
== History ==
The mall opened in 1988 under the development of Melvin Simon & Associates. Vanna White made a guest appearance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Original tenants included JCPenney, Dillard's, Sears, and The Jones Store. Montgomery Ward would add a store in 1990. It also included a movie theater called the Regal Cinemas West Ridge 6, which opened in 1993 and had a Baskin-Robbins inside.
In 1997, Lowe's Home Improvement opened across the street from the mall.
Montgomery Ward closed at the mall 2001. Another original tenant, Old Country Buffet, closed in 2003, followed by the movie theater in 2005. The Montgomery Ward building was briefly used for an exhibit by the Kansas International Museum, and became Burlington Coat Factory in 2007. Macy's acquired The Jones Store's parent company in 2006, thus returning Macy's to Topeka after the chain's downtown store closed in 1986. In 2012, Menards opened near the mall. Also, the Macy's closed in 2012. The former Macy's became Furniture Mall of Kansas in late 2013.
On November 16, 2017, it was announced that Burlington Coat Factory would be closing on January 19, 2018.
On May 31, 2018, it was announced that Sears would also be closing as part of a plan to close 72 stores nationwide. The store will close in September 2018.
Mall owner Washington Prime stopped making payments on the malls loans in December 2018 and the mall is currently heading towards foreclosure alongside several other former Simon properties now owned and managed by Washington Prime. An SEC filing shows Washington prime group owes nearly $40 million on the West Ridge Mall property.
== Gallery ==
=== Videos ===
File:Montgomery Hydraulic Elevator @ West Ridge Mall - Topeka, KS|The Main Elevator
File:Montgomery Hydraulic Elevator @ Sears - West Ridge Mall - Topeka, KS|The Sears Elevator
File:Montgomery Hydraulic Elevator @ JCPenney - West Ridge Mall - Topeka, KS|The JCPenney Elevator
File:Montgomery Hydraulic Elevator @ Dillard's - West Ridge Mall - Topeka, KS|The Dillard's Elevator
File:Montgomery Hydraulic Elevator @ Burlington Coat Factory - West Ridge Mall - Topeka, KS|The Burlington Coat Factory Elevator
== See also ==
* Wanamaker Shopping Center
Category:Malls in Kansas
Category:Malls in the United States
Category:Shopping Malls
Category:Multi-Level Malls
Category:Washington Prime Group Malls
Category:Malls that opened in 1988