"Every mall weaves its own tale as to why it's alive or why it's dead, or why it's struggling." A very profound thought, Anthony, one that could certainly be repeated at many 'a closing ceremony, IF, that is, malls HAD closing ceremonies. And why SHOULDN'T there be a closing ceremony for each mall? We all pretty much mark their "birth," so why not their "death?" As to its sister mall in St. Louis, I DID see something of a resemblance, albeit only slight. Or maybe, perhaps, it's just a sad fact that so many of these dead and dying malls look so terribly much alike. Thanks for yet another top-of-the-line video, Anthony! Between you, Sal & Doomie, this COVID-19 down time hasn't been so bad at all...
I used to love going to Chesterfield mall when I was younger. Although most of my mall memories from the 80's and 90's were made at Northwest Plaza (gasp!), Chesterfield was a nicer, safer option.
The final nail in this mall's coffin was the 2 (yes, 2) outdoor luxury outlet malls that were literally built right down the road, with a lot of carryover between their stores. I do believe there is a plan in the works for this mall, but we'll see if it actually comes to fruition. They were actually in the running for the PowerPLEX that went to the old St. Louis Mills mall instead, but I thought I'd read something re: a mixed-use type setup for Chesterfield, headed up by the guy who owns the Sears building, and a lot of other land in Chesterfield (including one of the aforementioned outlet malls). I think your count of 13 stores is correct - someone local did a walkthough before COVID and came up with a pretty similar count. Also, re: being Jamestown's sister mall, if you look at the skylights you can see some definite similarities, and they also had the exact same 2 starting anchors when they opened! Thanks, Anthony, for going on a walk through two of my local malls!
Yep, still a hot mess. At least it’s open? Lol. I can’t believe they allowed the opening of two outlet malls. I might have been to one of them once and I’m in the valley quite a bit. Never knew it was a sister to the old Jamestown mall! Just waiting on my poor Mid Rivers mall to kick the bucket, but at least it has more stores than Chesterfield.
Just 5 years ago it was hosting events, still had 3 anchors (well, 2 with Dillard's issue), and looked alive- struggling, but still alive. Fast forward to 2020, and it's a complete 180.
There used to be a huge carousel in the middle atrium area. My grandma worked at the Sears for a long time, it was always a treat to visit to chesterfield mall and eat at the food court, visit charming Charlie’s, ride the carousel etc. there was once a pet store right outside of Sears and my sister and I always stood at their window forever. At the end of the video, the ref and yellow windows used to be the pet store
When I drove school buses in the late '80s & early 90s here in Kennett, MO in the Bootheel; we made a lot of trips to St. Louis. This mall was a favorite stop for the kids. I thought it was a beautiful fancy mall.
😪 My son came up behind me - I had to stop the video and prove to him that this is Chesterfield Mall. The first time I loved to STL in ‘98 I lived nearby and this mall was pretty full. As I was in an out of the area over the years it was a place I frequented as I got to know the area all over again and occasionally worked nearby. It hung on through the ‘08 crisis for the most part (I don’t recall any reno before or after that). A few stores died but the mall stayed relatively well occupied even after TWO outlet malls were opened just west of the mall. I’ve been gone from the area for a few years...but here is what I recall: The brick & blue facade was where Houlihan’s was (restaurant/bar). There was a beautiful carousel in center court, an American Girl Store (the next closest one is in Chicago) and the V-Stock was once a Borders. Laurie’s sold children’s shoes. The second floor space with the metal railing was once a St. Louis Bread (aka Panera). They also had one of the the BEST scrapbooking/paper craft stores I’ve ever been in. Sad to see a bit more personal and local history fade.
There was in fact a carousel. Before that, it was a carpeted pit used for musical concerts mainly by local schools. Carousel was dismantled in 16/17 i think
Amazing Chesterfield Mall walkabout, Ace. I absolutely love the MCM mobile hanging from the ceiling in the mall. It's really a shame the state of the malls in the US. Is there any way out of this nightmare?
There use to be a Walgreens on the 2nd level near the Sears store where we kids would buy a humongous Hershey's bar. I almost bought my first smartphone here in 2009. Every year when we went to St. Louis we would stop here to look around. This mall was sister to the Bannister Mall in Kansas City that is now long gone, and this mall will meet that fate very soon. I couldn't even imagine this mall being this dead. It was so full of life. I liked it before it was a Westfield Shoppingtown (who the heck says Shoppingtown is completely beyond me). The theatres were built around the time they remodeled the mall. Let's face it, Dillards will be temporarily permanently closed and that building can not be salvaged.
Dillards actually announced officially I believe in 2018 that they wouldn't reopen the store. I think their announcement tied in with the closing of Sears, but am not 100% sure.
Was Bannister really Chesterfield's "sister mall?" Knowing both very well, I would never have guessed that. Maybe they meant that architecturally, because I would have considered them opposites...even in their heydays, lol.
@@ReallifeBambiDeerattheFarm1 Yeah, so what's the problem? You must be new to RUclips because you will see people responding to comments much older than 8 months there Bambi. I just asked a simple question about something I found interesting in your original comment; I apologize if it somehow offended you, jeez.
@@ReallifeBambiDeerattheFarm1 what’s wrong with that? If you just watched the video, there’s still a Chance people get notifications and might respond to questions. No big deal. 😊
Another great video! I loved that remix song you used for the intro, even I'm not a fan of Ariana's songs. And I gladly contributed to your road trip campaign! Been a pleasure.
I have a theory. I was a young man when malls first came into prominence back in the early 1970's and have watched their ascension and decline over the course of my adult life. When malls first began, you had the obligatory anchor stores but you also had anchor restaurants. They were chains but they were more upscale to the tune of TGIFriday's, Morrison's, et al. Stores like Chik-Fil-A were normally scattered around and were in small booths or kiosks. And then someone came up with the idea of a food court. And with that development, the anchor restaurants began to decline to the point where if it wasn't locally owned, you could not find MSG-laden, HFCS-based meal in the building. These food courts, if memory serves, began coalescing in the mid 90's and were firmly in place by the 2000's? Nevertheless, my theory is that the food courts trashed the malls with cheap food and brought in a clientele that were more suited for Dollar General than a high rent specialty store. I can remember "dressing up" to go to the mall to buy "the good stuff." For quite some time now, that is the last place I would go. If you think this has legs and you'd like some more insight, lmk. Otherwise, it's just my theory...
Really so sad. This mall looks like its in decent shape. Sunny and bright. And huge. Its hard to fathom it sitting empty. If only there was a way to bring people back to Malls. They are missing so much. Sad times we live in.
I don't remember it being that dead when I lived in at Louis back in 2015. It looked like one of the better malls in that area and the amc with IMAX was nice.
It has been a very recent clearing. My daughter is 2 and a half years old and I remember taking her there as a baby (husband worked in Chesterfield) and letting them play on the playground when she was close to a year. It seems to be all withing the past year and a half the stores have started dropping.
It wasn't this dead in 2015 because I worked at this mall part time for that 2015 / 2016 Holiday Season and other than a few vacancies, it was a very full, active mall. Then right around the end of January 2016, it started to clear out. I went back to see if the store I worked at was still there in April of 2016 and it was, but the mall had just from Xmas of 2016 to April of 2016 gone from probably 95% occupancy down to 75%.
@@smincer yeah, definitely within the last 5 years it died, because I was there in 2014 with the Play Nintendo Tour, and that food court was a good 80% full (I think one wasn't there), there were probably a good 95% of stores occupied too. Malls can drop fast, Northwest Plaza was alive and well in 2002 right before the Mills opened, then suddenly afterwards in 2003 began its very quick decline, officially being a dead mall by 2006, just 3 years after the Mills.
I LOVE this mall. It wasn't totally dead yet when I left in 2016. Believe it or not it was actually around 65-70 percent occupied then (It went down hill in a HURRY) THey had a couple great collectibles stores, Slacker's and V-Stock, and a baseball card store. The design of the mall with an AMC on top was epic. Really sad to see it become a dying mall.
Awesome vid, Anthony! I'm planning to visit there on July 4th. From one holiday (Memorial Day) to the next ... we shall see if any more stores have opened : )
I first went to this mall in 1983 as a 15 year-old when my family moved to the area. I remember going into the mall through the first floor Sears entrance where there was a record store. I remember the huge Iron Maiden cardboard display of “Eddie” promoting the piece of mind album. In the unattached theater at the end of the parking lot on the north end, I saw Return of the Jedi in 83’ & the Goonies in 85’. This mall was the last place that I saw Christina Busalacci alive. She went to my high school & was brain injured in a car accident. It was a high profile case where her father had to fight to have her feeding tube removed so he could let her die. It was very sad, she was such a pretty girl & I remember watching her pacing back & forth & smoking near the north end entrance waiting for a ride. This mall used to be unbelievably packed in the 80’s & this was weird to watch knowing how many times I walked through this mall.
I know that record store. It was just outside of the Sears on the right side. I bought many, MANY cassettes there. I was in high school in the mid / late 1980's and on a Saturday night, this mall would be so full of people that you literally had to park over by the movie theater.
This mall has deteriorated so much since this video. They have completely walled off the Dillards and the other anchor wing of the mall leaving those portions entirely abandoned inside and out. Macys which is accessible from the remaining open portion of the mall has closed now as well. All thats left is Cheesecake Factory, the movie theater and V stock along with a few occupied store fronts that are never open. The mall is entirely filthy with over flowing trash cans all over and it is in disrepair and smells of backed up sewage sporadically throughout. The center court of the remaining open portion of the mall is occupied by tennis and pickle ball courts. The outside of the mall is overgrown, covered in garbage and graffiti as well. Its like a ghost town. It cant and wont be around much longer.
Incredible work Ace, I grew up going to Chesterfield Mall, Mid Rivers Mall, and the Mills nearby. It is really sad to see how terribly its doing, I'm going to make a trip out there soon just to see it all again, haven't been there in close to a year.
I remember as a kid going to the Mills and loved going to the PBS area. It really sucks seeing it as a ghost town. I live next to amid Rivers, and they’re still going pretty ok.
If you're going to do Route 66, you should definitely try to meet up with the Arizona dead mall enthusiasts at some point! The big name down there is Retail Archeology (87K+ subscribers), but there's a whole group of 'em down there, as you'll see in this video -> ruclips.net/video/Bg7Qk_lYpYw/видео.html
Apartments, shopping like grocery and pharmacy. Add a few eateries. Add a coffee shop and a bar. Get a gym and a pool. There you have it. A whole community.
St. Louis local back with some more details on Chesterfield Mall: -The property was recently resold to Staenberg Group - they have recently added all the banners and signage throughout the mall advertising it's redevelopment potential. They announced in the local news this week their goal is to turn the mall into a open air lifestyle center with shopping and entertainment. -This is an affluent area of STL but has been a victim of over retailing in the last 15 years. Two Outlet Malls within 5 miles both opened in 2013 (one already near death and being redeveloped) and a large retail big box development in a flood plain. -A traffic driver for this mall was added in 2012: STL's only American Girl store. It didn't fare well after the initial hype and closed in 2018. -One of the other big drags on this mall was the massive redevelopment and expansion of nearby West County Center in 2002. It lured many of the wealthy customers away with hot retailers like Apple Store, Nordstrom, and Lululemon. -The outparcels of Chesterfield Mall have had many failed restaurants as well: Bacana Brazil and Twin Peaks as well as a California Pizza Kitchen inside the mall. -The V Stock used media store is hanging on, and the location used to be a Borders Books before the chain went bankrupt. -It's interesting to note that this mall never suffered from any major crime issues that were a factor in the downfall of many other closed malls in the STL area. Thanks for putting the video together and hope you enjoyed your trip to STL!
I can think of a couple of malls that won't make it through this. Virginia Center Commons is one. I haven't heard but I would think that JCP there is on its last legs? Things have opened back up but with all the restrictions, not really. Food courts in these places tell a lot. It seems they are the first to decay. This mall appears to be in good shape, just vacant
i remember getting kicked out of the video arcade there when i was a kid for stealing game tokens. i remember telling the guy that kicked me out, "i'll go fish some quarters out of the wishing fountains, and i'll be back"
I remember visiting the Chesterfield Mall with my friends in high school and the mall would always be packed. I would say the mall took a steady decline starting in the early 2010s, lots of stores/restaurants would leave that would never be filled again or couldn’t hold a new tenant for long. Dillard’s closing was definitely a big hit, and the 2 outlet malls that opened just down the road & stronger malls elsewhere in St. Louis affected as well.
WOW, love the intro and exit. That was one of your best productions yet. The camera you used was HD AWESOME!! I also love the Duet song. Bravo, Anthony!!!! :)
I live in stl,I have since I was 2 (I’m 20 now) seeing chesterfield like this is sad, but seeing Jamestown how it is was even worse. Jamestown mall is in the text town over from me, i still drive past it, I remember going there growing up. The fact that Jamestown is the worst he’s seen in 4 years of this channel is crazy, I knew it was bad I had no idea it was that mad. Another local mall, the St. Louis mills mall ended up like chesterfield, the difference is instead of staying open dead like chesterfield or becoming an eyesore like Jamestown it sold and Is being turned into a huge sports complex
l love the work the you do,keep it up if you can and l'll try to support you in any way possible.l just keep thinking that as l see your videos and wondering to myself that Malls hey days have come and gone...sad to say but it could be true.There are Malls,all be it small ones,being torn down where l live in Ottawa,Ont. and condos with small limited retail space going in there place.
I'm happy for you that you get to do the Route 66 road trip through. That's something that I'm hoping to do myself one day. I tried to take back roads whenever I travel so I can find more hidden gems like the ones along the Mother Road. Best wishes and safety for your journey.
Man, this mall is filled with my childhood memories. For any kid who grew up during the 90's/00's, this was the place to be on Friday and Saturday Night if you lived near the area. I remember a ton of parents dropping of teenagers to hangout during the time. The mall is in an upscale area about 45 minutes west from downtown St. Louis, so it was very safe and never had any crimes. I remember it briefly prior to the renovation, but mostly grew up here between 2003 to 2014/2015 before it really began to show decline. The Red and Yellow Windows was once the Pet Shop that occupied the mall. Additionally the Corner white shop on the other end was formerly Chesterfield Baseball Cards which occupied the mall during the 2000's. Above the Pet Shop was formerly KB Toys. For a short period, there use to be a Slot Car track/shop which occupied in the around where the Carousel was. The Gamestop use to be located where the food court was in one of the shops across from all the food vendors. The longer lasting vendors in the food court was Subway, Charleys, and Panda Express. The Gated shop above was St. Louis Bread Company (Panera). The old food court use to occupy the areas uptop where H&M was located; however, I do not remember which vendors were there. Houlihans was the Red Brick shop, while opposite end near Dillards was where California Pizza Kitchen was located. The mall did begin to show decline as early as 2002 when West County had a complete renovation. I grew up about 5 minutes from West County Mall in the late 90's all the way to the mid 2010's. After Chesterfield's renovation in 2005, you did see an uptick in popularity; however, the economic recession of 2008 and the final nail in the coffin with the release of both Chesterfield Outlet Malls in 2013/2014, the mall had entered its final breathes. This brought a ton of overlap in shopping where the malls were literally 10-15 minutes from each other, including 1 of the outlets being 5 minutes down I-64. As of right now both outlets are barely holding on, with one already completely renovated into a different concept that brought in an Amusement Center and Top Golf.
I used to live near the area and used to explore this place ALL THE TIME! Last I went was late December of 2019 and we actually saw someone riding a Segway in the abandoned Sears (yes you read that right). We even found a bag of Sperrys on the ground! Very odd and amazing place!
Ace this by far is your best mall adventure, yet!!! Love, love the intro with the SNES and 80s dance scenes with the remix of Ariana Grande, that is exactly how her songs should sing on her on releases, not a remix. I am hyped to hear your going to take the trip on the Mother Road! Also, appreciated the commentary on on-going social, life issues. On a sad note, Metro Center,, the first mega mall in Phoenix, announced they will be calling it a day after 47 years on June, 30, 2020. However it will remain open to vendors until 7/15/2020, so maybe there is an "in" for you if can afford the 3 1/2 detour from Flagstaff to Phoenix.
@@AcesAdventures1 Arizona is the home turf of a couple other dead mall enthusiasts - "Retail Archeology" is the big name, but there's a whole group of them down there. Your best bet would be to see if you can collab with them on a "farewell" tour of Metro Center while you're in Arizona.
Looks like it did when I last went there a few years ago. It's going to probably close down soon, I'm shocked it hasn't yet. Every one goes to Mid Rivers Mall.
You been to Mid Rivers lately? It's in a death spiral. It would actually be a good time to document what stores are still there, because I bet in about 1 year, it will look almost the same as this mall.
Anthony, I want to get the exact version of this Ariana Grande song but I can’t find it on iTunes. I want this exact song so if it is possible where did you get the song so I can possibly get it? I have iPhones if that helps!!Thanks so very much!!!! I really love the music you put in your videos!!!! Thanks again!!! Take care and stay awesome!!!!
You do great work! For some reason the only thing about this video is how sad it seems! Yet all I could think off is how safe you actually are there! No one except a handful of other human beings were there!
I believe in 2006 they built the carousel in the center of the mall…can’t remember what year American Girl came? But I remember a Walgreens and a Houlihan’s too back in the late 90’s!! I worked at a White Barn Candle in 2001 here as well….. I grand opened a Coach handbag store in 2008 at that mall and it was booming! Then in 2013 I grand opened the first Coach outlet at the Premium Outlets a few miles down the road and that outlet along with a second one (3 Coach stores at this point within 5 miles radius) resulted in Chesterfield mall tanking quickly
Spent my teen years at Chesterfield Mall during the 80s. The center walkways did have brushed aluminum sculptures with fountains around them. We would throw coins in the water. Kids could reach over the 2 feet high marble wall and splash the water. actually, one of the main sculptures was moved outside in the front of the Chesterfield Post Office on Olive Rd. just down from the Mall. As I remember the side entrance of the Mall by Stix Baur Fuller had a huge Burger Chef just inside the doors. Across was an Orange Julius. I bought my 1st pair of Colorado hikers at the Sports store on 2nd level. I don't remember the name. The Hickory Farms store had samples of meat and cheeses you could walk thru and sample. That was fun. I do remember the old Walgreens at the top level down by Sears. Also bottom level down by Sears had one of the first Chick fi A that I could remember. My Dad like going to the cafeteria style New York Steakhouse and the Walden and Dalton's book stores on Friday nights. College years I bought a lot of GQ styles at the Oak Tree Mens clothing store. Spencer's gifts, Tobacco Shop, Pet Store, Record shop were all to stop into. In the 90s I would take my girls to the mall pushing them in thier strollers. The Old movie theater I remember seeing Footloose , Against All Odds and the Warriors movie was shown after midnight because it was such a bad movie for teens. LOL. Just recently went thru the mall and kind of liked the community center feel. But nothing beats the 80s.
HERES SOME INFO: Moved to California in 2012 and the mall was still booming. moved back in 2016 and worked at H&M for a couple months. some stores were closed but never seen it turning into this. The H&M closed about 4 months after i left. From 2016-2019 everything started dropping like flies. In 2019 I’d still visit because the AMC, bath and body works, Victoria secrets, Cheesecake Factory and O’charleys were still here. When Bath and body works and VS would have their semi annual sales this was the best mall to go to because obviously there was no crowd and you could rack up. The AMC ran $5 deals all day everyday. I would come to catch movies I didn’t feel like paying full price for. The movie theater would only have 1-2 workers any time I went. I’d also go to o’charleys because we only have 2 in our area and I enjoyed them. It was the last thing standing in the food court. Can’t remember when in 2019 but eventually the bath and body works, Victoria secrets, and o Charleys left all together so I stopped going to the mall completely. Haven’t been in 2020 due to the lack of stores and corona so this was an interesting video!
07:00 and 13:40 How old is the gum in the machines? Currently, good walking and badminton for seniors. Possibly future housing for migrants when the WEF brings in 100 million migrants.
I saw you were in Chicago. I hope you had a chance to visit Fashion Outlets of Chicago Mall near O'Hare airport, one of the most recent indoor malls built in the country (Opened in 2013) Extremely rare for an enclosed mall to be built in the 2010s as you know.
Omg! I live semi close on the IL side of the river. We hv a local mall. Fairly large & it's holding up well. Lost an anchor store, sears but it's been picking up & opening new store ect. Imma mall lover, mall rat if u will lol & I'm very grateful to still hv a local, busy mall to visit.
Not too far from were I grew up. Unlike most dead or dying malls in St. Louis this one is (was?) In in a relatively up-scale, high traffic area. Sadly most of it will end up in some landfill.
4:28 oh my god are you wrong. This mall had 4 anchor stores operating at one time- Penney's, Famous, Dillard's, Sears. The Penney's did NOT take over for Famous, Macy's took over for Famous, Penney's was redeveloped into about 30 little shops, Dillard's supposedly had a flood, and never reopened (cheap way to close), and Sears, well, there was never any hope for Sears to begin with.
Wow amazing how this mall died relatively fast. When I left in 2016 it was still in good shape except for the Sears about to close, but I think it was on it's downward spiral at that point.
Its good to see Chesterfield Mall, again. But its sad to see its almost Dead. When I lived in Missouri in the late 1970's me and my family would go there, plus me and my friends would hangout there, too. My favorite restaurant was York Steak House.
Each vid getting better and better on the production, openings and music. If these get more traction, might be a good idea to reboot some earlier vids for 2.0 editions...
What really killed this mall was when they built two outdoor outlet malls within 2 highway exits of this one. People stopped going and then the Dillard’s flooded and they never reopened. That was a couple years ago. There are plans to tear the mall down but only keeping the movie theater and Cheesecake Factory.
This mall used to be so busy. I worked there in high school, as did almost everyone else I knew at some point. There were some fun fountains on the lower level during the 80s right outside a Merry Go Round and Pasta House. I remember those from childhood, but don't think they were there by the time I was a teenager. My nephew currently works in the mall with an events company. When actually open, the movie theater still gets a decent crowd - turning it into an AMC Classic doesn't really mean much except there aren't any IMAX screens (I think). In December, I took my mom to see The Last Jedi at that theater. Fun fact - there was still a Santa in the center of the lower level. To the best of my knowledge, the 2006 remodel brought the theater, Cheesecake Factory, and a Borders (obviously long gone) that's now a V-Stock and has some great finds. i.e., GoldenEye for n64. I want to say the food court was added in the late 90s, but that could have been 2006, too. The overall look and structure of the mall hasn't really changed all that much. Watching this video, I can still picture stores that existed in certain spots throughout the years. And while I still take a stroll around the place almost every time I visit my family because my mom lives down the street, watching this video is still kind of crazy.
Nora Lewis Oh yeah! There were colored lights! I remember thinking they were so cool when I was a kid, and way better than the fountains without colored lights at the old West County Centre.
The 2 outlet malls in the valley is what really ruined that place. add those on top of online shopping and this is what you get. growing up this was the hangout every friday and saturday night, when i was little i also remember the food court being upstairs where the H&M was at. when i was little i used to go with my grandma and her retired friends and they would walk the mall in the mornings before the stores opened. place had some awesome stores and good food too. the newer outlet malls arent bad but the taubmann outlet started to do pretty bad and they eventually tore down the end section of it. but this place in the early/mid 2000's was so much fun
Just so sad. Loved going to the mall to hang out and shop for hours with friends. It was a nice escape. I still try to take my daughter to the malls nearby that still have decent stores. She enjoys it as well!
i actually have family who lives near this mall, and it’s really sad to see the absolutely huge for lease signs on the mall every time we pass by. edit: i also definitely agree that it looks NOTHING like jamestown mall
In the summer of 2004, I was on a team working to do some renovation work in the Sears. And at that point Sears was doing okay. Sounds like the mall started to take some hits not long after I had worked there and really the Sears shutting down in 2018 sounds like kind of the death knell. It's so weird to see how far down it has gone.
I was able to listen to it on SoundCloud. I want iTunes to get this exact version. Anthony, you have great music on your videos!!!! Thanks so very much!!!! Take care and keep up the excellent work!!!! 👍🏻😬
19:43 you can see the remainder of the old Pet Shop that use to be located there. The clear glass with the yellow and red panel was where they would let puppies and kittens roam around and you could play with them if you wanted inside. Across from it use to be an old baseball card shop and next to it if I recall was KB Toys and Gamestop.
KB Toys was on the upper level above the pet store. The baseball card shop was at the opposite end of the mall, directly across from Babbage's. They eventually changed from Babbage's to Gamestop and put their store in the middle of the mall, when they remodeled and moved the food court.
I probably stayed in the hotel you did. Study Plaza just after it was built and this whole area was busy and full of life. Wow how quickly times have changed.
Mills also gets the award for 'most times trying to reinvent itself in a 10 year period', still failing in the end. It was in the middle of a flood plain and not convenient to get to from almost any part of the metro St. Louis area.
Yessss !! I’ve been wondering how the Mills has been holding up these days.. times are tough. I’ll have to dig up some info on that. Loved that mall. Between this Chesterfield mall and the Mills, I have a lot of fond memories.
As someone who lived in St. Charles, MO for 23 years, would you believe that the center of the mall was once host of not only a 2-story carousel(yes you read that right) but also used to be a large carpeted pit used for music concerts by local school with 3 large plant "retainer areas"? I remember perfoming at Chesterfield Mall in 2004 as a 4th grader for our Holiday Concert performance in the center when it was still the carpeted "pit". The mall was chock-full of stores back then. This hurts to see as someone who spent MANY days at this mall in my childhood... RIP, Chesterfield Mall. Thank you for a lifetime of memories
www.gofundme.com/f/aces-adventures-great-american-mall-trip
Ace's Adventures please post link to the Ariana Grande remix
@@layparisss all you have to do is search on youtube for TRONIC BOX
Half-Pint Paris - ruclips.net/video/8uDQ0P9AWc8/видео.html
"Every mall weaves its own tale as to why it's alive or why it's dead, or why it's struggling." A very profound thought, Anthony, one that could certainly be repeated at many 'a closing ceremony, IF, that is, malls HAD closing ceremonies. And why SHOULDN'T there be a closing ceremony for each mall? We all pretty much mark their "birth," so why not their "death?" As to its sister mall in St. Louis, I DID see something of a resemblance, albeit only slight. Or maybe, perhaps, it's just a sad fact that so many of these dead and dying malls look so terribly much alike. Thanks for yet another top-of-the-line video, Anthony! Between you, Sal & Doomie, this COVID-19 down time hasn't been so bad at all...
Wow, it is still a very nice mall. A shame it is utterly vacant.
I used to love going to Chesterfield mall when I was younger. Although most of my mall memories from the 80's and 90's were made at Northwest Plaza (gasp!), Chesterfield was a nicer, safer option.
Hey Ace what is the name of the song at 14:58
Bro it’s literally listen on screen lol
Hey Ace I need to know the name of the song by waterfront dining
Christopher Boyle IT.SAYS.IT.ON.SCREEN
Hey Ace I found it thanks is the song called Sarah in a pontiac
I'll show my age and say, "Daruud - Sandstorm"..🤣
The final nail in this mall's coffin was the 2 (yes, 2) outdoor luxury outlet malls that were literally built right down the road, with a lot of carryover between their stores. I do believe there is a plan in the works for this mall, but we'll see if it actually comes to fruition. They were actually in the running for the PowerPLEX that went to the old St. Louis Mills mall instead, but I thought I'd read something re: a mixed-use type setup for Chesterfield, headed up by the guy who owns the Sears building, and a lot of other land in Chesterfield (including one of the aforementioned outlet malls). I think your count of 13 stores is correct - someone local did a walkthough before COVID and came up with a pretty similar count. Also, re: being Jamestown's sister mall, if you look at the skylights you can see some definite similarities, and they also had the exact same 2 starting anchors when they opened!
Thanks, Anthony, for going on a walk through two of my local malls!
Yep, still a hot mess. At least it’s open? Lol. I can’t believe they allowed the opening of two outlet malls. I might have been to one of them once and I’m in the valley quite a bit. Never knew it was a sister to the old Jamestown mall!
Just waiting on my poor Mid Rivers mall to kick the bucket, but at least it has more stores than Chesterfield.
This mall was my childhood! So sad to see how quickly it died.
Just 5 years ago it was hosting events, still had 3 anchors (well, 2 with Dillard's issue), and looked alive- struggling, but still alive. Fast forward to 2020, and it's a complete 180.
This is.a nice looking mall. It's so sad that it's so dead. Good video. Thanks for filming.
There used to be a huge carousel in the middle atrium area. My grandma worked at the Sears for a long time, it was always a treat to visit to chesterfield mall and eat at the food court, visit charming Charlie’s, ride the carousel etc. there was once a pet store right outside of Sears and my sister and I always stood at their window forever. At the end of the video, the ref and yellow windows used to be the pet store
As dead as Chesterfield Mall is, it is in considerably better shape than Jamestown.
Well said!
Thats because its in Chesterfield !!!
Remove the animals and look what happens..Itll last forever if ya wanted it to !!
When I drove school buses in the late '80s & early 90s here in Kennett, MO in the Bootheel; we made a lot of trips to St. Louis. This mall was a favorite stop for the kids. I thought it was a beautiful fancy mall.
😪 My son came up behind me - I had to stop the video and prove to him that this is Chesterfield Mall. The first time I loved to STL in ‘98 I lived nearby and this mall was pretty full. As I was in an out of the area over the years it was a place I frequented as I got to know the area all over again and occasionally worked nearby. It hung on through the ‘08 crisis for the most part (I don’t recall any reno before or after that). A few stores died but the mall stayed relatively well occupied even after TWO outlet malls were opened just west of the mall. I’ve been gone from the area for a few years...but here is what I recall: The brick & blue facade was where Houlihan’s was (restaurant/bar). There was a beautiful carousel in center court, an American Girl Store (the next closest one is in Chicago) and the V-Stock was once a Borders. Laurie’s sold children’s shoes. The second floor space with the metal railing was once a St. Louis Bread (aka Panera). They also had one of the the BEST scrapbooking/paper craft stores I’ve ever been in. Sad to see a bit more personal and local history fade.
There was in fact a carousel. Before that, it was a carpeted pit used for musical concerts mainly by local schools. Carousel was dismantled in 16/17 i think
Amazing Chesterfield Mall walkabout, Ace. I absolutely love the MCM mobile hanging from the ceiling in the mall. It's really a shame the state of the malls in the US. Is there any way out of this nightmare?
There use to be a Walgreens on the 2nd level near the Sears store where we kids would buy a humongous Hershey's bar. I almost bought my first smartphone here in 2009. Every year when we went to St. Louis we would stop here to look around. This mall was sister to the Bannister Mall in Kansas City that is now long gone, and this mall will meet that fate very soon. I couldn't even imagine this mall being this dead. It was so full of life. I liked it before it was a Westfield Shoppingtown (who the heck says Shoppingtown is completely beyond me). The theatres were built around the time they remodeled the mall. Let's face it, Dillards will be temporarily permanently closed and that building can not be salvaged.
Dillards actually announced officially I believe in 2018 that they wouldn't reopen the store. I think their announcement tied in with the closing of Sears, but am not 100% sure.
Was Bannister really Chesterfield's "sister mall?" Knowing both very well, I would never have guessed that. Maybe they meant that architecturally, because I would have considered them opposites...even in their heydays, lol.
@@crocodile1313 Replied to a comment made 8 months ago?
@@ReallifeBambiDeerattheFarm1 Yeah, so what's the problem? You must be new to RUclips because you will see people responding to comments much older than 8 months there Bambi.
I just asked a simple question about something I found interesting in your original comment; I apologize if it somehow offended you, jeez.
@@ReallifeBambiDeerattheFarm1 what’s wrong with that? If you just watched the video, there’s still a
Chance people get notifications and might respond to questions. No big deal. 😊
Clean, full of light, well maintained. But no customers.
It's in an area full of wealthy people, so go figure.
Another great video! I loved that remix song you used for the intro, even I'm not a fan of Ariana's songs.
And I gladly contributed to your road trip campaign! Been a pleasure.
Thank you so much!
I have a theory. I was a young man when malls first came into prominence back in the early 1970's and have watched their ascension and decline over the course of my adult life. When malls first began, you had the obligatory anchor stores but you also had anchor restaurants. They were chains but they were more upscale to the tune of TGIFriday's, Morrison's, et al. Stores like Chik-Fil-A were normally scattered around and were in small booths or kiosks. And then someone came up with the idea of a food court. And with that development, the anchor restaurants began to decline to the point where if it wasn't locally owned, you could not find MSG-laden, HFCS-based meal in the building. These food courts, if memory serves, began coalescing in the mid 90's and were firmly in place by the 2000's? Nevertheless, my theory is that the food courts trashed the malls with cheap food and brought in a clientele that were more suited for Dollar General than a high rent specialty store. I can remember "dressing up" to go to the mall to buy "the good stuff." For quite some time now, that is the last place I would go. If you think this has legs and you'd like some more insight, lmk. Otherwise, it's just my theory...
Really so sad. This mall looks like its in decent shape. Sunny and bright. And huge. Its hard to fathom it sitting empty. If only there was a way to bring people back to Malls. They are missing so much. Sad times we live in.
ThE vIdeo WaS AWeSomE bUt WAY do iT fEEl LiKe I'm WaTcHiNg A DAN BELL DeaD mALL but keep up good work love this kind of video
I don't remember it being that dead when I lived in at Louis back in 2015. It looked like one of the better malls in that area and the amc with IMAX was nice.
Everyone goes to the Mid Rivers mall or the St. Louis Galleria now.
It has been a very recent clearing. My daughter is 2 and a half years old and I remember taking her there as a baby (husband worked in Chesterfield) and letting them play on the playground when she was close to a year. It seems to be all withing the past year and a half the stores have started dropping.
It wasn't this dead in 2015 because I worked at this mall part time for that 2015 / 2016 Holiday Season and other than a few vacancies, it was a very full, active mall. Then right around the end of January 2016, it started to clear out. I went back to see if the store I worked at was still there in April of 2016 and it was, but the mall had just from Xmas of 2016 to April of 2016 gone from probably 95% occupancy down to 75%.
@@smincer yeah, definitely within the last 5 years it died, because I was there in 2014 with the Play Nintendo Tour, and that food court was a good 80% full (I think one wasn't there), there were probably a good 95% of stores occupied too. Malls can drop fast, Northwest Plaza was alive and well in 2002 right before the Mills opened, then suddenly afterwards in 2003 began its very quick decline, officially being a dead mall by 2006, just 3 years after the Mills.
What is this music genre called? It's great
Retrowave or Vaporwave. There's a retrowave RUclips channel called "NewRetroWave " and a giant Dead Mall Vaporwave playlist on Spotify.
I wish you safe travels to the west coast next month when Broadway Commons reopens in Hicksville NY I will make my way out to film their again
I LOVE this mall. It wasn't totally dead yet when I left in 2016. Believe it or not it was actually around 65-70 percent occupied then (It went down hill in a HURRY) THey had a couple great collectibles stores, Slacker's and V-Stock, and a baseball card store. The design of the mall with an AMC on top was epic. Really sad to see it become a dying mall.
Love the use of N64 at the beginning!
Cuz whether we're ready to accept this as a society or not... It's gonna be 25 years old next year! 😮
S Drape Can’t believe it! I remember when my Dad bought a N64 for me and my brother like it was yesterday!
Awesome vid, Anthony! I'm planning to visit there on July 4th. From one holiday (Memorial Day) to the next ... we shall see if any more stores have opened : )
I first went to this mall in 1983 as a 15 year-old when my family moved to the area. I remember going into the mall through the first floor Sears entrance where there was a record store. I remember the huge Iron Maiden cardboard display of “Eddie” promoting the piece of mind album. In the unattached theater at the end of the parking lot on the north end, I saw Return of the Jedi in 83’ & the Goonies in 85’. This mall was the last place that I saw Christina Busalacci alive. She went to my high school & was brain injured in a car accident. It was a high profile case where her father had to fight to have her feeding tube removed so he could let her die. It was very sad, she was such a pretty girl & I remember watching her pacing back & forth & smoking near the north end entrance waiting for a ride. This mall used to be unbelievably packed in the 80’s & this was weird to watch knowing how many times I walked through this mall.
I know that record store. It was just outside of the Sears on the right side. I bought many, MANY cassettes there. I was in high school in the mid / late 1980's and on a Saturday night, this mall would be so full of people that you literally had to park over by the movie theater.
smincer -did you by chance go to parkway west?
This mall has deteriorated so much since this video. They have completely walled off the Dillards and the other anchor wing of the mall leaving those portions entirely abandoned inside and out. Macys which is accessible from the remaining open portion of the mall has closed now as well. All thats left is Cheesecake Factory, the movie theater and V stock along with a few occupied store fronts that are never open. The mall is entirely filthy with over flowing trash cans all over and it is in disrepair and smells of backed up sewage sporadically throughout. The center court of the remaining open portion of the mall is occupied by tennis and pickle ball courts. The outside of the mall is overgrown, covered in garbage and graffiti as well. Its like a ghost town. It cant and wont be around much longer.
Macy's just moved out of Chesterfield Mall. Town passed legislation to tear the mall down and build a fake downtown area.
I LOVE these info popups! Reminds me of popup video
If you pass through the 805 in Socal when you're here, consider going to the crossroads mall in Santa Maria.
The Route 66 should be very interesting...can’t wait!
Incredible work Ace, I grew up going to Chesterfield Mall, Mid Rivers Mall, and the Mills nearby. It is really sad to see how terribly its doing, I'm going to make a trip out there soon just to see it all again, haven't been there in close to a year.
I remember as a kid going to the Mills and loved going to the PBS area. It really sucks seeing it as a ghost town. I live next to amid Rivers, and they’re still going pretty ok.
freakiogrl96 yeah, i still go to mid rivers pretty frequently, its the one i primarily went to, what a fantastic mall.
If you're going to do Route 66, you should definitely try to meet up with the Arizona dead mall enthusiasts at some point! The big name down there is Retail Archeology (87K+ subscribers), but there's a whole group of 'em down there, as you'll see in this video -> ruclips.net/video/Bg7Qk_lYpYw/видео.html
Apartments, shopping like grocery and pharmacy. Add a few eateries. Add a coffee shop and a bar. Get a gym and a pool. There you have it. A whole community.
You going to put up the money beach-boy?
@@johnreitz5676 this beach Girl is going to stay in florida.
St. Louis local back with some more details on Chesterfield Mall:
-The property was recently resold to Staenberg Group - they have recently added all the banners and signage throughout the mall advertising it's redevelopment potential. They announced in the local news this week their goal is to turn the mall into a open air lifestyle center with shopping and entertainment.
-This is an affluent area of STL but has been a victim of over retailing in the last 15 years. Two Outlet Malls within 5 miles both opened in 2013 (one already near death and being redeveloped) and a large retail big box development in a flood plain.
-A traffic driver for this mall was added in 2012: STL's only American Girl store. It didn't fare well after the initial hype and closed in 2018.
-One of the other big drags on this mall was the massive redevelopment and expansion of nearby West County Center in 2002. It lured many of the wealthy customers away with hot retailers like Apple Store, Nordstrom, and Lululemon.
-The outparcels of Chesterfield Mall have had many failed restaurants as well: Bacana Brazil and Twin Peaks as well as a California Pizza Kitchen inside the mall.
-The V Stock used media store is hanging on, and the location used to be a Borders Books before the chain went bankrupt.
-It's interesting to note that this mall never suffered from any major crime issues that were a factor in the downfall of many other closed malls in the STL area.
Thanks for putting the video together and hope you enjoyed your trip to STL!
I completely forgot about the California Pizza Kitchen. Is that KC Masterpiece still in the outlot or long since gone?
I can think of a couple of malls that won't make it through this. Virginia Center Commons is one. I haven't heard but I would think that JCP there is on its last legs? Things have opened back up but with all the restrictions, not really. Food courts in these places tell a lot. It seems they are the first to decay. This mall appears to be in good shape, just vacant
i remember getting kicked out of the video arcade there when i was a kid for stealing game tokens. i remember telling the guy that kicked me out, "i'll go fish some quarters out of the wishing fountains, and i'll be back"
How awesome is the opening song?
I remember visiting the Chesterfield Mall with my friends in high school and the mall would always be packed. I would say the mall took a steady decline starting in the early 2010s, lots of stores/restaurants would leave that would never be filled again or couldn’t hold a new tenant for long. Dillard’s closing was definitely a big hit, and the 2 outlet malls that opened just down the road & stronger malls elsewhere in St. Louis affected as well.
grew up near this mall; interesting to see one of these channels finally do a video about it
WOW, love the intro and exit. That was one of your best productions yet. The camera you used was HD AWESOME!! I also love the Duet song. Bravo, Anthony!!!! :)
I live in stl,I have since I was 2 (I’m 20 now) seeing chesterfield like this is sad, but seeing Jamestown how it is was even worse. Jamestown mall is in the text town over from me, i still drive past it, I remember going there growing up. The fact that Jamestown is the worst he’s seen in 4 years of this channel is crazy, I knew it was bad I had no idea it was that mad. Another local mall, the St. Louis mills mall ended up like chesterfield, the difference is instead of staying open dead like chesterfield or becoming an eyesore like Jamestown it sold and Is being turned into a huge sports complex
l love the work the you do,keep it up if you can and l'll try to support you in any way possible.l just keep thinking that as l see your videos and wondering to myself that Malls hey days have come and gone...sad to say but it could be true.There are Malls,all be it small ones,being torn down where l live in Ottawa,Ont. and condos with small limited retail space going in there place.
I'm happy for you that you get to do the Route 66 road trip through. That's something that I'm hoping to do myself one day. I tried to take back roads whenever I travel so I can find more hidden gems like the ones along the Mother Road. Best wishes and safety for your journey.
Man, this mall is filled with my childhood memories. For any kid who grew up during the 90's/00's, this was the place to be on Friday and Saturday Night if you lived near the area. I remember a ton of parents dropping of teenagers to hangout during the time. The mall is in an upscale area about 45 minutes west from downtown St. Louis, so it was very safe and never had any crimes. I remember it briefly prior to the renovation, but mostly grew up here between 2003 to 2014/2015 before it really began to show decline. The Red and Yellow Windows was once the Pet Shop that occupied the mall. Additionally the Corner white shop on the other end was formerly Chesterfield Baseball Cards which occupied the mall during the 2000's. Above the Pet Shop was formerly KB Toys. For a short period, there use to be a Slot Car track/shop which occupied in the around where the Carousel was. The Gamestop use to be located where the food court was in one of the shops across from all the food vendors. The longer lasting vendors in the food court was Subway, Charleys, and Panda Express. The Gated shop above was St. Louis Bread Company (Panera). The old food court use to occupy the areas uptop where H&M was located; however, I do not remember which vendors were there. Houlihans was the Red Brick shop, while opposite end near Dillards was where California Pizza Kitchen was located.
The mall did begin to show decline as early as 2002 when West County had a complete renovation. I grew up about 5 minutes from West County Mall in the late 90's all the way to the mid 2010's. After Chesterfield's renovation in 2005, you did see an uptick in popularity; however, the economic recession of 2008 and the final nail in the coffin with the release of both Chesterfield Outlet Malls in 2013/2014, the mall had entered its final breathes. This brought a ton of overlap in shopping where the malls were literally 10-15 minutes from each other, including 1 of the outlets being 5 minutes down I-64. As of right now both outlets are barely holding on, with one already completely renovated into a different concept that brought in an Amusement Center and Top Golf.
I used to live near the area and used to explore this place ALL THE TIME! Last I went was late December of 2019 and we actually saw someone riding a Segway in the abandoned Sears (yes you read that right). We even found a bag of Sperrys on the ground! Very odd and amazing place!
Ace this by far is your best mall adventure, yet!!! Love, love the intro with the SNES and 80s dance scenes with the remix of Ariana Grande, that is exactly how her songs should sing on her on releases, not a remix. I am hyped to hear your going to take the trip on the Mother Road! Also, appreciated the commentary on on-going social, life issues. On a sad note, Metro Center,, the first mega mall in Phoenix, announced they will be calling it a day after 47 years on June, 30, 2020. However it will remain open to vendors until 7/15/2020, so maybe there is an "in" for you if can afford the 3 1/2 detour from Flagstaff to Phoenix.
I will see if it can work!
Not an SNES in the intro, a Nintendo 64.
@@AcesAdventures1 Arizona is the home turf of a couple other dead mall enthusiasts - "Retail Archeology" is the big name, but there's a whole group of them down there. Your best bet would be to see if you can collab with them on a "farewell" tour of Metro Center while you're in Arizona.
Looks like it did when I last went there a few years ago. It's going to probably close down soon, I'm shocked it hasn't yet. Every one goes to Mid Rivers Mall.
Because mid rivers has a curfew for teens now to avoid the fights they would start in the mall, scaring away customers
You been to Mid Rivers lately? It's in a death spiral. It would actually be a good time to document what stores are still there, because I bet in about 1 year, it will look almost the same as this mall.
God during around 2009-2011 I remember it was busy as hell, My grandma and my mom use to take me there when I was a kid...
Donated to the GoFundMe!
Anthony, I want to get the exact version of this Ariana Grande song but I can’t find it on iTunes.
I want this exact song so if it is possible where did you get the song so I can possibly get it? I have iPhones if that helps!!Thanks so very much!!!! I really love the music you put in your videos!!!!
Thanks again!!! Take care and stay awesome!!!!
It is right here ruclips.net/video/8uDQ0P9AWc8/видео.html
I visited this mall like 8 years ago. It was dying then. I want to say there was a huge carousel in the center when I visited.
Yep there was a Carousel there when I last went in 2016.
There was. I worked Xmas 2015 at a store on the 2nd level directly above it.
You do great work! For some reason the only thing about this video is how sad it seems! Yet all I could think off is how safe you actually are there! No one except a handful of other human beings were there!
I believe in 2006 they built the carousel in the center of the mall…can’t remember what year American Girl came? But I remember a Walgreens and a Houlihan’s too back in the late 90’s!!
I worked at a White Barn Candle in 2001 here as well….. I grand opened a Coach handbag store in 2008 at that mall and it was booming! Then in 2013 I grand opened the first Coach outlet at the Premium Outlets a few miles down the road and that outlet along with a second one (3 Coach stores at this point within 5 miles radius) resulted in Chesterfield mall tanking quickly
Spent my teen years at Chesterfield Mall during the 80s. The center walkways did have brushed aluminum sculptures with fountains around them. We would throw coins in the water. Kids could reach over the 2 feet high marble wall and splash the water.
actually, one of the main sculptures was moved outside in the front of the Chesterfield Post Office on Olive Rd. just down from the Mall. As I remember the side entrance of the Mall by Stix Baur Fuller had a huge Burger Chef just inside the doors. Across was an Orange Julius. I bought my 1st pair of Colorado hikers at the Sports store on 2nd level. I don't remember the name. The Hickory Farms store had samples of meat and cheeses you could walk thru and sample. That was fun. I do remember the old Walgreens at the top level down by Sears. Also bottom level down by Sears had one of the first Chick fi A that I could remember. My Dad like going to the cafeteria style New York Steakhouse and the Walden and Dalton's book stores on Friday nights. College years I bought a lot of GQ styles at the Oak Tree Mens clothing store. Spencer's gifts, Tobacco Shop, Pet Store, Record shop were all to stop into. In the 90s I would take my girls to the mall pushing them in thier strollers. The Old movie theater I remember seeing Footloose , Against All Odds and the Warriors movie was shown after midnight because it was such a bad movie for teens. LOL. Just recently went thru the mall and kind of liked the community center feel. But nothing beats the 80s.
HERES SOME INFO:
Moved to California in 2012 and the mall was still booming. moved back in 2016 and worked at H&M for a couple months. some stores were closed but never seen it turning into this. The H&M closed about 4 months after i left. From 2016-2019 everything started dropping like flies. In 2019 I’d still visit because the AMC, bath and body works, Victoria secrets, Cheesecake Factory and O’charleys were still here. When Bath and body works and VS would have their semi annual sales this was the best mall to go to because obviously there was no crowd and you could rack up. The AMC ran $5 deals all day everyday. I would come to catch movies I didn’t feel like paying full price for. The movie theater would only have 1-2 workers any time I went. I’d also go to o’charleys because we only have 2 in our area and I enjoyed them. It was the last thing standing in the food court. Can’t remember when in 2019 but eventually the bath and body works, Victoria secrets, and o Charleys left all together so I stopped going to the mall completely. Haven’t been in 2020 due to the lack of stores and corona so this was an interesting video!
07:00 and 13:40 How old is the gum in the machines? Currently, good walking and badminton for seniors. Possibly future housing for migrants when the WEF brings in 100 million migrants.
I saw you were in Chicago. I hope you had a chance to visit Fashion Outlets of Chicago Mall near O'Hare airport, one of the most recent indoor malls built in the country (Opened in 2013) Extremely rare for an enclosed mall to be built in the 2010s as you know.
Omg! I live semi close on the IL side of the river. We hv a local mall. Fairly large & it's holding up well. Lost an anchor store, sears but it's been picking up & opening new store ect. Imma mall lover, mall rat if u will lol & I'm very grateful to still hv a local, busy mall to visit.
Not too far from were I grew up.
Unlike most dead or dying malls in St. Louis this one is (was?) In in a relatively up-scale, high traffic area.
Sadly most of it will end up in some landfill.
4:28 oh my god are you wrong. This mall had 4 anchor stores operating at one time- Penney's, Famous, Dillard's, Sears. The Penney's did NOT take over for Famous, Macy's took over for Famous, Penney's was redeveloped into about 30 little shops, Dillard's supposedly had a flood, and never reopened (cheap way to close), and Sears, well, there was never any hope for Sears to begin with.
Wow amazing how this mall died relatively fast. When I left in 2016 it was still in good shape except for the Sears about to close, but I think it was on it's downward spiral at that point.
Its good to see Chesterfield Mall, again. But its sad to see its almost Dead. When I lived in Missouri in the late 1970's me and my family would go there, plus me and my friends would hangout there, too. My favorite restaurant was York Steak House.
Each vid getting better and better on the production, openings and music. If these get more traction, might be a good idea to reboot some earlier vids for 2.0 editions...
What really killed this mall was when they built two outdoor outlet malls within 2 highway exits of this one. People stopped going and then the Dillard’s flooded and they never reopened. That was a couple years ago. There are plans to tear the mall down but only keeping the movie theater and Cheesecake Factory.
This mall used to be so busy. I worked there in high school, as did almost everyone else I knew at some point. There were some fun fountains on the lower level during the 80s right outside a Merry Go Round and Pasta House. I remember those from childhood, but don't think they were there by the time I was a teenager.
My nephew currently works in the mall with an events company. When actually open, the movie theater still gets a decent crowd - turning it into an AMC Classic doesn't really mean much except there aren't any IMAX screens (I think). In December, I took my mom to see The Last Jedi at that theater. Fun fact - there was still a Santa in the center of the lower level.
To the best of my knowledge, the 2006 remodel brought the theater, Cheesecake Factory, and a Borders (obviously long gone) that's now a V-Stock and has some great finds. i.e., GoldenEye for n64. I want to say the food court was added in the late 90s, but that could have been 2006, too. The overall look and structure of the mall hasn't really changed all that much. Watching this video, I can still picture stores that existed in certain spots throughout the years. And while I still take a stroll around the place almost every time I visit my family because my mom lives down the street, watching this video is still kind of crazy.
Good, someone else remembers the fountains. I thought I was going crazy... Looks like they removed all of them.
Nora Lewis Oh yeah! There were colored lights! I remember thinking they were so cool when I was a kid, and way better than the fountains without colored lights at the old West County Centre.
The 2 outlet malls in the valley is what really ruined that place. add those on top of online shopping and this is what you get. growing up this was the hangout every friday and saturday night, when i was little i also remember the food court being upstairs where the H&M was at. when i was little i used to go with my grandma and her retired friends and they would walk the mall in the mornings before the stores opened. place had some awesome stores and good food too. the newer outlet malls arent bad but the taubmann outlet started to do pretty bad and they eventually tore down the end section of it. but this place in the early/mid 2000's was so much fun
Just so sad. Loved going to the mall to hang out and shop for hours with friends. It was a nice escape. I still try to take my daughter to the malls nearby that still have decent stores. She enjoys it as well!
i actually have family who lives near this mall, and it’s really sad to see the absolutely huge for lease signs on the mall every time we pass by.
edit: i also definitely agree that it looks NOTHING like jamestown mall
The intro was pure gold
Ty!
My mom used to take me there all the time. I loved it.
In the summer of 2004, I was on a team working to do some renovation work in the Sears. And at that point Sears was doing okay. Sounds like the mall started to take some hits not long after I had worked there and really the Sears shutting down in 2018 sounds like kind of the death knell. It's so weird to see how far down it has gone.
mission accomplished. Hunger Games, the maze, and the purge to start in 2021
Nothing that a song by Night Riots wouldnt cure....take me back to your love etc.
December 2023 is when the mall is closing for good.
Grew up in this mall. Almost every weekend all day. Unbelievable this is the same place.
Last I heard, the plan is to demolish the mall in the next couple of years. I think we'll make one last trip before it's gone.
I’ll contribute more if you can get in to the two abandoned malls in okc ;)
Crossroads and herritage??? Lol
Very similar to Jamestown, liked
It’s the spots of light coming through the windows surrounded by vacant stores for me.
I was able to listen to it on SoundCloud. I want iTunes to get this exact version.
Anthony, you have great music on your videos!!!! Thanks so very much!!!! Take care and keep up the excellent work!!!! 👍🏻😬
Looked like a really nice failed mail. Hate to see it go down like Jamestown did last week.
From the size of it, this could be a 'little brother' to Cincy's Forest Fair Village.
Thank you man. I'm a fan of all your mail videos!! Keep doing what you do! Cheers!
Ace, you really went all out with the intro & animations, awesome work!
FYI, Stix Baer & Fuller was pronounced Stix Bar & Fuller; like a candy bar
Thanks for that i didn’t know lol
@@AcesAdventures1 You're sure welcome. It does look like it'd be pronounced bare.
Remove the animal factor and it'll stand forever !!
It's such a shame especially since it's a beautiful mall.
Can’t wait!
Hi you need tons more sub's your videos are great.
Would make a great skating rink
The only people I saw were mall walkers?
Get your kicks on Route 66!!
19:43 you can see the remainder of the old Pet Shop that use to be located there. The clear glass with the yellow and red panel was where they would let puppies and kittens roam around and you could play with them if you wanted inside. Across from it use to be an old baseball card shop and next to it if I recall was KB Toys and Gamestop.
KB Toys was on the upper level above the pet store. The baseball card shop was at the opposite end of the mall, directly across from Babbage's. They eventually changed from Babbage's to Gamestop and put their store in the middle of the mall, when they remodeled and moved the food court.
They need to hire DOBIS PR.
I probably stayed in the hotel you did. Study Plaza just after it was built and this whole area was busy and full of life. Wow how quickly times have changed.
Hey Ace have you ever heard of the mall called coventry mall it is in pottstown pa
You should film it and posted on youtube
Love the intro
Please tell me you got to the Mills before you left. I think that place died in record time.
Mills also gets the award for 'most times trying to reinvent itself in a 10 year period', still failing in the end. It was in the middle of a flood plain and not convenient to get to from almost any part of the metro St. Louis area.
Ace didn't film it, but I know unicomm productions did. That Mills location isn't opening back up to film
Any idea how the “Sports Plex” work is going there?
Yessss !! I’ve been wondering how the Mills has been holding up these days.. times are tough. I’ll have to dig up some info on that. Loved that mall. Between this Chesterfield mall and the Mills, I have a lot of fond memories.
As someone who lived in St. Charles, MO for 23 years, would you believe that the center of the mall was once host of not only a 2-story carousel(yes you read that right) but also used to be a large carpeted pit used for music concerts by local school with 3 large plant "retainer areas"?
I remember perfoming at Chesterfield Mall in 2004 as a 4th grader for our Holiday Concert performance in the center when it was still the carpeted "pit". The mall was chock-full of stores back then.
This hurts to see as someone who spent MANY days at this mall in my childhood...
RIP, Chesterfield Mall. Thank you for a lifetime of memories