I worked there for two years while in college. From day one the mall was in trouble. It was too close to fox valley mall in Naperville and Stratford square in Bloomingdale. The movie theater was not original so it had a problem drawing people there. In fact, i never remember a day when you could say the mall was packed like you could at other malls. It did have a gorgeous carassel in the upstairs food court and the sunken sitting area actually started out as a water feature.

In the dark creepy closed food court...you were standing directly in the spot were the carousel used to stand.

I went through here around late Springtime and it was clear the interior of the mall wasn't long for this world. Thanks for documenting the inside on the final day

I grew up going to this mall. I remember when all the anchors were open but Sears was about to close there location.

So sad. This was such a beautiful mall in an high end area too.

This video is awesome! I miss this mall so much 😭

Sad to see it close but knew it would happen one day thanks for posting this video. Had fun memories there.

I was just reporting to the USS THORN in the summer of '91. So many good memories of this mall! 😞

so sad it closed i'll miss it a lot

I remembered going to this one mall that I liked it had every stores opened in the late 90’s. I went to this mall in 2003 only 2 chain stores were opened and the food court with one restaurant remained. It was so disappointing for me. One mall is still running is a one story mall with a little bit more foot traffic.

OOH! A CHANNEL UPDATE!!!

Good video. I liked the interior design of this mall. It is sad it is closed. Thanks so much for filming.

I was there the last night. Thursday 11/30/17. I miss that place. It's a shame that that's happening to malls. Spring Hill is closing too.

Many malls that have closed were run down anyways but this one was actually pretty nice so it;s quite a shame. Although it probably being a long ways from I-88 and I-90 with other malls much closer to the interstate could have been a major factor.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you once again. Thank you for letting me relive that mall through my eyes once again.

I remember first day opening was great so many people Everytime I went. Years gone by and the last thing I did their was volunteered at the insanity haunted house we were tearing down the walls I was the last person to take the elevator then the security guard shut it down. You just shown where we had the haunted house by the Cinema 18 entrance

This is my favorite mall😭

I remember a few years ago my partner and I went there to see a movie, but we stopped at the food court to ride the carousel. Afterward I went to use the bathroom - it was so creepy! I told her that "if I don't return within 15 minutes, run like hell"!

This was the predecessor to the Spring Hill Mall Final Night video ya know

Looks somewhat similar to Owings Mills Mall in a way.

That place looks real similar to a mall in Augusta Ga called Augusta Mall. Its still doing okay though,

Lost Departments I remember when I first what to the carousel 🎠

That food court tho gives me night means holy crap

I used to frequent this mall back in the mid 90's when I lived in Glendale Heights, believe it or not back then there were good crowds here, so eerie seeing it all dark and deserted like this. Looks like Stratford in Bloomingdale will soon suffer the same fate as this one...

Update: As of November 1st 2021 Von Maur and Classic Cinemas are the only ones left. Everything else is closed and inaccessible. They are planning on demolishing the mall and leaving Von Maur and Classic Cinemas which will remain in operation. They plan on building townhouses where the mall used to stand.

Wow I had no idea this even happened!! I live so close in aurora (by the fox valley mall). Hoping the same thing doesn’t happen to ours!

This was my local mall

Just 6 years a go the lights wer on on the posters and Kohl’s was open and thare was a Yale’s shoes

It has been a year stencil this was filmed I was told he wold do a drive around and a tour of the open stores

This mall had been mostly vacant for almost 10 years before this closing day in 2017. It hasn't been busy since around 2003. The city really let it sit for that long and it's still there today but just closed. There were many talks about renovating it and turning it into a partial outdoor mall that never came to fruition.

So sad to see this happen. They just can't seem to keep a mall going in St. Charles. The smaller St. Charles mall on the west side had an even shorter lifespan. If I remember correctly, 1979 to 1995. Likewise the theaters there operated shortly after the mall closed. I think part of it is the city trying to jam too much retail too close together. The other part of course was the takeover of online shopping. I have a lot of happy childhood memories roaming the mall with my family. It wasn't as easy or efficient as buying stuff online these days, but there's a certain social element there which is gone from online shopping.

VERY sad. At least the anchors are staying.

So sad I wold go to carsons thare to see what is going on

If this mall stayed open till now covid wold have killed it

It wold be crappy t be in fun maur and her that kids ride go off same with Carson’s

New development plans for business and residential areas here: www.stcharlesil.gov/projects/charlestowne-mall-redevelopment

At this time right now as this being posted this was being filmed now I have not been here I am curious to see what they are going to do Carson is gone and I’m just curious if van Mars gonna stay or go I honestly think von Marshall go to Fox Valley cause it’s not too far away

any thing happened like the building gone

Von must shold go to fox valy and every thing needs to come down

If i were to guess what the elevator is doing now, I'm sure the power is shut off and the elevator is likely sitting in the springs in the pit, completely defunct, same as Kohl's, and I'm guessing that sears had some sort of elevator, maybe montgomery, probably modded with adams, like always.

I visited there on that last day, though more in the early afternoon. Oddly the guards kicked me out at the end, despite that I was being peaceful and obeying all the off limits part of the mall signs and not walking into those parts(i.e. the area where the carousel used to be in the food court, walking into the old center court area where Santa, Easter Bunny, etc. would sit for photos during those seasons). Though at that point it didn't matter that I got kicked out, since I got a walk through all parts of the mall at least once. And the part I was kicked out of(lower level just north of center court), didn't have a lot of former shops you could look at anyway. Did explore the outside of the mall after that, plus went into Carson's and Von Maur briefly, so it's all good. Most private security mall guards are total a-holes in my experience wherever I go when it comes to how stupidly overjealous they enforce those ridiculous no photography rules, unless you're discrete. For the most part, I think I've done decently at being discrete. This was only the 2nd mall I ever was kicked out of(first was Evergreen Plaza, only on its last day. on previous visits there before my last Evergreen Plaza visit, I never had any issues). Also with all my past Charlestowne Mall visits, I never once had a single time when a guard kicked me out! For whatever reason, the guards usually were absent inside this mall whenever I visited in the past, and were just sitting outside in their security car north of the food court. Great video, since I always wondered how exactly dark it gets into there at night! Maybe one still might risk it and try to sneak into the former mall parts, since allegedly the fitness place(where Deb used to be) isn't closing just yet? That mall really did become a huge joke, in its final years. I'm surprised the closure of this mall didn't happen sooner!

This is sad I used to shop here all the time

Cooper’s hawk almost killed a kid with food poising...I got free theater passes from trading with Portillos hot dogs.. like six dogs got me 25 free movie passes.. I didn’t eat the popcorn.. when I brought the dogs over, she said she would SMD for beer

What was that noise at 8:01?

7:59 Whats that sound?!

Will the elevator still work?

Well at least the Von Maur, Carson’s and Cinema 18 will still be continuing there business on the property! Goodbye forever Charlestowne.