All Entries Tagged With: "Jamestown Mall"
Used furniture store opens at Jamestown Mall
Growing up next door to Jamestown Mall, I’ve always been intrigued by the cavernous Stix, Baer & Fuller building, which has been vacant since Dillard’s closed its doors there in 2006. In recent years that entire wing of the mall was even closed off, making it unlikely that any new businesses would be moving in. So what I found today was a nice surprise….
I happened to be driving by Jamestown and noticed a new sign. As it turns out, a company named Central States Liquidation has moved into the old Dillard’s. And boy, do they have an interesting mix of inventory…
The owner, Frank Marsala, buys out large lots of used furniture, primarily from upscale hotels like Hilton and Sheraton. He also picks up odd bits here and there, so you’ll find restaurant equipment, artwork, mirrors, lamps, retail display cabinets, office furniture, televisions, “wine lockers” and even five-foot chandeliers in his sprawling new store. So far, Marsala is just using the main floor at Dillard’s but he says he has so much inventory that the basement is quickly filling up too.
In business for four years, Central States used to operate out of semi trucks and sell their goods on craigslist and eBay. Today, the company still advertises online but they’re hoping to draw a larger customer base now that they have a permanent storefront.
Marsala says he gets new goodies at least twice a week, sourced from all over the country. And I have to say, most of his stuff is in very nice shape. This is not a roomful of broken, stained junk, like a lot of hotel/motel liquidators have, but rather an eclectic showcase of quality items with great potential. You never know what you’ll find.
Here’s a neat item I saw today, a dramatic four-poster bed. I would totally paint it black…
And then, of course, there’s this: a rare view of one of Jamestown Mall’s fantastic concrete sculptures. Unless you visit Central States and peek through the glass doors to the mall, this modern beauty is no longer visible to the public….
Central States Liquidation is located at #400 Jamestown Mall, 63034. Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10am-5pm and Saturday 10am-3pm.
Jamestown Penney’s closing: sad ending or fresh start?
Open since 1999, the JC Penney Outlet Store at Jamestown Mall will likely be shuttered by 2012. Photo: flickr/DanH63
Faced with sagging profits in an uncertain retail landscape, JC Penney announced last week that it will be closing a handful of stores and ceasing catalog operations. On the chopping block locally: its catalog outlet store at Jamestown Mall in unincorporated North County.
Of course, some will use this as a “nail in the coffin” opportunity, citing the long string of changes and closures that have left Jamestown Mall a shadow of its former self. They’ll declare Jamestown dead…again. And you know what? A part of me is perfectly ok with that.
As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up right next door to Jamestown Mall, within walking distance. My first job was there. I spent countless weekends hanging out there. Literally, there is no stage of my grade school and high school years that did not involve this place in some way. But even then I wondered, why the hell is there a shopping mall in the middle of nowhere?
In 1973, when Jamestown Mall was built and North County was experiencing a population boom, I’m sure the developers thought it made perfect sense, especially after MoDOT started kicking around the idea of making 367 a legitimate highway. Back then, I suspect they noticed “executive homes” going up along Old Jamestown and saw new subdivisions and Catholic parishes blossoming with young families, and they figured a big modern shopping mall was a great fit. And for 25 years or so, I guess it was.
But today, malls nationwide are in decline. Big-box stores, online shopping, over-development and changing consumer tastes have led to the demise of many indoor shopping malls across the country, leaving some, like Jamestown, to limp along half vacant with lesser-known retailers, while others, like Northwest Plaza, simply run out of gas.
In many ways, Jamestown Mall was almost destined to fail at some point. Its remote location, in an area better known for natural wonders than great shopping, has always made it a tough sell. But now that Penney’s is closing (within the next year) and Macy’s will likely follow, perhaps the time has finally come to put some new ideas into action. Ideas like this…
Back in 2009, the St. Louis County Economic Council teamed with experts from the Urban Land Institute to start developing new possibilities for the Jamestown Mall site, and what emerged was the outline for a revitalized “town center.” Nine months later, in July 2010, a Florida-based urban design firm took the process one step further, coming up with a general plan that was presented to area residents during a “design charrette” in September. (Wish I could’ve been there, but I didn’t learn about it until afterward.)
You can download the firm’s presentation here.
Essentially, it explains that the market area surrounding Jamestown Mall is already over-saturated with retailers, and that its population simply cannot support a regional mall of that size. On a positive note, the presentation also topples a prevailing stereotype about North County, revealing that the median household income around Jamestown Mall is EQUIVALENT TO that in Chesterfield, Wildwood and St. Charles County. (Take that, naysayers!)
Considering this data, as well as input from citizens, the design firm proposed eventually demolishing most of the mall (save Macy’s and Penney’s) and replacing it with a mixed-use, village-style development featuring shops, restaurants, housing and offices. Think New Town St. Charles. Or Seaside, Florida, without the sea.
Rumor has it that Jamestown Mall is also being considered for a massive flea market. Not sure how I feel about that. Another possibility is senior housing, which I think is a dreadful, depressing idea. Some seniors, yes. But the whole property??
And speaking of the property, Jamestown Mall happens to have five different owners (including Macy’s and JC Penney), which makes redevelopment that much more of a challenge. Add in the sour economy and the remaining mall tenants and there’s no telling when any of these projects might actually get some traction. But with this latest news from JC Penney…well, who knows?
To stay up on the latest progress at Jamestown Mall, check out this page from the St. Louis County Economic Council or follow SLCEC on Facebook.
News Clips: 7/22/10
• Looking to beat the heat at a local community pool? Season passes for Ferguson’s Splash at Wabash and Hazelwood’s White Birch Bay Aquatic Center are now bargain priced! In Hazelwood, the cost of resident passes has dropped to $50 for individuals and $110 for families of four. Non-residents pay just $95 and $180. In Ferguson, fees have been cut in HALF, bringing resident passes down to $32.50 for individuals and $67.50 for families of four. For non-residents, the cost is $62.50 and $110.
You can swim through September 6 at both pools. For more info, call Hazelwood @ (314) 731-0980 or Ferguson @ (314) 521-4661.
Dellwood will soon welcome a new business: St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store
• Don’t tell the South City hipsters, but North County will soon have another thrift store. We’re already the premier spot for thrifting in St. Louis, with at least six big retailers and several smaller ones, and now the St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store is coming to Dellwood. The St. Vincent De Paul Society, which runs two other stores in St. Louis and provides assistance to the poor, is currently looking for volunteers to help man the new Dellwood location, which will open at 10052 W. Florissant in the next few weeks. If you’d like to help, contact Molly Corcoran Kertz at (314) 881-6032.
• Good news for local cyclists! Great Rivers Greenway (GRG) has taken another step toward completing the St. Vincent Greenway, the seven-mile trail that will eventually connect Forest Park to NorthPark. Part of the pathway already winds through the UMSL campus, and now construction has begun on another 0.6-mile section that will meander past UMSL’s soccer fields and Express Scripts headquarters and then head up University Place Drive toward the North Hanley Metrolink station.
At some point, the trail will stretch north on Hanley and connect with the proposed Maline and Coldwater Creek Greenways, but for now, GRG is waiting on the developer who owns several parcels across from the Metrolink parking lot to “obtain financing and begin site development.”
• So you know my “eco-tourism” idea to promote the Confluence as a recreation destination? Perhaps this will help… Yesterday morning, just after midnight, Florissant resident Greg Bernal went fishing in the Missouri River near the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area and caught the biggest blue catfish IN THE WORLD! Weighing a whopping 130 pounds, the mammoth fish beat the standing Missouri state record by 27 pounds and the world record by six pounds, surpassing another fish caught in Alton, IL, in 2005.
Of course, I wish Bernal had released the big beast back into the water, but I guess I can let it slide if somebody will please start promoting NoCo as a destination for world-class fishing… Talk about an opportunity!
• More than 300 people showed up at the St. Louis County Economic Council’s recent forum on the future of Jametown Mall, continuing a public input process that started last year and will continue through September. If you missed the meeting, check out the video below. You might also mark your calendar for September 9, 10, 11 & 14. That’s your next chance to share ideas and hear from local planners during a week-long Jamestown Mall “design charrette” at St. Louis Community College @ Flo Valley. More info on that soon…
NoCo News Clips: 7/8
From here on out, Sunday News Clips will be just plain ol’ News Clips. Each post will be shorter but I’ll be writing more frequently and you should wind up with more news overall. As usual, if you have news to share, please send any press releases to me at shannon@NOCOstl.com. Comments and suggestions are also welcome. Thank you!
• Following intense debate in the community, Bridgeton has approved $7.2 million in tax increment financing (TIF) for a Walmart Supercenter to be built on the south side of St. Charles Rock Road at Harmony Lane. The new store will replace the existing Walmart across from Northwest Plaza, causing a likely budget shortfall for the city of St. Ann, which currently claims seven percent of the store’s tax revenue.
The Supercenter project is estimated to cost $23 million overall, bringing Bridgeton $7 million in annual tax revenue beginning in 2012. In an interview in the Post-Dispatch, Bridgeton Mayor Conrad Bowers said his city would have lost $1 million in annual tax revenue if Walmart had left.
• Over in Florissant, another new Walmart is being discussed, with the same developer seeking the same kind of public subsidy. At a recent city council meeting, Alan Bornstein from THF Realty outlined preliminary plans to build a Walmart Supercenter on 42 acres near New Halls Ferry and Lindbergh, directly behind Lowe’s.
Bornstein said the new store would not replace the existing Walmart in Ferguson, which is less than four miles away. He also said the project would not proceed without TIF money. If THF decides to submit a formal proposal on the Supercenter, it will have to make its case with the St. Louis County TIF commission and then gain approval from the Florissant city council. Stay tuned…
O'Pestkey's @ Jamestown Mall
• First, a new Irish bar and grill opened at Jamestown Mall. Now the St. Louis County Economic Council is holding a public forum there to present ideas on how the mall might be revitalized in the future. Everyone is invited to attend the meeting, which will be held Thursday, July 15, from 6:30 to 8pm at the mall cinema. For more info on the county’s redevelopment plans, look here.
• If you live in Ferguson, you may have heard the recent celebration going in Kinloch. A live band and lots of revelers helped to kick off the city’s newly named “historic district,” which Kinloch Mayor Keith Conway hopes will transform his community into a tourist destination. As he describes in this Post article, Conway is planning to install a Kinloch Walk of Fame, which will feature plaques for 80 prominent former and current residents, including Conway himself and the city’s four aldermen.
• If you have kids, mark your calendar for Thursday, July 22! That’s when the St. Louis Science Center’s Dome Theater arrives at the Lewis & Clark library, offering an IMAX-style viewing experience for free!
To register, you must call beforehand: (314) 994-3300. Space is limited but 12 movies will be shown, with narration by celebrities like Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks. Here’s the full schedule:
9:30-10:30 a.m. “Secret of the Cardboard Rocket” (Grades PreK-2)
10:30-11:00 a.m. “The Dinosaur Prophecy” (Grades K-4)
11:00-11:30 a.m. “Earth’s Wild Ride” (Grades 1-4)
11:30 a.m. – noon “Fantasy Worlds” (Grades 3-8)
12:00-12:30 p.m. “Secrets of the Dead Sea” (Grades 3-8)
12:30-1:00 p.m. “Passport to the Universe” (Grades 3-8)
1:00-1:30 p.m. “The Search for Life: Are We Alone?” (Grades 4-8)
1:30-2:00 p.m. “Future Moon” (Grades 4-8)
2:00-2:30 p.m. “Night of the Titanic” (Grades 5-8)
2:30-3:30 p.m. “Secret of the Cardboard Rocket” (Grades PreK-2)
3:30-4:00 p.m. “The Dinosaur Prophecy” (Grades K-4)
4:00-4:30 p.m. “Earth’s Wild Ride” (Grades 1-4)
The library is located at 9909 Lewis-Clark Blvd., 63136
