Wanna Go Mall Shopping…Again?

 

Hi ho and welcome back!

I would like to talk to you guys for awhile about a place my family and I went to from way back then.

Back in the day, there was a mall we went to in the town of Lawrence Kansas. That place was the Riverfront Outlet Mall. It was located here at 1 Riverfront Plaza.

It was the place to go shopping and whatnot. When I was little, I went there with my family to browse around. There were plenty of shops inside the mall including a toy store. I even saw a talking Dudley the Dragon plush toy. It cracked me up. Inside the toy store was a giggle ball that played the tune to the song ‘Wipe Out’. The mall also had a food court for when we go out to eat. I don’t know why there was a Gumball machine in here.

The Lawrence Riverfront Plaza was once a small outlet mall that opened in the 1980's and was never very popular. It has been dead for years and has had problems holding tenants of any type. There is another completely vacant mall just a few blocks north off of the interstate. A traditional regional mall was proposed in south Lawrence in the 80's as well, but the city chased it off.

This is what it looked like.

I hope that someday in the future, they’ll bring that small outlet mall back to Riverfront Plaza, but right now we’re not really sure just yet.

In the meantime, I wanna take the time to talk about a couple of ideas for future shops for the upcoming Riverfront outlet mall comeback.

Oh and please note: If anyone wants to get more info about these shops for this Riverfront comeback, let me know.

So without further ado, let's start out with the entertainment centers.

CrazyWorld is the new indoor family entertainment center for Riverfront Plaza. In it, people will experience the fun and excitement of this place to hang out, dine in, play arcade games and win prizes, jam out and dance to some music, and have fun at its indoor playroom. The talking robot named Sparky will also be served as a talking mascot to the family entertainment center. It's also a place where families can reserve a birthday party. At CrazyWorld at Riverfront Plaza, we'd always say you're always crazy. Family-friendly dance parties at the party room will be on Friday nights from 7PM-9:30PM, song requests are also available. CrazyWorld will also be open 7 days a week from 12PM-10PM.

Imagination will be the new entertainment zone filled with indoor magic rooms, roller slides, a giant ball pit, play structures, PlayArt rooms, fun stages to create plays, new discoveries to walk around with, and even a chromakey room. It'll also have a gift shop and an animation room to create your own stop motion films, claymation, and anything. Open from 8AM to 9PM.

The Science Zone is the new kind of kid-friendly science center for all ages. It offers spring and summer classes for kid scientists age 3-16. It can also be the place where kids and teens can watch classic episodes of kids science shows like Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Magic School Bus, Beakman's World, Kratts' Creatures, and more at the Science Theater. (Open daily)

And now for the shops and restaurants.

All-Star Sports will be the new sports shop with all the sporting goods for the power of the sports fan in mind. The background music with have sports jams from 80s and 90s too. It'll have all the sport clothes, shoes, gym shorts, sporting equipment and so much more from the world's favorite brands. Open daily from 9:30AM-10:30PM every day.

Bamboo Fusion will be the first express restaurant for Chinese food which will located at the new Riverfront Food Court. Open 12PM-9PM.

Club Zap! is an indoor family museum attraction with interactive games and things to touch in a large playscape area. It also will have a huge load of play rooms for kids to check out and play around too. Plus, a room where families can experience interactive art. It can offer new activities for kids of all ages. Open daily from 7AM-9PM, every day.

Jazzy Beats Cafe will be the first restaurant for everybody to enjoy great food and listen to smooth jazz anytime if mall shoppers want to go out to eat whether it's lunch or dinner because Jazzy Beats will be the place to eat. The cafe will also feature a little stage that similar to Five Bar & Tables for live music. It will even include pictures of jazz musicians that influenced the art form of music, and even two television screens. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Open 10AM-10PM.

Nostalgia Ink will be the newest novelty shop with back-in-the-day stuff from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s including stationary cards, toys, books, posters, CDs, lava lamps, candies, pop culture, shirts and more. Everywhere you look, you see this amazing retro shop with everything on it even the stuff you'll always remember for years to come. The setting will have a disco ball on top and motion lamps on protectors. 8AM-11:30PM.

Ocean Rush will be the new clothing and outdoor store. This store will have a huge selection of graphic tees, jackets, jeans, shorts, hats, sandals, and shoes. All this and so much more when shoppers visit Ocean Rush for whether it's small, medium, large, XL, XXL, or XXXL.  The setting of the store will have the waves of the ocean on the walls. Open daily 7AM-10PM.

Paradise Travelers Cafe is a 1980s themed restaurant with a synthwave and retrowave mix. The cafe will have a huge retro futurism vaporwave mural with neon signs, synthwave background music, an Atari Pong screen, and a jukebox. Paradise Travelers will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Plus, it’ll serve sundaes, milkshakes, and other desserts. Open 8AM-11PM.

Studio Aesthetic is a clothing outlet store with a smooth palette of artistic movement. The store will sell clothes for men and women, and for kids of all ages. Open daily from 8:30AM-10:30PM, 7 days a week.

The Blue Tongue is the new candy shop and ice cream parlor with a huge crazy colorful kaleidoscope setting. Open 11AM-9PM. 7 days a week.

Woodstock Cafe is going to be the new restaurant which will be dedicated to the 1960s generation including music, pop culture, art, lifestyles, film and television. The setting of the restaurant will feature tie dye wallpaper and posters from any kind with a sixties genre and the background music will be 1960s favorites played. This place will be absolutely groovy to hang out too. It will have a lot of great food and drinks, even desserts, and entrees for lunch or dinner whichever one shoppers choose. Open daily from 11:30AM-11:30PM.

Classics Cinema and Diner is an indoor movie theater with a built-in diner and snack bar. It will give you the choice of any classic movies from the past. Movies from the 80s, the 90s, and 2000s will be the perfect choice of any kind. Showtimes will be seen on the top, and will have framed posters of classic movie stars. Open 7 days a week daily with showtimes starting from 6AM-11:00PM.

Now let's talk about indoor attractions.

The Cartoon & Animation Museum is an indoor attraction of Lawrence Kansas where people who visit here can take a look at the history of cartoons seen on TV and film. Just imagine the possibilities of looking at the nostalgia of cartoons and animation showcases. Open from 6AM-11:30PM.

Vinyl Sides is another museum attraction that showcases the history of music. In this museum, people can experience how the history of rock 'n roll was heard, learn about how jazz was originated, look at framed record albums of artists, and much more. It also comes with a gift shop so everyone can check out some souvenirs, merch, etc. Vinyl Sides can also include exhibitions where they can look at some footages from concerts, music videos, acoustic sessions, and play around with musical instruments from around the world. Open 7AM-9:30PM daily.

If I could pick a favorite for a store I went to, it would be that toy store we visited. It was that time when I looked at Dudley the Dragon as a plush toy. He was really funny for a living. When I press his hand, he talks. It was very interesting to hear him talk.

So what to do now?

Well, I can tell you. Last time while I was on vacation in Lawrence Kansas, I got to see the directory of the plaza and I handed out those ideas for the comeback of the Riverfront Mall. As they got to discuss about the mall’s comeback, I had to wait patiently. I suddenly hope that they can put up that new family entertainment center somewhere in the indoor location of the plaza. That would be one of my favorite places to check out. CrazyWorld would even be the newest best thing yet.

Oh, I almost forgot! When my family and I were at the Riverfront Mall, I got to check out a special photo booth. In this picture, there was me and in the top of the lettering says ‘1994’ and it’s got my name all over it.

Now keep in mind that some may not have enough room for all of them just yet, but when the time comes we’ll make this work in the future. Because, everybody wants a mall from back in the day at Riverfront Plaza. Especially next to Abe & Jake’s Landing.

Anyway if you’d like to talk about this comeback mall idea for Riverfront Plaza, please let me know on the comments. I’d be happy to help you out on that. I also had an idea about maybe selling my art inside the plaza too.

Plus, if there's some special events here at Riverfront Plaza, let me know on those and we'll come up with some ideas for this comeback.

No pun intended.

Just follow the bird on the metal banner near the Kansas River.