Last summer you could walk the length of Plaza Frontenac and hit Saks at one end, Neiman Marcus at the other, and treat the middle as connective tissue. This summer the map has flipped. The two-anchor era that defined the mall since 1974 is over, at least on the Saks side, and the specialty floor has quietly become the reason to go.

If you live in Frontenac, Ladue, or the streets off Clayton Road that treat this Plaza as a second pantry, the changes are worth mapping before your next Saturday errand.

The end of the two-anchor era

Saks Fifth Avenue has been a staple in Plaza Frontenac since its opening in 1974, and it was the only Saks location in Missouri, with the next closest one to St. Louis being in Chicago. That ends this spring. Saks & Company LLC said the store will shut down and all employees will be separated from employment between May 6 and May 31, 2026, following Saks Global's March 6, 2026 announcement of closures that named Plaza Frontenac on a list alongside Michigan Avenue in Chicago, South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, and Tysons Galleria.

The company framed the decision in portfolio terms. Saks Global cited a "planned optimization" of its footprint based on performance and customer preference, and pointed customers to the Neiman Marcus store in St. Louis. Read that last line carefully. Neiman Marcus is now the sole department-store anchor at a property that, as recently as 2011, was one of only nine U.S. malls with both Saks and Neiman Marcus as anchors. That was the pitch. It is no longer the pitch.

What replaces it is a different retail thesis, and it has been assembling itself for eighteen months.

Who moved in

On June 4, 2026, the Plaza gained its most-watched new tenant in years. Aritzia opened its first Missouri boutique at Plaza Frontenac, a roughly 10,000-square-foot store, expanding the Vancouver-based women's fashion retailer's Midwest presence. The company sells women's clothing, accessories and seasonal apparel through in-house brands including Wilfred, Babaton, Golden, Tna, The Super Puff and Sunday Best, and operates more than 140 boutiques across North America.

Aritzia landed in a Plaza that had already been quietly re-tenanting. Earlier in 2026, St. Louis' sole Anthropologie store moved from the St. Louis Galleria to Plaza Frontenac, and Abercrombie & Fitch recently opened on the mall's second floor. That is three national names in one calendar year, one of them a first-in-state debut, all landing at a property whose sister mall, the Galleria, lost its Nordstrom anchor and has listed six acres of mall property for sale.

The pattern is not decline. It is consolidation. Regional luxury and premium-specialty demand in the St. Louis market is coalescing at Plaza Frontenac, and the tenant mix reflects it: Allen Edmonds, Coach, Eileen Fisher, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Lululemon, Alo Yoga, Golden Goose, Tecovas, David Yurman, Tiffany & Co., Tory Burch, Tumi, Vineyard Vines, and Williams Sonoma now share halls with the newer arrivals.

The lesson for locals: fewer department-store errands, more specialty stops. The building is still worth the trip, but it rewards a shorter, more targeted list.

The dining ring is doing the heavy lifting

The most interesting change is not inside the mall. It is the ring of restaurants around it, which has quietly become the reason many neighbors show up on weeknights.

Flower Child opened at 10336 Clayton Road as Fox Restaurant Concepts' first Missouri location, a counter-service concept with a health-centric menu from restaurateur Sam Fox, who has received 11 James Beard Award nominations. A short walk south, the casual offshoot of the Des Moines–based 801 Restaurant Group anchors 2012 S. Lindbergh with a 6,000-square-foot space, a covered west-facing patio, and easy ingress and egress. Down the same corridor, Fleming's at 1855 S. Lindbergh was remodeled in 2024 under steakhouse veteran Ian Rockwell and continues to feature excellent steaks and daily specials, and Kreis' at 535 S. Lindbergh still runs à la carte, with prime rib as the specialty and refreshingly affordable wines.

Inside the Plaza itself, the four out-parcel restaurants and interior options include Canyon Cafe, Flower Child, BRIO! Tuscan Grille, BrickTop's, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and Zodiac Room at Neiman Marcus, plus Mariposa. Mariposa is Neiman Marcus's in-house restaurant, offering a fine-dining atmosphere with modern flair and its famous Mandarin Orange Soufflé.

The interpretive point: the Plaza's dining footprint is now, functionally, a small independent restaurant row that happens to share a parking lot with a luxury mall. That is a different value proposition than "grab lunch while you shop." It is a reason to come without shopping at all.

The Landmark cinema is quietly the counterweight

There is one tenant most locals underuse. Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema is a six-screen theater with a full bar and DLP digital projection, built in 1998 and operated by Landmark since 1998, located next to the former Saks at Lindbergh Boulevard and Clayton Road. The theater frequently screens independent and limited-release films, which in a summer of blockbuster-heavy multiplex programming is worth remembering.

If the Saks closure hollows out the north end of the building for a stretch this fall while ownership works on a replacement, the cinema becomes even more central to the property's identity. Six screens of indie programming a mile from home is not a small amenity. It is the sort of thing residents cite when they list what they would miss if they ever moved.

What the shift means for the neighborhood

Frontenac's identity has always been tied to the Plaza. The primary trade area within 5 miles encompasses about 148,000 residents and 60,000 households with an average household income exceeding $138,000. That is the customer base every incoming tenant is underwriting against. Aritzia did not choose Frontenac by accident. Neither did Anthropologie when it left the Galleria.

A few practical takeaways for the summer:

• Saks final weeks. The store is winding down through the end of May, so June onward the north corridor will look different. Expect promotional activity through late spring.
• Aritzia foot traffic. New-in-state openings draw a first-month surge. If you want to browse without the crowd, mid-week mornings will be calmest through July.
• The dining ring is the new front door. Flower Child, 801 Local, BrickTop's, and Fleming's now function as destinations independent of the mall. Reservations at Fleming's and 801 Local on weekend evenings have tightened accordingly.
• Landmark is your rainy Saturday. With six screens rotating indie and limited-release titles, the theater is a better hedge against a lost weekend than the multiplexes on Manchester or Olive.
• Neiman's Mariposa for a slow lunch. The umbrella-shaded patio and the Mandarin Orange Soufflé are still there, and with the Saks side quieter, service tends to be attentive.

Why any of this matters if you own here

Homes in Frontenac trade on a small number of durable amenities: the schools, the lots, the trees, and the Plaza. When one of those four shifts materially, it is worth understanding whether the shift is decline or repositioning. On the evidence, this is repositioning. A luxury mall losing one of two full-line anchors is a real event, but it is happening against a backdrop of first-in-state specialty openings, a Galleria tenant migrating in, and a dining ring that has grown into its own draw. Property values in the surrounding streets rest partly on the Plaza remaining a regional destination. Right now, the tenants voting with their leases suggest it will.

If you have been thinking about how the changes on Lindbergh and Clayton affect what your home is worth, or what a move-up inside the neighborhood would actually cost you this year, it is a good conversation to have while the market absorbs the news. Reach out to Alyssa Suntrup to talk through where Frontenac values are landing this summer and what the next twelve months at the Plaza are likely to mean for the homes around it. Call or text to start the conversation.