Serious question, I found a way to spot old mall stores hidden behind new walls

Honestly I was poking around the empty corridor at the old Crestwood Mall spot in St. Louis and noticed the wall by the food court was put up over the original tile. I went to the county assessor's site and pulled the 1988 floor plan, and it showed a Waldenbooks that nobody remembers being there. The newer drywall stopped about 8 inches short of the ceiling, so I could see the old sign anchors still bolted to the beam above it. Tbh that one trick has found me 4 storefronts in 3 visits, so has anyone else tried tracing a mall through permit records instead of just old photos?

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olivers2818d ago

That drywall trick works because of how mall remodels happened. Most owners in the 80s and 90s just built new walls right over the old ones to save money, so you end up with these layers like tree rings. I pulled the 1996 permits for a dead mall near me and found a Foot Locker listed that never showed up in any photo I could find. Same deal with sign anchors and old tile underneath. Whole buildings are basically scrapbooks if you know which records to check.

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