Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Something For Everyone

Today my business and errands took me to "the Valley" (aka the Chesterfield Valley), home to the longest outdoor strip mall in America.

Years ago the area used to be called Gumbo Flats. Although there were some houses and a handful of businesses it was mainly farmland, because it's in the Missouri River flood plain. In the Flood of 1993 the levee broke and the whole area was under water. After the flood subsided the levee was rebuilt to withstand a 500-year flood.  The property owners cleaned up and started rebuilding. And building. And building some more.  Now the stores stretch for more than a mile along one side of Chesterfield Airport Road, the main thoroughfare  They share a common parking lot, and there are several cross streets through the lot to improve the traffic flow.  On the other side of the road there are more strip malls and some office buildings.  (There's also a traditional mall and two outlet malls not too far away.) 

If you can't find what you're looking for at a store there, you probably don't need it.


Five years ago today: Changes

7 comments:

  1. Drawing of mall is cute. Is that your own creation?

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  2. Sounds like the downtown of a city I once lived in.

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  3. wow this would be something to see.

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    Replies
    1. It's interesting on a Wednesday morning with not much traffic. During rush hour or on Saturday not so much.

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  4. You are so blessed to live so close to it! Trust you got what you needed.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, and even a couple of things I didn't know I needed :-)

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