I called. I called ahead. I had to work Sunday morning (ugh) and was downtown so when I got done I thought I'd finally go shoot some pics of this shop for the blog. I got their number from an ad they had on Craigslist and got their hours from the recording. Sunday - Noon to 5pm. Not...so...much.
Crap. This place is all the way on the other side of St. Louis from my humble abode. A boring 40
minute drive away. I have actually been here one time before, long before I started the blog. Well
maybe not "Long" before...maybe not even before...I'm not sure. Anyway, I didn't have my camera
with me so it's a moot point. As I recall, and why I wanted to visit again with my camera, they had
quite a nice selection of vintage modern furnishings and smalls available. Plus, and this is what is
Truly interesting, the joint is in Crestwood Plaza which used to be one of the finest Malls in South
County! Now, after almost all of the corporate stores have abandon the site, it is avoiding the
wrecking ball by being redeveloped in an "old town main street" sort of way by inviting independent
and "mom and pop" shops to fill it's vacancies. Is this the shape of things to come? Maybe. There
were some rumors floating around these here parts that Jamestown Mall (which is "blighted") near
our home might become a large indoor flea market! I think it's too large for that but making it a
huge antique mall might be cool!
Crestwood Plaza is home to all kinds of interesting places now. Since I dropped in on a Sunday
most places were closed. I'd have liked to get more shots of what these places were up to but alas,
it was not meant to be. Seems like a lot are maybe Not For Profit types. There are many dance
studios and performance places here too.
The Hanger seems to be a place that displays and perhaps sells school kids art. When was the last
time you painted a flower vase at your local mall?
Abra-Kid-abra...get it! It's magic classes for kids! There's a NFP (I think) consignment shop in here
too. It looks like (through the window at least) there are some very nice items to be had. Not really
my taste but nice non the less.
There is a vintage clothing store with a cool iron gate for a door! The "doll house" shop used to be
in another part of the mall. This looks like a great location to be in.
One of these days I'm going to get my "doll house" in order. I'll probably have to stop by this joint to
get some items.
Hey look, Sears is still here and open for business! I think we bought tires here a few years ago.
And the mall still looks like a mall. People still come here to walk in the air conditioning.
Ah, now here we go! This looks like a shop I'd like to check out. Too bad it's Sunday. Plan B,
wonder what that's all about?
An antique mall...In The Mall! Brilliant! What's it called? Dunno. Antiques?
I'll admit, I did just watch all three of the Original trilogy (Star Wars...although that should go without
saying) again just a few days ago. I'd never qualify as a Trekky or anything but this place fascinates
me.
I imagine you could really outfit your "man cave" at Arcade Amusements Plus. I really wish I'd been
able to get shots of all these places when it was open. Animeggroll (brilliant name, don't you think?)
looks like a Manga dream come true. Not really my thing but I love that places like this (culturally
diverse geeky coolness?) can exist in the middle of America. It's pretty cool that any of this can exist
in this "bottom line" world we live in. One of these days I'll try and get back down there on a
Saturday and shoot a better series of pics to share with ya, but this set just felt so right given the
weekend of Fail.
I'd love to know if you ever make it in there. Hubster and I made the trek in the spring, on a Saturday. We were a little early for the noon opening, but after wandering the rest of the mall and returning at 1 it was clear the place wasn't opening anytime soon. Super disappointing because it's quite a drive. It sounds like the mall has a few new places since we visited - the antique store would ahve kept us busy a little longer :)
ReplyDeleteI visited Redesignz a few weeks ago to find it closed during its listed hours, so I think this might be a regular occurrence. They do have some great stuff though (20% off for students until the end of August).
ReplyDeleteCrestwood really brings back memories. I can't count the number of hours that I spent there as a kid. It's such a shame to see it in this state, especially the Exhilarama.
Combine Crestwood with the now defunct Kenrick movie theater a few minutes the other way and that's most of my youth gone down the drain. It is hard to catch Re-Designz open any day of the week, but aside from getting photos, you're not missing much because there is next to nothing in the way of turnover. I've stopped checking in even though I live just 5 minutes away. I'll have to check out this Option B place and see what's going on there.
ReplyDeleteHuh, well...Redesignz' hours of operation isn't exactly what this posting was about but perhaps the proprietors will read this and take note. You can't sell if you ain't open!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I actually tried to go to Redesignz that same Sunday, only to find it closed (I also checked their hours). I had never been to this place and we had exhausted almost every antique/thrift store for weeks. We ended up going to TFA (or thrid time in four weeks), where we finally found exactly what we were looking for.
ReplyDelete