R.I.P. Chesterfield Mall. I knew this mall was on a steady decline, but it's new news to me that the doors are closing, forever. I've walked this Mall many times & have tons of memories that were created stemming all the way back to my childhood. Thank you for documenting & showing us this video. Born & raised on the Chesterfield/Creve Coeur line. I really enjoyed this. Thank you. 💜
so surreal. a huge portion of my life was spent at this mall, watching this made a lot of memories pop back up for me. great video, thank you for documenting all of this.
This video is so intriguing to me. This mall is my childhood, but throughout the later years of my teen hood was when this mall began to shutter. Many Christmas’s seeing Santa, I remember one year a picture went viral of a lonely Santa here, and when we came to see him, the line was wrapping around the dead mall. Getting dragged to my older sisters birthday party at the American Girl doll store, visiting my uncle serving at Houlihan’s, and riding the carousel, and watching the new star wars trilogy the day after Christmas with family are all core memories of my Childhood. It’s so crazy how a mall can deteriorate so fast. Within a few years of Dillards closing the mall was dead. And it’s been left a shell of its former self for awhile. Thank you for capturing it. Unfortunately future generations will no longer be able to have the same memories I once had.
I was part of the original crew that opened this AMC in 2006. It was surreal to see the auction and this video and the state it’s in. The elevator you couldn’t get in behind the concession stand was the same one you saw in “The booth” (projector area). We used that regularly for going up to the break room and lockers also to get extra inventory for the concession stand. If you go down the back hallway behind the concession stand, a pretty long way. There’s another freight elevator that we used for taking trash and recycling out. Even then it was a shady elevator 😂
36:00 And that's where I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening weekend. It was a big event, so I had to splurge on IMAX. I saw so many movies in this theater. Thanks for doing this.
when I was like 13 or 14, I remember going to the mall with a bunch of friends to watch Iron Man VS Captain America. I even had an iron man mask that I got in a costume when I was way younger that I brought with me. Good times..
I saw all of The Hobbit movies there on sequential Xmas eves with my family. We’d go year after year to see Hobbit and Star Wars films, my favorite tradition as a family. This is surreal.
Damn. My family used to take family photos in Sears and then walk around the mall like once a year. I remember they used to have a Disney store long ago too. 😢
The last time I went to this mall it was so eerie with how much was closed down and empty. I was shocked even then to see what it had become so I suppose this is the natural conclusion. I loved this place, thanks for making this
Had some of my favorite birthdays at this mall by going to Cheesecake Factory and then running over to V-Stock afterwards to get games and action figures. Godspeed Chesterfield Mall 🫡
This makes me cry. I’m 50. We moved to St. Louis in 1977 when I was 3 and Chesterfield Mall (and Northwest Plaza) were such a huge part of my life growing up. It will be so hard driving down Olive Rd past what used to be Chesterfield Mall. 😢
so many memories at this mall. It was probably my favorite mall of the few in the STL county area. I also picked up tons of doordash orders from the Cheesecake Factory. I was driving around the other day and noticed there were gates all around the mall and I just thought they were doing to redo the parking lot, but then a few days later I found out it was shutting down :(
I am a transplant to the STL area and have lived here for the last 8 years. During this time, the Chesterfield mall was always a place I ended up going to every now and then. I'm glad I got to see it before COVID. After that, it basically became dedicated to pickleball. It was so weird seeing the entire foodcourt replaced with pickleball courts in its twilight years. Thanks for chronicling this!
Always sad seeing something from my childhood close down, but it was a long time coming. The last time I was there hardly anything was open and it was evident it was a dying mall. Will miss it. 😢
As a genXer I spent a large number of hour at this mall. Shopping with my parents. Hanging out with my friends. Babbages. Kaybee toys. Camelot Music. Among many others. It's sad to see it die. But in a way it's liberating to let go of the past.
I worked at the Macy's (back then Famous Barr) during the Christmas season 1994. That mall was the place to be in the late 70s, and throughout the 80s and 90s. 27:12 I remember being about 9-10 years old and running around, and playing in that rest area. Thank you for documenting this, I have a lot of fond memories from my childhood and early adult years in this mall.
I shopped Famous Barr too, and never really got used to calling it Macy’s. I liked that particular Macy’s. My daughter and I spent a lot of hours at that mall. 😢
When I was a kid in the 80's, for several years a group of parents would take a bunch of us to Chesterfield Mall to trick-or-treat. There used to be a haunted house that would pop up on the Sears side, and a fifties themed restaurant where I THINK Ruby Tuesdays ended up being? And of course, in the 90s they had Babages that had a DreamCast on display out front that we would all play.
I'll never forget the (what seemed huge when I was a child) metal and concrete water feature that use to be in the center of the mall. Plenty of memories chasing my little cousins around that, jumping and sliding down some of the sloped areas.
I grew up going here and to Mid Rivers Mall. I walked through it a couple years ago thinking it was about to close, with Cheesecake Factory and V Stock being virtually all that was left. I remember when Dillard’s shut down in 2018 due to severe water damage (I’m assuming that’s what’s with all the plywood covering the service corridors and other parts of the anchor stores). They planned on coming back, but they later pulled out (23:38 you know what, they aren’t exactly wrong). That was the first big blow to the mall. Then sears went bankrupt, and those two anchor corridors were blocked off. It was basically a long hallway after that. I actually went here to get my Covid shot in 2021 and the mall was virtually completely dead then. Thank you for documenting this, and always nice to see a BSF feature, being a big fan of Abandoned!
Really neat footage, thahnks. Amateur filmakers are missing out on a great zombis movie spot. Or, the ghostly remains of the departed mall store managers.
This is so cool. What a fantastic collab! It’s always sad for me to see another mall shut down. Every time I see footage like this, I keep having flashbacks of the crowds and the energy that used to exist in these spaces.
Man, I have so many memories here with my mom and grandma before she passed (grandma, mom's fine). It used to be filled with people and it was just really enjoyable to hang out for a couple hours. I'll miss this place.
Sad nostalgia. I remember when going to this mall on a saturday was a big event when I was a kid back in the 80s/90s. All those mulch garden areas were fountains full of coins my sister and I may or may not have taken quarders from for the arcade. 😉... Sad the mall era has come to an end. Kids today and tomorrow will never know the experiences we had meeting friends and hanging out.
St. Louis folk here, this is really sad. I used to love this mall when I was a kid and it did really well up until a few years ago. Me and my family used to go to the Cheesecake Factory there on weekends after outings, and that was like a really big part of my childhood. R.I.P. Chesterfield Mall, you will be missed. 😢
Man, I used to come here so much as a teen. Think the last time I visited was back in 2021, and that was just for a quick stop by the V-stock. Last movie I ever saw in the AMC theater was Joker back in 2019. Gonna miss this place. Even well past its prime, it was such a fun place to explore.
Its wild seeing this. So much time was spent here. My friend owed the Neutral Zone before they sold it to the people who owned it at close. Another friend opened his first card shop there. RIP Alpha Omega Gaming. It was where i first tasted the magic of Raising Canes. Another friend opened Mystic TCG across from V-Stock. The V-Stock is where my collection of comics started. So much money spent at Anime Eggroll. My girlfriend and i would hang out there all the time before we started dating. Now it's all gone. Crazy.
I’m always going to miss Chesterfield Mall. So sad to see it die as quickly as it did, only to lay in limbo for years before they pulled the plug. Like other dead-mallers have said years ago, this was the dead mall that nobody saw coming.
Yeah, the growing (and wealthy) population in the area wouldn't make you think the mall was on borrowed time. I guess all those retail developments down the road in Chesterfield Valley opened right as malls in general started to fade in popularity. That combo must have been enough.
@@TheElevatorChannel that, and the burst water main inside Dillard’s started the decline, and Sears closing during its long drawn-out bankruptcy sealed the mall’s fate. The Staenberg Group says they’ll demolish soon, but I’ll be surprised when that happens. Normally, abandoned malls stay abandoned for a long time before they finally meet the wrecking ball; Chesterfield’s sister mall, Jamestown, stood for about 10 years and a lot of red tape before it was finally torn down.
@@corytaylor6739 I think they cleared most, if not all, the red tape. It's why it's closure was so drawn out- they couldn't get a plan right, then they had issues with financing, then Dillards refused to be bought out and demanded that the store they abandoned not be torn down in the demolition. I think they use it as a warehouse at this point. But I think everything has been cleared, which is why it's now closed.
Wow. What an amazing space! And that ginormous freight elevator was a real treat. I see they even removed most of the signage (restrooms offices etc). Fun fact: my church (thanks to me) has a hanging restroom sign from a closed toys r us!
I'm in South County and I thought for sure that South County Mall would be one of the first to shut down and it's one of the last ones still chugging along. I was beyond shocked when Crestwood closed down. That mall was always so packed that you couldn't find a parking spot. I've never been to Chesterfield Mall.
God. It feels like the old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born in its place. Thank you for documenting this. If anyone in STL is +21 and emo, goth, punk, or scene... respond to this comment and lemme know. Would love to hit up one of the few active mallz with other members of my endangered species XP
Sad to see, but this was really a long time coming. I would always come up here just to go to the V stock and slackers as a teenager, also going to the movies! The slackers closed and I think V stock closed several months before this video came out. Really sad to see this landmark of my adolescence go, but I suppose that's how things are, signs of the times.
Vstock was my favorite, I got Black Ops 1 on the Xbox 360 from them. I also wanted to purchase a guitar hero guitar some day too but that never really happened. I got a sick real guitar recently that I shred hard on though, so thats something!
oh no i had no idea! i mean i knew it was dead but wow! so notalgic, i have pictures from just last year in the spot with thise papers over the plants. thank you for documenting this. it feels special.
Oh man! I grew up going to Chesterfield Mall in the 80’s. Every year my mom would bring me to get my picture taken with Santa. We’d eat at the Dillard’s restaurant or go to York Steakhouse for lunch. My mom was a sahm so we’d spend hours just window shopping and browsing so she could get out of the house. I was terrified of the escalators because I’d fallen down one of them and thought I was going to get eaten by it! It’s funny because we quit going as much when they started building Mid Rivers Mall so we’d go there- it was closer - that we thought malls were so great and going to last forever since it was so convenient to have everything under one roof, and now they’re going back to individual stores. Makes me wonder when malls will come back in fashion again!
The energy of what was will forever occupy the areas of these old malls. They pass leaving behind a world that was interesting and purposeful. Bridges to a stale world filled with fear, anger, loneliness. A world that the most interesting things are just rehashing a life these malls were such a large part of. Sad....so sad....
As someone who was a frontline witness to its steady decline (I worked at the AMC for several years all the way up to the C-19 pandemic), it’s still so surreal to actually see even if everyone who worked there saw it coming for a long time.
Remember coming here many times with my mom as a little kid whenever she was doing some shopping. I can still vaguely remember the old food court, the Dillards, the Disney store, the pet store, the V-Stock. So many memories. Shame to see it go, but it's been dead for many years after the opening of the two new strip malls down in the valley. Hell, one of those failed and is already being reworked.
I worked at that Macy's for a while... over 15 years ago. Still remember where all the departments were and how the displays looked. Even the way it smelled in different places (like that freight elevator and the dock... not a good smell!).
Spent every Friday night here in Middle school and early high school years. This place was a pivotal part of my childhood as a Chesterfield native. So sad to see it go!
I will miss this mall a lot. I've been in that theater so many times I it would take a while to count the times. That V-Stock was the best one around, and I'll miss going there to find things I didn't know I wanted.
Oh how this hurts my heart. I remember going here as a little kid when this place was hopping. Mid Rivers will be next and that one will cut like a knife, even worse.
I went to this mall for the first time in '79 and there was a promotion and sampling tasting for a new soft drink...SUNKIST! If you wanted a free Tee shirt, you had to sing Sunkist's version of The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations!" Those were some good times!
I was holding myself back in anticipation, really hoping you would find the elevator in the back of the concession stand! I refused to ride that elevator when working at AMC without someone else riding it with me because I feared getting stuck in it alone 😅
Very neat you got to meet Jake. I ALMOST had that opportunity when I got in touch with him about seeing Century III in Pittsburgh, before security got bad
Those were Pickleball Courts. They've been there for several years as the sport was taking off and the mall was on life support. ... The last movie I seen in that old AMC was Avatar 2 back in 2022.
Pretty sure the last one I saw was Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. I remember thinking the road getting in was so bad, and the theater was so dirty at that time, that I wouldn't be back. Turns out I was right.
This is very sad but very well done Jacob!!!! As for the other STL malls, obviously the Galleria is doing great, and St.Clair was doing well last I checked too, though I can’t speak for MidRivers. I visited South County back in July and large portions of the mall have been sealed off and the rest isn’t in the best shape so it may not have a long future!
It's pretty depressing. As a Native St.Louisan, there was River Roads...gone. Northland...gone. Northwest Plaza...gone. Jamestown Mall...gone. and now, Chesterfield Mall. 😢
That AMC was the best location at one point. The seats the most comfy. I worked for AMC Crestwood and saw a lot of free movies at each location. Thank you for the walk through the theater. I don't know if there is is a walk through of the whole AMC Crestwood before it was demolished. Chesterfield was one of my malls. I am sad to see it go. Another casualty of the shitty company that bought all of them and didn't maintain the buildings properly. They could have been used for housing or office or anything really.
I worked 3 of my first jobs in that mall... Sears, GNC, and Lids Locker Room. Good times. It was a sinking ship when I worked there though so it's overdue to close.
One of my earliest memories was coming to this mall, getting a knockoff General Lee car. Years later coming here with my friends on the weekends. In 2013 I got this mall as my route (I’m a delivery driver) and I saw the first store leave. I think it was called apricot lane or something. I emptied 90 % of these stores as they left. Through the years I watched it struggle as two new malls were okayed to be built by the city of chesterfield which had the same stores as chesterfield mall. At one point there were up to 4/5 of the same stores between the three malls. The two new malls sucked the life right out of this mall. All I can see in this video are all the great people I got to know, memories of handing out candy while I delivered on Halloween etc.etc. So sad to see this place get taken out.
A shoutout for Gateway Electronics, St Louis Electronics supply staple. After being on Delmar in the ?1960's (correct me), then Page & Hanley, then Maryland Heights where they were cancelled by the landlord and then to Chesterfield Mall at around 2019. Unfortunately the business hit they took during Covid and the combined general downturn of DIY, brick & mortar shopping, and the mall just not having heavy traffic was the end for them. 73s Doug; I did build my stereo and got the degree.
I was wondering what happened to them! I shopped there once in Maryland Heights, then lucked into finding that they moved to Chesterfield and shopped there again. Bummer to hear they folded.
Damn, i had no idea it was so close to shutting down. I spent some great times here as a teen in the early 2000s. Hadn't been in ages, wish I could've seen it in person one last time.
Spent many summer afternoons with grams there going "bummin" which was her word for shopping. 🤭 Made wishes on the many coins thrown into those fountains... This place will always have a special place in my heart. ❤
I hate what has happened to society,malls were a place to spend a day shopping,eating, catching a movie,so many things, America today is so hectic, noone has much in the way of values, just wany easy solutions, shop online etc.I personally miss malls especially the old school style with foutains,even indoor landscaping, wish they would return but they won't people today don't want them.
I 100% agree. These type of lavish malls are so beautiful to me. The interior decor was stunning to walk thru. I also think it was a mistake for the city to open up 2 separate outlet malls that took business away from this one especially now that they’re not doing as well either. What a shame
I'm kicking myself that I didn't go on the last day it was open. I'd love to be able to go through and take some pictures of it but I doubt they'd let me
So sad. As a teenager, this place was like a warm second home. I never didn't love being at that mall in the 80s. Slice of pizza, maybe some nuts. Stop in Spencer's gifts. maybe Kay B. Multiple loops on both floors. Then off to the movie theater. Good friends. Good times. Almost forgot Burger Chef! OMG I worked at Wag's restaurabt there.
Oh man, I didn't know they were closing it for good. It was a slow and sad decline, we stopped having reason to go there after the V-Stock closed. I'll miss this mall, but I can fondly remember it for what it was.
I hate that bad news how on earth nowadays are things disappearing and it’s going to be hard for people want to go shopping plus I don’t want the elevators to disappear. It’s a shame on how this world has turned into
It's wild to me how much the space has gone downhill. The parking lot is pulling away from the curb a huge amount on the upper lot. A ton of broken glass and graffiti by one lower entrance. It is always bittersweet when a mall dies.
This is (or was) one of the two closest malls to me for the entire time I've lived here. Watching the number of active stores decline until I could count them on one hand was depressing. I still pass by this mall on my way to work every day. We do still have Mid Rivers Mall and West County Mall not far away from this one though. Honestly, West County may have been what killed Chesterfield, since it had so much more space and stores, and it was closer to downtown St. Louis.
Oh man, I worked at the B. Dalton here in the late 90's. It was right next to the carousel and the carousel music drove me insane because it was nonstop. edit: those are pickleball courts in the food court, there were pickleball leagues that would play there in the late 10s.
I have so many memories of that mall. I used to go there all of the time when it was thriving, and even in it's decline my friend Ashley and I would go there to walk and catch up. Saw a bunch of movies at that AMC- Infinity War and Endgame in IMAX, the best movie going experiences I ever had. I actually went up there during the pandemic to just buy a WW84 popcorn bucket. And I bet you are right about them just bouncing- AMC knew the place would be torn down, so they just took anything of real value and left the rest. No reason to make it tidy.
I want to add- I know the mall would have closed eventually. But I do think it was Dillards being dicks and refusing to reopen after the water main break that ultimately killed the mall. The fact that they still have so much product in that store- and the fact that they refused to leave and it made the demolition of the rest of the mall so difficult- legitimately pisses me off. Also, that stench from the break never went away, especially in V-Stock (formerly Borders).
One last memory- years ago, on a rainy night when I had gone up to Waldenbooks after work, myself and about a dozen other people all wiped out taking the corner at the exit down by where the old theater used to be. We all skidded on the wet road and hit the curb, and all of us hit so hard that we bent our front axels. They had to call a fleet of tow trucks out to haul us all away.
So sad to see it go! I work at the chick fil a that's a few minutes away and sometimes after a shift a couple of coworkers would go see some marvel movies at the theater upstairs. Since covid though you can really see the mall struggling after to recover from profit loss.
As a St. Louis native this is a surreal way of finding out that Chesterfield Mall is finally closed for good. I'll miss that V-Stock dearly.
Same, I bought 10 of those big packs of pokemon cards for like $25 back in July, they used to be $10 each 😭
There's still one at South County Mall I think.
Lost my virginity in that Vstock elevator that shakes like crazy, good times good times
Best V-Stock besides Mid Rivers (which is also in an old Borders). The West County one is kind of a joke.
Same. I knew they were closing soon, but didn’t know when “soon” is. Husband used to fix the generators there.
R.I.P. Chesterfield Mall. I knew this mall was on a steady decline, but it's new news to me that the doors are closing, forever. I've walked this Mall many times & have tons of memories that were created stemming all the way back to my childhood. Thank you for documenting & showing us this video. Born & raised on the Chesterfield/Creve Coeur line. I really enjoyed this. Thank you. 💜
so surreal. a huge portion of my life was spent at this mall, watching this made a lot of memories pop back up for me. great video, thank you for documenting all of this.
This video is so intriguing to me. This mall is my childhood, but throughout the later years of my teen hood was when this mall began to shutter. Many Christmas’s seeing Santa, I remember one year a picture went viral of a lonely Santa here, and when we came to see him, the line was wrapping around the dead mall. Getting dragged to my older sisters birthday party at the American Girl doll store, visiting my uncle serving at Houlihan’s, and riding the carousel, and watching the new star wars trilogy the day after Christmas with family are all core memories of my Childhood. It’s so crazy how a mall can deteriorate so fast. Within a few years of Dillards closing the mall was dead. And it’s been left a shell of its former self for awhile. Thank you for capturing it. Unfortunately future generations will no longer be able to have the same memories I once had.
Man, I miss Houlihan's. That was a great restaurant
I worked at the California Pizza Kitchen in that mall for 6 years!!! Thanks for the memories!!
I was part of the original crew that opened this AMC in 2006.
It was surreal to see the auction and this video and the state it’s in.
The elevator you couldn’t get in behind the concession stand was the same one you saw in “The booth” (projector area).
We used that regularly for going up to the break room and lockers also to get extra inventory for the concession stand.
If you go down the back hallway behind the concession stand, a pretty long way. There’s another freight elevator that we used for taking trash and recycling out. Even then it was a shady elevator 😂
36:00 And that's where I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening weekend. It was a big event, so I had to splurge on IMAX. I saw so many movies in this theater.
Thanks for doing this.
Very cool!
when I was like 13 or 14, I remember going to the mall with a bunch of friends to watch Iron Man VS Captain America. I even had an iron man mask that I got in a costume when I was way younger that I brought with me. Good times..
I saw all of The Hobbit movies there on sequential Xmas eves with my family. We’d go year after year to see Hobbit and Star Wars films, my favorite tradition as a family. This is surreal.
I saw that with my friend a few days before I had 2 back surgeries.
I will miss that IMAX.
I saw No Time to Die early there. I was so tickled someone drove there in an Aston Martin
Gosh I will miss this mall so much. This was my families favorite mall for years. The Sephora and American girl store will always be legendary to me.
Damn. My family used to take family photos in Sears and then walk around the mall like once a year. I remember they used to have a Disney store long ago too. 😢
This is so sad. I grew up with this mall and have so many wonderful memories from it. It will be dearly missed
The last time I went to this mall it was so eerie with how much was closed down and empty. I was shocked even then to see what it had become so I suppose this is the natural conclusion. I loved this place, thanks for making this
Had some of my favorite birthdays at this mall by going to Cheesecake Factory and then running over to V-Stock afterwards to get games and action figures. Godspeed Chesterfield Mall 🫡
This makes me cry. I’m 50. We moved to St. Louis in 1977 when I was 3 and Chesterfield Mall (and Northwest Plaza) were such a huge part of my life growing up. It will be so hard driving down Olive Rd past what used to be Chesterfield Mall. 😢
Wow no way, I love Bright Sun Films!
I've been a long time follower of his channel as well, so meeting up was really cool. We had a great time.
so many memories at this mall. It was probably my favorite mall of the few in the STL county area. I also picked up tons of doordash orders from the Cheesecake Factory. I was driving around the other day and noticed there were gates all around the mall and I just thought they were doing to redo the parking lot, but then a few days later I found out it was shutting down :(
I am a transplant to the STL area and have lived here for the last 8 years. During this time, the Chesterfield mall was always a place I ended up going to every now and then. I'm glad I got to see it before COVID. After that, it basically became dedicated to pickleball. It was so weird seeing the entire foodcourt replaced with pickleball courts in its twilight years. Thanks for chronicling this!
To add, Chesterfield is an upper income area.
Always sad seeing something from my childhood close down, but it was a long time coming. The last time I was there hardly anything was open and it was evident it was a dying mall. Will miss it. 😢
As a genXer I spent a large number of hour at this mall. Shopping with my parents. Hanging out with my friends. Babbages. Kaybee toys. Camelot Music. Among many others. It's sad to see it die. But in a way it's liberating to let go of the past.
R.I.P Chesterfield Mall.
23:30 "Temporary my ass. You killed this mall!"
Someone took it personally for even that sign alone.
Great walk through of a legendary St. Louis mall! Also awesome you were there with Jake from Bright Sun Films!
I worked at the Macy's (back then Famous Barr) during the Christmas season 1994. That mall was the place to be in the late 70s, and throughout the 80s and 90s. 27:12 I remember being about 9-10 years old and running around, and playing in that rest area. Thank you for documenting this, I have a lot of fond memories from my childhood and early adult years in this mall.
I shopped Famous Barr too, and never really got used to calling it Macy’s. I liked that particular Macy’s. My daughter and I spent a lot of hours at that mall. 😢
When I was a kid in the 80's, for several years a group of parents would take a bunch of us to Chesterfield Mall to trick-or-treat. There used to be a haunted house that would pop up on the Sears side, and a fifties themed restaurant where I THINK Ruby Tuesdays ended up being? And of course, in the 90s they had Babages that had a DreamCast on display out front that we would all play.
I'll never forget the (what seemed huge when I was a child) metal and concrete water feature that use to be in the center of the mall. Plenty of memories chasing my little cousins around that, jumping and sliding down some of the sloped areas.
This was my Mall Rat mall in the 80s and I think I spent hundreds of hours in its stores and walkways and back halls....what a time.
I worked at this Macy’s up until we closed. So crazy to see it again one last time.
I grew up going here and to Mid Rivers Mall. I walked through it a couple years ago thinking it was about to close, with Cheesecake Factory and V Stock being virtually all that was left. I remember when Dillard’s shut down in 2018 due to severe water damage (I’m assuming that’s what’s with all the plywood covering the service corridors and other parts of the anchor stores). They planned on coming back, but they later pulled out (23:38 you know what, they aren’t exactly wrong). That was the first big blow to the mall. Then sears went bankrupt, and those two anchor corridors were blocked off. It was basically a long hallway after that. I actually went here to get my Covid shot in 2021 and the mall was virtually completely dead then. Thank you for documenting this, and always nice to see a BSF feature, being a big fan of Abandoned!
My teenage years spent at the arcade, and food court back in the 1990s.
Holy cow. Ive been asking BSF to do a video on this forever. Glad he actually did. I purchased the Christmas display from here a few weeks ago.
Really neat footage, thahnks. Amateur filmakers are missing out on a great zombis movie spot. Or, the ghostly remains of the departed mall store managers.
Honestly, I have really fond memories of sitting at that fountain in the middle and my Grandma reading a book to me. End of an era.
This is so cool.
What a fantastic collab!
It’s always sad for me to see another mall shut down.
Every time I see footage like this, I keep having flashbacks of the crowds and the energy that used to exist in these spaces.
I got to see this place 10 years ago when it was still pretty busy and the anchors were all open. Definitely felt a lot different at the end.
Seeing these large open and empty spaces gives off a "backrooms" vibe to me.
I couldn't tell you how many miles I walked through that building . Many businesses came and went . My Favorite store was Spencer's
Man, I have so many memories here with my mom and grandma before she passed (grandma, mom's fine). It used to be filled with people and it was just really enjoyable to hang out for a couple hours. I'll miss this place.
This is fascinating to see, the last time i was here was 5 years ago and even then it was hanging on by a thread. Thank you.
Sad nostalgia. I remember when going to this mall on a saturday was a big event when I was a kid back in the 80s/90s. All those mulch garden areas were fountains full of coins my sister and I may or may not have taken quarders from for the arcade. 😉... Sad the mall era has come to an end. Kids today and tomorrow will never know the experiences we had meeting friends and hanging out.
Alot of memories there, worked at Macys/Famous Barr in HS, holidays were utter chaos but was very fun to work there as a kid!!
This is crazy. So many memories there of Lids and AMC
St. Louis folk here, this is really sad. I used to love this mall when I was a kid and it did really well up until a few years ago. Me and my family used to go to the Cheesecake Factory there on weekends after outings, and that was like a really big part of my childhood. R.I.P. Chesterfield Mall, you will be missed. 😢
i tried to get them to let me look around back by macys, amc and Dillard's thank you for actually doing it
Man, I used to come here so much as a teen. Think the last time I visited was back in 2021, and that was just for a quick stop by the V-stock. Last movie I ever saw in the AMC theater was Joker back in 2019.
Gonna miss this place. Even well past its prime, it was such a fun place to explore.
Did you enjoy the Joker? Also your archival work is so cool
Its wild seeing this. So much time was spent here. My friend owed the Neutral Zone before they sold it to the people who owned it at close. Another friend opened his first card shop there. RIP Alpha Omega Gaming. It was where i first tasted the magic of Raising Canes. Another friend opened Mystic TCG across from V-Stock. The V-Stock is where my collection of comics started. So much money spent at Anime Eggroll. My girlfriend and i would hang out there all the time before we started dating. Now it's all gone. Crazy.
I’m always going to miss Chesterfield Mall. So sad to see it die as quickly as it did, only to lay in limbo for years before they pulled the plug.
Like other dead-mallers have said years ago, this was the dead mall that nobody saw coming.
Yeah, the growing (and wealthy) population in the area wouldn't make you think the mall was on borrowed time. I guess all those retail developments down the road in Chesterfield Valley opened right as malls in general started to fade in popularity. That combo must have been enough.
@@TheElevatorChannel that, and the burst water main inside Dillard’s started the decline, and Sears closing during its long drawn-out bankruptcy sealed the mall’s fate.
The Staenberg Group says they’ll demolish soon, but I’ll be surprised when that happens. Normally, abandoned malls stay abandoned for a long time before they finally meet the wrecking ball; Chesterfield’s sister mall, Jamestown, stood for about 10 years and a lot of red tape before it was finally torn down.
@@corytaylor6739 I think they cleared most, if not all, the red tape. It's why it's closure was so drawn out- they couldn't get a plan right, then they had issues with financing, then Dillards refused to be bought out and demanded that the store they abandoned not be torn down in the demolition. I think they use it as a warehouse at this point. But I think everything has been cleared, which is why it's now closed.
Wow. What an amazing space! And that ginormous freight elevator was a real treat. I see they even removed most of the signage (restrooms offices etc). Fun fact: my church (thanks to me) has a hanging restroom sign from a closed toys r us!
So many memories, all gone now.
Chesterfield was my favorite mall! I loved it and am still sad it’s gone.
Nice you got to collaborate with Bright Sun Films. It must had been a dream come true for you.
Yeah Jake is awesome, I was really happy when he reached out.
I'm in South County and I thought for sure that South County Mall would be one of the first to shut down and it's one of the last ones still chugging along. I was beyond shocked when Crestwood closed down. That mall was always so packed that you couldn't find a parking spot. I've never been to Chesterfield Mall.
God. It feels like the old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born in its place. Thank you for documenting this. If anyone in STL is +21 and emo, goth, punk, or scene... respond to this comment and lemme know. Would love to hit up one of the few active mallz with other members of my endangered species XP
Sad to see, but this was really a long time coming. I would always come up here just to go to the V stock and slackers as a teenager, also going to the movies! The slackers closed and I think V stock closed several months before this video came out. Really sad to see this landmark of my adolescence go, but I suppose that's how things are, signs of the times.
Vstock was my favorite, I got Black Ops 1 on the Xbox 360 from them. I also wanted to purchase a guitar hero guitar some day too but that never really happened. I got a sick real guitar recently that I shred hard on though, so thats something!
oh no i had no idea! i mean i knew it was dead but wow! so notalgic, i have pictures from just last year in the spot with thise papers over the plants. thank you for documenting this. it feels special.
Gonna miss this mall. I used to go here pretty frequently with friends
Oh man! I grew up going to Chesterfield Mall in the 80’s. Every year my mom would bring me to get my picture taken with Santa. We’d eat at the Dillard’s restaurant or go to York Steakhouse for lunch. My mom was a sahm so we’d spend hours just window shopping and browsing so she could get out of the house. I was terrified of the escalators because I’d fallen down one of them and thought I was going to get eaten by it! It’s funny because we quit going as much when they started building Mid Rivers Mall so we’d go there- it was closer - that we thought malls were so great and going to last forever since it was so convenient to have everything under one roof, and now they’re going back to individual stores. Makes me wonder when malls will come back in fashion again!
Wow, the last time I went to Cheesecake Factory was the one at Chesterfield Mall. Hard to believe it's all going away!
The energy of what was will forever occupy the areas of these old malls. They pass leaving behind a world that was interesting and purposeful. Bridges to a stale world filled with fear, anger, loneliness. A world that the most interesting things are just rehashing a life these malls were such a large part of. Sad....so sad....
Sad how life is changing for all of us . I use to love that mall in 1980’s
As someone who was a frontline witness to its steady decline (I worked at the AMC for several years all the way up to the C-19 pandemic), it’s still so surreal to actually see even if everyone who worked there saw it coming for a long time.
We used to go on a “trip” th Chesterfield Mall to see the beautiful and elaborate Christmas decorations. It was gorgeous in its heyday.
so many childhood memories here, sad to let it go
Remember coming here many times with my mom as a little kid whenever she was doing some shopping. I can still vaguely remember the old food court, the Dillards, the Disney store, the pet store, the V-Stock. So many memories. Shame to see it go, but it's been dead for many years after the opening of the two new strip malls down in the valley. Hell, one of those failed and is already being reworked.
I worked at that Macy's for a while... over 15 years ago. Still remember where all the departments were and how the displays looked. Even the way it smelled in different places (like that freight elevator and the dock... not a good smell!).
Spent every Friday night here in Middle school and early high school years. This place was a pivotal part of my childhood as a Chesterfield native. So sad to see it go!
Me too!
I will miss this mall a lot. I've been in that theater so many times I it would take a while to count the times.
That V-Stock was the best one around, and I'll miss going there to find things I didn't know I wanted.
Oh how this hurts my heart. I remember going here as a little kid when this place was hopping. Mid Rivers will be next and that one will cut like a knife, even worse.
I went to this mall for the first time in '79 and there was a promotion and sampling tasting for a new soft drink...SUNKIST! If you wanted a free Tee shirt, you had to sing Sunkist's version of The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations!" Those were some good times!
Literally just had a Sunkist as I am watching this video
@@gtavstepfordcounty1733 Awesome...good stuuf!
I was holding myself back in anticipation, really hoping you would find the elevator in the back of the concession stand! I refused to ride that elevator when working at AMC without someone else riding it with me because I feared getting stuck in it alone 😅
Very neat you got to meet Jake. I ALMOST had that opportunity when I got in touch with him about seeing Century III in Pittsburgh, before security got bad
Those were Pickleball Courts. They've been there for several years as the sport was taking off and the mall was on life support. ... The last movie I seen in that old AMC was Avatar 2 back in 2022.
Pretty sure the last one I saw was Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. I remember thinking the road getting in was so bad, and the theater was so dirty at that time, that I wouldn't be back. Turns out I was right.
My sister's got their American girl dolls there back in the day. Gonna miss it
An Elevator Channel and Bright Sun Films collab wasn't on my bingo card!
This is very sad but very well done Jacob!!!! As for the other STL malls, obviously the Galleria is doing great, and St.Clair was doing well last I checked too, though I can’t speak for MidRivers. I visited South County back in July and large portions of the mall have been sealed off and the rest isn’t in the best shape so it may not have a long future!
Midrivers isn’t so bad, they still have dillards, jcp, and macys. Also dicks sporting goods. And some other small stores.
Mid Rivers is hanging in there. One wing by Dicks Sporting Goods is a little vacant but otherwise it still has enough stores to keep it alive.
The workers in that Macy’s kept it nice until the very end. Very clean.
It's pretty depressing. As a Native St.Louisan, there was River Roads...gone. Northland...gone. Northwest Plaza...gone. Jamestown Mall...gone. and now, Chesterfield Mall. 😢
And Crestwood Mall!! 😢
That AMC was the best location at one point. The seats the most comfy. I worked for AMC Crestwood and saw a lot of free movies at each location. Thank you for the walk through the theater. I don't know if there is is a walk through of the whole AMC Crestwood before it was demolished.
Chesterfield was one of my malls. I am sad to see it go. Another casualty of the shitty company that bought all of them and didn't maintain the buildings properly. They could have been used for housing or office or anything really.
It was the only IMAX screen for miles. I hated when they shut down.
Spent a lot of time in that mall in highschool. Crazy!!
Very sad ! Spent several years working in this mall ! Many great memories .😢
I worked 3 of my first jobs in that mall... Sears, GNC, and Lids Locker Room. Good times. It was a sinking ship when I worked there though so it's overdue to close.
This was my most visited mall, because I used to work at the Ballwin Jiffy Lube, so it was an easy place to stop at for clothes and music.
I think Ballwin is the only city in the US with that spelling. Could be wrong.
I used to go to this mall for AMC, V stock, Lids, Lids Lockeroom and based on the title I'm guessing it's closed. We still have west county mall tho!
One of my earliest memories was coming to this mall, getting a knockoff General Lee car. Years later coming here with my friends on the weekends. In 2013 I got this mall as my route (I’m a delivery driver) and I saw the first store leave. I think it was called apricot lane or something. I emptied 90 % of these stores as they left. Through the years I watched it struggle as two new malls were okayed to be built by the city of chesterfield which had the same stores as chesterfield mall. At one point there were up to 4/5 of the same stores between the three malls. The two new malls sucked the life right out of this mall. All I can see in this video are all the great people I got to know, memories of handing out candy while I delivered on Halloween etc.etc. So sad to see this place get taken out.
A shoutout for Gateway Electronics, St Louis Electronics supply staple. After being on Delmar in the ?1960's (correct me), then Page & Hanley, then Maryland Heights where they were cancelled by the landlord and then to Chesterfield Mall at around 2019.
Unfortunately the business hit they took during Covid and the combined general downturn of DIY, brick & mortar shopping, and the mall just not having heavy traffic was the end for them.
73s Doug; I did build my stereo and got the degree.
I was wondering what happened to them! I shopped there once in Maryland Heights, then lucked into finding that they moved to Chesterfield and shopped there again. Bummer to hear they folded.
Damn, i had no idea it was so close to shutting down. I spent some great times here as a teen in the early 2000s. Hadn't been in ages, wish I could've seen it in person one last time.
Spent many summer afternoons with grams there going "bummin" which was her word for shopping. 🤭 Made wishes on the many coins thrown into those fountains... This place will always have a special place in my heart. ❤
I hate what has happened to society,malls were a place to spend a day shopping,eating, catching a movie,so many things, America today is so hectic, noone has much in the way of values, just wany easy solutions, shop online etc.I personally miss malls especially the old school style with foutains,even indoor landscaping, wish they would return but they won't people today don't want them.
I 100% agree. These type of lavish malls are so beautiful to me. The interior decor was stunning to walk thru. I also think it was a mistake for the city to open up 2 separate outlet malls that took business away from this one especially now that they’re not doing as well either. What a shame
In contrast, outdoor vistas are on the rise.
Imagine when in the future all in person shopping has become online shopping n what people will think about malls seeing videos like this one
I spent a lot of Friday nights at this mall in my teen years. Sad to see it go
I'm kicking myself that I didn't go on the last day it was open. I'd love to be able to go through and take some pictures of it but I doubt they'd let me
So sad. As a teenager, this place was like a warm second home. I never didn't love being at that mall in the 80s. Slice of pizza, maybe some nuts. Stop in Spencer's gifts. maybe Kay B. Multiple loops on both floors. Then off to the movie theater. Good friends. Good times. Almost forgot Burger Chef! OMG I worked at Wag's restaurabt there.
Oh man, I didn't know they were closing it for good. It was a slow and sad decline, we stopped having reason to go there after the V-Stock closed. I'll miss this mall, but I can fondly remember it for what it was.
sad i’m to young to remember what things i did in this mall because of how gutted out it is… but i do know i had lots of fun times here
Loved the Dillard's store here. 😢
I hate that bad news how on earth nowadays are things disappearing and it’s going to be hard for people want to go shopping plus I don’t want the elevators to disappear. It’s a shame on how this world has turned into
It's wild to me how much the space has gone downhill. The parking lot is pulling away from the curb a huge amount on the upper lot. A ton of broken glass and graffiti by one lower entrance. It is always bittersweet when a mall dies.
Chesterfield is still an upper income area. Malls are just dead.
Lots of childhood memories here…
This is (or was) one of the two closest malls to me for the entire time I've lived here. Watching the number of active stores decline until I could count them on one hand was depressing. I still pass by this mall on my way to work every day.
We do still have Mid Rivers Mall and West County Mall not far away from this one though. Honestly, West County may have been what killed Chesterfield, since it had so much more space and stores, and it was closer to downtown St. Louis.
The outlet malls down in Chesterfield valley killed Chesterfield mall.
Oh man, I worked at the B. Dalton here in the late 90's. It was right next to the carousel and the carousel music drove me insane because it was nonstop.
edit: those are pickleball courts in the food court, there were pickleball leagues that would play there in the late 10s.
Wasn't there a skateboard park in there?
I'll miss that place, so many fond memories.
I think that was The Mills. I don't recall Chesterfield ever having a skateboard park.
So meany memories i grew up in that mall
I have so many memories of that mall. I used to go there all of the time when it was thriving, and even in it's decline my friend Ashley and I would go there to walk and catch up. Saw a bunch of movies at that AMC- Infinity War and Endgame in IMAX, the best movie going experiences I ever had. I actually went up there during the pandemic to just buy a WW84 popcorn bucket. And I bet you are right about them just bouncing- AMC knew the place would be torn down, so they just took anything of real value and left the rest. No reason to make it tidy.
I want to add- I know the mall would have closed eventually. But I do think it was Dillards being dicks and refusing to reopen after the water main break that ultimately killed the mall. The fact that they still have so much product in that store- and the fact that they refused to leave and it made the demolition of the rest of the mall so difficult- legitimately pisses me off. Also, that stench from the break never went away, especially in V-Stock (formerly Borders).
One last memory- years ago, on a rainy night when I had gone up to Waldenbooks after work, myself and about a dozen other people all wiped out taking the corner at the exit down by where the old theater used to be. We all skidded on the wet road and hit the curb, and all of us hit so hard that we bent our front axels. They had to call a fleet of tow trucks out to haul us all away.
So sad to see it go! I work at the chick fil a that's a few minutes away and sometimes after a shift a couple of coworkers would go see some marvel movies at the theater upstairs. Since covid though you can really see the mall struggling after to recover from profit loss.
Those healthy plants should be put outside for taking. I have pots!