The story behind a longtime Topeka business's exit from West Ridge Mall

A tenant of West Ridge Mall relocated to central Topeka earlier this month after its owner said the small business was priced out of its longtime location.

Kristin Lee, owner of Worth A 1000 Words Studio, said she was facing a fivefold rent increase. Lee and lead photographer Kristina Scott said mall management told them their $2,000 rent would increase to $10,000 per month.

“We didn’t know anybody with that huge an increase, but nobody else had as much space,” said Lee.

Worth A 1000 Words opened in West Ridge 15 years ago, first occupying a smaller studio near the JCPenney entrance. In 2018, Lee said the business moved into the former Hallmark store on the lower level of the mall, next to Cookies by Gayla. When Buckle left the mall in 2022, Worth A 1000 Words also took over that space.

West Ridge Mall manager says 1000 Words wasn't compliant with lease

Lee said before their lease was terminated, the business was occupying 9,400 square feet of retail space. The photo studio was one of the last remaining businesses in the mall before efforts to revitalize West Ridge under new ownership began late last year.

Lee said mall management provided them a 40-day notice to vacate in early June, which left Worth A 1000 Words scrambling to find a new space.

“I spent the first two weeks begging and pleading to stay,” said Lee. “For two weeks, we thought we would be able to stay.”

She said she offered solutions, including a gradual raise in rent and giving up the space formerly occupied by Buckle. However, Lee said despite reaching out to several stakeholders in West Ridge Mall, including general manager Casey Richardson, she failed to receive a response.

Richardson said although Worth A 1000 Words wasn't paying current market rent for its amount of square footage, its lease was renewed on a month-to-month basis in January for the $2,000 per month rate. When asked if month-to-month rental agreements are the norm, Richardson said they aren't typical for a permanent tenancy at West Ridge.

Richardson said Worth A 1000 Words was noncompliant with the terms of its lease at the time it received notice to vacate.

“It wasn’t the size of the location or the rental rate that played a part in our decision,” said Richardson.

Advisors Excel co-owners bought West Ridge Mall last year

Cody Foster and David Callanan, co-owners of Topeka-based financial group Advisors Excel, purchased the mall in September 2023 . In an interview last fall with The Topeka Capital-Journal, Foster indicated that he and Callanan planned to revitalize West Ridge by moving Advisors Excel headquarters to the 140,000-square-foot property that once housed Burlington Coat Factory.

He said shifting AE’s headquarters into the mall would cost half what it would cost to build a new campus.

At that time, Foster mentioned that restrictions outlining the purpose for which mall property could be used might make it difficult to bring offices to West Ridge. He was hoping that further discussions with the anchor department stores would allow for the addition of office spaces.

He also said he planned to keep all existing mall management, employees and tenants.

Foster and Callanan own 30 acres of mall property, the Burlington Coat Factory store, the west parking lot and the roadways around West Ridge Mall. Three existing anchor stores, including Dillard’s, JCPenney and Furniture Mall of Kansas, as well as the building previously occupied by Sears, are owned by individual holding companies.

Worth A 1000 Words said it couldn't handle rising rent

Lee said Worth A 1000 Words was initially told its rent would remain stable for a period of time, but it would eventually have to go up. Lee said she and other small business owners began looking for alternative options in case they were priced out of West Ridge Mall, but she found that standalone retail locations were too expensive.

“Rent should be cheaper in a mall,” she said.

From September on, Lee said businesses in the mall were required to report their monthly sales for the purpose of showing the community how well West Ridge was doing.

“On social media, it looks like the mall is booming, but it’s not,” she said. “Business is still down.”

She also said there were rumblings among tenants regarding Foster’s eventual plans for West Ridge, including that Advisors Excel planned to drive out smaller businesses so that the anchor stores would fold and be forced to sell, an idea Richardson refuted.

“Our rents are lower than they’ve ever been in the history of the mall,” said Richardson. “No one has been given notice that their rent will increase.”

Richardson said rents haven't gone up since the mall changed ownership last fall, adding the rent formula at West Ridge is based on the number of square feet a tenant occupies. The current rate is $15 per square foot annually, including utilities.

Most locations charge the square footage rate, plus a utility charge, but West Ridge bundles its price structure to include both.

“We think it makes more sense for people first starting out,” said Richardson. “It’s standard across retail space to charge by the square footage.”

Businesses say rents haven't changed and hope holidays bring traffic

Other businesses approached by The Capital-Journal said their rents haven’t increased since the change of ownership.

One business owner said since the pandemic, Worth A 1000 Words was open by appointment only, and the mall is going to add language to its lease agreements outlining mandatory business hours for all tenants.

Another store manager said their business is waiting to see how it fares during the upcoming holiday season before making a decision on whether to stay in West Ridge. They said while new mall management was doing everything it can to bring customers back to the mall, it will take years to get West Ridge back to what it was at its height of popularity.

The store manager believes the mall will need to attract larger box stores to drive traffic through the doors.

Richardson pointed to the rush of new stores to open at West Ridge.

“Since Cody and David bought the mall, we have 17 new tenants and every single one is a locally owned small business,” said Richardson. “Our mission is to restore the mall back to a place where Topeka can have retail, entertainment and dining.

"While we’re sad to see tenants go, we have an obligation to other tenants when it comes to the dignity of other leases.”

Worth A 1000 Words opened at new location on July 15

July 15 was the first day of business for Worth A 1000 Words at its new location at 512 S.W. 6th Avenue.

“It was hard to find a place. It’s not free to move, and we’ve accumulated a lot over the years,” said Lee. “We had a lot of mixed feelings about downtown, but rent is outrageous in Topeka. Bigger spaces want $5,000 for 2,000 square feet.”

“One of the reasons we loved being at the mall was that after a session was over, we would tell customers to give us 15 to 20 minutes for their photos to be ready, and it would push people out into the mall. ... We shot 262 Santa sessions last year. That’s 262 families that I can say we brought into the mall.”

Customer Marisa Sawyer said she will continue to use Worth A 1000 Words for her son’s photos, even with the change in location.

“Kristina is pretty amazing with kids. My baby is a mama’s boy, and she actually got him to smile for pictures. They’re incredible,” said Sawyer. “The mall location was convenient. While we’re waiting for pictures to be uploaded, we would run up to the food court, run over to another store, whatever we need. Or run into the play place for the kids to play and get some energy out.”

Kristin Lee said the biggest challenge has been moving while they continued to serve clients.

Lee said there may be some changes in the future to their business model, but for now, Worth A 1000 Words is still booking photo sessions by appointment only.

“It’s hard figuring out what the change is when something was working so well,” she said. “It’s hard to change.”

Scott and Lee keep a glass container on their counter full on notes of gratitude and appreciation from clients. They say the customers make the challenges of the past month worth it. Worth A 1000 Words announced its move on Facebook.

“The responses, the love they showed and the loyalties are what keep us going,” said Scott.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: The story behind a longtime Topeka business's exit from West Ridge Mall