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Description
Crestwood Court, Crestwood Missouri, April 16th 2016.

Crestwood Plaza open in 1957 and was located on Highway 66 on the outskirts of St. Louis suburbia. A Prime location. It was the first regional mall and it was a pioneer in that it had two anchor stores instead of just one. It was previously thought that multiple anchor stores would cut into the sales of each other. Instead it was found that this attracted more customers overall.
The original major anchors were Sears and Scruggs-Vandervoort-Barney. In 1969, Vandervoort went out of business and the Crestwood store was taken over by Famous-Barr.

In 1979 Highway 66 was decommissioned. This had little effect since much of the area's traffic had moved to Interstate Highway 44 when it opened in the 1960's. The mall continued to thrive, but the fact that it was not on one of the area interstates was a factor in it's eventual decline.

The various sources of information I am finding on the Internet state that the Crestwood Plaza did not become an enclosed mall until 1984. I'm fairly certain this is NOT correct. I recall that the majority of the mall, from Famous-Barr to Sears, had been enclosed for years. It was the section between Sears and Stix that wasn't completely enclosed until 1984.

In 2005 Macy's Inc purchased The May Department Stores Company, which owned Famous-Barr.

In 2006 the Crestwood store was renamed Macy's.

In 2007, Dillards (formerly Stix Baer & Fuller) closed their store. This was one of Crestwood Plaza's three major anchors.

In 2009 Macy's also closed their store, leaving Sears as the sole remaining anchor.

In 2012 Sears closes its Crestwood store.

In July 2013 LensCrafters became the only remaining tenant. When LensCrafters closed on September 16th 2013 the mall became completely vacant.

Description
Crestwood Court, Crestwood Missouri, April 16th 2016.

Crestwood Plaza open in 1957 and was located on Highway 66 on the outskirts of St. Louis suburbia. A Prime location. It was the first regional mall and it was a pioneer in that it had two anchor stores instead of just one. It was previously thought that multiple anchor stores would cut into the sales of each other. Instead it was found that this attracted more customers overall.
The original major anchors were Sears and Scruggs-Vandervoort-Barney. In 1969, Vandervoort went out of business and the Crestwood store was taken over by Famous-Barr.

In 1979 Highway 66 was decommissioned. This had little effect since much of the area's traffic had moved to Interstate Highway 44 when it opened in the 1960's. The mall continued to thrive, but the fact that it was not on one of the area interstates was a factor in it's eventual decline.

The various sources of information I am finding on the Internet state that the Crestwood Plaza did not become an enclosed mall until 1984. I'm fairly certain this is NOT correct. I recall that the majority of the mall, from Famous-Barr to Sears, had been enclosed for years. It was the section between Sears and Stix that wasn't completely enclosed until 1984.

In 2005 Macy's Inc purchased The May Department Stores Company, which owned Famous-Barr.

In 2006 the Crestwood store was renamed Macy's.

In 2007, Dillards (formerly Stix Baer & Fuller) closed their store. This was one of Crestwood Plaza's three major anchors.

In 2009 Macy's also closed their store, leaving Sears as the sole remaining anchor.

In 2012 Sears closes its Crestwood store.

In July 2013 LensCrafters became the only remaining tenant. When LensCrafters closed on September 16th 2013 the mall became completely vacant.