I was at Crestwood many times from the mid 80s through the end...I was alone in the mall on its last day open to the public and got some great pictures...just me and extrememly loud 80s music from the loudspeakers, not another soul...
That's so cool - and so sad! If you still have any of those photos, feel free to send me one or two (unseenstlouis@substack.com) and I can share them in the article.
Thanks for this interesting history lesson. I have many great memories of Crestwood Mall through the 80’s as a teen and then over the years shopping with my mom or my kids.
I never thought I would see the deaths of department stores, much less malls, but here we are. I came from England to California as a teen, and was dazzled by malls, even though, honestly, they proved a bit boring as shopping experiences. Your story of St.Louis is indeed typical, but I had never thought of how malls competed with each other. Looking back on my 80s experience in California, it's clear that was the case: Two of them were even across the street from each other. Thanks for this, Jackie. And nothing wrong with the history of shopping, either! Some of my own work as a historian dealt with the rise of consumerism in early America, which shaped so much of how people lived then, and how we live now.
From roughly 1965 - 1972 Crestwood Plaza/66 was right on my daily route to grade school from Eureka to Webster Groves. I-44 was completed around 1970 which diverted a lot of traffic from the immediate area. At some point too Crestwood lost the silk stocking trade to Clayton and Frontenac. I have great memories of downtown Famous-Barr.
Another problem was the population of Crestwood aged and as they got older the people did not shop or buy nearly as much. Those people held on to their homes and it was difficult for years to find a house to buy in Crestwood. When it finally turned over it was too late for the mall. It was also too far off the interstate- there was a lot of shopping closer to 44 and 270.
While the story is correct about the decline of the Plaza, what is missing is the change in how Crestwood was forced to share sales tax revenues with cites who had no retail base and in some cases had turned down plans to locate the mall in their city. (See Kirkwood) So while Crestwood continued to carry the 100% of the cost of providing services for the Mall (police, fire), its diminishing tax dollars were further drained off to cities who shared none of the cost.
While the story is correct about the decline of the Plaza, what is missing is the change in how Crestwood was forced to share sales tax revenues with cites who had no retail base and in some cases had turned down plans to locate the mall in their city. (See Kirkwood) So while Crestwood continued to carry the 100% of the cost of providing services for the Mall (police, fire), its diminishing tax dollars were further drained off to cities who shared none of the cost.
Thanks for this comment. I was unaware of that. From the way you wrote it, it sounds like that was not in place when it was constructed but happened later?
This happened during the last term of Crestwood's Mayor Killoren, when St. Louis County Executive position switched from being GOP control to Democrat control, way after the mall's original construction. The issue was put up to a County wide election, and with Crestwood's population of around 12000 it didn't have a chance to the other close to 1 million voters in those County cities who wanted a share of the sales tax dollars BUT without the expense. So yes it happened later.
No mention of the combined $25 million in tax incentives being used to develop this site? Is it really "good news" to have the site developed if the taxpayers are going to be back on the hook in a few years?
I was at Crestwood many times from the mid 80s through the end...I was alone in the mall on its last day open to the public and got some great pictures...just me and extrememly loud 80s music from the loudspeakers, not another soul...
That's so cool - and so sad! If you still have any of those photos, feel free to send me one or two (unseenstlouis@substack.com) and I can share them in the article.
Thanks for this interesting history lesson. I have many great memories of Crestwood Mall through the 80’s as a teen and then over the years shopping with my mom or my kids.
Thanks! I shopped there is a teen in the 80s as well. Maybe our paths crossed and we never even knew it!
This is a great history not just of area but definitely indicative of so many others in the US. Appreciate it.
Thanks Vanessa!
Your work is very comprehensive and interesting. As always :) Thanks a lot, Jackie!
Thanks Dainius! I always appreciate you!
I never thought I would see the deaths of department stores, much less malls, but here we are. I came from England to California as a teen, and was dazzled by malls, even though, honestly, they proved a bit boring as shopping experiences. Your story of St.Louis is indeed typical, but I had never thought of how malls competed with each other. Looking back on my 80s experience in California, it's clear that was the case: Two of them were even across the street from each other. Thanks for this, Jackie. And nothing wrong with the history of shopping, either! Some of my own work as a historian dealt with the rise of consumerism in early America, which shaped so much of how people lived then, and how we live now.
From roughly 1965 - 1972 Crestwood Plaza/66 was right on my daily route to grade school from Eureka to Webster Groves. I-44 was completed around 1970 which diverted a lot of traffic from the immediate area. At some point too Crestwood lost the silk stocking trade to Clayton and Frontenac. I have great memories of downtown Famous-Barr.
Another problem was the population of Crestwood aged and as they got older the people did not shop or buy nearly as much. Those people held on to their homes and it was difficult for years to find a house to buy in Crestwood. When it finally turned over it was too late for the mall. It was also too far off the interstate- there was a lot of shopping closer to 44 and 270.
While the story is correct about the decline of the Plaza, what is missing is the change in how Crestwood was forced to share sales tax revenues with cites who had no retail base and in some cases had turned down plans to locate the mall in their city. (See Kirkwood) So while Crestwood continued to carry the 100% of the cost of providing services for the Mall (police, fire), its diminishing tax dollars were further drained off to cities who shared none of the cost.
While the story is correct about the decline of the Plaza, what is missing is the change in how Crestwood was forced to share sales tax revenues with cites who had no retail base and in some cases had turned down plans to locate the mall in their city. (See Kirkwood) So while Crestwood continued to carry the 100% of the cost of providing services for the Mall (police, fire), its diminishing tax dollars were further drained off to cities who shared none of the cost.
Thanks for this comment. I was unaware of that. From the way you wrote it, it sounds like that was not in place when it was constructed but happened later?
This happened during the last term of Crestwood's Mayor Killoren, when St. Louis County Executive position switched from being GOP control to Democrat control, way after the mall's original construction. The issue was put up to a County wide election, and with Crestwood's population of around 12000 it didn't have a chance to the other close to 1 million voters in those County cities who wanted a share of the sales tax dollars BUT without the expense. So yes it happened later.
No mention of the combined $25 million in tax incentives being used to develop this site? Is it really "good news" to have the site developed if the taxpayers are going to be back on the hook in a few years?
This isn't NextSTL. I was really just talking about the history and the fact that something new is being built in its place.