urbanSTL

StlAlex wrote: ↑

1:01 AM - Sep 23

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/09/22/store-moves-galleria-west-county-clothing-store.html

Urban Outfitters has closed at the Galleria and re-opened at West County Center.

This leaves a pretty prominent vacancy at the Galleria in which the BJ article has no information on what will end up happening to it, unlike Nordstroms, which had a pretty immediate tenant to fill the space.

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Would be the perfect spot for a Zara or Uniqlo

Zara's parent company closed over 100 stores in 2025
Zara's recent physical footprint contraction is part of a long-term optimization strategy to invest in larger, high-end flagship stores while transitioning smaller locations into specialized formats like standalone Zara Man outlets. 

MH391 wrote: ↑

3:57 PM - Sep 23

StlAlex wrote: ↑

1:01 AM - Sep 23

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/09/22/store-moves-galleria-west-county-clothing-store.html

Urban Outfitters has closed at the Galleria and re-opened at West County Center.

This leaves a pretty prominent vacancy at the Galleria in which the BJ article has no information on what will end up happening to it, unlike Nordstroms, which had a pretty immediate tenant to fill the space.

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Would be the perfect spot for a Zara or Uniqlo

The space is way to small for either Zara or Uniqlo.  The now vacant Urban Outfitters is about 12,000 square feet and new Zara's that being opened are around 20,000 - 35,000sf, some even larger than that. 

EaKesslerSTL wrote: ↑

6:00 PM - Sep 23

BarryGlick wrote: ↑

4:01 PM - Sep 23

Zara's parent company closed over 100 stores in 2025
Zara's recent physical footprint contraction is part of a long-term optimization strategy to invest in larger, high-end flagship stores while transitioning smaller locations into specialized formats like standalone Zara Man outlets. 

Zara just announced a new store for suburban Pittsburgh.  No reason they couldn't open one in STL.  If they are to open in STL, I would expect it to be at West County Mall and not the Galleria though.  West County Mall does have a current vacancy that would be large enough to support a new sized Zara store. 

I didn't know about Pittsburgh, that is promising that they are opening in new locations. Zara is very popular among Gen-Z and Millennials, especially among immigrant communities. I am not saying young people will start moving to St. Louis if we had a Zara, but it would certainly help making us more attractive when weighing relocation options for some folks who are into that kind of thing. 

Pretty good example of how terrible STL is:

The new Zara location in Pittsburgh is less than 8 miles from downtown. West County Center is 18 miles from downtown.

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^This is just trying to feel bad lol. Anyway, while I very much desire St. Louis to be less sprawled out and more vibrant, Pittsburgh does benefit structurally from being the Paris of Appalachia. With all the mountains, cliffs and hills the available land to build on is more scarce thus it has less sprawl than other rust belt cities do. 

You should feel very bad about the fact our premier mall is dying, no one cares and it's being replaced with hellscape malls far far removed from St. Louis.

It should literally blow your mind how ***** St. Louis is compared to every other city.

Urban Outfitters:

Columbus- 10 miles from downtown
Kansas City- 4.5 miles from downtown
Cleveland- 15 miles from downtown
Indianapolis- 11 miles from downtown
Milwaukee- 2 miles from downtown
Pittsburgh- 3 miles from downtown
Charlotte- 6 miles from downtown
Baltimore- 10.5 miles from downtown
Nashville- 1 mile from downtown
Memphis- 4 miles from downtown
Louisville- 10 miles from downtown

St. Louis- 18 miles

It's a total failure on every level and we should all feel awful, because it's not getting fixed anytime soon. So maybe we should just plug our ears, close our eyes, and pretend everything is normal.

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MH391 wrote: ↑

6:09 PM - Sep 23

EaKesslerSTL wrote: ↑

6:00 PM - Sep 23

BarryGlick wrote: ↑

4:01 PM - Sep 23

Zara's parent company closed over 100 stores in 2025
Zara's recent physical footprint contraction is part of a long-term optimization strategy to invest in larger, high-end flagship stores while transitioning smaller locations into specialized formats like standalone Zara Man outlets. 

Zara just announced a new store for suburban Pittsburgh.  No reason they couldn't open one in STL.  If they are to open in STL, I would expect it to be at West County Mall and not the Galleria though.  West County Mall does have a current vacancy that would be large enough to support a new sized Zara store. 

I didn't know about Pittsburgh, that is promising that they are opening in new locations. Zara is very popular among Gen-Z and Millennials, especially among immigrant communities. I am not saying young people will start moving to St. Louis if we had a Zara, but it would certainly help making us more attractive when weighing relocation options for some folks who are into that kind of thing. 

Zara being located in STL has 0% effect on peoples relocation decisions.  

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/09/23/store-galleria-beauty-retailer-mall-relocate.html

Here's another. L'Occitane en Provence is moving from the Galleria to West County Center.

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I think the galleria will eventually be redeveloped into a lifestyle center 

More like Suburban Outfitters, am I right?

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^Nice! But isn't that what they always were anyway? Fake grity punk for suburban kids pretending to be something else. (Like pretty much every mall brand, really.)

Maybe it would be an opportunity for a Chestefiled mall site development, maybe not as large but it's located close to very wealthy areas 

Rick Prieto wrote: ↑

12:29 AM - Sep 26

Maybe it would be an opportunity for a Chestefiled mall site development, maybe not as large but it's located close to very wealthy areas 

 Doesn't Plaza Frontenac already serve that demographic ?

Honestly convert that weird restaurant space at the north end (used to be the Weber kettle place) Probably the right size with some reconfiguring.

Also I don’t think having a Zara is going to save STL, but if the Galleria lands a Zara it would do a lot to reverse the “dying mall” narrative


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goat314 wrote: ↑

1:51 AM - Sep 24

I think the galleria will eventually be redeveloped into a lifestyle center 

Agree, I think you could make the argument that it should have happened a decade ago or maybe even earlier.   Ideal location to have apartments, hotel rooms, a decent pocket park and more structured parking with two nearby freeways and Richmond Heights metrolink station and limited interface with single family residential that would push back on density.  .  

Considering how well The Boulevard across the street isn't doing, I wouldn't expect this to happen anytime soon. How long have we been waiting for phase two now? It's a running joke at this point

The Boulevard noteably has very few apartments. I'm pretty sure only 74. Any large scale development of the Galleria's parking lots would have hundreds of apartments that would help create more immediate demand for commercial/retail/restaurant development.

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I recall 20 or so years ago, the area around the Boulevard was considered some of the most desirable real-estate in the Midwest. 

Change is coming.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/06/16/development-boulevard-south-midas-life-time.html

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

6:37 PM - Sep 29

Considering how well The Boulevard across the street isn't doing, I wouldn't expect this to happen anytime soon. How long have we been waiting for phase two now? It's a running joke at this point

Good points but they tried to double down on more commercial and office space anchored by a bank if not mistaken.   As StlAlex noted, not sure why Boulevard didn't pivot to more residential once the office space didn't happen or lack of interest in more commercial.   I know it is more involved but pivot to more residential/multi unit apartments seems like a good fit for here, or across in Galleria 

Boulevard 2 is Lifetime Living.