St. Louis Outlet Mall - St Louis Premium Outlet

St. Louis Outlet Mall, formerly St. Louis Mills, is a shopping center in Hazelwood, Missouri, just off Route 370. When it opened in November 2003, it had over 200 specialty shops and 8 anchor stores. Due to the current weaker economy, this number shrank to just over 180. 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 mall is a 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m²) Cabela's store that opened on April 13, 2007. Also in April 2007, The Mills Corp. merged into Simon Property Group; St. Louis Mills was their only property in the St. Louis area. In November The Children 's Place Outlet opened, replacing Off 5th Saks Fifth Avenue. When the mall was first planned in 2000, the name was "Missouri Mills." In October 2012, Simon sold St. Louis Mills to The Woodmont Company and St. Louis Mills was renamed to St. Louis Outlet Mall.

Neighborhoods

St. Louis Outlet Mall is divided up into 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 had contained NASCAR Speedpark until its closure in January 2014, and Ice Zone ice skating rink, which both are sports-related attractions. Neighborhood themes include:

• High Drama Oasis
• Chandelier Court
• Play Area
• Tree Oasis
• SportStreet
• Circus of Fire
• The 1904 World's Fair Food Court

Each area of the mall features decorations, artwork, and colors in line with its namesake.

Attractions

Ice Zone

Ice Zone (also styled iceZone) is a 1,200-seat indoor ice arena connected to the Northwest section of the mall. The Ice Zone is open to the public for skating, figure skating, and local youth, high school and adult hockey teams. The arena is the official practice facility of the St. Louis Blues hockey team. The rink offers free bleacher seating for fans during practice sessions.

The Ice Zone is also home to the Gateway Locomotives, a special needs hockey team. [1]

The NASCAR Speedpark

The Speedpark includes an indoor/outdoor go-kart race track & sometimes features appearances by NASCAR drivers such as Kevin Harvick, having them meet with fans and sign autographs. NASCAR Speedpark closed in January 2014.

Mall walking

Sponsored by local St. Louis Christian Hospital, the "No Loafers Walking Club" meets daily at the mall and walks a one-mile (1.6 km) 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.

Anchors & Majors

According to the latest map, St. Louis Outlet Mall has thirteen anchor spaces, with three currently closed.

Occupied Anchors

• Burlington Coat Factory (81,020 sq ft.)
• Cabela's (132,076 sq ft.)
• The Children's Place
• EPIC
• Ice Zone (52,134 sq ft.)
• Regal Cinemas (18 screens)
• Ross Dress For Less
• Sears Outlet

Former Anchor Stores

• Circuit City (Liquidated and closed early 2009, now Ross Dress For Less)
• Lucky Strike Lanes (closed in 2005)
• Marshalls (closed May 2013)
• NASCAR Speedpark (closed January 2014)
• Off 5th Saks Fifth Avenue Outlet (now The Children's Place)
• Plan Nine Skatepark (Closed early 2015)
• Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse (Closed early 2015)

Media Attention

• St. Louis Outlet Mall 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 mall and the food court.

Skate Park

The ESPN Skate Park opened with the mall but in 2004, however the mall did not have the correct copyright agreement to use the ESPN name with the park which led it to be renamed the "St Louis Mills Skate Park" in late 2005. The park then closed in early 2006 and remained closed until 2007 when a new sponsor named Woodward announced that they would take ownership. Plans for that then fell through in mid-2007 and the park continued to stay closed.

The Park was finally re-opened with a new skate sponsor "Plan Nine" in spring of 2009 after over three years of being closed. The layout of the park has changed only slightly.

References

External links

• St. Louis Outlet Mall website
• STL Ice Zone
• The Woodmont Company
• Gateway Locomotives Official Website