Maxed Out!
With an anticipated Tesla showroom comes big changes at State Line Shopping Center
By Brad Lucht
The expected arrival of a Tesla showroom at the State Line Shopping Center at at 101st and State Line Rd. has affected three long-time businesses located there.
OfficeMax will close sometime in September, Mr. Goodcents closed August 17th, and Sherwin-Williams will be selling paint out of a trailer in the parking lot.
OfficeMax
OfficeMax will close and reopen at the Village of Seville Shopping Center at 131st and State Line in Leawood after a “blackout” period. During that time 16 employees will be transferred to other stores while the new location is being remodeled. When the office supply store does open, it will be an Office Depot. Both OfficeMax and Office Depot merged in 2013. OfficeMax was originally the anchor store at Village of Seville Shopping Center when it was first built in 2007. OfficeMax reportedly has no estimate as to when their new location will be ready. [UPDATE: OfficeMax employees were told Tuesday, August 21, that the store is permanently closing. An agreement on lease terms could not be reached for the 131st and State Line location.]
Sherwin-Williams
Sherwin-Williams will move south about 80 feet.
The majority of the Sherwin-Williams store will be demolished. Original plans presented at a November 28th Center Planning and Development Council meeting suggest it will become an access drive to auto maintenance bays. The south end of the paint store, along with Mr. Goodcents and an office being used by Complete Construction Service, will be converted into a remodeled Sherwin-Williams.
The remodel should start at the beginning of September, and is expected to take at least six months. In the meantime four storage containers have been parked in the front parking lot along with a tractor trailer serving as a mobile store.
“Everything will be the same as if they were in the store,” said Nate, a Sherwin-Williams employee. “The only difference is that we’ll be on wheels. You can still get your paint. We will still be tinting regular paint, regular primer. Everything that is latext or oil-based.”
Eight single-gallon and two five-gallon mixers have been set up in the trailer, along with separate tinters for latex and oil-based paints.
Online orders will also still be available. Customers can order their paint online at MySW.com, then either pick it or or arrange for it to be delivered.
Stains won’t be sold out of the trailer, however, but will once again be available once the remodeled store opens.
Mr. Goodcents
Mr. Goodcents closed Friday, August 17th. Freshly baked bread was being moved out of the location Saturday, and prospective buyers were being shown the restaurant equipment on Sunday.
Owner Jass Kaur is saddened by the sudden development.
“I feel bad for my customers,” Kaur said. “They were like my family. I had people coming from as far as Raytown because they told me I had such a clean store, with the nicest people. Students from Rockhurst came in and said, ‘Where are we going to go?’”
“I am sorry for those people, I really am,” she sighed.
Kaur is relieved that she was able to find new jobs for her five employees, but at least for the moment does not plan on opening at a new location. If she does open a new store, it will be one they build, not lease. “The lease was crazy high here,” she said.
Tesla
In March the City Council approved a zoning change request by Lane4 from District B2-2 to District B3-2 for 8.5 acres at 10111 State Line Road. This change allows motor vehicle repairs to be performed at the location, a requirement for the Tesla Service Center. The Red Bridge Area Plan was also amended from Mixed Use Community to Commercial.
Tesla currently has a showroom on the Country Club Plaza, along with a standalone service center near the intersection of I-435 and I-70. The proposed development at the State Line Shopping Center would include a showroom and service center at the same location.
Tesla declined to comment for this story. Lane4 representatives also declined comment on the Tesla showroom.
Panera/Chipotle
Work is ahead of schedule on the building at the old Einstein Bagels location. Panera and Chipotle will co-locate at that location, with construction estimated to be completed by the first of November. Local firm Complete Construction Service is doing the exterior work, while individual teams from Panera and Chipotle will build out the interior. Panera should open by mid-November, while Chipotle is expected to open 2-3 weeks later.
Hopefully Grocery Store goes into Vilage of Seville. Hopefully Mr. Goodcents finds another spot or even McCalister’s Deli or Capriotti’s opens near 103rd and Stateline Road.
Appears the little guy small, small, small businesswoman gets squeezed out all the time by the big major International corporations. Einstein Brothers, Chipotle, Panera and Duncan Donuts were all bought out last year by a Belgian family “individual” (under the law) international corporation that controls a lot of the coffee around the world. The little guy lost at Mr. Goodcents. Watch out Popeyes, you might be next… whether you sell coffee or not, or whether you pay International Tariffs… or not.