National retailer’s return to Kansas finally succeeds at NewMarket Square

At this time last year, a concerned Marla Wantland still was trying to get the word out that Christopher & Banks is back at NewMarket Square.

Now, the manager at the 21st and Maize Road store is telling a different story.

“We made it,” Wantland said. “We made the year. We have seen so much progress.”

Christopher & Banks, which serves a more extensive range of sizes than a lot of retail outlets, had been a Wichita-area staple for decades but then went away as the chain closed stores nationally.

In addition to Wichita stores, there were numerous ones in surrounding areas. By 2020, though, they all had closed.

The NewMarket Christopher & Banks is the only one back open in Kansas — an indicator of the store’s past performance — but Wantland was concerned it wouldn’t be for long if not enough people knew it’s there.

Now, she said, “Definitely the word is out that we’re here, so that’s exciting.”

She said she wants customers to know there had be a lull of good products coming in, but that’s been fixed.

“The train’s on the tracks finally,” Wantland said. “It took us a minute to get our product to be consistently coming in.”

That and what she called the store’s “old-fashioned customer service” bode well for the store, Wantland said.

“We’re very strong,” she said. “We are fortunate to be here.”