How did Minnesota get so many malls?
MINNEAPOLIS — This holiday season, many Minnesotans will head to one of the state's many malls.
Though Minnesota is home to the Mall of America, it's also the birthplace of the country's very first indoor mall — Southdale Center, which opened in 1956 and was developed by the Dayton family.
"We have a lot of malls in large part because of the weather," said Tom Fisher, the University of Minnesota's
At the time Southdale Center was one of the largest air conditioned spaces in the country, and there was even a lake to handle the heating and cooling of the building.
Austrian architect Victor Gruen designed the mall, which looked a lot different from its current design.
"It was the same width of a typical Vienna street and it had trees, it had birds, it had fish. There was a pond and it had sidewalk cafes," said Fisher.
The innovative shopping center garnered international attention and sparked a mall boom.
In 1992, the Mall of America opened its doors to much excitement. The mall sits on the site of the former Metropolitan Stadium, where the Twins and Vikings played before moving to Minneapolis.
"The Mall of America was the first time there was this realization that malls were destinations," said Fisher.
While some malls continue to see success, the rise of online shopping has caused foot traffic to be way down.
"There was some research done a few years ago that anticipated that about 25% of malls are going to be closing in the next five years," said Fisher.
In this day and age, Fisher says malls that are succeeding are creating experiences for people that are more than just buying goods.
"I think were going to see some malls catered to older populations, some malls that cater to families, some malls that cater to the Latino or Somali community, so you'll see some kind of differentiation between malls," said Fisher.
Fisher says some malls are opening stores where customers can pick up online products or test them out before buying. It's another effort to transform malls in the world of online shopping.
