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Jennifer Burke, left, and Michelle Rider, 16, walk between stores at South County Center in Mehlville on Friday, Nov. 26, 2021. Select malls in the region gave out gift cards to the first 20 people in line at certain stores every hour between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Daniel Neman is a retail business writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Today’s installment of What’s New at the Mall takes us to South County Center, home to a wide variety of strange and wonderfully weird items.
You can probably find ordinary things at the mall, too — underwear and jewelry and shoes. But where’s the fun in that?
Here is a sample of what we found on a recent Monday afternoon:
Say you are invited to a false eyelash-worthy event — a coronation, perhaps, or an audience with the pope. You have your evening gown, your high-heel pumps, your tiara. But to your horror, you suddenly realize that you are fresh out of false eyelashes.
Do not worry. The South County mall has got you covered.
On the mall’s lower level is a vending machine from the Black Rose Beauty Collection that dispenses false eyelashes for $15 a pair. It also sells waterproof adhesive eyeliner, to keep those luscious lashes stuck to your eyelids all night long.
Here is an example of American ingenuity at work, though the Black Rose Beauty Company is actually located in Canada. They saw a need for easily accessible false eyelashes, lashes you can pick up on the go without having to navigate the aisles of a makeup store, and they filled it.
Another vending machine located in the food court — this one called a Focsii Glam Station — sells fake nails in red, black and mauve for $15; waterproof, breathable and nontoxic false eyebrows for $5 a pair; and blingy butterfly necklaces made of fake gold and fake diamonds for $50.
The machine takes credit cards and cash. It does not return change, so the exact amount of cash is required.
Joe’s Records STL sells new and used records and CDs. In one bin is a real find, a vinyl record version of an album by a band called Blackjack.
The album, which came out in 1979, is also called Blackjack. It hit as high as 127 on the Billboard charts; its best-performing song, “Love Me Tonight,” made it to No. 66.
The band would probably be forgotten entirely by now if it were not for two of its four members. Guitarist Bruce Kulick went on to play in Kiss. And the lead singer was a guy named Michael Boliton.
Boliton was his real name, the name he used for the hard-rock Blackjack. Later, when he softened the edges of his music, he started calling himself Michael Bolton.
You never know when you might be struck by the desire to wear a full-size adult panda onesie. At Chaos Emporium you can buy one, complete with red lines under the eyes to signify blushing, for $48.84.
A Sailor Moon costume, based on the popular Japanese anime television series of the 1990s, is $65.93. A French maid’s dress, complete with apron, is $54.55.
And a Harry Potter black academic robe (and tie) is $38.68. The robe has a patch for Gryffindor House, and comes with a secret pocket sewn into the inside for a magic wand.
The mall is also home to a recently opened head shop, the Trippin’ Turtle. Here you can find handmade glass weed pipes created by a local artist. One, with an impressively hallucinogenic design, sells for $199.99.
A ceramic mug depicting a stoned panda with wild, spiraling eyes is $29.99. Its handle doubles as a pipe.
And the store also offers a selection of T-shirts covered with original psychedelic designs created by the store’s owner. They sell for $29.99.
One of the most expensive items in the entire mall is a basketball signed by legendary athlete Michael Jordan. It can be yours at All-American Collectibles for $3,750.
If football is more your sport — or for that matter, lacrosse — you can pick up a jersey autographed by football (and lacrosse) superstar Jim Brown for $900. It comes with two photographs.
And if you are a fan of baseball, a signed Hank Aaron jersey goes for $1,695.
What fan wouldn’t want that?
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Daniel Neman is a retail business writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
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Jennifer Burke, left, and Michelle Rider, 16, walk between stores at South County Center in Mehlville on Friday, Nov. 26, 2021. Select malls in the region gave out gift cards to the first 20 people in line at certain stores every hour between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.
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