What's New in Leawood Shopping Centers This Summer
August 6, 2026
August 6, 2026
If you drove past Park Place in January and again last week, you saw two different shopping centers. The tenant list at Ash Street has rotated hard enough this year that the shorthand locals used to describe the place a year ago no longer quite fits. The same is true a few miles west at Town Center Plaza, and up on 95th at Ranch Mart North. Three centers, three different personalities emerging from the churn, and enough on the fall calendar that residents don't have to guess where to point out-of-town guests.
Here is what actually moved, where, and what it says about how each center is settling into its role.
The south side of Park Place spent the first half of 2026 in a quiet stretch. Mother Clucker, the hot chicken concept that took over the former BurgerFi space, closed at the end of 2025 after roughly eighteen months. The upscale Mexican spot LaPez Mod Mex closed at 11563 Ash St. after about eight months. Panache Chocolatier, a Leawood fixture for more than four decades, wound down. Three departures inside a compact walkable center is not nothing.
The refill has been decisively local. In July, AR's Breakfast and Brunch celebrated its grand opening in the former Mother Clucker space near the Aloft hotel and Outta the Blue coffee. Owner Oscar Romero, who opened the original AR's in downtown Overland Park in 2023, said the Leawood build is the largest AR's to date, with room for parties that would face a two- to three-hour wait at the other locations. The kitchen leans Mexican-inspired breakfast: chilaquiles, the "Cha Cha Cha" omelet with grilled chicken, avocado, jalapeños and pepper jack, plus a new lunch menu of wraps, sliders and Nashville hot chicken sandwiches. Hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends.
The pattern here matters. Park Place still has its national anchors on the directory, but the storefronts that have opened and closed this year skew toward chef- or founder-led operations: AR's on the south side, Plate expanding from Brookside into Park Place Village, Bruú Café, Bamboo Penny's and Aqua Penny's, Verdigris, Brown Suga, Ice Cream Bae. If you have not been in a while, the fastest way to catch up is to book a table at AR's on a Saturday and walk the north loop after.
Then pencil in Saturday, September 12. A Taste of Leawood 2026, hosted by the Leawood Chamber of Commerce at Park Place, brings in restaurants from across the area for a walking food-and-drink event with live music from The Ragged Heirs. It is 21+ and rain or shine, and the Chamber has already flagged that it is expected to sell out. Details and tickets are on the event page.
The Frannie Franks coffee cake shop on the east side of Town Center Plaza off 119th and Roe closed after roughly five months. That space is now H.M. Cole, a Utah-based custom suit shop that began taking appointments in late June and is planning a formal grand opening later this summer. It is the brand's first store in Johnson County; the closest existing locations are in Wichita and St. Louis.
The format is the point. H.M. Cole runs primarily by appointment, with capacity for four or five clients on a typical day. A consultation walks through thousands of fabrics, measurements and details like buttons and linings, with a record player usually going in the background. Manager Ethan Parrish framed the move plainly, saying Leawood has been "blowing up" and the community's growth made the market a natural fit.
Zoom out and Town Center Plaza is quietly stacking these kinds of tenants alongside its bigger names. LaserAway opened its first Kansas facility here. Power Life yoga sits a few doors from H.M. Cole. The Plaza is not trying to be Park Place; it is leaning into services and specialty retail that reward a scheduled visit rather than a stroll.
Up at 95th and Mission, where Leawood, Prairie Village and Overland Park all meet, Burg and Barrel opened at the eastern end of the Ranch Mart North shopping center in April. It is the brand's fourth restaurant and its second in Leawood, all four inside Johnson County by design. Co-owner Jake Chappelow, who grew up in the area and went to Shawnee Mission South, has said Olathe could be next, though nothing is set.
A few things worth knowing before you go:
Put those together and Ranch Mart North reads differently than either of the other two centers. It is neither the appointment-driven specialty stack of Town Center Plaza nor the chef-driven collection at Park Place. It is closer to a locally owned casual anchor, three walkable food options with different price points and a lawn out back.
The practical upshot for anyone living inside a few miles of these three centers is that they now serve different jobs.
Not everything worth flagging is a restaurant opening. A short list residents can act on:
A shopping center that never turns over is not necessarily a healthy one. What has happened in Leawood this year is that three centers have absorbed a wave of closures and refilled most of the visible gaps within a few months, with independent operators taking a disproportionate share of the new leases. Mother Clucker to AR's. Frannie Franks to H.M. Cole. A dark stretch at Ranch Mart North to Burg and Barrel. LaPez to a space that will announce itself soon enough.
If you have lived here a while, the temptation is to keep the same three or four standing reservations. The current lineup rewards a small rotation instead. There is a version of a Saturday that starts with chilaquiles at AR's, ducks into Smitten Booktique or Berry'd Treasures, ends with a walk past Gezer Park, and does not repeat a stop from last year.
Kirk Home & Land is based here and pays close attention to the way these centers evolve, because retail patterns are one of the most honest signals of where a neighborhood is heading. If you are curious what any of this means for your block, or if you are weighing a move within Leawood, Kirk Home & Land would be glad to talk. Schedule a consultation to discuss your land or home opportunity.
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