I read in the Post-Dispatch that Dillard's is closing their crestwood location, but little explanation is given. Anyone have inside info?



Well... aside from the fact that Dillard's never put any money into that store and it has had the same decor since it was Stix Baer and Fuller.



http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/busine ... enDocument

That mall is in deep trouble. It's been on the decline for some time now, and this announcement certainly doesn't help.



I'm not sure why it's not doing well - it's the nearest mall for Webster Groves, SW city, Sunset Hills, the fairly affluent Sappington area, Crestwood, Affton, etc. That should be a good enough customer base.

Well, there's another nail in the coffin of that dying mall.



I've heard rumors that the Dillard's lease was set to expire this year, so this news is certainly consistent with that...



I was surprised when Dillard's didn't try to scoop up the old Lord and Taylor space in West County Center, which will now be used for Barnes and Noble and a few restaurants. I also wonder what will become of Dillard's regional offices. Maybe they've moved, but I thought they were still at Crestwood Plaza.



I mostly blame Westfield for Crestwood's struggles. They redeveloped South County Center, West County Center, and Chesterfield Mall within the last six years, yet they couldn't find a dime to spend on Crestwood Plaza?



And Dillard's deserves some of the blame- because as you correctly pointed out- the decor hasn't changed a bit since the store was Stix Baer & Fuller.



Dillard's is really retreating from this market. The downtown store closed eight years ago and ceased functioning as a clearance center a couple of years later. Jamestown closed last year. Northwest Plaza has been reduced to a clearance center that will eventually close. And now, Crestwood. It's a shame, because like DeBaliviere said, it's not like there isn't a customer base for that mall.



The South County Center store is busy, and it's located in a nice mall, but it's a complete hole. Wonder if it's next?

I keep waiting for Crestwood Plaza to close. I work out at St. Louis Workout and have been going there a lot since the Chase Park Plaza STL Workout was kicked out. Even at 4pm on Saturday afternoon the mall was dead. Weeknights are even worse.



West County Mall really killed Crestwood.



Dillards sucks though. I wouldn't be suprised to see the whole chain out of business or sold within 5 years. Even their 'flagship" Galleria location is pretty rough.

Their St. Clair Square location is newly expanded- and it's the nicest Dillard's in the region by far even if it isn't the largest location.



Dillard's stores aren't the greatest, but I usually find what I want there and at Macy's without any problems, so I still like them. Funny thing is, their stores in smaller cities seem to be much nicer on average. Like many of the stores in metro St. Louis, I was also unimpressed by Dillard's stores in Kansas City (the original Macy's Midwest) and Cleveland (nee Higbee's), but the smaller stores I visited in smaller cities like Springfield, Mo. and Paducah, Ky. were pretty nice.

I find that so interesting considering somehow that restaurant in there has survived all this time. I never had the chance to go so I have to ask, is/was it any good?

Xing wrote:Our Dillards seems to be doing fine.

It's my favorite now that it's been remodeled. For a mall that's almost 35 years old, St. Clair Square in general is doing well, and its owners have done a good job of remodeling it frequently and keeping up with the times. The JC Penney and Sears are in desperate need of remodeling, but the new Dillard's is great, the Macy's there has always been nice, and I do most of my shopping in those two anchor stores anyway.

I find that so interesting considering somehow that restaurant in there has survived all this time. I never had the chance to go so I have to ask, is/was it any good?

Wow! I didn't know Dillard's had any restaurants left! Other locations had them, but they closed years ago. I'll have to look into that before the store closes.

ThreeOneFour wrote:

Xing wrote:I find that so interesting considering somehow that restaurant in there has survived all this time. I never had the chance to go so I have to ask, is/was it any good?

Wow! I didn't know Dillard's had any restaurants left! Other locations had them, but they closed years ago. I'll have to look into that before the store closes.

The Crestwood Dillards had a resturant open at least back in 2001-2002. It definitely was like stepping back in time to 1978 -- but in a good way, unlike the rest of the store.

The last time I was in the restaurant would have been with my mom and Grandma back in grade school days, so late 90's. It seemed decent enough at that time.

Last time I ate there was around Christmas time. The menu has not changed since I the last time I ate there with my grandma back in the early 90's. I am not suprised to see Dillards closing. I think it is just a matter of time before that whole mall closes up. I drive past it everyday on my way to and from work and I never shop there. I guess nobody else does either.

I was just talking to my uncle about that location about a week ago. Read the story yesterday and knew he'd be disappointed. He went into how the restaurant (which I didn't know was still there) was a great place to eat, and the only one left in a Dillard's in the area.



And it's truly sad how much this mall has gone downhill. The remodeling of both West and South County malls have basically ripped away a good portion of the people who used to shop at Crestwood. Westfield expanded the bridge at Crestwood some years back into actual store space, but since then, they obviously haven't put much effort into it.



On a side note, I'm curious to see what will come of the recent announcement Westfield has put the whole place up for sale. Like many of you, I don't see the place staying open a whole lot longer if some major turnaround doesn't happen soon. I know AMC was looking to make a new theater there, but not too sure that'll happen with the sad state the mall is falling into.

This clip from KSDK isn't very long and the quality isn't great, but I thought this was interesting:



January 23, 1967- Grand Opening of Stix Baer & Fuller at Crestwood Plaza

^ A lot of St. Louis people have never accepted Dillards. Granted there's one generation now who've never known Stix, and the one before it (including me) who barely remember; but among my parents and grandparents generation, Stix was a lot classier and more fashion-forward than Dillards has ever been. In addition, SBF was pretty involved in the community through sports leagues and philanthropy.

Tysalpha wrote:Granted there's one generation now who've never known Stix, and the one before it (including me) who barely remember; but among my parents and grandparents generation, Stix was a lot classier and more fashion-forward than Dillards has ever been.

Yeah, I'm also part of the generation that (barely) remembers. When I found the KSDK clip, I also found one from 1984 when Dillard's announced their purchase of Stix Baer & Fuller and their plans to close the downtown store for remodeling and then reopen it the following year. (I posted it in the thread about renovation of the downtown Stix, now called The Laurel.) Funny thing is, in the video footage from KSDK, there were employees interviewed that expected Dillard's would be a step up from what Stix had become. In retrospect, I'd say the opposite happened.



I've actually started shopping at Dillard's more often after the conversion of Famous-Barr to Macy's. I like Macy's well enough, but I figure loyalty doesn't matter as much since there's no longer a local store, and Dillard's has been running better sales in the last year or so IMHO. FWIW, I still shop at Macy's much more often, and I have at least some lingering resentment toward Dillard's for their benign neglect of the downtown store, and now, the Crestwood location.

When I was growing up (teens in the 80's) Crestwood was the place to be. Between a nice movie theater and Exhilarama (Spelling?) there was tons of stuff for us to do. I went to Crestwood Plaza a few weeks ago to go to the movies and we walked through the mall and it was a shell of it's former self. The once packed downstairs area is now all but abandoned; when this anchor tenant also closes you might as well put a forkinher cause she's done.

Is the movie theatre at Crestwood still that god-awful pastel blue color? I used to work for AMC theatres in high school and college (Regency Square 8, now defunct, in St. Charles) and sometimes made the trek to see movies at the then bustling Crestwood location. Even in 1992 or so it seemed horribly out of date. If you look at DeadMalls.com you see that a lot of malls pretty much designed themselves so much "in the moment" that it's no surprise they don't have a shelf life any longer than a decade or two.

Crestwood was originally an outdoor mall. I wonder if that's what it's future is as well.

^ That's what's happening with Northwest Plaza, which will be renamed Lindbergh Town Center after it's returned to its original state as a mostly open-air shopping center as planned. I wouldn't be surprised if the next owner of Crestwood pushes for a similar strategy.



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Is it just me though, or is anyone else really annoyed by the trend toward open-air shopping centers and lifestyle centers? I'd love to have something like Kansas City's Country Club Plaza locally, but we all know that even the best lifestyle center cannot compare to the Plaza.



Lifestyle centers are essentially glorified strip malls. Mix some fountains, benches, plant a few more trees in the massive SUV-clogged parking lot fronting the stores, and add a few of the overpriced and overrated stores you'll find in the average mall, and voila! You have a lifestyle center!



Malls may have contributed to the decline of downtowns in cities large and small as shopping destinations, and it was a terrible idea to try the suburban format in our downtown (St. Louis Centre), but as a child I learned to appreciate the mall atmosphere at least on some level. I've been to lifestyle centers good and bad, yet I fail to see even the slightest attraction to these places. I guess some people are fascinated with the recreated Main Streets they abandoned years ago...and they're too damn lazy to walk from one store to the next. Of course, I'd much rather do as much of my shopping in downtown and the city's unique neighborhoods as possible, but I'll take a decent mall over a lifestyle center any day.



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DeBaliviere wrote:Crestwood was originally an outdoor mall. I wonder if that's what it's future is as well.

The end where Dillard's/Stix was has always been enclosed, as it was built later over a parking garage. But the original Sears to Famous stretch was outoor until the mid 1980s. Presumably the original buildings could be returned to outdoor service, but the additions (the stores that have their backs to the parking lot) might require more engineering.

^ Indeed. There was a report on local TV the other day featuring some west county outdoor mall and a shopper interviewed said she liked to go there because it was different. Well, it's about to be like all the other malls in the metro area!