Lights go out at Westfield Shoppingtown

Shoppers at Westfield Shoppingtown WestPark experienced a bit of a surprise Thursday evening when around 5 p.m. some electrical problems at the mall caused 20 stores to lose at least some of their electricity for about 35 to 45 minutes.

Eight stores were closed down for the rest of the night.

Joyce Hunter, marketing director of Westfield Shoppingtown, described the cause of the problem as "a minor failure in the infrastructure."

"Ameren UE had four or five trucks out there instantaneously," Hunter said. "They were all over it."

While the power outages were an inconvenience to the shoppers at the mall Thursday evening, Hunter said the mall was fairly lucky in that it happened on a weekday.

"It was really kind of a minor interruption," Hunter said.