For more than a decade, the old Macy's at 71st and Mission sat empty. Residents pulling into that lot for a grocery run or a CVS errand walked past a dark, vacant storefront and didn't think twice about it, because for years it hardly mattered which of Prairie Village's three main shopping stretches you chose. Corinth Square, Corinth Quarter, and the Shops of Prairie Village all did roughly the same job: whichever lot had an open spot got your dinner, your errand, your Tuesday night.
That stopped being true this year.
Three shopping centers, three different jobs
The old habit of defaulting to whichever center is closest or has parking no longer gets you the same experience, because each of Prairie Village's shopping stretches has spent 2026 building a distinct identity. The Shops of Prairie Village, at 71st and Mission, is finally putting its long-vacant Macy's building to work as a brewery-and-golf-simulator anchor. Corinth Quarter, the smaller center at 83rd and Mission, has quietly become the fast, healthy, dog-friendly corner. Corinth Square, right across the street, kept its grocery anchor and just added its first real sit-down dinner draw in years. If you're still driving to whichever lot has an opening, you're missing the point of what each side of Mission Road is actually for now.
The building that finally has a reason to go upstairs
The Macy's space had been empty for more than a decade before Iowa-based Big Grove Brewery signed on to anchor its redevelopment. The brewery, which started as a 3.5-barrel brewhouse in Solon, Iowa in 2013 and now ranks among the top 75 producers in the country by volume, opened its first Kansas City metro taproom there on May 21. The space runs 13,000 square feet, keeps hours from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, and serves a menu built around hot honey bao buns, tuna poke bowls, and tikka masala fries. The soft opening two days before the official launch was busy enough to put the taproom into five figures in sales before the ribbon was even cut, according to Startland News.
Big Grove isn't the only tenant using that upstairs space differently than Macy's ever did. GolfTRK, an indoor golf brand, is opening a flagship location and its new corporate headquarters at 7068 Mission, just west of the brewery on the same upper level, with a summer 2026 opening planned as a blueprint for future franchise sites. On the lower level, Hen House is packing up its longtime storefront elsewhere in the shopping center to anchor the new building, with an opening expected in September. The current Hen House footprint will likely split into five or six smaller tenants once the grocer moves out.
Big Grove's CEO Matt Swift said the company looked at multiple sites around the metro before landing on this one, explaining that the location "immediately made us feel like we were at home in a more neighborhood setting." The bet was on a neighborhood feel, not foot traffic counts, and the soft-opening numbers suggest it's paying off.
Corinth Quarter picked its lane: fast, healthy, and good with a leash
Across Mission Road, Corinth Quarter spent a long stretch looking like a construction site behind orange cones while its facades and courtyard were rebuilt. The plan is legible now. Tomorrow, Aug. 11, Flower Child opens its doors at Corinth Quarter, marking the Arizona-based chain's Johnson County debut. It lands near a long-standing Panera Bread and locally owned pet retailer Brookside Barkery & Bath, and the menu leans into dishes like avocado Caesar salad, spicy coconut green curry, and a black bean falafel wrap.
La Fetta, a local sandwich shop with an existing Overland Park location, is targeting a fall opening at the same center. The Bracco family behind La Fetta lived in Prairie Village for five years before moving south, so the expansion reads less like a new market push and more like a return trip. Their menu runs on Boar's Head meats and housemade sauces, including a sandwich called the "Gloria" that started as a rotating special and got promoted to permanent status once customers wouldn't let it go.
Put Panera, Club Pilates, Flower Child, and La Fetta together and Corinth Quarter has a clear character: quick, health-leaning, walkable, dog-friendly. If your errand involves a stroller, a leash, or a forty-five minute window between meetings, this is the corner that's built for it now.
Corinth Square stayed the side of Mission Road where you actually sit down
Corinth Square, the older grocery-anchored center just across 83rd Street, didn't reinvent itself so much as add a reason to stay for dinner. Casa Ama opened in June in the space that used to house Salty Iguana, and the connection to the neighborhood runs deeper than a typical lease signing. Owner Robin Krause is a Prairie Village native who graduated from Shawnee Mission East, just up Mission Road from the restaurant, and her son's first job was at the very Salty Iguana location she's now occupying.
The menu pulls mostly from Mexican cooking with Mediterranean and Asian touches folded in, including a pork belly noodle salad developed alongside a chef from Overland Park's Strang Hall. Early standouts include the street corn caesar salad, fried branzino, and a chicken caesar smash taco. Marketing director Marie Effertz summed up the first few weeks simply:
"From day one it has been very, very busy, and we're so grateful for that."
Hen House and CVS still anchor Corinth Square, which means the center hasn't changed its core job so much as filled in the missing piece. It was always where you picked up groceries. Now it's also where you'd actually book a table.
What the churn cost
None of this came free. Months of construction at the Shops of Prairie Village, 17 months by one longtime tenant's count, pushed out businesses that had been fixtures for decades. Village Hairstyling closed after 77 years, a run that ended not for lack of customers but because the building needed renovations extensive enough to meet current state codes, an expense the shop couldn't absorb. One of its longtime barbers relocated and reopened under a new name in Lenexa with the same staff. Scoobie, a boutique that had operated at the Shops for seven years, closed for a more direct reason: 17 months of ongoing construction made it impossible to keep running as a storefront, according to reporting from KCUR.
Not every move was a casualty. Clairvaux, a locally owned shop, relocated into the Shops of Prairie Village from the Shops at Fairway after six years, trading its old spot for one with more foot traffic and a stronger sense of a community hub. Some current tenants are bracing for a rougher patch before things settle, since Big Grove's popularity combined with Hen House's relocation is expected to strain parking further in the near term.
Which lot to actually pull into
The next time you're deciding where to go, the closest parking spot isn't the useful signal anymore. What you're after is:
- A beer or a family outing with a golf simulator on deck — head to the Shops of Prairie Village, 71st and Mission, where Big Grove is open now and GolfTRK is moving into the same redeveloped Macy's building.
- A quick, healthy bite with a stroller or a dog — Corinth Quarter, 83rd and Mission, is where Flower Child, Panera, and soon La Fetta have settled in.
- Groceries plus an actual sit-down dinner — Corinth Square, just across 83rd Street, still has Hen House and CVS anchoring it, now with Casa Ama giving you a reason to stay past the checkout line.
None of these centers set out to specialize. More than a year of construction, a couple of long-running businesses that couldn't absorb the cost of staying, and a handful of new tenants that happened to lean the same direction did that work on their own. The result is a neighborhood that finally rewards knowing which side of Mission Road you actually want, instead of just picking whichever one has an open spot.
If you're keeping an eye on how Prairie Village is changing block by block, whether you're weighing a move within the neighborhood or just curious what your own street is worth against this backdrop, Trent Gallagher tracks these shifts closely and is always glad to talk through what they mean for your home. Reach out anytime to request your complimentary home valuation.
