I am continually fascinated by River Roads Mall, partly because of these
bizarre pictures before its demolition, and because of these
amazing, evocative photos as well. More pictures can be seen
here.
I have no idea why I had never heard about this mall until encountering it on
Dead Malls. As a child, I was obsessed with shopping malls, and I forced my parents to go to every one I had heard of. I think River Roads was pretty much going down the toilet by the time I lived in St. Louis.
The
first time I saw River Roads, it was almost completely demolished, and as you can see from my pictures from last Friday, little has changed since its demise.
I have a feeling that the volunteer tree just starting to push its way through the concrete of the parking lots edge will mature into a much taller tree before any real development returns.
Make sure to check out Built St. Louis's
photos as well.
I am continually fascinated by River Roads Mall, partly because of these bizarre pictures before its demolition, and because of these amazing, evocative photos as well. More pictures can be seen here.
I have no idea why I had never heard about this mall until encountering it on Dead Malls. As a child, I was obsessed with shopping malls, and I forced my parents to go to every one I had heard of. I think River Roads was pretty much going down the toilet by the time I lived in St. Louis.
The first time I saw River Roads, it was almost completely demolished, and as you can see from my pictures from last Friday, little has changed since its demise.
I have a feeling that the volunteer tree just starting to push its way through the concrete of the parking lots edge will mature into a much taller tree before any real development returns.
Make sure to check out Built St. Louis's photos as well.
RiverRoads and Northland shopping Centers were my favorite hang-outs when I would skip school, way back in the late 60's, early 70's. I was so sad to hear they were both gone. I would hop on the bi-State Transit bus and first go to RiverRoads, then to Northland, and lunch at the Kresge's lunch counter, then stop at Famous-Barr and pick up a Gooey Butter Cake from the bakery. Loved those places.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you featured both the River Roads Mall and the Northland Mall. The historical link between these malls is that they were built around the same time just blocks from each other. Famous-Barr built Northland and Stix, Baer,& Fuller built River Roads both in Jennings. In those days I don't think that anyone had yet built a large mall with numerous department stores in the same building.
ReplyDeleteIf you look closely you'll find that there are more stores than ever in North County but unless they are in St. Louis Mills they aren't in an enclosed mall. There were just too many problems encountered in operating enclosed malls (like kids hanging-out, fights, shoplifting etc). Most new shopping centers are being built like strip malls. (The largest retailer of them all, Walmart is always in its won building & never in a mall).
Very true, Ken. They're called "lifestyle centers" and they're rapidly replacing malls as the centers of commerce.
ReplyDelete