St. Louis Mills

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = St. Louis Mills


caption =
location = Hazelwood, Missouri, USA
opening_date = November 2003
developer= Mills Corporation
owner= Simon Property Group
operator =
building_costs =
number_of_stores = 200+
number_of_anchors = 12
floor_area = 1.1 million ft²
floors = 1
parking = 5,000 free spaces
website = http://www.stlouismills.com

St. Louis Mills, is a shopping center in Hazelwood, Missouri, just off of Route 370. When it opened in November 2003, it had over 200 specialty shops and 8 anchor stores [ [http://www.thecurrentonline.com/media/storage/paper304/news/2004/02/02/Features/St.Louis.Welcomes.Mills.Mall-598762.shtml?norewrite200610150401&sourcedomain=www.thecurrentonline.com St. Louis welcomes Mills mall - Features ] ] . It is a venture investment by developer and former owner, Mills Corporation that offers many retail stores and entertainment attractions. The newest addition to the Mills is a 130,000-square-foot Cabela's store that opened on April 13, 2007. Also in April 2007, The Mills Corp. merged into Simon Property Group; St. Louis Mills is their only property in the St. Louis area. In November The Children's Place opened replacing Off 5th Saks Fifth Avenue, while also taking out one of the mall's side entrances making it a Children's Place Superstore. When the mall was first planned in 2000, the name was "Missouri Mills."

Neighborhoods

St. Louis Mills is divided up in to six sectors called neighborhoods; each neighborhood has a different theme that contributes to the overall design, decoration, and attractions in that area of the mall. For example, the "SportStreet" area features wood floors like those found on a basketball court, and contains the NASCAR Speedpark, and IceZone ice skating rink, which both are sports-related attractions. Neighborhood themes include:

*High Drama Oasis
*Chandelier Court
*PBS Kids Backyard
*Tree Oasis
*SportStreet
*Circus of Fire (including the 1904 World's Fair Food Court)

Each area of the mall features decorations, artwork, and colors in line with its namesake. Throughout the mall, there are several sets of projection TVs hanging from the ceiling known as "Mills TV", showing video loops of music videos and advertisements.

Attractions

Family and kids

A section of neighborhood 5, near the mall's foodcourt, is sponsored by PBS. The sponsored area features advertisements for PBS, as well as one indoor playground for children named "PBS Kids Backyard". Until 2007, this children's area holds regularly scheduled family-oriented events called "Muggsy's Meadow", which are uniformly featured at all of the Mills Properties-owned malls. "Muggsy's Meadow" features product tie-ins offered by the Mills Properties. Since the switch to Simon ownership, St. Louis Mills now offers the "Simon Kidgits Club (at The Mills)," one of over 100 Simon malls using this kids' club.

Mall walking

Sponsored by local St. Louis Christian Hospital, the "No Loafers Walking Club" meets daily at the mall and walks a one-mile course within the mall from 7am to 10am, before any of the mall stores open for the day. The hospital sponsors prizes for club members meeting fitness milestones, as well hosts education programs on the second Tuesday of every month on varying health-related topics. [ [http://www.stlouismills.com/static/doc_011350.jsp Simon Malls | More Choices — St. Louis Mills Information, St. Louis Mills Gift Cards ] ]

Other attractions

IceZone is an indoor ice rink located in the Northwest section of the mall. The IceZone is open to the public for skating and also hosts local hockey teams and the official practice facility of the St. Louis Blues hockey team. The rink offers free bleacher seating for fans during practice sessions. [ [http://www.riverfronttimes.com/Issues/2003-12-31/calendar/seebeseen.html St. Louis - Arts & Entertainment - Walk a Mall in Our Shoes ] ]

The NASCAR Speedpark includes an indoor/outdoor go-gart race track & sometimes features appearances by NASCAR drivers such as Kevin Harvick, having them meet with fans and sign autographs. [ [http://www.riverfronttimes.com/Issues/2005-08-17/calendar/nd2.html St. Louis - Arts & Entertainment - This Week's Day-by-Day Picks ] ]

Anchors & Majors

According to the latest map, St. Louis Mills has thirteen anchor spaces.

*Bed Bath & Beyond (29,903 sq. ft.)
*Books-A-Million (20,158 sq. ft.)
*Burlington Coat Factory (81,020 sq. ft.)
*Cabela's (132,076 sq. ft.)
*Circuit City (34,512 sq. ft.)
*Ice Zone (52,134 sq. ft.)
*Marshalls (50,175 sq. ft.)
*NASCAR Speedpark (63,244 sq. ft.)
*Off Broadway Shoe (24,974 sq. ft.)
*Regal Cinemas 18 (83,688 sq. ft.)
*Sears Outlet (25,031 sq. ft.)
*The Children's Place (Just opened in November)

Media Attention

*St. Louis Mills began operating a parental escort policy on Friday and Saturday nights after 6pm to prevent individuals under the age of 17 from loitering in the mall without an adult. Several other malls across Missouri implemented similar policies after fights at those shopping centers. Under the policy, individuals under age 17 must have an escort ages 21 or older with them on Friday and Saturday nights after 6pm. This policy does not apply to the individual stores and attractions, just the common areas of the Mills and the food court.

References

External links

* [http://www.stlouismills.com/ St. Louis Mills website]
* [http://icezoneatmills.com/ IceZone]
* [http://www.muggsysmeadow.com/ Muggsy's Meadow]
* [http://www.millscorp.com/ The Mills Properties]