Mall of America; Bloomington, Minnesota
Here it is. The big kahuna. The head honcho. This is it, for the United States anyway. The 15-year-old Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota is one of the largest single-site retail themed complexes in the whole entire country. A few sites in America offer more retail, such as the King of Prussia Mall in metro Philadelphia, and even the Eastwood Mall in metro Youngstown, Ohio, but due to the Mall of America’s large theme park in the center of the complex, it is the largest overall. However, we’re all pretty much aware of this. The Mall of America is huge, and pretty much everybody and their grandmother knows that. What I’d like to interrogate and focus on is twofold: How does the mall and how has the mall operated within its own framework since the beginning; and secondly, how does the mall operate locally in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area?
The Mall of America was born not of necessity, but rather from notions of excessive grandeur. The Twin Cities already had malls, many of them, in fact, and even arguably the very first climate-controlled enclosed regional mall, Southdale Center, opened in 1956 about 10 minutes away from the present Mall of America. It all really began when the Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Twins decided to leave their home at the Metropolitan Stadium, where they and various other professional teams played from 1956 to 1981, to new digs at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. The stadium was demolished in 1982, and everyone wondered what would become of the site. Unbeknownst to many, the Ghermezian Brothers, who developed the megamall West Edmonton Mall in Canada came a-calling, and by 1986 had signed an agreement with the City of Bloomington for rights to the site for a new megamall, an American version of what the Ghermezians brought to Canada. Various other groups got involved, including Teachers Insurance and Annuity and Melvin Simon & Associates, and each brought money and mall design expertise to the project. They broke ground in 1989, and in August 1992 the Mall of America opened with great fanfare.
The gross area inside the Mall of America is 4.2 million square feet; however, only 2.5 million square feet are available as retail space on four levels which are arranged in a roughly symmetrical rectangle connecting four anchors at its vertices. The four sides to the rectangle contain roughly 520 stores on three levels, and each side has its own distinct style in terms of decor. There are also two large food courts in the mall, one on each of the north and south side’s third levels. Due to the mall’s footprint being rather small, hemmed in on the space of the old stadium, parking was to be an issue. To solve this problem, they built two gigantic identical seven-level parking structures on the east and west sides of the mall, and the former Met Center was torn down in 1994 and is currently a gravel lot used for overflow parking. Each level in the parking structures is named after a state, to fit with the whole America theme. Also, despite being in one of the coldest parts of the country, the Mall of America is not heated. Instead, the giant structure is heated by patrons, employees, and the greenhouse effect during the day because the roof is made up of transparent windows, which also provide natural light to the Amusement Park during the day. In fact, air conditioning needs to be run at all times to maintain a comfortable climate within the mall, even during January.
As far as the retail spaces within the Mall of America, many inside the mall have changed while the anchors have not. The anchors when the mall opened in 1992 are the same as today: Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Sears, and Nordstrom. However, the offerings inside the mall have been transformed slightly over the past 15 years. Several junior anchors which graced the mall in its early days, such as Filene’s Basement, Linens ‘n Things, and Kids R Us, have gone away. The mall has also lost National American University, which offered college classes at the mall for many years. However, despite these retail changes, many components of the mall have remained, like the underwater aquarium, LEGO Imagination Center, many sit-down restaurants like Rainforest Cafe, an alternative High School, and even the Chapel of Love wedding chapel. The amusement park in the middle of the mall has also remained, even though it was rebranded The Park at MOA from Camp Snoopy following the breakdown of talks with Cedar Fair Amusement Company, thus ending the Peanuts characters branding.
Also of note are the mall’s third and fourth levels. The first two levels of the mall are typical of any super-regional mall, with many national retailers; however, the third and fourth levels at the Mall of America are a bit different. The food courts occupy most of the third level along the north and south corridor, but there are also many sit-down restaurants like California Cafe and Famous Dave’s on this level. Comprising the rest of the third level on the east and west sides there are many seemingly local stores that sell Minnesota knick-knacks, souvenirs, discounters and even one store which has been open since the mall opened that specializes in only farm toys. It seems the third level is undesirable for many competitive national retailers, save for some junior anchor holdouts like Nordstrom Rack, Marshalls, and Sports Authority on the third level which features a wall of faded pictures of people exercising from 1992. The fourth level, which only exists on the east and north sides of the mall, opened with an all-encompassing entertainment theme, and was comprised of several adult-themed night clubs and a 14-screen AMC Movie Theater. However, in 1999, one of the night clubs had problems with indecent exposure and other issues and closed. These problems were further complicated in 2004 when the City of Bloomington passed a citywide smoking ban in all establishments, and as a response all but one of the adult-themed clubs closed. As of today only Hooters and the movie theatre remain open on the fourth level.
Finally, I wanted to examine how the Mall of America functions locally in the Twin Cities area. When it opened in 1992, the Mall of America was controversial for many residents and local businesses, wondering how they would compete with this monster in the backyard. Surprisingly, though, the Mall of America did not kill every single other mall in the region. Drawing largely on tourists who come specifically for the mall from neighboring states, nationally, or even internationally, the local malls in the area still continue to be local. Many Twin Cities residents feel the Mall of America is too large for the typical shopping trip many people traditionally take to their local malls, spending an hour or two there, and continue to shop at places like Burnsville Center, Ridgedale Mall, Eden Prairie Center, Southdale Mall, and many others. Many who go to the Mall of America are out-of-towners, and this is implicit in the car license plates found in the mall’s behemoth parking structures. An inordinate amount are from the Dakotas, Iowa, Wisconsin, and other regional states. People in the Twin Cities metro have mostly continued to patronize their local malls, and even renovate them extensively. Even the malls which were damaged by the opening of the Mall of America have bounced back, like Eden Prairie Center which was partially demolished and rebuilt with a completely new theme and as an enclosed mall in 2002. Other malls have also been extensively renovated in recent years, like Rosedale Center, and more recently Ridgedale and Burnsville Center. Even the farther flung malls are reinventing, like Northtown Mall in Blaine, and two brand-new large lifestyle centers have even been recently constructed in east-suburban Woodbury and northwest-suburban Maple Grove. In addition, the retail in downtown Minneapolis has also continued to be a destination for locals. So, retail locations are not in short supply or hurting by any means in the Twin Cities area due to the presence of the Mall.
Furthering the importance of tourism to the Mall of America, Metro Transit’s inaugural Hiawatha Line connected the mall via light rail to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and downtown Minneapolis in June 2004. Since the hub airport is literally across I-494 from the Mall, the short five-minute train ride has allowed connecting travelers to visit the mall even on relatively short layovers. Also, Bloomington is centrally located within the Twin Cities area, between the hub cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and several miles south.
So what’s next for the Mall of America? A lot, actually, is in the works, including a major expansion many years in the making which will allow the Mall to reclaim its top spot. Mall of America Phase II, which is scheduled to begin construction later in 2007, will more than double the size of the mall. Included in the expansion are more upscale retailers, and a diversity of offerings including a 6,000 seat music theatre, new hotel, water park and non-department store anchors like Bass Pro Shops which will hinge off the current mall’s north end on the former site of the Met Center. In fact, a piece of Phase II already opened in 2004 with Ikea, which will be connected to the new development via skywalk. The new development is not without controversies, as many wonder how the Ghermezians will finance the project. They are currently asking the state of Minnesota to finance a new parking structure for Phase II and for tax-free building materials for the project. But, it appears they have cleared the first minor hurdle, as the City of Bloomington has already approved preliminary plans for the project. It will be very interesting to see how Phase II is integrated and all of its offerings, and whether it will open on schedule in 2011.
Here are some pictures of the outside of the mall, including the behemoth anchors and the parking structures:
Inside of the mall’s retail perimeter:
Inside the Park @ MOA:
on May 26th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Wow, I always wanted to know more about The Mall of America. Kudos for making the trek there. There’s lots to intake here though - talk about filling all available space on your lens. I take it you used a camera for this one, right? I don’t know, I’m more impressed by malls that have been here for a while instead of their sheer magnitude so I can’t excuse this bias of infatuation for 70’s malls like most of us (I’m sure of). This is certainly one of those places to celebrate your Americana.
on May 26th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Hey! I suggested this! Thanks! Regarding Phase II, I heard that the “recreation anchor” will be a Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World. If you want, I can send you a scan of the current MOA mall directory.
on May 26th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Woah,trippy
The utilized every available space and haven’t even left one wall blank! and for once they use a varied color palette besides plain white. I applaud them for that, and I thought I knew everything about this mall,turns out I was wrong!
Those stores must have three floors then.
It’s crazy!!!
that village looks like a big playground,are those building accessible or just there for decoration?
Haven’t seen any building that had a wooden shingled roof inside a mall for years!
Which anchor’s 3rd floor is going to be removed in expansion project?
on May 26th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
I used my digital camera, the same camera I use to take all the mall photos. It’s a Canon PowerShot SD 450.
I believe the expansion will hinge off the current mall in the middle of the north wing, which goes from Sears to Nordstrom. It looks like it’ll just connect where the current main entrance is on that side, since there’s no parking structure on that side, and it’ll probably skywalk across the street to Ikea and the new stuff which is currently just a gravel lot. It was formerly the Met Center, but that was torn down in 1994.
on May 26th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Please,disregard my last question about the removal of an anchors 3rd floor, I got confused and just realized that, it’s a parking garage thats going to be removed,duh.
how silly of me.
Anyway it looks like most of the interior is original,with those crazy square lights that look like they have white outlines around them and those odd-looking illuminated bridges.
on May 26th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
One more thing, why don’t anchor stores have 3 floors nowadays? 2 floors are so boring, 3 floors are an adventure,he he.
I just like anchors who who have stacked floors like that (3 floors I consider a stack, 2 floors are just an ordinary anchor to me)
on May 26th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
The anchors are 3 floors apeice because their square footage per-floor is quite small. You have to remember, this mall is crammed onto a rather small plot of land.
I got to go to this mall just a few months after it opened (1992), and my most recent visit was this past April (2007). The tenant roster has changed so greatly over the years, that it would take forever to list all the changeovers. Most of it was due to huge bankruptcies of major apparel chains back in the mid 1990s, and more recently with many specialty music / video chains going out.
They’re going to have to figure out what to do with the former ‘adult’ themed area of the mall. That’ll never be the way it was again with the smoking ban and all the previous troubles they had. Right now, that area, and some spots on the 3rd level, are kind of sparse.
on May 26th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Don’t believe everything you hear about the smoking ban being responsible for the 4th floor bar closings — even when the company that owns them makes the claim. The out-of-state company that owned and operated all of the bars (except Hooters) on the 4th floor was in bankrupcy at the time of the closing, it is more likely the high rent the MOA charges for that much square feet was the real reason. The smoking ban was a convenient scapegoat for a bad business decision to go so big at the MOA. By the way, the company is back in Minnesota in a big free-standing facility in (nonsmoking) Maple Grove. All of MN goes smokefree on Oct. 1, 2007.
on May 26th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I like it. I don’t love it, but I like it.
It looks fresher in these pictures than it usally looks in most people’s photgraphs, and seeing it in this format makes me wistful for that ’80s mall look that permeates this place but is disappearing from malls left and righht in “beautification” projects.
on May 26th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
That comment about the 80’s malls look and the crazy early 90’s decor with the industrial type lights couldn’t help me but think of the early-early videogame-esque electronic music that dominated the culture of the early 1990s the decade this mall was built in!
You can hear what I’m talking about on this site, click on “hardcore” then click on “new beat” if you click on number 4 from the list I think you’ll immediately remember the music I am talking about,yes it repeats itself continually but you can turn it off by clicking on the red lined square, once you had enough.
http://www.di.fm/edmguide/edmguide.html
Of course if your like me who heard this type of music while playing Sega Genesis games,you’ll probably tune it out, lol.
Of course if you weren’t born prior to 1990 or were born in the late 90’s you probably never even heard this type of music.
hehe what a crazy decade it was.
on May 26th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
MoA was the inspiration for malls catering to entertainment.
While not fully built out, the 4th level of Palisades Center is “entertainment related” (Dave & Busters, Fridays, Fox Sports Grill, etc) and MoA should consider attracting these type of tennants to revive that space.
on May 26th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
I just like how those hallways are so dark,yet the neon and fluorescents look so technological and semi-futuristic that it still has a character to it.
Modernism at it’s best
I think the early to mid 1990s was the last decade that any malls had a sense of character, after that with the post-modernist movement everything had to look “pretty” and is some sense be “a modern version of traditional architecture” but it ends up looking so blah and boring.
on May 26th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Great job, Prangeway!
Actually, while the anchors in this mall are large (compared to the national average), they really are not any larger than the department stores found at malls in New Jersey. (Given the size of the mall, I actually expected each anchor to be much larger.) Below is a list of the size of each of the anchors:
*Macy’s: 280,000 sq. ft.
*Nordstrom: 220,000 sq. ft.
*Bloomingdale’s: 210,000 sq. ft.
*Sears: 177,904 sq. ft.
Also, I plan to visit the Mall of America this summer for my annual vacation. It may sound silly, but this will be the second year in a row that my vacation will be retail-based, as last year I visited the (then) Chicago flagship store of Marshall Field’s. And, in the coming years, I plan to spend my vacations at more of the country’s biggest malls.
As Prangeway mentioned, the Mall of America is not the largest mall in the country in terms of total retail space. According to Wikipedia, the 21 largest American malls in terms of retail space are as follows:
1. Eastwood Mall (Niles, OH): 3,200,000 sq. ft.
2. King of Prussia Mall (King of Prussia, PA): 2,798,956 sq. ft.
3. Mall of America (Bloomington, MN): 2,777,918 sq. ft.
4. South Coast Plaza (Costa Mesa, CA): 2,700,000 sq. ft.
5. Sawgrass Mills (an outlet mall in Sunrise, FL): 2,613,035 sq. ft.
6. Del Amo Fashion Center (Torrance, CA): 2,500,000 sq. ft.
7. Aventura Mall (Aventura, FL): 2,400,000 sq. ft.
8. The Galleria (Houston, TX): 2,298,417 sq. ft.
9. Woodfield Mall (Schaumburg, IL): 2,224,000 sq. ft.
10. Roosevelt Field Mall (Garden City, NY): 2,189,941 sq. ft.
11. Plaza Las Americas (San Juan, PR): 2,173,000 sq. ft.
12. Millcreek Mall (Erie, PA): 2,139,244 sq. ft.
13. Tysons Corner Center (McLean, VA): 2,100,000 sq. ft.
14. Lakewood Center (Lakewood, CA): 2,092,706 sq. ft.
15. Oakbrook Center (an outdoor mall in Oak Brook, IL): 2,006,688 sq. ft.
16. Palisades Center (West Nyack, NY): 2,000,000 sq. ft.*
17. Lark Ridge Center (a lifestyle center spread over many blocks in Thornton, CO): 2,000,000 sq. ft.*
18. Westfield Garden State Plaza (Paramus, NJ): 2,000,000 sq. ft.*
19. Jordan Creek Town Center (West Des Moines, IA): 2,000,000 sq. ft.*
20. Scottsdale Fashion Square (Scottsdale, AZ): 1,928,036 sq. ft.
21. Fashion Show Mall (Las Vegas, NV): 1,888,151 sq. ft.
*Note: Despite the fact that Palisades Center, Lark Ridge Center, Westfield Garden State Plaza, and Jordan Creek Town Center each have 2,000,000 sq. ft. of retail space, Wikipedia claims that they each rank #16, #17, #18, and #19, respectively.
on May 27th, 2007 at 9:23 am
I’m not going to lie to you, seeing places like this really make me miss the early-mid 1990’s…I started high school in that time and that was still in the “bigger is better” mall era. I would agree with another poster here that the early 1990’s were definitely the last days of modernism, though by that point it was white, light, bright and airy vs. the 1970’s, which were dark and moody. Places like this just made you feel optimistic: like nothing too bad was ever going to happen.
on May 27th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
One of the old shops, I know was a Wizards of the Coast retail shop. Why this? It’s the only one I remember from their site!
on May 27th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I just got some info on the Nickelodeon deal with the Park at MOA to re-brand the theme park with Nickelodeon characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants (Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?), Dora the Explorer, Diego, Cosmo and Wanda from the Fairly Odd Parents among others in 2008. I’ve only been there once in 2003 when the Peanuts were still there. More about the theme park deal can be found here: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2007-03-06-mall-of-america-nickelodeon_N.htm
on May 28th, 2007 at 1:11 am
This is good news this is very good news since Nickelodeon will once again will have a theme park attraction available to the public, this type of thing hasn’t been around since Nickelodeon closed their famous studios attraction in Universal Studios.
For once it’ll give them some public exposure,and not an entity that only exist on the TV.
This bittersweet for the old Nick fans of the 90’s.
on May 28th, 2007 at 9:42 am
There was a WOTC retail store here? I didn’t even know those existed. What could you buy there…little statues of bugbears? Heh!
on May 28th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Nah, I’d estimate Magic the Gathering crap and Pokemon cards. There was also in the mall some sorta Amish goods store.
on May 28th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Wizards of the Coast opened stores when the whole Pokemon craze hit big (circa 1999), and as quickly as that came and went, so too, did the retail stores.
If I’m not mistaken, they’re now under Hasbro’s ownership.
It’s hard to detail this mall’s themes….that is, the architectural / design styles that are laid out in each section. When i last walked the entire mall (Yes, the whole thing…..all 3 main floors, all four sections), I’d have to say my favorite area was the South Mall (between Macy’s and Bloomies). I just like the dark, moody nature and carpeted flooring of this area.
The area that looked different to me between my 1992, and most recent visit, was the West Mall (between Nordstrom to Macys). They had to of remodeled it recently, as it used to have brown / terra-cotta tiling, and now it boasts slate / coal and black tiling. Ceilings were also retiled to black, really giving it a darker feel.
Continuing clockwise, the North Mall (this links Nordstrom and Sears) was the most ’80s’ feeling section to me. It was the brightest area. Lots of skylights, atriums and angles to the storefronts. When walking on the first floor of this section, I daresay I actually got a bit confused with where I was going. The storefronts are all jagged, and the concourse is not a straight shot…..it’s got two ‘humps’…that’s the best way I can detail the layout.
Finally the East Mall (running between Sears down to Bloomies) to me, is the typical mall styling we see nowadays. It’s most interesting part is the routunda court….a huge staging area when any shows come to the mall. Because of the 4th floor former ‘entertainment’ area, it’s easily the most airy spot in the mall.
I’m sure as the years go on, they’ll keep redoing these four sections to keep things looking fresh.
Actually I wouldn’t doubt that a full-blown remodel for the entire building will commence when Phase II is finished to merge everything together and make it all flow more smoothly.
I just hope they don’t dump the different design elements that make the four sections different from one to the next.
on May 31st, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Yeah, WOTC is owned by Hasbro. I sort of got into playing D&D recently, so that’s how I know.
on June 1st, 2007 at 10:15 pm
I find it ironic that Eastwood Mall is now larger than Tysons I. When I was attending Youngstown State University in the early 90’s, Eastwood was half dead. We’d hit Southern Park or even drive to Randall Park before we’d hit that mall (though my mom did like it). It was very dated (I remember the mural surrounding the closed twin screen movie theatre that looked like someone dropped a massive amount of acid before they painted it), and when I heard that Woolworth was closing, I figured it might be the end for Eastwood.
Then one day, I was talking to someone from Niles at my job on the phone. I asked if Eastwood was still there, and she said it was alive and well and booming. When I first returned to that area in 2004 (first time in ages) we ran out, and I was shocked!
I’m glad to see them thriving, even if they’ve lost some of their old character. I visited Randall Park in April, and it just broke my heart.
on June 10th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
For the most part the enclosed centers in the Minneapolis area are doing well, with one major exception.
Brookdale, located in Brooklyn Center, is well on its way to being a dead mall. Brookdale lost two of its anchors (JCPenney and Mervyn’s) in 2004. Many retail mainstays inlcuding Victoria’s Secret, Old Navy, Gap, and American Eagle have shuttered their Brookdale locations.
Brookdale’s demise has more to do with shifting demographics in its main trade area than the opening of Mall of America, which is 20 miles away. It has also faced stiff competition from the Shoppes at Arbor Lakes, a lifestyle center in nearby Maple Grove.
on June 18th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Does anyone have inforrmation on Irongate Mall in Hibbing MN? It is about three hours north of MoA in the Iron Range. Irongate is in haphazard shape with a JC Penney’s, a Sears hardlines store, and a couple of other stores. Parts of this mall is closed off. Irongate is in very sad shape and I don’t know how much longer it will hold on.
on June 19th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I saw a lease plan once that showed Irongate Mall as being bigboxed. Not sure what it had previously, other than Kmart (now vacant I believe). There were also rumors of Big Lots.
The mall may have had Spurgeon’s at one point, where Jo Ann Fabrics is now. The layout is virtually identical to Copper Country Mall in Houghton, MI — same layout, same JCPenney/Kmart/Jo-Ann anchors.
There’s another mall in Hibbing too, the Mesabi Mall. It’s even smaller, anchored by a grocery store, Family Dollar, and L&M Fleet Supply (former Pamida). AT one point Mesabi had a Woolworth too, not sure of where though.
on June 21st, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Mark said: “that village looks like a big playground,are those building accessible or just there for decoration?”
All of the buildings inside the park are accesible. Some house entrances to rides, some are gift shops, some are restaurants, etc.
Where the Wizards of The Coast store used to be, there is now, or was when I last visited, (My most recent visit to the mall being about two years ago) a new game shop. They sell mostly board games but have card sets too.
One of the biggest, and most long-lived tourist attractions is the Build-a-bear workshop, which is on the first floor, right at the edge of the park.
Also, I don’t think anyone mentioned the Rotunda. A lot of events are held there (KS95 for Kids fund raiser annually, talent contests, and concerts), and that’s where all of the christmas trees are set up and decorated during the holidays. It is on the same side of the mall as Underwater World.
on June 25th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I visited MoA last friday. Is this mall the only place in the world where you get a Pepsi from McDonalds? Is Pepsi’s contract so strong at MoA that McDonalds has to serve Pepsi? WOW!!! This was my third visit here and the mall looks almost the same (I live in Illinois). This truly is a tourist mall. My brother-in-law lives in St. Paul and he rarely go here, prefering other malls in the area, even Har-Har Mall.
on June 26th, 2007 at 1:59 am
There are McDonald’s locations inside casinos in Las Vegas that have a contract with Pepsi that serve Pepsi exclusively.
on June 26th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
The McDonald’s locations at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro Mass also serve Pepsi.
Situations like that are more common than you may think. There are a few more situations (not just involving McDonald’s) that I know of. I once heard of a Pizza Hut in rural West Virginia in the 80s that had to serve Coke simply because no Pepsi bottlers served the area.
on July 18th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Hey, I can send you guys a PDF of a recent MOA mall map. It will be awesome.
on July 19th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Send away. I think it’s online on their website too though.
on October 18th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
What were the names of the older bars that closed on the upper level?
on November 1st, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Jonah, I’d love a PDA of the MOA Map please! (going there tomorrow)
send it to soozielaubach@hotmail.com
thanks,
Soozie
on November 1st, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Aw, sorry, there’s no earthly way I could scan the map…unless I give up part of my evening…
They have them there. Soozie, could you maybe take some new pictures for this website? That would be cool.
on November 13th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
The Phase II website has been taken offline apparently. I think I still have the high-rez images they had…I can email them to you…
on November 13th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
There is a Hooters. Planet Hollywood was up there at one time.
on March 13th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
The entertainment district, 4th Floor, of MOA included Player’s Sports Bar, a huge arcade (name escapes me), Jillians Bowling and Entertainment (21+), a comedy club and Gator’s Nightclub. Spending three years as an employee at one of MOA’s 522 stores the rumor was that the management team was charging more per square foot than landowners in Time’s Square NY. A new Corona themed complex is going in where the comedy club once was and will overlook the Nickelodeon themed Park at MOA.
Phase II has been talked about for years, years before IKEA even considered store here. With legislature reluctant to dole out more tax payer dollars to private entities (Twins Baseball and Target Corp) Phase II will probably not happen anytime soon. Of course that was said about Abercrombie building a Ruehl store here, and that’s opening in July!
I may have missed someone’s comment but the 3rd Floor will be home to major player in consumer electronics….BEST BUY will be opening a full retail store on the 3rd Floor West Garden where SportsAuthority (previously Oshman’s) once stood.
I visited MOA with my family the first year it was open and I still remember the new paint smell and the mini-golf course. The management is rejuvenating the mall’s interior with fresh paint, and ironically brought back a mini-golf course, Moose Mountain. The original golf course became General Mill’s Cereal Adventure, then Dinosaur Museum, and now another golf course!
on April 27th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
This past March, The Park at MOA (formerly known as Camp Snoopy) was renamed Nickelodeon Universe. Apparently, ever since this “new” park opened, admission prices have risen dramatically.
I really wish that the Mall of America would add another traditional department store to its roster (either via Phase II or by having a one-level department store comprise the entire fourth floor). Although I realize that department stores are on the decline, I think that having just four traditional department stores is way too little for the country’s largest mall.
on April 28th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
1) It looks like Phase II probably won’t happen.
2) MOA isn’t the largest mall in America, King of Prussia Mall is.
on April 28th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
That depends on how you define the largest mall. If you include the theme park MOA is the largest mall in the US, on the other hand if you just talk about retail space then that title goes to King of Prussia.
I know, this is not as simple as it should be.
on April 28th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
And hallway space! No one ever calculates hallway space. Do they?
on April 29th, 2008 at 9:31 am
That’s why they call it gross leasable area. Unless your putting carts & stores in the back hallways it doesn’t get counted in GLA calculations.
on May 10th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
The Phase II renderings look cool (I can send them if someone wants them), although the interior entrances to everything are a little weird. The office tower has entrances on the second, third, and fourth floors. IKEA’s interior exit is on Floor 2, the waterpark entrance is on Floor 3, the Recreation Anchor (Bass Pro) is all four floors, the hotel and the tower both have fourth floor exits.
on May 10th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Send em here:
AceJay[*at*]Gmail[*dot_com*]
on May 12th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
If you’re curious, the “farm toys” store is Al’s Farm Toys.
on July 16th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
According to a 1997 version of the MoA website, some of the 4th floor places were (please help me decipher which one is which):
America Live!, America’s Original Sports Bar, Fat Tuesday Daiquiri Bar & Fun Eatery, Flashbaxx, Gators, Knuckleheads, Ltl Ditty’s, and Planet Hollywood. These were all listed under “Entertainment Nightclubs”.
More Stuff: http://web.archive.org/web/19970409170013/www.mallofamerica.com/direct/home.htm
on July 22nd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
This is an impressive structure, but ugly architecture. The interior is pretty outdated.