9 September 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – The power is back on at Towne West Square Mall after spending much of the day in the dark. Evergy says they turned it off because of unpaid bills. This is the second time it’s happened in recent months.
Back in June, Evergy turned off the power to Towne West. Back then, Evergy said the mall had been delinquent on its bill since November.
Friday morning, the power went off again due to lack of payment, and even though it’s back on now, it’s frustrating to small business owners operating in the mall.
Towne West is home to more than 50 stores and businesses, many of them dark, causing frustration for business owners.
“I’m managing to keep this business going and growing, and now I get this setback, it’s like, ‘OK, I don’t know what my next step is.’ So I’m relying on my friends, my colleagues, my farmers, market family. We’re trying to figure this out,” said Ken Smith, owner of Steve’s Jams and Jellies.
Some owners saying they’re frustrated they haven’t heard updates from the mall’s ownership group.
“They’ve kind of left us in a bind, and for my guys, us racers, just being able to participate in what it is that we do without disruption of business, I mean, it’s hurting us little guys. There’s a lot more smaller privately owned businesses in this particular shopping center than there is in most of other places,” said Deandre King, owner of The Strip 316.
Small businesses that rely on every day of revenue.
“Not having that income to keep this place operating even if it is just one day out of the week, two days out of the week, three days out of the week, it’s definitely going to hurt,” said King.
The larger businesses at Towne West have individual accounts with Evergy and were not impacted on Friday.
KSN reached out several times to Kohan Retail Investment Group, the company that manages Towne West, but we never heard back.