This was the mall that we all meant when anyone said we were "going to the mall" in my teen years. It was one of several malls I would visit from time to time (others being the tiny St. Charles Mall, the large Stratford Square Mall, and the larger Woodfield Mall), but it was Spring Hill that was "the" mall. Even though I moved away and have not been to Spring Hill for about 30 years, I did check in on it a few times to see how it was doing amid the mall closures that have been taking place across the country. While the St. Charles Mall closed a while ago, the other three listed above managed to soldier on... until this year, when Spring Hill Mall and Stratford Square bit the dust, within a month of one another. Malls were such a big thing once. They offered many kinds of goods in one place, certainly, but that was never the only appeal of the mall. They were also a place for younger people to hang out, to meet friends, to be social. Internet sales can't match the experience of being able to try out clothes from many sources and see how they actually look on your body before making the decision to buy or not. There is still something special about being able to see a product and hold it in your hands before purchase, which is presumably why the non-grocery section of a Wal-Mart is full of customers at any given moment. I think the real thing that killed the mall is not that in-person shopping has gone out of style. It's that hanging out, meeting friends, and being social have gone out of style for younger people.
Thank you for the wonderful and thoughtful comment! I couldn't agree with your sentiment any better. As a youngster, Charlestowne in St. Charles was the mall I was often going to. I did Stratford, HIP, and Brickyard as well. But most often Charlestowne. St. Charles also has a smaller mall off Randall but I don't remember that one well. I wish I had visited Spring Hill many years earlier. But sadly I never got to experience it in its peak. But at least I got to document it as I had. Unlike Charlestowne.
@@memoriesbywayne The smaller mall off of Randall was the St. Charles Mall. Through the '80s, I lived in between there and Spring Hill Mall, and my parents really liked Montgomery Ward's (which had a location on the St. Charles Mall grounds, but not connected to the mall itself), so we ended up heading south to St. Charles Mall quite a lot. Any time we needed a "real" mall, it was Spring Hill or one of the other big ones. Spring Hill at its peak was a phenomenon! The whole center of the mall had planters with large live tropical trees growing inside the mall, with places to sit and relax all around there, giving it a nice, relaxed shade-tree ambience. It was as big as Charlestowne or Stratford Square in square footage, but on only one floor (except for the anchor stores). All the other large malls had multiple levels. I never saw Charlestowne. It opened right after I moved out of the state, and all the times I happened to go to a mall when I was back in town visiting were at Spring Hill. Once Charlestowne opened, the tiny St. Charles Mall didn't stand a chance, and it closed a few years after Charlestowne opened. And now Charlestowne is gone too! Montgomery Ward's, Sears, K-Mart, Radio Shack, Toys R Us, Borders Books, CompUSA, Circuit City, Zayre, Venture, Kay-Bee, Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, Fry's Electronics, and probably a bunch more I left out are all gone or nearly gone now, right along with the malls that used to house some of them.
@tid418 thanks for the history on the smaller St. Charles Mall. My older cousins that lived out that way would remember it better than me. But it was well into the dead mall phase if it hadn't closed by the time we were all meeting up at Charlestowne. Which was to me the mecca of big malls. Stratford, too. But we went to Charlestowne more. I can imagine Spring Hill being an epic mall. It was still beautiful on closing day. I've only found one retro video of Spring Hill. Linked at the playlist on the bottom of my channel homepage. 🙂
This was the mall that we all meant when anyone said we were "going to the mall" in my teen years. It was one of several malls I would visit from time to time (others being the tiny St. Charles Mall, the large Stratford Square Mall, and the larger Woodfield Mall), but it was Spring Hill that was "the" mall.
Even though I moved away and have not been to Spring Hill for about 30 years, I did check in on it a few times to see how it was doing amid the mall closures that have been taking place across the country. While the St. Charles Mall closed a while ago, the other three listed above managed to soldier on... until this year, when Spring Hill Mall and Stratford Square bit the dust, within a month of one another.
Malls were such a big thing once. They offered many kinds of goods in one place, certainly, but that was never the only appeal of the mall. They were also a place for younger people to hang out, to meet friends, to be social. Internet sales can't match the experience of being able to try out clothes from many sources and see how they actually look on your body before making the decision to buy or not. There is still something special about being able to see a product and hold it in your hands before purchase, which is presumably why the non-grocery section of a Wal-Mart is full of customers at any given moment.
I think the real thing that killed the mall is not that in-person shopping has gone out of style. It's that hanging out, meeting friends, and being social have gone out of style for younger people.
Thank you for the wonderful and thoughtful comment! I couldn't agree with your sentiment any better. As a youngster, Charlestowne in St. Charles was the mall I was often going to. I did Stratford, HIP, and Brickyard as well. But most often Charlestowne. St. Charles also has a smaller mall off Randall but I don't remember that one well. I wish I had visited Spring Hill many years earlier. But sadly I never got to experience it in its peak. But at least I got to document it as I had. Unlike Charlestowne.
@@memoriesbywayne The smaller mall off of Randall was the St. Charles Mall. Through the '80s, I lived in between there and Spring Hill Mall, and my parents really liked Montgomery Ward's (which had a location on the St. Charles Mall grounds, but not connected to the mall itself), so we ended up heading south to St. Charles Mall quite a lot.
Any time we needed a "real" mall, it was Spring Hill or one of the other big ones. Spring Hill at its peak was a phenomenon! The whole center of the mall had planters with large live tropical trees growing inside the mall, with places to sit and relax all around there, giving it a nice, relaxed shade-tree ambience. It was as big as Charlestowne or Stratford Square in square footage, but on only one floor (except for the anchor stores). All the other large malls had multiple levels.
I never saw Charlestowne. It opened right after I moved out of the state, and all the times I happened to go to a mall when I was back in town visiting were at Spring Hill. Once Charlestowne opened, the tiny St. Charles Mall didn't stand a chance, and it closed a few years after Charlestowne opened. And now Charlestowne is gone too!
Montgomery Ward's, Sears, K-Mart, Radio Shack, Toys R Us, Borders Books, CompUSA, Circuit City, Zayre, Venture, Kay-Bee, Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, Fry's Electronics, and probably a bunch more I left out are all gone or nearly gone now, right along with the malls that used to house some of them.
@tid418 thanks for the history on the smaller St. Charles Mall. My older cousins that lived out that way would remember it better than me. But it was well into the dead mall phase if it hadn't closed by the time we were all meeting up at Charlestowne. Which was to me the mecca of big malls. Stratford, too. But we went to Charlestowne more. I can imagine Spring Hill being an epic mall. It was still beautiful on closing day. I've only found one retro video of Spring Hill. Linked at the playlist on the bottom of my channel homepage. 🙂
Rip Spring Hill Mall 1980 2024
RIP. Will be missed!