Bath & Body Works to open ‘off-mall’ location in Belleville. Here’s what to know
A renovation is underway at a Belleville shopping center to make way for a national fragrance and body care chain.
Bath & Body Works is coming to the former Dressbarn site at Belleville Crossing and is set to open in fall 2025, according to signage at the location.
Job positions for the new location are listed on the company’s website at careers.bathandbodyworks.com.
A request for more information sent to Bath & Body Works’ media relations did not get an immediate response.
The Belleville Crossing location may feature a new store design concept, known as “Gingham+,” which Bath & Body Works introduced earlier this year.
Gingham+ incorporates “more elevated design elements, technology features, a more open floor plan and redesigned fixtures to deliver a seamless in-store customer shopping experience,” according to a March release. By that time, Bath & Body Works had already opened more than 15 stores using the new concept.
Multiple features of Gingham+ are based on research and customer insights, the company’s release stated. These include a layout that makes it easier to navigate the store, dedicated “zones” for key product categories, larger aisles and more space for shopping, scent bars to more easily test candles, wallflowers (plug-in air fresheners) and fragrance mists, and videos showcasing new products and fragrances.
The design will be rolled out at most of the new stores opening this year, the company said.
Bath & Body Works plans to open more “off-mall” store locations to offset mall closures, according to quarterly results reports from 2022 to the present. In 2022, 95 such locations opened while 48 stores, mainly in malls, were permanently closed in the U.S. and Canada.
The company planned to open around 90 off-mall locations in 2023 and opened 95. Forty-seven stores closed that year. Sixty-one mall locations closed in 2024 while 106 stores opened, most of them off-mall.
About Bath & Body Works
Bath & Body Works opened its first store in Boston, Massachusetts, on Sept. 13, 1990, according to the company’s website. The company grew quickly and opened its 50th store the following year. Today, there are more than 1,900 Bath & Body Works stores in the U.S. and Canada and more than 500 international franchised locations.
Other area locations include St. Clair Square, Alton Circle Center, South County Center and the Saint Louis Galleria.
Find more information about the company at bbwinc.com and the retail stores at bathandbodyworks.com.
This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
