Comments on: St. Charles Mall; St. Charles, Illinois

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:39:02 +0000

I lived around the corner on 14th St. for a couple of years (2005 – 2007 and my wife & I really miss St. C) . . . I always wondered what this area used to have sitting on it as I was never around for any of the Mall’s existance. Does anyone remember what was in the retail shopping center directly to the north of this one . . . current residence is the City of St. Charles Government . . . looks like it was a Kohls or something. Sad to see what has happened to these locations, hopefully they can find a good, non-retail use for it as I feel that the Randall corridor is currently at max cap. for the businesses it houses.

By: William

William — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:13:40 +0000

It seems like by next year, this site will be completely empty, both the Colonial Cafe and the Burger King will be relocating out of their current spaces near where this mall once stood. They will move to new spaces on Randall Rd. Both buildings are scheduled to be demolished following the departure of the Colonial and Burger King. The other thing is the Jewel next door to this mall might be remodeled or rebuilt within the next few years, even though no official plans have been announced as of November of 2009. If they dont start building on this mall site soon, it will just get emptier and emptier and soon, it will just be a broken up parking lot.

By: brian

brian — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:32:12 +0000

Dose anyone remember the Toyota touch contest?
The last person left touching the Toyota( car or truck I don’t remember which) won the vehicle.
How about guess the first snow fall contest?
The mural of the people standing in line for the theater?
Also can anyone help put together a list of the stores not already mentioned?
Pearle vision, Critters? petshop, the TV / electronics store, or the restaraunts in the original food court..

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:31:48 +0000

I remember driving by this mall when I first moved to Illinois in 2000 and never gave it a second glace. Too bad I wish I had pics now. Is Charlestown mall really dying? I still have my shades that bought in 2004 from Sunglass Hut. Guess I have to make a roadtrip!

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:56:26 +0000

I was born just a couple of years before the mall closed so I cant remember it like I want to. Therefore I am very appreciate for the pics.. I do still have still frames in my head from the demo though. I remember looking at the steel beams out the window of my Moms Blue Bereda as we came/left the Jewel.

The Charlestown mall is doomed. I have heard there are official plans to tear it down, the theater will stay though. Iv been there some nights and only counted about 15 other shoppers in the whole mall.
Its wired how it makes you think. I remember back when the fountain was still going there, sitting by it with all is glistening lights with the rest of my family eating peanut butter cookies from Fields.

By: TONY GEMENY

TONY GEMENY — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:37:02 +0000

I use to hang out at this mall when I was a kid in fact did my fair share of shoplifting at that KMart with my friends…well Its really neat I saw these pics and it took me back to a time where Baseball cards meant more than any job and playing on the snow piles in the malls parking lot was what we all loved to do

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:32:51 +0000

Growing up in the ’70’s and ’80’s a few blocks away from the St.Charles Mall I too spent much of my formative years hanging out there. I remember at Christmastime they would set up a display in the center of the mall. As I recall it consisted of a chair for Santa, who was only there on weekends, and a two level barn type structure that sat behind him. When Santa wasn’t there, they had a full size Rudolph puppet that stuck it’s head out of the second floor window of the barn. It was a professional puppet and it’s operator could make it act disturbingly lifelike. There was also a PA system so Rodolph could interact with the holiday shoppers.

It was after witnessing one of these interactions that I realised there was something not quite right with Rudolph. He spoke in sort of a Ralph Cramdon voice, which was very funny, but he just messed with people. There wasn’t anything holly or jolly about it…it was kind of disturbing. I remember confused parents dragging their kids away almost in fear. At this point I became keenly aware of Rodolph and began to avoid making eye contact when passing by. Unfortunately Rodolph seemed to become keenly aware of me too for some reason. He began to single me out of the crowd and mess with me, constantly. At first I was pretty weirded out by the whole thing, it was like this puppet was posessed or something! I was being deliberately harasses by Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer, it was not right…and after a while I decided enough was enough. I had to confront Rudolph. So, one afternoon after a particularly bothersome interaction I went up to the door in the back of Rudolph’s barn and banged on it with my fist. No answer. I banged on it a few more times and finally the door began to open. Turns out it was a guy I knew from school, St.Charles High School that is. He invited me in, we smoked a bowl and… messed with the holiday shoppers. I love the ’80’s!

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:15:51 +0000

More Pictures of the Demolition in 2002 from Archives of the Kane COunty Chronicle! CLick the following link!

http://nwherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=682210&CategoryID=33294&ListSubAlbums=0

By: James

James — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:39:37 +0000

It is funny to note how the north entrance to the Spiess (Pictured Above) retained its Sign until it was demolished while all the other exterior signage was removed when it closed.

Geneva Commons opened in 2003. St. Charles Mall was already torn down by then! (Except for the old K-Mart and the old Spiess which were originally going to remain as part of the new Auto Mall, but thats another story).

By: Will

Will — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:32:54 +0000

If anyone is intrested, on January 29th, 2009 a story in the kane county chronicle was published about the redevelopment of the mall site and a picture of the concept. Also included is a picture of the Spiess being demolished in 2002. Click on the following link to read the story.

http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2009/01/29/news/local/doc4981313d3b2c2615190951.txt