American Girl to close St. Louis location in February

Closures have been rampant in the post-holiday season, but one in particular will catch the attention of its fans: the American Girl store in Chesterfield is slated to close Feb. 21.

The American Girl store opened in 2012, billed as more of an experience than a retail outlet. It featured a bistro with kid-friendly food like milkshakes and pizza, a doll hair salon, and a machine where kids could get T-shirts made to match their dolls. It was the 12th store for the American Girl chain.

American Girl cited challenges facing the mall property which “adversely impacted our store’s business,” according to KSDK. The closure affects 10 full-time and 27 part-time employees. The nearest American Girl stores now will be in Kansas City, Chicago and Indianapolis.

In the fall, Chesterfield Mall’s lender foreclosed on the struggling shopping center, and it was put up for sale. It had already lost Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma stores, and a water main break flooded anchor store Dillard’s in September.

Meanwhile, several other stores have announced recent closures:

▪  Macy’s will close another 11 stores early this year, none in the metro-east or St. Louis.

▪  Kmart and Sears will close 103 stores this spring, including Kmarts in Frankfort and Mount Vernon, and Sears in Orland Park, Bourbonnais and Marion. That follows a list released in late 2017 that included Kmarts in Effingham, Ill.; and Poplar Bluff, Independence, and Sedalia, Mo., as well as the St. Louis location on Lemay Ferry Road.

▪  Payless ShoeSource closed more than 800 stores in late 2017 as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring, including a store in the Saint Louis Galleria.

▪  Other companies that have closed or plan to close some stores include the Gap, Vitamin World, Perfumania, Gymboree and the Ascena Retail Group, which operates brands Ann Taylor, Loft, Dress Barn, Lane Bryant, Justice and several others. In addition, Starbucks intends to shutter all 379 Teavana locations.

This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 8:09 PM with the headline "American Girl to close St. Louis location in February."