South County Mall Days

Where Saturdays, Shoes, and Shopping Became a Way of Life

When I was growing up, South County Mall was practically a second home. Back then, it was the place to be in St. Louis. The anchor stores were Famous-Barr and JCPenney, and for my mom, that was all she needed. Shopping was her hobby, and South County was her playground. Whether we were buying school clothes, gifts, or just “running by the mall,” we always seemed to end up there.

When I got old enough to work, it only made sense that I’d land a job there too. I started out part-time at Zimmerman’s Children’s Shoes—a cheerful little store tucked along one of the main corridors. We sold kids’ shoes, mostly Stride Rite, and before long I went from helping after school to managing the place full-time. It was my first real job, and I loved it.

The mall became my world. I knew nearly everyone—the other store clerks, the maintenance guys, the regular shoppers who came in for back-to-school shoes or just to chat. I ate at all the restaurants, but Blue Stove, right across the mall from us, was my favorite. I can still picture grabbing lunch there on busy Saturdays, the hum of conversation blending with the smell of cinnamon pretzels and new leather from the shoe store.

In the early 1980s, South County Mall expanded, adding a bright new two-story wing with Dillard’s at the end. For those of us who worked there, it felt like being part of something big. The new escalators gleamed, and the mall buzzed with excitement. These were the golden days for shopping malls—before online stores and empty corridors—when Saturday afternoons were packed with families, music piped through the speakers, and everyone carried a bag from somewhere.

Eventually, my work at Zimmerman’s opened another door. I became an outside sales rep for Stride Rite, traveling and visiting stores across the region. In 1985, I left the mall—and St. Louis—for new adventures. But even now, I look back fondly on those years.

The cemetery where my parents are buried is very close by, and you can actually see the mall in the distance. I remember my sister commenting when we buried my mother that she would be very happy there—because she’d be by the mall. Somehow, that thought brings me a smile even now.

South County Mall wasn’t just a job or a shopping center—it was a community. A place where people met up, where kids grew up, and where I took my first steps into adulthood, one pair of shoes at a time.