St. Louis: Union Station needs right fit

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Visiting Union Station has long been one of our favorite things to do when in St. Louis. However, I fear we may have made our last stop there.

Union Station, an old railroad depot, has been home to a mall for years. Hotels have occupied a good portion of the building, as well.

Now, the Union Station Hotel seems to be taking up more of the mall space. That may be a good thing for the building’s future.

We noticed a lot of empty stores and food court space. We visited a little after 5 p.m. on a weekday, and vendors were closing up shop, because it was a slow day, as one guy told us.

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The best stores to visit, in my view, were the sports apparel ones. The St. Louis Cardinals team store seems to still do decent business. Lids had a couple of customers while we were there. I picked up a new St. Louis Blues T-shirt and ball cap for a decent price.

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Otherwise, the mall  was essentially dead. We may have seen a dozen people walking through.

Outside, we checked out the restaurants. Landry’s seafood restaurant didn’t look busy.

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Hard Rock Café, one of our favorite places whenever we travel to a city with one, wasn’t too busy either.

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In all fairness, it could have had something to with the St. Louis Blues not having a hockey game due to their break for the Olympics or lack of a concert that night.

However, we did check out the Hard Rock. It’s always fertile territory for photos of music-related memorabilia.

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A few blocks away, at the Scottrade Center, we checked out statues of some of the St. Louis Blues’ greatest players – Bernie Federko, Brett Hull and  Al MacInnis. As a  long-time Blues fan, I had a great time on the Blues Hall of Fame Plaza.

Across the street was a huge statue of a wild hare.

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Despite Union Station not being an appealing place to visit right now, the area remains attractive to visitors. We hope they find the right mix of businesses and food court restaurants to keep the mall viable. If not, I hope the hotel continues its success and grows to keep the building vibrant.

IMG_0508For more information on Union Station, check out their website at http://www.stlouisunionstation.com/