Valley West Mall is located at 1551 Valley West Drive in West Des Moines, IA.  You can reach the mall office at 515-225-3631 and the mall hours are 10-9 Monday thru Saturday, and 11-6 on Sundays.  The official website is exactly where it should be, at valleywestmall.com and it’s also easy to find via the major search engines.

According to the website, there are over 135 specialty shops at the mall, although it appears that number might be more like 110 as of right now.  With the relatively new Jordan Creek Mall and Town Center (see our review of the Jordan Creek Mall here) - I’m guessing that many of the stores at Valley West Mall have lost some business.  It does seem that they’ve done a fair amount of marketing over the past couple of years, to at least maintain their overall visibility as a great place to go shopping in the Des Moines metro.  One of the newest additions is the MetaBank children’s soft play center - similar to what they have at Merle Hay Mall and at Jordan Creek’s mall.  One of the marketing ideas that seems to work fairly well are the Family Nights, when the have inflatable rides and some additional activities for kids.

In my opinion, the website looks fairly well.  Some of the functionality doesn’t work as well as it could in terms of helping people find information via search engines.  As an example, the way the store directory is designed makes it difficult for search engines to separate some of the store names…so they often run together.  In addition, some of the pages don’t offer any useful information…such as the current Sales page.  It is however nice that you can order gift certificates (called gift cards) and they are evidently good at all mall stores that accept credit cards. 

I also like the interactive store directory feature, where you can hover over a mall layout map to see store names and then click on the map to see more details about each store (phone numbers, basic description, and website links if available).  One thing I’d change would be to add the website addresses to the full store directory…which I’m guessing is what many people are searching for.

There were some broken links and broken images on a few pages, which is a bit hard to understand for a website this small.  If the owners/managers of the mall and stores truly wanted more traffic (online and in person) there are a number of things that could be done to improve the site.  For example, the title of the home page should include the city (West Des Moines) and either Iowa or the IA abbreviation.  This is how people search…and there are likely additional Valley West Mall locations in other states.

If you’re searching for a store in Valley West Mall - below is a text version of their current directory including phone numbers.  See you there, and as their motto states… “Let’s Shop!”.

A Clean House     515-223-0691  
Aeropostale     515-225-2307  
After Hours Formal Wear   515-223-0889  
American Eagle Outfitters   515-226-9299  
Auntie Anne’s Pretzels   515-224-4150  
Avon      515-778-5607  
Baby Gap     515-226-9880  
Banana Republic    515-225-2445  
Bath & Body Works  515-226-0989  
Bella Salon & Collections   515-223-5335  
Blue Sky Creamery    515-267-1279  
Brodkey’s Fine Jewelry   515-440-2000  
C J Banks     515-224-3918
Cacique    coming soon!
Calypso 968     515-226-7816  
CD Warehouse     515-222-4473  
Cellular Advantage    515-222-2688  
Champs Sports     515-457-9608  
Charlotte Russe    515-457-7119  
Charm Connection    515-327-8588  
Chiq      515-224-6090  
Chocolaterie Stam    515-457-8464  
Christopher & Banks    515-223-0312  
Claire’s Boutiques    515-223-5231  
Click’s Cyber Bar    515-224-2995  
Coach House Gifts    515-223-1306  
Colorworks     515-457-3888  
Cost Cutters     515-223-7442  
D.R. Deli and Desserts   515-309-3009  
Dairy Queen   515-225-6469
Karmelkorn/Orange Julus   515-225-6469
Dakota Watch     515-457-9060  
Disney Mobile     515-457-8813  
Eddie Bauer     515-221-0204  
Express     515-223-8447  
Express Men/Structure    515-223-3553  
Finish Line     515-267-0891  
Fit To Be Tied    515-221-2253  
Flash! Digital Portrait Studio  515-223-0591  
Foot Locker     515-224-6358  
Friendsville     515-223-0050  
Game Stop     515-224-0034  
Games and More!    515-267-8222  
Gap Kids     515-226-9880  
General Nutrition Center 515-225-7851  
Global Cellular    515-221-1040  
Great American Cookie Co.   515-225-2447  
Greenberg Jewelers    515-222-2612  
Gymboree     515-224-1343  
Hair and Nail Studio    515-226-2106  
Helzberg Diamonds    515-225-3624  
Hollywood Nails    515-221-1278  
Iris Crafts & Antiks    515-708-2750  
JC Penney     515-223-5353  
Jimmy Johns     515-222-9119  
Josephs Jewelers    515-223-6044  
Journey’s     515-457-9977  
Kahunaville     515-457-8061  
Kahunaville Midway    515-457-8061  
Kay Jewelers     515-440-2532  
Kenneth Paul Gallery    515-440-0545  
Kid’s World     515-974-1667  
Kim’s Tailor     515-225-0052  
Lady Foot Locker    515-223-0439  
Landmark Luggage    515-223-0999  
Lane Bryant     515-225-1912  
Lazer Expressions    515-457-9400  
Lenscrafters     515-224-7661  
Limited Too     515-222-0454  
Lundy’s Hallmark    515-223-2710  
Maid-Rite     515-309-5495  
Maurices     515-225-2211  
Mc Donald’s     515-224-0479  
Motherhood Maternity & Children 515-267-0436  
Owens Corning Basement Systems  515-274-6666  
Pacific Sunwear    515-223-4494  
Panda Express     515-457-9393  
Payless Shoe Source    515-223-9502  
Pearle Vision Express    515-223-6496  
Pro Image     515-223-1026  
Pro Image Gift Shop    515-223-1026  
Quill & Nib     unavailable
Qwest Solutions Center   515-440-2521  
Radio Shack     515-225-3575  
RCC Western Store    515-224-1392  
Regis Hairstylists    515-225-9595  
Rogers Uniforms    unavailable
Rue 21     515-221-3161  
Sbarro     515-225-9948  
Select Comfort    515-267-0729 
Serenity- Aveda Lifestyle Salon 515-223-6204  
Shock City Cellular    515-221-1181  
Shoe Fixers     515-223-9580  
Sprint     515-223-9382  
Sprint/Nextel     515-267-0307  
Stride Rite     515-225-2596  
Subway     515-223-1898  
Sunglass Hut     515-223-1416  
Sunny’s Son’s Salon    515-267-1292  
T-Mobile     515-224-6023  
Taco Bell     515-267-0442  
The Buckle     515-225-3818  
The Children’s Place    515-267-0148  
The Gap     515-225-1025  
The Limited   515-223-5877  
Todd’s Naturalizer    515-221-9255  
Top Nails & Tanning    515-221-2785  
Travel & Transport    515-224-7619  
Valley West Bar & Grill   515-224-4104  
Vanity     515-222-0150  
Verizon     515-225-9444  
Victoria’s Secret  515-222-1951  
Von Maur     515-223-1311  
Waldenbooks     515-225-1753  
Yanni’s Express    515-223-5006  
Younkers     515-223-2400  

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