Mall Of America

[DodgerGirl]

When my family went to Minnesota for the very first time for my father's business trip Mom and I got to visit Mall Of America and I was amazed at how large it was and it had the Camp Snoopy theme park inside "Now a Nickelodeon theme park" and even had it's very own hotel across the street from the mall. Mall Of America was also where Jingle All The Way was filmed and the GSN game show Mall Masters was filmed at Mall Of America too. It's a shame you don't see malls like Mall Of America being built today and I think Mall Of America should be modeled as inspiration for the design of new shopping centers being built today

 

[FreeTime]

There is less and less appeal for many for malls. I don’t see this type being built again. I personally haven’t shopped in a mall for ten years or more.

 

[Karalee402]

I went when I was in college and remember being blown away by it! I'm not sure many cities have the capacity for malls like this, but it's very cool that this one exists! It's been so many years that I'd be interested in going back and seeing what's changed!

 

[mjkacmom]

lol I’m about 8 miles from the American dream mall in NJ, a monstrosity that has been in the works for decades. I’ve never been, some of my kids have stopped by, they did the indoor skiing once, my don’s friend lifeguarded at the water park so my son would go for free. It’s usually empty. https://www.americandream.com/

 

[kanerf]

The Mall took the place of Main street when people moved away from the small towns that had one. Today, the physical Mall has been replaced by the electronic Mall and I see little chance of it going back.

 

[sam_gordon]

When I'm traveling for work, I'll often go to a nearby mall to walk around (not necessarily "shop"). Many malls seem to be only about 60% occupied. Even what I'd consider "large" malls (Destiny USA in Syracuse is an example) seemed to have a LOT of unoccupied stores.

MOA is an attraction by itself. I don't know that it would have been built today. As @kanerf said, many people are used to shopping online, making a physical mall unnecessary, and a waste of resources.

 

[_19disnA]

I doubt you will see any new large indoor malls being built since that isn't the way people currently shop. Malls used to be someplace people would send the day and shop at various stores. Now it is a far more efficient use of your time to shop online for most items. Malls also became a place for unruly teens with nothing better to do then hang out and cause trouble. That also drove people away from wanting to shop there.

New shopping areas I see are all outdoor and you park near the store(s) where you want to shop. Typically there is a grocery store and then some other types of shops to encourage traffic.

 

[lynxstch]

I agree that malls are becoming a thing of the past. We have one mall, but you can barely call it that anymore. All of the anchor stores (except Walmart) are gone. There are far too many stores sitting empty and no one jumping to put anything new in there. I go in one end to my hair stylist and once in a great while the other end to go to Bath and Body Works or the movie theater, but that's the extent of my shopping in there.

 

[jlundeen]

We live about 20 minutes away from MOA and go there maybe once every year or so...(since I don't go very often, I usually forget where I parked and how to get back to my car!)

yeah, it's huge, but it's also a pain if you are trying to find particular stuff... Many public events are scheduled there which draws a crowd, and there are always people there for the rides,and other attractions. If you trying to really shop, it's kind of a "pita"....but you see some stores repeated throughout the building. It's good entertainment to wear out young ones though.

 

[hertamaniac]

The malls by my home (central Florida) serve as an air-conditioned space for the walkers. I highly doubt their purchases, likely a coffee/bakery, add much revenue to the mall. I personally haven't been to an indoor mall in years.

 

[disneyseniors]

On our first visit to MOA, we started on the lower level and checked out the shops, sometimes stopping and sometimes whizzing by Then on to the next level and same thing. We found that we spent all our shopping time doing this. We saw some things we were interested in at certain places to return to, But we couldn't find them again or remember their names!!! It felt like a whirlwind trip with not much in results. I know it was due to our touring schedule, but we wanted to see all the stores on that trip. That is impossible to do IMO. Later on, we settled on the stores we wanted to really see and shop at. We went to Build a Bear, and other shops and it worked out well. It's the huge size of the place that can be intimidating. There were also some gang types hanging around too, but we had no trouble with them.
I wouldn't go back now - way too big for me to navigate. Just my experiences at MOA.

 

[RedAngie]

lol I’m about 8 miles from the American dream mall in NJ, a monstrosity that has been in the works for decades. I’ve never been, some of my kids have stopped by, they did the indoor skiing once, my don’s friend lifeguarded at the water park so my son would go for free. It’s usually empty. https://www.americandream.com/

I read it opened just before covid hit. DH and I stopped in in fall 2022 coming back from New York. Yes, it has a water park, small amusement park, indoor skiing, etc, but I say for retail stores it was no more than 25% occupied.

We went to the Mall of America in the mid 1990s. I wonder if it’s still robust or has problems like many malls do these days.

 

[sam_gordon]

I read it opened just before covid hit. DH and I stopped in in fall 2022 coming back from New York. Yes, it has a water park, small amusement park, indoor skiing, etc, but I say for retail stores it was no more than 25% occupied.

We went to the Mall of America in the mid 1990s. I wonder if it’s still robust or has problems like many malls do these days.

I was there earlier this year and it seemed relatively busy and the majority of store fronts were taken.

 

[amcnj]

Many of the malls in my area are trying to reinvent themselves. They are adding more entertainment type places, converting or adding portions of the mall to house medical services and building apartments on mall property.

Some are still relatively busy, others seem like they are being used to film a zombie apocalypse movie.

 

[Babs Johnson]

I went to MOA soon after it opened. The Minnesota North Stars still played hockey across the street at the Met Center.

In my area at least two malls are basically ghost towns with very few stores still open. And two or three others are struggling.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

yeah, it's huge, but it's also a pain if you are trying to find particular stuff... Many public events are scheduled there which draws a crowd, and there are always people there for the rides,and other attractions. If you trying to really shop, it's kind of a "pita"....but you see some stores repeated throughout the building. It's good entertainment to wear out young ones though.

This was the thing that surprised me the most at Mall of America. Kind of felt cheated because while it was big some of the stores were duplicates.

I read it opened just before covid hit. DH and I stopped in in fall 2022 coming back from New York. Yes, it has a water park, small amusement park, indoor skiing, etc, but I say for retail stores it was no more than 25% occupied.

We went to the Mall of America in the mid 1990s. I wonder if it’s still robust or has problems like many malls do these days.

That small amusement park seems pretty expensive at $59-$79 for a day pass. It's 1 hour from Six Flags Great Adventure so it's not like they don't have competition.

 

[RedAngie]

That small amusement park seems pretty expensive at $59-$79 for a day pass. It's 1 hour from Six Flags Great Adventure so it's not like they don't have competition.

Yes, I suppose that’s a bit pricey. But I guess the mall is open all year instead of seasonal like Great Adventure.

 

[DodgerGirl]

The only mall that I see that compares to Mall Of America minus the Nickelodeon theme park is Great Mall Of The Bay Area in Milpitas California because I think they copied Mall Of America to create Great Mall Of The Bay Area. But when my mom and I went to Mall Of America we were surprised at how big it was and some of the stores were cool and that was where my mother and I first discovered Bloomingdale's and we were surprised at Bloomingdale's

 

[irlandaise]

The Great Mall is nothing like Mall of America. It's just a one-storey mall with a bunch of stores, a movie theater, and a food court (plus a couple of actual restaurants). Oh, and a Lego play area. No roller coasters, no aquarium, no miniature golf, no...etc. etc. etc.

 

[jlundeen]

Right before they built the MOA (in 1988 or 89), we did a driving trip to Edmonton, Alterba, where the Edmonton Mall is. This was the inspiration/creatitivy which MOA was based on, and built by the same group... the Ghermezian brothers. I can tell you, at least then, that the Edmonton Mall was MUCH bigger than MOA, but MOA has been enlarged since then. Not sure about it now, but then, it was worth the many days in the car with a couple of pre-teens... LOL