Me neither. I think it's more nuanced than just to say it had to do exclusively with online shopping or the local economy, though those are certainly factors. I think it was Jake of Bright Sun Films who spoke about not only the oversaturation of malls in decades past, but also, many retailers sort of tried to assume what customers wanted, and once customers were able to get exactly what they wanted or needed online, they went there. But before smart and even mobile phones gained popularity, they were also a social place to go. That's where the memories often remain.
moonraker30 Yes and no some shopping malls ends up like due to the way their run you got to remember most of these were around when the US economy was good and money value wasn't the same as it is today so average shopper who had money to spend didn't mind going to one and overpaid for something back than unlike the average shopper today who is living on a fix income. Oh and fyi online shopping only makes up about 30% of a store sales.
What a nightmare. I think future generations will regret losing malls like this, as places to meet, see and do things, especially during long grey days of winter and hot summer days.
EXATAMENTE AMERICANOS SÃO PIONEIROS EM DESGRAÇAR A HISTÓRIA E CULTURA, GASTAM DINHEIRO EM TANTAS COISAS FÚTEIS, E NÃO CONSEGUEM MANTER UM SHOPPING IMPONENTE COMO ESSE!
I do miss malls being popular i never really liked ordering online especially because you can get completely ripped off with bootlegs or it just never arrives I always preferred going in person.
I worked in this mall a bit back in the late 90s. To see what's become of it now is surreal. I still can't believe that Alton Square outlived Jamestown, the Mills, and so many other malls in the area.
@@jimgoodwin45 Ah, RadioShack....another sad story of a once proud and strong retailer that's gone (I worked at the Fort Worth home office). Even more sad is that RadioShack's death was by suicide.
This, for me, anyhow, seems to be the "new Rolling Acres Mall," one that fascinates and even causes obsessiveness in those who love these kind of places. A great job, Anthony!
I believe you are right, this building is the 'new Rolling Acres Mall" and I am also fascinated by the destruction that has occurred on the interior of the structure.
Thank you, Anthony, for this video! I live in Florissant and always watch the videos on Jamestown to keep track of its downward spiral. I can't believe how much worse it looks just in less than a year; it's crazy, because for a while they really locked it down and prevented anyone from getting in without permission, but clearly they let that lapse for there to be so much more destruction and graffiti. I hate that they couldn't figure out anything useful to do with the property - at this point it needs to be bulldozed just for safety, but it's been such a struggle for anyone to come to a consensus on what to do. St. Louis was just straight up over-malled, and this is a result of that. Btw, the ad in the outro featuring Kinney Shoes brings back major memories, as my mom worked for that company for my entire childhood and I'd been in the back of the store at Jamestown many, many times.
@@gagejackson8609 oh I know. Lived in North Randall most of my life (gone now) so I watched Randall Park wilt and die. Honestly both are in bad areas but Rolling Acres was worse so it was vandalized more harshly and more often. Randall was a bit better secured after closing but was in worse shape structurally so the elements worked on it. At one point the docks at sears filled up and flooded, the macys anchor was overrun with mold and moisture, and there was standing water in the mall. Rolling Acres did have broken skylights so it recieved snow inside but otherwise was not as moldy. So much better climate for vandals and vagrants to gut it out multiple times. Sad no matter what the reason. In the case of this town they need to get this mall demoed asap. Only going to blight the area while simultaneously killing the tax base
"St. Louis had a lot of malls, guys." - Yes! Yes we did. So many, in fact, that despite me growing up in St. Louis, I had no idea this mall existed. I have never laid eyes on it. Of course, I grew up in Rock Hill, and moved to Manchester later. My Main mall haunts were Crestwood, The Galleria, West County Center, and I would occasionally scoot up to Chesterfield. I miss Crestwood, especially. Lots of memories. There was a Drive-In Theatre not too far from it, if memory serves. I remember catching a few movies there. Looks like it was a really nice mall. I'm sad to see it go. Thank you for documenting it.
It was an absolute shame what Macys did to so many local stores. My towns Foley’s of which we had the original Foley’s Tower. And Famous Barr which I visited the original in 2005 while it still operated. What an incredible store it was. 7 floors of a 21 floor building built in 1913. Two restaurants a candy counter and the top 2 floors still had functioning wooden escalators. Macys eventually shut it. What a loss that beautiful store was. At least the building still stands our Foley building was imploded. British Pathe channel has a look at the Foley’s when it first opened though.
If I recall correctly when I did my St. Louis trip in early 2014, I unfortunately missed the closure of the downtown Famous Barr by something like 1 or 2 years. I really wish I could've gotten a look inside that store, before it closed for good. May Company also had its regional headquarters in the upper floors of their Saint Louis downtown flagship store, btw. And you are right that Macy's is struggling, and has closed a lot of these former historic flagship stores down of department stores they've absorbed. Not to forget on a side note for Boston in 2005, that the company chose to keep the Macy's at a storefront across the street, and shut down the Filene's in its historic building. At least that building has been remodeled since, and now houses offices and a Primark store. I hope some of the other historic downtown flagship buildings Macy's abandoned see a second life as a remodeled building, such as the one for Kaufmann's in Pittsburgh.
Absolutely! I grew up in Los Angeles, where we had a wonderful chain of full-sized department stores, called "Bullocks Wilshire," after the original and marvelously grand store just north of downtown, on Wilshire Blvd. It had an amazing eight-story tower, the top three floors of which were sheathed in copper that had achieved a stunningly beautiful deep green and turquoise patina, and I remember going in the store with my folks after church to shop their amazing wares and then eat in the luxury of their full-service restaurant, complete with crisp table linens and a small, electric lamp at each table. I don't recall exactly WHEN Macy's got their hands on it, but they closed it and sold it off within five years of its acquisition. Fortunately, it was later acquired by a local and very prestigious law school that has since refurbished much of the building's original features and returned them to their once-glorious and grandeur-filled appearance. Sadly, nothing could be done for all the OTHER Bullock's-turned-Macy's in the greater L.A. area that have come under the Macy's-driven wrecking ball...
I can't begin to explain how sad this video is for me. I live just across the river from this mall in Illinois. I was born in 1968, and grew up going to this mall before the mall in Alton, Illinois was built. It was such a nice mall for many years, but you are correct in saying that the dynamics of the surrounding area changed dramatically in just a few short years. North County where this mall is located was basically abandoned by local politicians, and allowed the moving of resources out of the area so it became a "dead zone". Businesses moved away as property values tanked. Even hospitals closed, perpetuating a steady decline in traffic in the area. Jamestown Mall was doomed to fail by the late 90's. It's sickens me to see what happened.
Translation: the politicians removed all the traffic lights at intersections on 67 on the way to the casino so there was no sense in opting to putt-along on Lindbergh to near the Missouri River bridge so hardly anyone went that way anymore. But there's still a lot of traffic on Lindbergh. People who now buy their clothing at thrift-stores ( I do ) instead of malls so they have more money to go spend at Fast Eddie's Bon Aire or the Casino ( I *don't* ). But when the nation's biggest defense-contractor no longer was and got gobbled-up by another one and the local presence became a mere shadow of it's former local economic impact? That's a lot of people who had a lot of disposable income missing. People who raised their kids like they did their demanding jobs ( by the book ) and the human resource of their raised-right kids and and their parents, as both the customers and staff that can make a mall or break it, were largely missing from the equation. And I know just who to thank for that... Thus proving the old adage that "one 'bad apple' spoils the bunch". And also that it's not the size of the dog in the fight so-much as the size of the virus-load of Rabies lyssavirus in the dog's brain... ua-cam.com/video/ppZ0HUFBc88/v-deo.html ( ~4:24/4:45 ) *Robert Palmer: rest in peace.*
I remember the Dillard's wing was closed off quite some time before the rest of the mall, so that's likely why its deterioration is so much worse. The wooden exterior store at 16:32 was a vintage style candy shop owned and operated by a family member of mine, but no, unfortunately we never got free candy, lol. I honestly struggle to believe it closed just 8 years ago, it feels like so much longer. I grew up going to that mall. I saw so many movies in that theater, got my ears pierced at that Claire's, and made dozens of wishes throwing coins in the giant fountain. I remember all the times I whispered embarrassingly at my Dad to "STOP IT!" because he would whistle every time we passed the Victoria's Secret just to make me and my brother giggle. I remember how, to my Mom, a mall walk wasn't complete without a pretzel from the pretzel place. I miss this kind of shopping experience- it was more than just about buying stuff, it was about spending time together. You just can't make those kinds of memories with your family and friends when you shop online.
You called out that it looks nothing like it’s sister mall (Chesterfield)... up until about 2006 they looked very similar. The skylights / ceiling patterns, the planters, and the floor tile, in addition to the food courts matched. Both Jamestown and Chesterfield got similar looking food courts in 1995/96. At Chesterfield the original food court was on the upper level near Macy’s in the large space last occupied by H&M but that was changed in 2006 when it was moved to the lower level in what had been Famous-Barr until Fall 1995 (then JCPenney for a brief stint later). Also, at the beginning you mentioned River Roads... RR was demolished in 2006 but had been dead since the very early 1990’s and the mall corridor closed from 1994/95 onward until its demolition. RR’s own decline began in the mid/late 80’s. I look forward to your Chesterfield Mall video! I worked at that mall for a good amount of time.
@@gagejackson8609 you would be surprised how tough a mall can be against a tornado probably one of the safest places you could be at a four story mall would be able to survive a EF3 easy now a EF4 it's a 50/50 chance
Can't imagine who would thumbs down this video. Literally top notch on everything from filming, music, to history and then some! Pay no attention to jealous people!
I enjoyed this video! The reasons that malls close, are poor location, high rent for the store managers, and poor management of the managers who operate the mall. Malls that are located in high crime areas are doom to close because people don't feel safe going to the mall. I enjoy watching your videos as much as Wallieb26 videos.
It has nothing to do with crime. It has to do with Amazon becoming a monopoly and because of the car centric infrastructure where you need a car to go to a mall. And that at the end you always had the exact same products everywhere. The only place which always worked well are the food courts, but even there only the same chains everywhere and nothing innovative.
I live in St. Louis and would like it noted that the vast majority of this "damage" is from the wrecking / reclamation crews. The mall is obviously WAY beyond saving Because they have essentially began the demolition already. Why they stopped is stupid and not logical. This is as Ace says an incredibly dangerous mall. Please Do NOT attempt entry. I drove up 1-2 months ago just for a look . Didn't care for stupid barricades , only one entry into parking lot. . Hate to say it but Tear it down Port Authority!- Great video Ace. Thanks!
Sad to see the continued decline of this mall. I have very fond memories of this place growing up in the 80's. It had a great toy store..a tobacco store that my dad would go to called, The Tinder Box (smelled great), a very nice arcade..and always a long line for Santa. Sure there were other malls around town, and this place was sort of isolated in the northern sector of the county. Believe me, this place used to be packed, no problem. There were 50K people in Florissant alone when this place was in prime, about the same as today. I know online shopping is convenient..but what about all the social interactions and memories we miss out on not having places like this around anymore? It's not only malls, there used to be go cart and putt putt places, waterslides, arcades, all peppered around town. Most are gone now. I guess lawsuits and insurance are to blame. It just seems to me that we're moving in the wrong direction socially anymore. My two cents anyway. Peace everyone.
Went to Jamestown Mall quite a bit as an adolescent to remember they're not being a vacant storefront until the 90s came along and then you started seeing more storefronts not having any occupancies this is when I had a feeling that these types of places wouldn't be around in the next 10 to 15 or 20 years
@@KrisKelly1970 According to the article, the aforementioned burst pipe was the reason for the eviction of the last business (a funeral parlor, ironically) and total shuttering of the mall.
@@wolftickets1969 The article is misworded -- the funeral parlor operates in a freestanding building on the mall property and an underground pipe burst in the Sears parking lot which forced them to close due to no water pressure. That main was fixed and the funeral parlor is back in business, but that break was responsible for completely flooding the lower level of the Sears anchor with several inches of standing water. The burst pipe Ace and I found was gushing within the mall itself.
That mall is one of the most apocalyptic malls there are. It is just as bad as Rolling Acres used to be, if not worse. It appears that they let a beautiful building go to waste. It really is an important history lesson of what happens when retailers die and the mess it leaves on the planet. It appears that that mall is going to have to be wrecking balled most likely and is not savable.
I grew up across the river on the Illinois side in Cottage Hills. Jamestown Mall was THE first and only Mall around to go to when it first opened. Spent many hours there shopping when I was a teen. Left the area in 1979 and moved to Cincinnati. Been there ever since. Sad to see this has happened to Jamestown Mall. Many great memories made there.🙁
My mom always took me there or to Northwest Plaza when I was younger. Seeing the food court destroyed and the purple playground pieces kinda hit a soft spot.
Wow, that was great. The last aerial shot helps you to understand just how large this place is. There was also a sense of sadness of a bygone era gone in the final photo of shoppers so happily posing for the mall picture. Awesome job!
Grew up here and spent many hours in this mall as a kid. It was very sad to see it close and deteriorate over time. One of the big things that spiraled its demise was a murder-suicide that happened in the food court. My parents weren't super keen to go to the mall after that. Thanks for posting the video. I always loved the sculptures in this mall, and it's sad to see only the concrete "slide" remains. Always dreamt of playing on that when I was little.
Complete nostalgia. I visited this place countless times as a child. I'm 24 now. My mom and I often went to the food court and there was a huge indoor play place. We definitely miss this place. Not sure how relevant it is to closing but there was a murder-suicide in 2008. I think a lot of business was lost after that.
Thank you for putting this video together. I worked at the JCPenney from when it opened until 1998. I still remember going there before the grand opening as it was still being set up. It was so nice and seemed almost too upscale for a JCPenney. I hadn’t been in this mall since 2001 and hadn’t driven by it in probably over 15 years. This weekend I drove by it with my son and my jaw about hit the floor. I couldn’t believe what the outside looked like. Finding this video and seeing what the inside looked like was mind-blowing. Very sad.
As a Florissant/St Louis native I grew up with Jamestown. I used to visit Aladdin's Castle all the time when it was in the now theater now lies. I loved Sam Goody and used to get music & movies from there. I was saddened when it started going down hill & eventually closed. There's been much speculation as to what to do with the old mall but nothing yet. Ps: Do a video on the Mills while it's still standing!
Thanks for putting this up! I'm a St. Louis resident, and a little ashamed to say, I never knew about this mall. I really don't ever go up into North County, I guess. 🤷♂️
It is really out of the way. I only went there as a child with my aunt a few times when we didn’t go to the larger and more centrally located Northwest Plaza. Of course, they lived in North County back then.
I remember being pushed around in a stroller through this mall. I threw many coins in that fountain and can remember playing in the play place in the food court. Thanks for sharing this
Dude I swear combined with the styling, still pictures and 80's synth....I fucking dig the into .....pure perfect vibe to start the show...Well Done Ace!
jamestown was built on my family farm , was a wonderful place to work and shop and as a teen to hang out........... then the neighborhood/clientele changed, theft and personal danger destroyed the stores as was/is the way of all malls. when the customers are scared to shop and the stores are losing more to theft than they're selling you end up with this clip
And lots of people headed toward your town from St. Louis and surrounding county drove right by that mall on Lindbergh to go gape at the grave of Robert Wadlow or that stupid statue dedicated to that jerk Elijah Lovejoy r.i.p. ( rot in perdition ). The Piasa Bird recreation never drew one tourist or visitor to the area past that mall. Not one, I'm sure. There were no attractions in the area of that mall. Not one. How could such paltry things compete with Blueberry Hill? Thanks for coming over here and spending money and paying taxes at our once-wonderful indoor mall! It was a nice place, wasn't it? I mostly went there on the excuse of buying a record or some boots just to walk around looking at the people. You never knew who you were going to encounter. But even if you never saw anyone you knew you were sure to see a whole lot of people you might think you'd *like* to know. It wasn't like going to Walmart, that's 4sure.
Back in Jamestown Mall's heyday, that natural lighting was the best! The sunlight would sift in through those big, octagonal skylights and bathe everything in a soft, yellow luminescence that lent that extra hint of life to everything. And those fountains were filled with water dribbling and spritzing everywhere; when the sun hit the water just right, you could see all the little dancing rainbows wavering all over the common areas. There was nothing like it! It's heart-wrenching to see all of that laid to ruin now. ☹
A huge part of my childhood and especially middle through high school days. This is where a bunch of us kids would meet up to get a bite at ChikFiLA, check out the latest music at Sam Goody, beg our parents for the latest kicks at foot locker, the latest styles at Gliks, 5-7-9, Express, Dillard’s and most importantly meet up at the cinema with our friends. Back in middle school, across from the cinema there was a restaurant, it was much like a Denny’s. My 14 year old boy just said this morning it would be awesome if they could remake malls to look like the 1980’s nostalgia♥️ He loves appreciates how they have redone the mall on “stranger thing’s” which is pretty much how I remember Jamestown mall looking during my childhood. Thank you for sharing this documentary. Amazing job Ace!
If it's not already a "thing" I predict onlne shopping with a virtual mall you guide your avatar through like a video game but you're really buying things. You'll actually see either avatars of other shoppers or possibly their real appearance if they select that, be able to converse and so-forth. Some exercise equipment manufacturer will probably become involved in combination with a treadmill.
Subscribed. I found you, Sal, Unicomm, Dan Bell, and Faded Commerce when researching my local Dead Mall (Forest Fair Village, Cincinnati). Enjoy your different perspective on retail. Keep going, you are doing great!
I grew up in North County. This was my mall....especially through the 70’s and 80’s. I don’t think I visited as much in the 90’s. It’s always sad to see abandoned malls....but this one hits home.
Unbelievable.. I used to love going to the malls in the 80’s.. it was the place to hang out with friends. The food courts.. I miss that so much. This is soooo sad :(
Somebody needs to rescue those Jamestown Mall plans. This was a really good tour Ace. I can see why you stayed out of certain parts of the mall, it is pretty nasty in there. Maybe you can put the extra footage on your second channel. I would love to see it.
Wow! I remember going to and shopping in this mall when I was in my early to late teenage years! I am 30 now, my best friend used to work in the Jamestown Mall theater back then! I think that the Saint Louis Mills took a bulk of what few customers that the mall had previously!
as you said the mall decline began in about 1997, give or take. I had a buddy who was a mall manager, he told me things were trending down across his company which owned or managed several malls- they were beginning to allow local shops to fill spots
Thankfully we don’t really have this problem in England with dead shopping centres. There’s been some big ones built in London in the past few years and the ones that have been around for ages are thriving. So sad to see what happens to malls like this.
Send some of your mall owners over here to buy and help the ones still working. Apparently your management system us superior to ours and to save malls I would look outside the box for help.
@Active Sync You would be surprised at how nice older malls were before renovating. People wanted a new look in malls and got drab 2 color palettes in return. Malls in general were a bad idea, because it wasted far too many downtown's.
Why ? I love malls , everything in one place , don't have to drive all over. I worked at Jamestown in the 80's at the Merry Go Round , a pretty high in clothing store. I took the bus , that mall was awesome
Another great presentation. I always get melancholy seeing the vintage memorabilia-I remember those crowds and all those great stores and the fun weekends. The world seems to change faster than anyone's mind can comprehend it. Great music and narration and as always interesting to see. I think you're right about structural issues, I noticed leaning supports and all sorts of things. They probably aren't going to want to leave it standing much longer or someone's going to get hurt.
One thing I really like about your videos is 2 things. 1: The attention to detail. 2: You have the most catchiest music choice I've ever heard, in fact watching your videos and playing games helps me concentrate.
St. Louis had tons of malls. South County Mall, West County Mall, Chesterfield Mall, Northwest Plaza Mall, St. Louis Center, Jamestown Mall, Crestwood Plaza Mall, As somebody who grew up in the 80's it was glorious.
The rate of decay between the Retailpocalypse video of the same spaces and this one is astonishing. At this point, it's two years later and the property IIRC is still not demolished, but at the end of April 2022 $6 million of an estimated $10 million needed to make the mall "shovel ready" to demolish was set aside by St. Louis County.
My family used to shop there in the 90's. Thanks for this video. it is crazy how horribly it has fallen apart. it amazes me that it has turned into this mess. if youd have told me that in 88' itd be like this id not have believed you.
I know this is a common thought but I don’t get why people prefer outdoor shopping. Maybe it’s my age and memories but one central place, heated and cooled, with a variety of stores seems like such a better idea. COVID has definitely changed things but once it’s behind us, I just don’t understand why people gave up on the ease of shopping, social environment, etc. that malls offer.
@@GanymedeTheCorgiCat Remember when Northwest Plaza used to be an outdoor mall, then sometime in the mid-1980's, the architects and developers added some roofs and HVAC to turn the mall into an indoor mall, and suddenly the mall's population surged? Just like you both said, no one wanted an outdoor bazaar, but indoor shopping malls? People just flock to those...at least before the rise of Amazon and the decline of the Middle Class.
This is pretty wild seeing this now...all destroyed and deteriorated...I remember it as a teenager growing up in the area,. And later as an adult, working as Union Carpenter there on various remodeling and new store builds back in it's hay day...
I can't wait to see your video on Chesterfield Mall! My family didn't get to St. Louis very often (we lived about 2 hours out) but when we did that was normally the one we went to in the 90s.
Good presentation. Since your video, the scrappers took the food court entryway and there was 2 fires deliberately started. One in the Dillards a pile of curtains was burned. The other was set in Macy’s. Not sure what they burned in there but it got hot enough to melt one of the main beams supporting the building. The county had scaffolding installed to shore up the sagging floor and roof. The scrappers also took the main sculpture.. I have a video “Jamestown mall tour “ I posted of the mall before the county took it over.. It went downhill real fast afterwards.
Anyone realize all the malls have shutdown as soon as the brothas move in? Northwest plaza, then they migrated over to florissant/belfountain Jamestown shut down. Then.....the mills. West county and Galleria still stand due to the area in which they stand.
I live VERY close to this mall and used to work at the EB Games/GameStop until it closed. Jamestown was always the little mall that could, but it certainly did. Always had a decent amount of regular foot traffic and the theater helped a LOT. It's also in a rather low crime area so that wasn't the issue. What killed it was St.Louis Mills. When that mall opened, it was a BIG deal, the mall was HUGE and it stole business from all the other malls in the area...only for there not to be enough interest or tenants to keep that mall going. Within a month, St.Louis Mills had DRASTICALLY reduced foot traffic but the other malls still suffered from its existence. Jamestown then tried to force tenants out, raising rates to obscene levels because they wanted to knock it down and turn it into a Town Center as you mentioned earlier. Then the housing market crashed, putting the kibosh on those plans. Since then the mall has been abandoned for years as no one knows what to do with it. The parking lot has been used to host the UniverSOUL Circus a few times and I hear a few weeks ago someone screened a film premiere in the parking lot? I dunno what's going on with it anymore. Weirdest thing is the little bank in the parking lot that's still open somehow. It's sad. I loved going to all the different malls in the St.Louis area but after The Mills, there are almost none left.
I am from Florissant, lived on Chambers most of my childhood. Malls like Jamestown and River Roads were on the slide long before online retailers and Pandemics. The quality of the people in these areas began a steady decline in the 80s and 90s. I remember all too well, working class neighborhoods sliding into crime ridden and drug infested "hoods". Draw your own conclusions why it happened. Either way the people who live in the neighborhoods surrounding these malls, had no money, all the people who had the money packed up and left. That is what killed River Roads and Jamestown malls. Also be careful if you try to visit the site. The legendary "Waterheads" are said to lurk near there waiting to attack normal people with their pick axes and shovels.
@@XMattingly When I was in High School in the 90s the legend goes that there was an insane asylum behind the Jamestown mall at one point in time or in the near vicinity, and that either the asylum closed or there was an escape of mental patients all of whom had deformities some them having abnormally large heads, maybe caused by hydrocephalus I think it is. So they live in run down houses and attack people at night who dare to wander through the area. It was always a gag to go on Halloween and drive through the area and the next day there was always one group of kids who would come back to school claiming to have been attacked by the "waterheads." That is the urban legend anyway. Not sure if it was ever true and looks like no one is telling the story anymore.
@@ParagonRex Ha, I’ve never heard of that. I’ve been in St. Louis for over a decade and still don’t know a lot of local/regional lore... I didn’t grow up here, so at least I don’t have to answer the “which high school did you go to?” question. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah the bubble heads....well known north county thing. Went there a few times in hs. I, too, went to River Roads. Grew up in the hood, aka castle point.
I visited here in March 2014(after JCPenney Outlet Store closed in late 2013, and while Macy's was closing), and can't believe this place got more destroyed since when Jack(Retailpocalypse) did a video on the condition of this mall! And at 25:13 in this video, that REALLY was the only place left in the food court(just a cake and pastry bakery business), at the time I visited this mall. It was SO DEAD in this mall when I visited back in 2014, and honestly the only groups I saw using this mall were a mom and pop storefront near Macy's, and also another such church in the Sears wing of this mall. Hate to think about this, but I really think you're right the damage here has gotten worse than how it got at Rolling Acres, just before it was demolished. If you want to see my pics I(Allan Marshall) took of this mall in 2014 just before it closed, I uploaded some to Dead Mall Enthusiasts on Facebook, and you can see them there. Kinda thought Anthony would use some of my photos in this video(and would've been fine w/me if he wanted to use my food court photos for this video), but that's okay since he filmed for longer here than I thought I would! BTW about at 32:39 at the start of that drone footage, there was a REALLY horrible pothole that was barely coned off in the section of the parking lot, between Macy's and the furniture liquidation store(used to be Dillard's, and before Stix, Baer, and Fuller). If a driver wasn't paying attention, that pothole would've totally swallowed a car in. I don't think the drone footage quite shows that pothole clearly, but it was scary for me to see that in the mall's parking lot when I visited! Also the wing leading up to the furniture liquidation store(and before then Dillard's, and originally Stix) was closed off by a door at the time I visited, so unfortunately I never got to walk through that wing of Jamestown for myself.
This is the new Rolling Acres, but probably five times larger. The only place I can think of that may be worse in regards to mold, destruction , and decay is the Macy’s at Randall Park Mall. But awesome video as always, man. I’m glad I stumbled on this channel, I enjoy it a lot
I dunno about the rest of the country but malls in north jersey are still busy as hell. I was at the Willowbrook Mall yesterday and it's was packed even had a live concert in the main plaza
I live in St. Louis and I didn’t know they hadn’t torn down this mall! I know it had a lot of issues and they closed it but I can’t believe they left it there to decay. It’s crazy that it hasn’t been closed that long and it looks that bad.
@@ericdraven7185 "It would cost millions of dollars to demolish the mall, and I don't see any developer doing that without a suitable financial incentive for doing so." There. I just paraphrased your entire comment *_and_* took the unnecessary assholism out of it. You're welcome!
This was my mall growing up. I wonder if I knew anyone in the photos....Grew up in Ferguson. You're exactly right about it's location. From our doorstep to the mall was 25 minutes. I never understood why it was out in the middle of nowhere on US 67. As a kid though, I enjoyed going because it meant a long car ride in a semi rural area. 4:05 - Yes, I remember that. I miss Northland. We would often go to Northland Famous Barr if we just needed a couple of things. My grandmother worked there and retired when when it closed at Northland. I loved seeing the office/back/mechanical area! Always wanted to see that as a kid. Never imagined I'd see it years later in this state
I lived in Hazelwood right next to Lindbergh Boulevard when I was a kid and a teenager. I used to catch Bus 41 Northbound if I wanted to go to Jamestown Mall, or Bus 41 Southbound if I wanted to go to Northwest Plaza, so I was living in the perfect spot to become a teenaged mall rat. I preferred Jamestown Mall's asthetics and atmosphere (and I was just waxing poetic to someone else about the natural lighting and the running water fountains casting the whole interior in soft, golden light and dancing rainbows in the common areas), but Northwest Plaza had the bigger and better arcade after Tilt! expanded out of the Saint Peters Mall and moved in. It just tears my heart out to watch videos like this one, to remember both malls in their prime of life and realize that we'll never see the likes of them again. The 1980's had their troubles, but that was quite a magical decade in which to come of age. Future generations may never realize what they missed after the rise and fall of shopping malls. 😟
Surprisingly in San Diego not only are malls fluorescing but they are expanding in size offering a myriad of venues . I also noticed a customer receives a great deal more attention when shopping in a department store than you receive on the East coast. I live in both New Jersey and San Diego no comparison in type and quality of customer service
I worked here back in 1996. I worked at Wags restaurant, which at the time was part of Walgreens. Wags was like an old school sitdown cafeteria. I also worked at Sears, which was on the side of Jamestown mall by the York steak house. Oh what memories.
This is sad that people don't get out and shop I remember growing up going to Jamestown Mall seen Santa Claus there as a child it would be awesome to rebuild and bring that spirit back to the st Louis and Florissant areas
It is so unbelievable and unthinkable that the American mall for which I love visiting when i was in high school is dying. I watched many of your mall videos including rolling meadows mall, but yes this is the worst I have ever seen. A part 2, of course i would watch. i love this mall videos, but I love history and this history, the death of the American mall culture. Keep going, this videos are great.😀
This just makes me sad. Malls were such a huge part of life as a child of the 80's. Never would have dreamed they would ever go away.
Theresa F Right?! It was always so busy, but internet killed the shopping mall #Memories #80sKid
Malls are alive and thriving in Dallas TX so I think it comes down to local economy
Me neither. I think it's more nuanced than just to say it had to do exclusively with online shopping or the local economy, though those are certainly factors.
I think it was Jake of Bright Sun Films who spoke about not only the oversaturation of malls in decades past, but also, many retailers sort of tried to assume what customers wanted, and once customers were able to get exactly what they wanted or needed online, they went there.
But before smart and even mobile phones gained popularity, they were also a social place to go. That's where the memories often remain.
moonraker30 Yes and no some shopping malls ends up like due to the way their run you got to remember most of these were around when the US economy was good and money value wasn't the same as it is today so average shopper who had money to spend didn't mind going to one and overpaid for something back than unlike the average shopper today who is living on a fix income.
Oh and fyi online shopping only makes up about 30% of a store sales.
Mandy Roy Or they go get what they want at a other location that's not in the mall for much cheaper price.
What a nightmare. I think future generations will regret losing malls like this, as places to meet, see and do things, especially during long grey days of winter and hot summer days.
EXATAMENTE AMERICANOS SÃO PIONEIROS EM DESGRAÇAR A HISTÓRIA E CULTURA, GASTAM DINHEIRO EM TANTAS COISAS FÚTEIS, E NÃO CONSEGUEM MANTER UM SHOPPING IMPONENTE COMO ESSE!
I do miss malls being popular i never really liked ordering online especially because you can get completely ripped off with bootlegs or it just never arrives
I always preferred going in person.
I worked in this mall a bit back in the late 90s. To see what's become of it now is surreal. I still can't believe that Alton Square outlived Jamestown, the Mills, and so many other malls in the area.
Hey Jim, what store did you work at?
@@AcesAdventures1 I worked at the RadioShack that used to be right by the Sears
@@jimgoodwin45 Ah, RadioShack....another sad story of a once proud and strong retailer that's gone (I worked at the Fort Worth home office). Even more sad is that RadioShack's death was by suicide.
Especially the mills! I was at the opening of the mills back in 03. Just wow
@@jimgoodwin45 omg!! Yes. I remember. If coming out the sears it was on the right side!
I live in St.louis. This was my favorite mall in the early to mid 80's . Game room was the best
I'm shocked that this mall has only been abandoned for 6 years (2014). Looks more like 26 years. Great footage and background music!
Yeah
parts of it were closed years before the final closure. during that time water was allowed to seep in and run its course.
@@kilo-1337it doesn’t look anything like this video so many people destroyed it
Now almost 10
Loved this so much; the awesome intro, the research, the soundtrack, the property ... stellar work, Ace, this was amazing.
TY SIR
Holy shit, even the GNC is closed! It’s worse than I thought! 😂
Why is that funny to you tho🤨
Interesting. The mall near me in Brampton (Ontario, Canada) has a GNC store ! I wonder if it's still owned by the original company ?
This, for me, anyhow, seems to be the "new Rolling Acres Mall," one that fascinates and even causes obsessiveness in those who love these kind of places. A great job, Anthony!
I believe you are right, this building is the 'new Rolling Acres Mall" and I am also fascinated by the destruction that has occurred on the interior of the structure.
It burned last night!
Thank you, Anthony, for this video! I live in Florissant and always watch the videos on Jamestown to keep track of its downward spiral. I can't believe how much worse it looks just in less than a year; it's crazy, because for a while they really locked it down and prevented anyone from getting in without permission, but clearly they let that lapse for there to be so much more destruction and graffiti. I hate that they couldn't figure out anything useful to do with the property - at this point it needs to be bulldozed just for safety, but it's been such a struggle for anyone to come to a consensus on what to do. St. Louis was just straight up over-malled, and this is a result of that. Btw, the ad in the outro featuring Kinney Shoes brings back major memories, as my mom worked for that company for my entire childhood and I'd been in the back of the store at Jamestown many, many times.
Invest money in renovating and reopening the mall
For sale: Handyman’s dream. Open concept with lots of natural light and parking for several vehicles. Some plumbing and electrical work required. 😂
@Bill Williams
Fast times at Ridgemont high!
That Mall was really well designed. Still has a futuristic look. Sad to See it so neglected. It's , " A Dead Mall " !
Wow. That place looks rough. When I look at pictures I see Randall Park skylights, Rolling Acres food court, Euclid Square architecture inside.
Same here. Agreed. But not as bad as rolling Acres...yet..
@@leesanders6914 key word yet. That's how Rolling Acres and Randall Park got so bad...abandoned and left to fester in a true 3 season climate.
@@aaronturner1072 Gotta remember, they both got vandalized to crap as well.
@@gagejackson8609 oh I know. Lived in North Randall most of my life (gone now) so I watched Randall Park wilt and die. Honestly both are in bad areas but Rolling Acres was worse so it was vandalized more harshly and more often. Randall was a bit better secured after closing but was in worse shape structurally so the elements worked on it. At one point the docks at sears filled up and flooded, the macys anchor was overrun with mold and moisture, and there was standing water in the mall. Rolling Acres did have broken skylights so it recieved snow inside but otherwise was not as moldy. So much better climate for vandals and vagrants to gut it out multiple times.
Sad no matter what the reason. In the case of this town they need to get this mall demoed asap. Only going to blight the area while simultaneously killing the tax base
Tonight it was set on fire. News link attatched.
fox2now.com/news/missouri/three-alarm-fire-at-jamestown-mall/
"St. Louis had a lot of malls, guys." - Yes! Yes we did. So many, in fact, that despite me growing up in St. Louis, I had no idea this mall existed. I have never laid eyes on it. Of course, I grew up in Rock Hill, and moved to Manchester later. My Main mall haunts were Crestwood, The Galleria, West County Center, and I would occasionally scoot up to Chesterfield. I miss Crestwood, especially. Lots of memories. There was a Drive-In Theatre not too far from it, if memory serves. I remember catching a few movies there.
Looks like it was a really nice mall. I'm sad to see it go. Thank you for documenting it.
Yes I definitely miss crestwood
It was an absolute shame what Macys did to so many local stores. My towns Foley’s of which we had the original Foley’s Tower. And Famous Barr which I visited the original in 2005 while it still operated. What an incredible store it was. 7 floors of a 21 floor building built in 1913. Two restaurants a candy counter and the top 2 floors still had functioning wooden escalators. Macys eventually shut it. What a loss that beautiful store was. At least the building still stands our Foley building was imploded. British Pathe channel has a look at the Foley’s when it first opened though.
If I recall correctly when I did my St. Louis trip in early 2014, I unfortunately missed the closure of the downtown Famous Barr by something like 1 or 2 years. I really wish I could've gotten a look inside that store, before it closed for good. May Company also had its regional headquarters in the upper floors of their Saint Louis downtown flagship store, btw.
And you are right that Macy's is struggling, and has closed a lot of these former historic flagship stores down of department stores they've absorbed. Not to forget on a side note for Boston in 2005, that the company chose to keep the Macy's at a storefront across the street, and shut down the Filene's in its historic building. At least that building has been remodeled since, and now houses offices and a Primark store. I hope some of the other historic downtown flagship buildings Macy's abandoned see a second life as a remodeled building, such as the one for Kaufmann's in Pittsburgh.
Absolutely! I grew up in Los Angeles, where we had a wonderful chain of full-sized department stores, called "Bullocks Wilshire," after the original and marvelously grand store just north of downtown, on Wilshire Blvd. It had an amazing eight-story tower, the top three floors of which were sheathed in copper that had achieved a stunningly beautiful deep green and turquoise patina, and I remember going in the store with my folks after church to shop their amazing wares and then eat in the luxury of their full-service restaurant, complete with crisp table linens and a small, electric lamp at each table. I don't recall exactly WHEN Macy's got their hands on it, but they closed it and sold it off within five years of its acquisition. Fortunately, it was later acquired by a local and very prestigious law school that has since refurbished much of the building's original features and returned them to their once-glorious and grandeur-filled appearance. Sadly, nothing could be done for all the OTHER Bullock's-turned-Macy's in the greater L.A. area that have come under the Macy's-driven wrecking ball...
I can't begin to explain how sad this video is for me. I live just across the river from this mall in Illinois. I was born in 1968, and grew up going to this mall before the mall in Alton, Illinois was built. It was such a nice mall for many years, but you are correct in saying that the dynamics of the surrounding area changed dramatically in just a few short years. North County where this mall is located was basically abandoned by local politicians, and allowed the moving of resources out of the area so it became a "dead zone". Businesses moved away as property values tanked. Even hospitals closed, perpetuating a steady decline in traffic in the area. Jamestown Mall was doomed to fail by the late 90's. It's sickens me to see what happened.
Translation: the politicians removed all the traffic lights at intersections on 67 on the way to the casino so there was no sense in opting to putt-along on Lindbergh to near the Missouri River bridge so hardly anyone went that way anymore. But there's still a lot of traffic on Lindbergh. People who now buy their clothing at thrift-stores ( I do ) instead of malls so they have more money to go spend at Fast Eddie's Bon Aire or the Casino ( I *don't* ). But when the nation's biggest defense-contractor no longer was and got gobbled-up by another one and the local presence became a mere shadow of it's former local economic impact? That's a lot of people who had a lot of disposable income missing. People who raised their kids like they did their demanding jobs ( by the book ) and the human resource of their raised-right kids and and their parents, as both the customers and staff that can make a mall or break it, were largely missing from the equation.
And I know just who to thank for that... Thus proving the old adage that "one 'bad apple' spoils the bunch". And also that it's not the size of the dog in the fight so-much as the size of the virus-load of Rabies lyssavirus in the dog's brain...
ua-cam.com/video/ppZ0HUFBc88/v-deo.html ( ~4:24/4:45 )
*Robert Palmer: rest in peace.*
I remember the Dillard's wing was closed off quite some time before the rest of the mall, so that's likely why its deterioration is so much worse. The wooden exterior store at 16:32 was a vintage style candy shop owned and operated by a family member of mine, but no, unfortunately we never got free candy, lol. I honestly struggle to believe it closed just 8 years ago, it feels like so much longer. I grew up going to that mall. I saw so many movies in that theater, got my ears pierced at that Claire's, and made dozens of wishes throwing coins in the giant fountain. I remember all the times I whispered embarrassingly at my Dad to "STOP IT!" because he would whistle every time we passed the Victoria's Secret just to make me and my brother giggle. I remember how, to my Mom, a mall walk wasn't complete without a pretzel from the pretzel place. I miss this kind of shopping experience- it was more than just about buying stuff, it was about spending time together. You just can't make those kinds of memories with your family and friends when you shop online.
You called out that it looks nothing like it’s sister mall (Chesterfield)... up until about 2006 they looked very similar. The skylights / ceiling patterns, the planters, and the floor tile, in addition to the food courts matched. Both Jamestown and Chesterfield got similar looking food courts in 1995/96. At Chesterfield the original food court was on the upper level near Macy’s in the large space last occupied by H&M but that was changed in 2006 when it was moved to the lower level in what had been Famous-Barr until Fall 1995 (then JCPenney for a brief stint later). Also, at the beginning you mentioned River Roads... RR was demolished in 2006 but had been dead since the very early 1990’s and the mall corridor closed from 1994/95 onward until its demolition. RR’s own decline began in the mid/late 80’s. I look forward to your Chesterfield Mall video! I worked at that mall for a good amount of time.
Looks like a tornado ripped through it, followed by a hurricane.
Looks like a place seen in the last of us. Shame to see any place in that state.
Well, it would be an EF1 and Cat.1 lol
@@gagejackson8609 more like EF3 at most possibly a EF4
@@bassmaker4real197 That would have demolished the whole place. There wouldn't have been the roof or the stores standing if it was an EF3 or EF4.
@@gagejackson8609 you would be surprised how tough a mall can be against a tornado probably one of the safest places you could be at a four story mall would be able to survive a EF3 easy now a EF4 it's a 50/50 chance
Can't imagine who would thumbs down this video. Literally top notch on everything from filming, music, to history and then some! Pay no attention to jealous people!
They thumbs down before it was even posted lol. Haters.
I enjoyed this video! The reasons that malls close, are poor location, high rent for the store managers, and poor management of the managers who operate the mall. Malls that are located in high crime areas are doom to close because people don't feel safe going to the mall. I enjoy watching your videos as much as Wallieb26 videos.
Thats not a bad area tho
That’s not a bad area though..
It has nothing to do with crime. It has to do with Amazon becoming a monopoly and because of the car centric infrastructure where you need a car to go to a mall. And that at the end you always had the exact same products everywhere.
The only place which always worked well are the food courts, but even there only the same chains everywhere and nothing innovative.
@@chrisbillups3632 Jamestown is a horrible area lol
@@ymcgill62 are you joking?
I live in St. Louis and would like it noted that the vast majority of this "damage" is from the wrecking / reclamation crews. The mall is obviously WAY beyond saving Because they have essentially began the demolition already. Why they stopped is stupid and not logical.
This is as Ace says an incredibly dangerous mall. Please Do NOT attempt entry. I drove up 1-2 months ago just for a look . Didn't care for stupid barricades , only one entry into parking lot. .
Hate to say it but Tear it down Port Authority!-
Great video Ace. Thanks!
Sad to see the continued decline of this mall. I have very fond memories of this place growing up in the 80's. It had a great toy store..a tobacco store that my dad would go to called, The Tinder Box (smelled great), a very nice arcade..and always a long line for Santa. Sure there were other malls around town, and this place was sort of isolated in the northern sector of the county. Believe me, this place used to be packed, no problem. There were 50K people in Florissant alone when this place was in prime, about the same as today.
I know online shopping is convenient..but what about all the social interactions and memories we miss out on not having places like this around anymore? It's not only malls, there used to be go cart and putt putt places, waterslides, arcades, all peppered around town. Most are gone now. I guess lawsuits and insurance are to blame. It just seems to me that we're moving in the wrong direction socially anymore. My two cents anyway. Peace everyone.
Moving in the wrong direction? D'ya thinK?
do you think Greitens can do anything about this if elected?
Went to Jamestown Mall quite a bit as an adolescent to remember they're not being a vacant storefront until the 90s came along and then you started seeing more storefronts not having any occupancies this is when I had a feeling that these types of places wouldn't be around in the next 10 to 15 or 20 years
What an excellent production. I would like to hear more of the footsteps and the crunchy "broken" ambiance, natural sounds under the music.
Rolling Acres II: Electric Boogaloo. Plus a broken water main like many Moonbeam-owned malls.
Tonight it was set on fire. 3 alarm blaze. Link to news story
fox2now.com/news/missouri/three-alarm-fire-at-jamestown-mall/
@@KrisKelly1970 According to the article, the aforementioned burst pipe was the reason for the eviction of the last business (a funeral parlor, ironically) and total shuttering of the mall.
@@wolftickets1969 The article is misworded -- the funeral parlor operates in a freestanding building on the mall property and an underground pipe burst in the Sears parking lot which forced them to close due to no water pressure. That main was fixed and the funeral parlor is back in business, but that break was responsible for completely flooding the lower level of the Sears anchor with several inches of standing water. The burst pipe Ace and I found was gushing within the mall itself.
Dude, I agree. This is so like Rolling Acres, it's sad.
@@Beaglegirl19 Nothing could ever replace Rolling Acres
That mall is one of the most apocalyptic malls there are. It is just as bad as Rolling Acres used to be, if not worse. It appears that they let a beautiful building go to waste. It really is an important history lesson of what happens when retailers die and the mess it leaves on the planet. It appears that that mall is going to have to be wrecking balled most likely and is not savable.
It just burned over night!
TheBIGJake111 What?!
It can be saved, if leadership of the city wants to do so.
I grew up across the river on the Illinois side in Cottage Hills. Jamestown Mall was THE first and only Mall around to go to when it first opened. Spent many hours there shopping when I was a teen. Left the area in 1979 and moved to Cincinnati. Been there ever since. Sad to see this has happened to Jamestown Mall. Many great memories made there.🙁
My mom always took me there or to Northwest Plaza when I was younger. Seeing the food court destroyed and the purple playground pieces kinda hit a soft spot.
Jamestown and Northwest Plaza?? Your mom was very brave!
Wow, that was great. The last aerial shot helps you to understand just how large this place is. There was also a sense of sadness of a bygone era gone in the final photo of shoppers so happily posing for the mall picture. Awesome job!
Grew up here and spent many hours in this mall as a kid. It was very sad to see it close and deteriorate over time. One of the big things that spiraled its demise was a murder-suicide that happened in the food court. My parents weren't super keen to go to the mall after that. Thanks for posting the video. I always loved the sculptures in this mall, and it's sad to see only the concrete "slide" remains. Always dreamt of playing on that when I was little.
Wait. I only know of it being the mall used for Stranger Things, where the murder happened, in the food court.
Complete nostalgia. I visited this place countless times as a child. I'm 24 now. My mom and I often went to the food court and there was a huge indoor play place. We definitely miss this place. Not sure how relevant it is to closing but there was a murder-suicide in 2008. I think a lot of business was lost after that.
Thank you for putting this video together. I worked at the JCPenney from when it opened until 1998. I still remember going there before the grand opening as it was still being set up. It was so nice and seemed almost too upscale for a JCPenney. I hadn’t been in this mall since 2001 and hadn’t driven by it in probably over 15 years. This weekend I drove by it with my son and my jaw about hit the floor. I couldn’t believe what the outside looked like. Finding this video and seeing what the inside looked like was mind-blowing. Very sad.
I drove by it last weekend as well.. I forgot it was there.. I was like oh damn.. that’s where it was😱
As a Florissant/St Louis native I grew up with Jamestown. I used to visit Aladdin's Castle all the time when it was in the now theater now lies. I loved Sam Goody and used to get music & movies from there. I was saddened when it started going down hill & eventually closed. There's been much speculation as to what to do with the old mall but nothing yet. Ps: Do a video on the Mills while it's still standing!
Wow! Ace, this is the best video I think you’ve ever put out! Absolutely hit this one out of the ball park! Enjoyed it very much!
My wife was the manager of the Lady Footlocker at this mall in 1995 and 1996.
Wow seeing that storefront must be a shock
Thanks for putting this up! I'm a St. Louis resident, and a little ashamed to say, I never knew about this mall. I really don't ever go up into North County, I guess. 🤷♂️
It is really out of the way. I only went there as a child with my aunt a few times when we didn’t go to the larger and more centrally located Northwest Plaza. Of course, they lived in North County back then.
I remember being pushed around in a stroller through this mall. I threw many coins in that fountain and can remember playing in the play place in the food court. Thanks for sharing this
Dude I swear combined with the styling, still pictures and 80's synth....I fucking dig the into .....pure perfect vibe to start the show...Well Done Ace!
ty ty
jamestown was built on my family farm , was a wonderful place to work and shop and as a teen to hang out........... then the neighborhood/clientele changed, theft and personal danger destroyed the stores as was/is the way of all malls. when the customers are scared to shop and the stores are losing more to theft than they're selling you end up with this clip
My hometown is Alton, IL. We would drive across the bridge over to Jamestown Mall all the time.
And lots of people headed toward your town from St. Louis and surrounding county drove right by that mall on Lindbergh to go gape at the grave of Robert Wadlow or that stupid statue dedicated to that jerk Elijah Lovejoy r.i.p. ( rot in perdition ). The Piasa Bird recreation never drew one tourist or visitor to the area past that mall. Not one, I'm sure. There were no attractions in the area of that mall. Not one. How could such paltry things compete with Blueberry Hill?
Thanks for coming over here and spending money and paying taxes at our once-wonderful indoor mall! It was a nice place, wasn't it? I mostly went there on the excuse of buying a record or some boots just to walk around looking at the people. You never knew who you were going to encounter. But even if you never saw anyone you knew you were sure to see a whole lot of people you might think you'd *like* to know. It wasn't like going to Walmart, that's 4sure.
@@diogeneslamplit6573 Anyone who would refer to Elijah P. Lovejoy as a jerk is a POS with very little of anything worthwhile.
I miss sam goody and radio shack in malls !! It sad see those pic people happy in malls back then good times.
"Goody Got It!" as they used to say. And I used to look forward to Radio Shack putting out their annual catalog.
The mall has been set on fire this evening. 3 alarms.
I have to say that mall has amazing natural lighting.
Back in Jamestown Mall's heyday, that natural lighting was the best! The sunlight would sift in through those big, octagonal skylights and bathe everything in a soft, yellow luminescence that lent that extra hint of life to everything. And those fountains were filled with water dribbling and spritzing everywhere; when the sun hit the water just right, you could see all the little dancing rainbows wavering all over the common areas. There was nothing like it! It's heart-wrenching to see all of that laid to ruin now. ☹
Holy shit! This place reminds me of Rolling Acres and how bad it got before they finally demolished it! Awesome job as always Anthony!
I remember going here back in the 70s and 80s whenever my family went to visit relatives that lived out there. I had no idea this had happened.
This is an amazing video. Great footage, great music, great commentary. And such balls to explore such a clearly dangerous building. Fascinating.
thanks so much, it was scary at times
A huge part of my childhood and especially middle through high school days. This is where a bunch of us kids would meet up to get a bite at ChikFiLA, check out the latest music at Sam Goody, beg our parents for the latest kicks at foot locker, the latest styles at Gliks, 5-7-9, Express, Dillard’s and most importantly meet up at the cinema with our friends. Back in middle school, across from the cinema there was a restaurant, it was much like a Denny’s. My 14 year old boy just said this morning it would be awesome if they could remake malls to look like the 1980’s nostalgia♥️ He loves appreciates how they have redone the mall on “stranger thing’s” which is pretty much how I remember Jamestown mall looking during my childhood. Thank you for sharing this documentary. Amazing job Ace!
If it's not already a "thing" I predict onlne shopping with a virtual mall you guide your avatar through like a video game but you're really buying things. You'll actually see either avatars of other shoppers or possibly their real appearance if they select that, be able to converse and so-forth. Some exercise equipment manufacturer will probably become involved in combination with a treadmill.
Subscribed. I found you, Sal, Unicomm, Dan Bell, and Faded Commerce when researching my local Dead Mall (Forest Fair Village, Cincinnati). Enjoy your different perspective on retail. Keep going, you are doing great!
The Forest Fair videos are awesome! I can't believe they have reopened after the COVID closures.
This mall burned this evening. Link attatched.
fox2now.com/news/missouri/three-alarm-fire-at-jamestown-mall/
I grew up in North County. This was my mall....especially through the 70’s and 80’s. I don’t think I visited as much in the 90’s. It’s always sad to see abandoned malls....but this one hits home.
Your still hot
What high school did you go to Kelli
What high school did you go to Kelli
@@jeremycoffman9771 McCluer North
@@kellibertelsman1191 went there my freshman year I believe it was 89.90
Unbelievable.. I used to love going to the malls in the 80’s.. it was the place to hang out with friends. The food courts.. I miss that so much. This is soooo sad :(
Somebody needs to rescue those Jamestown Mall plans. This was a really good tour Ace. I can see why you stayed out of certain parts of the mall, it is pretty nasty in there. Maybe you can put the extra footage on your second channel. I would love to see it.
It was set on fire tonight. News link attatched.
fox2now.com/news/missouri/three-alarm-fire-at-jamestown-mall/
@@KrisKelly1970 wow
The plans look good in the video but are all pretty badly waterlogged.
@@kurtismckemmie4850 it's fake
Wow! I remember going to and shopping in this mall when I was in my early to late teenage years! I am 30 now, my best friend used to work in the Jamestown Mall theater back then! I think that the Saint Louis Mills took a bulk of what few customers that the mall had previously!
as you said the mall decline began in about 1997, give or take. I had a buddy who was a mall manager, he told me things were trending down across his company which owned or managed several malls- they were beginning to allow local shops to fill spots
These videos are so damn depressing........but I watch tons of them. Thanks, we might not like it, but it is reality.
Thankfully we don’t really have this problem in England with dead shopping centres. There’s been some big ones built in London in the past few years and the ones that have been around for ages are thriving. So sad to see what happens to malls like this.
Send some of your mall owners over here to buy and help the ones still working. Apparently your management system us superior to ours and to save malls I would look outside the box for help.
Sad times we’re living in
Definitely.Intu shopping centres here in the U.K. are ready to call in the administrators.The company employs 100,000 shop staff.Take care🏴
@Active Sync You would be surprised at how nice older malls were before renovating. People wanted a new look in malls and got drab 2 color palettes in return. Malls in general were a bad idea, because it wasted far too many downtown's.
Great video. The destruction and vandalism at this mall is shocking. Thanks for filming.
The design of this mall makes me feel like you are walking through a real life Battlestar Galactica ship with the ceiling and skylights. Too cool
Came for the tour, stayed for the amazing jams.
Holy Crap, that'a Rolling Acres bad!! eek!
Unless it's torn down, it's quickly on its way to being "Dixie Square" bad.
Why ? I love malls , everything in one place , don't have to drive all over. I worked at Jamestown in the 80's at the Merry Go Round , a pretty high in clothing store. I took the bus , that mall was awesome
Another great presentation. I always get melancholy seeing the vintage memorabilia-I remember those crowds and all those great stores and the fun weekends. The world seems to change faster than anyone's mind can comprehend it. Great music and narration and as always interesting to see. I think you're right about structural issues, I noticed leaning supports and all sorts of things. They probably aren't going to want to leave it standing much longer or someone's going to get hurt.
One thing I really like about your videos is 2 things.
1: The attention to detail.
2: You have the most catchiest music choice I've ever heard, in fact watching your videos and playing games helps me concentrate.
Thanks alot :)
@@AcesAdventures1 Your welcome! =)
thank you for the kind words, many of us struggling staying in so that helped
St. Louis had tons of malls. South County Mall, West County Mall, Chesterfield Mall, Northwest Plaza Mall, St. Louis Center, Jamestown Mall, Crestwood Plaza Mall, As somebody who grew up in the 80's it was glorious.
What a great video! Brilliant job! Anthony, I appreciate all of your hard work and look forward to each new video.
The rate of decay between the Retailpocalypse video of the same spaces and this one is astonishing. At this point, it's two years later and the property IIRC is still not demolished, but at the end of April 2022 $6 million of an estimated $10 million needed to make the mall "shovel ready" to demolish was set aside by St. Louis County.
My family used to shop there in the 90's. Thanks for this video. it is crazy how horribly it has fallen apart. it amazes me that it has turned into this mess. if youd have told me that in 88' itd be like this id not have believed you.
Thanks for showing our area and giving life to the abandoned! GO SABRES!
Sabres?
Just seeing the decay and mold made it hard for me to breathe
it was bad lol
Ace's Adventures I can only imagine 😂😝😂
This mall actually caught fire tonight (6/12/2020). It was a 3 alarm with the fire being in 2 locations of the mall.
Kim this is Mike Tritch, I was there tonight!
false
I know this is a common thought but I don’t get why people prefer outdoor shopping. Maybe it’s my age and memories but one central place, heated and cooled, with a variety of stores seems like such a better idea. COVID has definitely changed things but once it’s behind us, I just don’t understand why people gave up on the ease of shopping, social environment, etc. that malls offer.
Yeah, like, who wants to shop outdoors?!
@@GanymedeTheCorgiCat Remember when Northwest Plaza used to be an outdoor mall, then sometime in the mid-1980's, the architects and developers added some roofs and HVAC to turn the mall into an indoor mall, and suddenly the mall's population surged?
Just like you both said, no one wanted an outdoor bazaar, but indoor shopping malls? People just flock to those...at least before the rise of Amazon and the decline of the Middle Class.
This is pretty wild seeing this now...all destroyed and deteriorated...I remember it as a teenager growing up in the area,. And later as an adult, working as Union Carpenter there on various remodeling and new store builds back in it's hay day...
I can't wait to see your video on Chesterfield Mall! My family didn't get to St. Louis very often (we lived about 2 hours out) but when we did that was normally the one we went to in the 90s.
You know Chesterfield was rebuilt some years ago???
Good presentation. Since your video, the scrappers took the food court entryway and there was 2 fires deliberately started. One in the Dillards a pile of curtains was burned. The other was set in Macy’s. Not sure what they burned in there but it got hot enough to melt one of the main beams supporting the building. The county had scaffolding installed to shore up the sagging floor and roof. The scrappers also took the main sculpture.. I have a video “Jamestown mall tour “ I posted of the mall before the county took it over.. It went downhill real fast afterwards.
Its going to be demolished anyway glad someone save the sculpture.
Anyone realize all the malls have shutdown as soon as the brothas move in? Northwest plaza, then they migrated over to florissant/belfountain Jamestown shut down. Then.....the mills. West county and Galleria still stand due to the area in which they stand.
True. I grew up in Bellefontaine Neighbors, and when the area changed in the late 80a, it declined.
I live VERY close to this mall and used to work at the EB Games/GameStop until it closed. Jamestown was always the little mall that could, but it certainly did. Always had a decent amount of regular foot traffic and the theater helped a LOT. It's also in a rather low crime area so that wasn't the issue. What killed it was St.Louis Mills. When that mall opened, it was a BIG deal, the mall was HUGE and it stole business from all the other malls in the area...only for there not to be enough interest or tenants to keep that mall going. Within a month, St.Louis Mills had DRASTICALLY reduced foot traffic but the other malls still suffered from its existence. Jamestown then tried to force tenants out, raising rates to obscene levels because they wanted to knock it down and turn it into a Town Center as you mentioned earlier. Then the housing market crashed, putting the kibosh on those plans. Since then the mall has been abandoned for years as no one knows what to do with it. The parking lot has been used to host the UniverSOUL Circus a few times and I hear a few weeks ago someone screened a film premiere in the parking lot? I dunno what's going on with it anymore. Weirdest thing is the little bank in the parking lot that's still open somehow.
It's sad. I loved going to all the different malls in the St.Louis area but after The Mills, there are almost none left.
I keep expecting Dan Bell to appear around one of those empty shop fronts!!
Very nice piece Ace! I was worried it might be too long of a video to become boring but it was excellent!! Great work.
I am from Florissant, lived on Chambers most of my childhood. Malls like Jamestown and River Roads were on the slide long before online retailers and Pandemics. The quality of the people in these areas began a steady decline in the 80s and 90s. I remember all too well, working class neighborhoods sliding into crime ridden and drug infested "hoods". Draw your own conclusions why it happened. Either way the people who live in the neighborhoods surrounding these malls, had no money, all the people who had the money packed up and left. That is what killed River Roads and Jamestown malls. Also be careful if you try to visit the site. The legendary "Waterheads" are said to lurk near there waiting to attack normal people with their pick axes and shovels.
I've never heard of "waterheads"; what are they?
@@XMattingly When I was in High School in the 90s the legend goes that there was an insane asylum behind the Jamestown mall at one point in time or in the near vicinity, and that either the asylum closed or there was an escape of mental patients all of whom had deformities some them having abnormally large heads, maybe caused by hydrocephalus I think it is. So they live in run down houses and attack people at night who dare to wander through the area. It was always a gag to go on Halloween and drive through the area and the next day there was always one group of kids who would come back to school claiming to have been attacked by the "waterheads." That is the urban legend anyway. Not sure if it was ever true and looks like no one is telling the story anymore.
@@ParagonRex Ha, I’ve never heard of that. I’ve been in St. Louis for over a decade and still don’t know a lot of local/regional lore... I didn’t grow up here, so at least I don’t have to answer the “which high school did you go to?” question. Thanks for sharing!
No problem, St Louis like most cities is full of legends and myths some outrageous false and some.....well ambiguous....
Yeah the bubble heads....well known north county thing. Went there a few times in hs. I, too, went to River Roads. Grew up in the hood, aka castle point.
I'm from the St Louis area and this brings back so many memories..... I couldn't help but cry watching this
What a shame. I get sad when I see once awesome malls in such deplorable condition.
@Active Sync silence lazy ass
I visited here in March 2014(after JCPenney Outlet Store closed in late 2013, and while Macy's was closing), and can't believe this place got more destroyed since when Jack(Retailpocalypse) did a video on the condition of this mall! And at 25:13 in this video, that REALLY was the only place left in the food court(just a cake and pastry bakery business), at the time I visited this mall. It was SO DEAD in this mall when I visited back in 2014, and honestly the only groups I saw using this mall were a mom and pop storefront near Macy's, and also another such church in the Sears wing of this mall. Hate to think about this, but I really think you're right the damage here has gotten worse than how it got at Rolling Acres, just before it was demolished. If you want to see my pics I(Allan Marshall) took of this mall in 2014 just before it closed, I uploaded some to Dead Mall Enthusiasts on Facebook, and you can see them there. Kinda thought Anthony would use some of my photos in this video(and would've been fine w/me if he wanted to use my food court photos for this video), but that's okay since he filmed for longer here than I thought I would!
BTW about at 32:39 at the start of that drone footage, there was a REALLY horrible pothole that was barely coned off in the section of the parking lot, between Macy's and the furniture liquidation store(used to be Dillard's, and before Stix, Baer, and Fuller). If a driver wasn't paying attention, that pothole would've totally swallowed a car in. I don't think the drone footage quite shows that pothole clearly, but it was scary for me to see that in the mall's parking lot when I visited! Also the wing leading up to the furniture liquidation store(and before then Dillard's, and originally Stix) was closed off by a door at the time I visited, so unfortunately I never got to walk through that wing of Jamestown for myself.
But It Got Much Worse When Northcdogg Entered Here.
This is the new Rolling Acres, but probably five times larger. The only place I can think of that may be worse in regards to mold, destruction , and decay is the Macy’s at Randall Park Mall. But awesome video as always, man. I’m glad I stumbled on this channel, I enjoy it a lot
This is so sad. Malls were big part of childhood 90s. Sad to see it like this 🥺😞
I dunno about the rest of the country but malls in north jersey are still busy as hell. I was at the Willowbrook Mall yesterday and it's was packed even had a live concert in the main plaza
This will definitely end up being demolished in the next few months
I live in St. Louis and I didn’t know they hadn’t torn down this mall! I know it had a lot of issues and they closed it but I can’t believe they left it there to decay. It’s crazy that it hasn’t been closed that long and it looks that bad.
Would you pay millions of dollars to tear it down and clear the area.... right no one else is going to spend their money to please you.
@@ericdraven7185 "It would cost millions of dollars to demolish the mall, and I don't see any developer doing that without a suitable financial incentive for doing so."
There. I just paraphrased your entire comment *_and_* took the unnecessary assholism out of it. You're welcome!
I really like your music in the beginning of this video. Electronic Synth music. - Who made the score music? Thanks, new subscriber.
This was my mall growing up. I wonder if I knew anyone in the photos....Grew up in Ferguson. You're exactly right about it's location. From our doorstep to the mall was 25 minutes. I never understood why it was out in the middle of nowhere on US 67. As a kid though, I enjoyed going because it meant a long car ride in a semi rural area.
4:05 - Yes, I remember that. I miss Northland. We would often go to Northland Famous Barr if we just needed a couple of things. My grandmother worked there and retired when when it closed at Northland.
I loved seeing the office/back/mechanical area! Always wanted to see that as a kid. Never imagined I'd see it years later in this state
It took a little longer on a 10spd.
I lived in Hazelwood right next to Lindbergh Boulevard when I was a kid and a teenager. I used to catch Bus 41 Northbound if I wanted to go to Jamestown Mall, or Bus 41 Southbound if I wanted to go to Northwest Plaza, so I was living in the perfect spot to become a teenaged mall rat. I preferred Jamestown Mall's asthetics and atmosphere (and I was just waxing poetic to someone else about the natural lighting and the running water fountains casting the whole interior in soft, golden light and dancing rainbows in the common areas), but Northwest Plaza had the bigger and better arcade after Tilt! expanded out of the Saint Peters Mall and moved in.
It just tears my heart out to watch videos like this one, to remember both malls in their prime of life and realize that we'll never see the likes of them again. The 1980's had their troubles, but that was quite a magical decade in which to come of age. Future generations may never realize what they missed after the rise and fall of shopping malls. 😟
A truly great Mall .now decayed and destroyed beyoung,recognition. A sad thing .RIP Jamestown mall.
Surprisingly in San Diego not only are malls fluorescing but they are expanding in size offering a myriad of venues . I also noticed a customer receives a great deal more attention when shopping in a department store than you receive on the East coast. I live in both New Jersey and San Diego no comparison in type and quality of customer service
I worked here back in 1996. I worked at Wags restaurant, which at the time was part of Walgreens. Wags was like an old school sitdown cafeteria. I also worked at Sears, which was on the side of Jamestown mall by the York steak house. Oh what memories.
I was at Jamestown Mall all of the time in the 80s and 90s. So sad to see it in this condition.
VCR's, typewriters, CD's all over, guess modern kids aren't interested in that stuff?
Lol tik tok is the thing now i guess
I'm interested lol
I guess I'm weird
I literally used to collect phones, and collect laptops and weather radios. I'm pretty cringy lol
I’m a 2000’s kid and I hate tik tok and have CD’s and VHS tapes. I hate what kids are growing up with nowadays.
VHS, CDs , I still buy them at thrift stores!
There was a 3 alarm fire there last night. 5 days after this was uploaded.
Ace!! You and Sal bang out some good content Mint👌👌👌
This is sad that people don't get out and shop I remember growing up going to Jamestown Mall seen Santa Claus there as a child it would be awesome to rebuild and bring that spirit back to the st Louis and Florissant areas
I left St.Louis in 1974 but I remember when Jamestown Mall was new.
It is so unbelievable and unthinkable that the American mall for which I love visiting when i was in high school is dying. I watched many of your mall videos including rolling meadows mall, but yes this is the worst I have ever seen. A part 2, of course i would watch. i love this mall videos, but I love history and this history, the death of the American mall culture. Keep going, this videos are great.😀
Technology is changing the culture. Whoever thought you could order anything from your phone and have it delivered to your door in 2 days
and not get mugger either - but now you need a doorbell camera so you know when to call the police