The first time I went to Independence Center after moving to West Central Missouri, my jaw dropped at how much that area of Independence had grown. There are strip malls, restaurants, and an area filled with hustle and bustle. It was indeed a change from my first visit there during a family vacation in the early 1980s when the only thing that seemed to be out there off the Interstate was the shopping mall. Independence Center is one of the Kansas City area’s struggling shopping malls today.