It's hard to believe that this generic strip mall stands on the grounds of what was once an architecturally fascinating example of 1950's commercialism. I had never heard of Northland Shopping Center when I was growing up in St. Louis, but I learned of the mall from
Dead Malls several years ago. There is much documentation of what was once on the site at
Built St. Louis and
B.E.L.T.
I wish I could have seen this center before it was torn down, but I was living out of town at the time of its destruction. In fairness, the occupancy rate of the new shopping center seems close to 100%, which honestly was more than could be said about the old center. Would a new re-branding and renovation of the old center have encouraged new tenants? We will never know. See it from the air
here.
It's hard to believe that this generic strip mall stands on the grounds of what was once an architecturally fascinating example of 1950's commercialism. I had never heard of Northland Shopping Center when I was growing up in St. Louis, but I learned of the mall from Dead Malls several years ago. There is much documentation of what was once on the site at Built St. Louis and B.E.L.T.
I wish I could have seen this center before it was torn down, but I was living out of town at the time of its destruction. In fairness, the occupancy rate of the new shopping center seems close to 100%, which honestly was more than could be said about the old center. Would a new re-branding and renovation of the old center have encouraged new tenants? We will never know. See it from the air here.
A Brazilian professor is completing a book on dying retail, and wants to use one of my Northland photos. And I'm telling you what I told him:
ReplyDeleteNorthland was never a mall. It was the mall concept that killed Northland Shopping Center and the other open-air plazas like it. So calling Northland a mall is a bit like spitting on its grave.
(Oh, the drama!)
Right on. Northland was a shopping center - open air. Another example, on a smaller scale of course, is the Normandy Shopping Center, which housed Britts Department Store, a Walgreens (complete with a small lunch room), a Ben Franklin Variety Store, Normandy Bank (I still have my last bank book), Favazza Florist, a bowling alley, and -----Jewelry store (Name escapes me), among other shops. Last time I was in St. Louis, a few years back, the center was still intact.
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