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One-of-a-kind Clifton Square ignores big-mall developments
By Jerry Siebenmark | Wichita Business Journal | Feb 13, 2000
When Jo Zakas thinks about the future of her Clifton Square Office and Shopping Village, she doesn’t worry about competing for shoppers with the big, upscale shopping centers like Bradley Fair, she says.
The explosion of retail centers in northeast and northwest Wichita, she said, has not hurt the number of shoppers coming to Clifton Square, a collection of 19 converted, turn-of the-century homes and buildings nestled on one acre in the College Hill neighborhood.
For 28 years, Zakas has kept Clifton Square operating despite new shopping developments springing up all over town.
Zakas didn’t panic like other retailers and developers did, for instance, when Towne East Square opened in 1974.
“A lot of people were very frightened about what (Towne East) was going to do to retail business,” she says.
Where the big centers did pose a problem for Zakas was in space. Zakas said upstart shopkeepers experiencing success were opting for larger centers to accommodate their growing businesses.
So Zakas put forth a plan to counter the departure of some of the retailers in a shopping village that includes niche-oriented retail shops, a delicatessen and offices.
Keeping `em on Clifton
At one time, Zakas says, Clifton Square was an incubator for small retail start-ups.
“In the beginning people would start their businesses here and then would go off to bigger centers because there wasn’t enough space,” Zakas says.
So six years ago Zakas started an expansion project to slow the departure of retail tenants and looked for ways to retain Clifton Square’s businesses, which now total 21.
The expansion added 3,500 square feet of additional retail space by connecting some of the buildings.
It also increased parking with two new lots to the north and west.
To bolster efforts in retaining retailers, a tenant’s association was formed. Through the association, tenants pool their money for advertising, saving shopkeepers from having to buy it on their own and reducing their costs.
“I think that’s a big plus,” says Ruby McAllister, owner of The Second Story, an upscale consignment clothing shop and a 15-year tenant.
More recently a Web site was added to its offerings. Zakas says future plans call for that to develop into an online catalog, allowing Internet visitors to order products from its shopkeepers.
Staying power
Two of Clifton Square’s biggest retailers say they don’t plan to leave. There’s no better site, they say, for their businesses.
“It’s the best location in town,” says McAllister. “I think we’re central and I think we catch people who come from the west side to the east side. And we’re away from the congestion in Old Town.”
Eighth Day Books owner Warren Farha likes Clifton Square’s environment and believes it enhances his shop, which specializes in classical literature, history and religion.
“The location just combines a lot of things that are hard to duplicate,” he says of Clifton Square, where his bookstore has been for 11 years. “It’s perfect for books. The environment matches the frame of mind for book browsing.”
It’s also a location that’s proved successful for entrepreneurs. Clifton Square’s new business failure rate is 36 percent, lower than the national rate of 85 percent, Zakas said.
And as long as Clifton Square’s retailers continue to cater to niches and provide a level of customer service that Zakas says can’t be found in chain stores, the shopping village will continue to thrive.
— The End —
Jerry Siebenmark can be reached at 266-6192 or jsiebenmark@amcity.com.
Find this article in the Wichita Business Journal at https://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/stories/2000/02/14/smallb1.html
Photos from Clifton Square Facebook Page. You can Like their page @CliftonSquareWichita.
