Inside the Bartlesville mall revival

The Bartlesville mall is in limbo between two eras.

Things are still happening, although quieter than they once did. Portions of the hallways are lined with empty store fronts and the ghostly sounds of music echoing from stores down the hall. 

Other sections are more hopeful. Around the recently-fixed fountain, mannequins and faux floral displays outside stores bring color and life to the space. On a Saturday, this space comes to life with a farmer’s market. 

Washington Park Mall is not what it once was, but it is doing better. 

Shoppers enter Washington Park Mall through the main entrance on April 26, 2026, in Bartlesville.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post

“We are gaining,” said Michelle Harris, general manager of WPM. “One store at a time, one tenant at a time is how we’re growing.”

Harris has worked at the mall for 32 years and managed it for two. That time has brought much change, including five different building owners. The current owner, Summit Properties, took over the property in 2024.

While some anchors remain, like Regal Cinemas, Dillard’s and Dunham Sports, there are also the remnants of mall staples — a hair salon, a nail salon, a boba store, a church. However, many of the stores are locally-owned boutiques — a kid’s consignment shop, a HomeGoods-esque decor spot, a card shop.

Some spaces, such as an alcove of couches and a group of tables with giant Jenga and regular-sized Connect Four, pose themselves as “third-spaces” — places to hang out away from work or home, without the pressure to buy anything. 

Time Travelers, a store with pop-culture toys from the 1970s-1980s, antiques and free-play arcade games, opened in the mall four years ago.

Vintage toys line the shelves inside Time Travelers at Washington Park Mall in Bartlesville.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post

Drawn to the location by low-rent prices, Owner Jerry Simpson said he has seen a mix of store turnaround and several mom-and-pop shops insistent on staying the course. 

“I’m going to stay here until they throw me out or close. I’ve had a lot of fun,” Simpson said.

The profitability of retail stores and malls has been declining for the last decade, with the COVID-19 pandemic making things worse, said Gregory Burge, chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Oklahoma.

“That’s kind of a general phenomenon that malls have fallen off from their popularity back in the ‘80s and ‘90s,” Burge said. 

“The rise of E-commerce is the big elephant in the room. You had a lot of places that used to have a lot higher volume of sales, but as Amazon and other E-commerce take-off, the in-person buying of products in malls has taken a back seat.”

Gus Mundy, an employee at Time Travelers, checks out a customer purchasing vintage VHS tapes on April 26, 2026, at Washington Park Mall in Bartlesville.
And Dossett | The Wiley Post

While in general retail stores have bounced back somewhat from the pandemic lows, Burge said many malls are finding more success in offering experiences, like trampoline parks and escape rooms, rather than stores.

“There has been a bit of a stabilization or kind of a resurgence relative to the pandemic lows. But you still don’t see a lot of new malls being built, you don’t see a lot of investment in malls,” he said.

For its part, WPM has increased its offering of “experiences” in recent years. In addition to the weekly farmer’s market near the fountain, Time Travels puts on a monthly market in the former JC Penny’s space.

With more than 114 vendors, it attracts retailers and shoppers to the mall. The market’s aim is to get people away from online shopping and experience the mall again, Simpson said.

“Malls are kind of dinosaurs. I think the future of mom-and-pop shops, physical brick and mortar stores, that is up to the public. We’re working really hard to get off their computers and off the internet to come inside, hang out and do stuff,” Simpson said.

With the fountain fixed in 2025, Harris said her next goal is to fix the arches outside the main entrances.

The recently repaired fountain runs at Washington Park Mall on April 26, 2026, in Bartlesville, where management is working to revive the space.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post

When she hears people doubting the mall, it can be frustrating for Harris, who remembers a time when the building brought millions of dollars in sales tax to the community annually.

“It’s like they forget that. They forget what this mall was,” she said.

“(I want) the community to remember what we were and help support us, don’t give up on us. We’re trying every day. I’ve been here all these years and I love this mall … If people would just give the mall a chance and come out and not be so negative, I think they would be surprised.”

Visitors walk a half-mile loop inside Washington Park Mall on April 26, 2026, in Bartlesville, where the space remains open daily for mall walkers.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post