They are nuts, that place has exceeded all expectationa nd they are continuously adding new stores, including Missouri's first Cabela's



It is now the number 1 tourist atttraction in Missouri, hence the hotels springing up adjacent to the Mills

Malls are centers of crime including West County, Chesterfield, Midrivers and others. It is easier to be robbed at a mall than on the street because peoples' hands tend to move when crowded together. Guaranteed good pickings too.

This link from the WSJ implies the whole Mills Properties could be bought. It says the Colorado Mills came in well under projected sales, and that new St. Louis and Cincinatti Mills Malls returns were disappointing. Then it discusses the future of giant entertainmentish malls.



http://www.napavalleyregister.com/artic ... 390171.txt

As you know "well under projections" doesn't mean "not profitable" and as it goes, they have the blues back this year and all the construction on 370 in st. charles county can only help seeing that is only a 10 minute drive. If they close it - its short sided and stupid.

mophipsi wrote:It is now the number 1 tourist atttraction in Missouri, hence the hotels springing up adjacent to the Mills

I find that hard to beleive - at least by my defnintion of "tourist attraction". They might have a lot of people go there, but in no stretch of the imagination is it the busiest mall from what Ive seen, and it has to be way behind NUMEROUS attractions in the state - the arch, forest park, Crown Center in KC, Mizzou, Bass Pro in Springfield etc.

mophipsi wrote:It is now the number 1 tourist atttraction in Missouri, hence the hotels springing up adjacent to the Mills

Source for this? seems totally made up or put forth by the Mills Mall themselves.

Two points.....Mills is the developer of Chicago's infamous Block 37 and there has been some trepidation that they will not be able to handle that project. They have experienced extended delays and continual problems signing up fist rate tenants. Secondly I heard yesterday that Westfield has expressed interest in buying some of the Mills underperforming properties.

Mills owns our downtown white elephant mall (City Center) here in Columbus, and my understanding from some of the coverage of that is the same as Gary Kreie's -- that the whole company is in some difficulty:

Still, hope for a turnaround was rekindled two years ago when a well-regarded mall operator, the Mills Corp., bought a controlling interest in City Center and Tuttle from General Motors Pension Trust. Mills said it was prepared to do whatever was necessary to revive City Center, but never put forward a plan. Mills owns, manages or leases 42 malls.



Now, Maryland-based Mills is facing financial difficulties. Last month, it said it had hired investment firms Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Securities, and law firms Wachtell, Lipton and Willkie Farr & Gallagher to help it find a buyer or restructure.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/busines ... B1-03.html



And also:



http://www.columbusdispatch.com/busines ... G1-00.html

So I went out to the STL Mills today to do some outlet shopping and I must say I would be very surprised if this mall lasts another year. It is such a sad sight inside of that place with many vacant stores and realtively few shoppers.



One big surprise was that Lucky Strike Lanes closed down. It was actually a very nice place with a great sports package but like everything in real estate, "location, location, location" and their location sucked.



A Cabela's is currently being built out front near all of the chain restaurants, etc. Very surprised they committed to that with the poor state of that mall.

i hope that place shuts down..what a dump..i went out there when it first opened..what a joke..a bunch of crap stores...IMO

I think they should have placed it even further away ..... like 3/4 of the way to Kansas City and on the top of an enormous cliff. Its just too easy to get to now ..... being only 40 minutes away and all.

What kind of crazy criticism!



The Mall is still new! It is filled with stores with very few vacancies and attracts plenty of people. It has Northwest County's only bookstore and movie theater: Books-A-Million and Regal Cinema respectively.



I hate that it is located on valuable farmland when Northwest should have been rebuilt. I dislike that it is so huge and one level with unfriendly pedestrian parking seas. However, it is serving a retail market not served by the Galleria or West County.

SMSPlanstu wrote:What kind of crazy criticism!



The Mall is still new! It is filled with stores with very few vacancies and attracts plenty of people. It has Northwest County's only bookstore and movie theater: Books-A-Million and Regal Cinema respectively.



I hate that it is located on valuable farmland when Northwest should have been rebuilt. I dislike that it is so huge and one level with unfriendly pedestrian parking seas. However, it is serving a retail market not served by the Galleria or West County.

I think the criticism is coming from the fact that Northwest Plaza and Jamestown both were left to decline while they decide to build this mall within close proximity of both. Ironically, this mall, as well as the company, Mills, is having troubles. Check out some of the press releases on their site:



http://www.themills.com/static/node109.jsp



It looks like the company's CEO has stepped down.

The Mall is still new! It is filled with stores with very few vacancies and attracts plenty of people

Have you been there recently? They have more vacant stores now than they did when it first opened. Second, when I pulled up to the Mills I was shocked at how few cars were in the parking lot. The other times I have been there the parking lots have been relatively packed.



It was a horrible location as it is near nothing. There are hardly any large neighborhoods near the area and it's so far away from just about everything. However, I am a poor college student again so I can't afford full priced items so I drove out there (now that gas is cheap ) and got some great deals at a a few store.

I'm still amazed the Lucky Strike opened and closed in under a year.

There are rumors that mall developer Simon, which owns the outlet mall company Premium Outlets is looking at opening up an upscale outlet mall on the IL. side of the river. That could be a big problem for the Mills if it does get built. What ever traffic the Mills is getting now from people in West County and South County would probably go to IL. for the many brand name outlets that the Mills does not have.

Have you been there recently? They have more vacant stores now than they did when it first opened. Second, when I pulled up to the Mills I was shocked at how few cars were in the parking lot. The other times I have been there the parking lots have been relatively packed.

Did you go on a weekend on weekday? That makes a big difference in parking levels. Also, those lots always look under-utilized cause they're built too large to accomodate the Xmas rush (a waste of space IMO).



STL Mills suffers from the same problem West County suffers from - there's no Mens stores. Contrary to popular belief, men buy things. Lots of things. And if you turn away 50% of your market, you're going to lose money. I can't buy a present for my Dad at West County OR STL Mills cause there's not a single store (ok, maybe one clothing and a tech shop) I'd want to get something from. The gimmicky stores like Bar Supply or whatever are for college kids who pretend they're old-school - no self respecting 50 year old would ever buy that crap. The one and only time I went to the Mills, I ended up buying like 24 sodas from that specialty shop cause it's the only thing that was unique (good unique) and I know my dad would like.



Sooner or later, mall owners will stop looking at the number that women spend 82% of all retail dollars and understand that they spend that money FOR THEIR MEN as well, not just on themselves.

dweebe wrote:I'm still amazed the Lucky Strike opened and closed in under a year.

I am not surprised that this place closed. Good riddance!!!



My friends and I used to go there often to bowl and have a few beers. Yes, their dress code was strict and prices for bowling and food was high, but wasn't a bad place, nice atmosphere.....that was until Fall 2005, we got kicked out cuz one of my friends slipped and his bowling ball fell on to the floor!!! They told us to leave, and we haven't even finish our food, drinks, or our bowling game. What a waste of $317!!! Ever since we avoided that place and went to Brunswick for bowling, plus its cheaper!!!



I even ventured around the mills before that place closed and their business wasn't that great, it was empty everytime I was there....even Saturday nights!



On the side note, do you think the opening of Cabella's will help the Mills? And one thing I hate is the City of Hazelwood taking advantage of this retail asset and having their sales tax at 8.075%!!! I guess the city can cope with the loss of the Ford plant closure and at the same time buy new police cars for the police dept. The question is for how long....

I went there at 12 noon...on Saturday. PEAK shopping time.

Well I don't think it's closing anytime soon. I was just there on Oct. 28, and a large portion of the parking lot is closed for construction. Looks like they are expanding.