Mall of America is 20 years old

11 years ago

And we actually went there on it's opening day. We had just moved to the Twin Cities so I could start grad school at the end of August. Our kids were 18 months old and 3.5 years old. We spent a fair amount of time over those first months at Camp Snoopy, which is now named something else. There was no aquarium at that time, otherwise we would have gone there too. It was also my first time shopping at Nordstroms, and I fell in love with that store. I didn't have a lot of money at that time, probably a good thing.

They said on the news this morning that 40 million people visit MOA every year! It's not a place I would ever travel to visit, but it was nice to live so close.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (15)

phyllis__mn
11 years ago
We used to go fairly often, but haven't been there now for a few years.....too much walking!!
jel48
11 years ago
Amazing!

I wasn't there opening day, but was there within the first year, and each year after for several years (as I had a software user's group meeting that took me from Nebraska to Minneapolis each summer). It was just unbelievable!

I'm in northern MI now, and although I make the trip back to MN to visit my son and family every couple of months, we rarely go to MOM. My step-daughter has talked us into shopping there a couple of times during the past 4+ years, but Gary and I don't really like the crowds well enough to be convinced often. Now that Emi is out of high school, visits to MOM will probably be very very rare.

It's hard to believe that it's been there 20 years now!
Related Discussions
Trying to kill a 30 year old cherry tree....need help.
Q
Comments (9)
The active ingredients in Round-Up should do it--use the concentrated solution, 40% or more active ingredient, and don't dilute, as will stump killers that contain phenoxy herbicides, although I'm not sure if any of them will be effective if applied in the winter when the tree is fully dormant. Too bad the tree had to go. Any chance, now that it has been stumped, to let it regrow and keep it pruned within your space limits? If you liked the cherries, that would be a great way to "replace" the old one.
...See More
Replacing a 20 year old Trane Unit 2.5 ton
Q
Comments (65)
Heres a Link: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/saving-energy-manual-j-and-manual-d Even when they do the calculations, the results are usually wrong In his posted comment, Bailes raised an interesting point: the problem of “garbage in, garbage out” (GIGO) Manual J calculations. Several energy experts have commented on the GIGO problem, including John Proctor, Hank Rutkowski, and Allison Bailes. Hank Rutkowski, the mechanical engineer who wrote the original Manual J document, was recently interviewed for a profile posted on the Green Building Talk Web site. The piece notes, “Rutkowski estimates that only 10% of heating and cooling equipment sizing decisions are based on some type of Manual J calculation and that less than 1% of the jobs are based on an aggressive implementation of the recommended design procedures.” Rutkowski explains the GIGO problem this way: “Manual J is a good tool if you use it aggressively. Follow the rules and it will give you a reasonable margin of safety. But the average contractor says, ‘Better safe than sorry,’ so he fudges here and there. He adds 5 to 10 degrees to the summer and winter design temperatures, calls the building ‘average’ instead of ‘tight’ and doesn't take credit for shading by interior blinds and drapes. Then when he finally comes up with a load number for sizing, he throws in an extra half-ton of AC just for the heck of it.” For a high-performance home, sizing by Manual J may still result in oversizing Several years ago, I had a conversation with building scientist Joe Lstiburek about air conditioners installed in Building America homes in Las Vegas. “HVAC designers are committed to the institutional oversizing of air conditioning equipment,” Lstiburek told me. “The average system is sized at 150% to 200% of the requirements of Manual J. They oversize because they don’t know what they will get for a building envelope, and to compensate for duct leakage and inappropriate refrigerant charge. If you size according to Manual J, there is already a fudge factor built in. But most designers then add another fudge factor.” According to Lstiburek, their experience proved the high-performance Building America homes in Las Vegas could have had HVAC systems sized at about 60% of Manual J. To be conservative, his team recommended installing systems sized at 80% of Manual J. Does oversizing matter? There are strong arguments against routine oversizing of HVAC equipment. The best argument is simple: oversized equipment usually costs more than right-sized equipment. Oversized equipment suffers from short cycling. For example, an oversized furnace brings a home up to temperature quickly, and then shuts off. A few minutes later, it comes on again, only to shut off quickly. Many homeowners find the see-saw sound of a short-cycling furnace to be annoying. When air conditioners short cycle, the units don't run long enough to achieve much dehumidification ��" at least in theory. (During the first few minutes of operation, an air conditioner cools a house. But not enough moisture has collected on the cold coil or on the pan below for any water to have actually gone down the drain. When the air conditioner turns off, all of the moisture in the pan and on the coil just re-evaporates.) The conventional wisdom may be wrong, however Increasing evidence shows that energy experts have exaggerated the negative effects of equipment oversizing, however. Studies have confirmed that oversized furnaces don't use any more energy than right-sized furnaces. Moreover, newer modulating or two-speed furnaces operate efficiently under part-load conditions, solving any possible problems from furnace oversizing. Although there are ample reasons to believe that oversized air conditioners are less effective than right-sized equipment at dehumidification, at least one field study was unable to measure any performance improvements or energy savings after replacing an existing oversized air conditioner with a new right-sized unit. The bottom line The main reason to choose right-sized equipment is to avoid paying too much money for equipment you don't need. A Manual J calculation will ensure you don't spend more than necessary for your furnace, boiler, or air conditioner. Moreover, a Manual J calculation will provide room-by-room heat loss and heat-gain information that is essential to good duct design. Without good duct design, you're running the risk of comfort complaints.
...See More
Can you IMAGINE putting a six-year-old kid on a non-stop train?
Q
Comments (18)
A shallow grave was not uncommon when hand dug by one individual on private property, especially in winter. Vaults were not common either. There are cemeteries in southern Illinois containing graves without vaults. Sometimes this is evidenced by a significant depression over the grave. For example, I had a grade school friend who was hired to mow a cemetery one summer in the 1940s. He was merrily making his way across the landscape with the mower when he and the mower sunk into a grave. Now, this young man was on the superstitious side and he thought for sure that the dead was about to grab him. He scrambled from the hole and ran from the cemetery. It is only in the last 60 years that some of these communities have passsed ordinances requiring burial vaults. Before that, it was the family's choice. A number of families short of funds buried without vaults; Some did it for personal belief reasons: There is a passage in the bible when paraphrased reads: You are made from dust and to dust you shall return. The reasoning is: Why prolong something that is going to happen anyway. Without vaults, wood caskets eventually decay and collaspe. Sometimes, a collasped grave makes a void under the surface and is not apparent until someone steps on it. It is dangerous to the grounds keeper and to anyone strolling the cmemtery. A vault requirement has become commonplace to protect from this hazard. Your theory of murder of Dear Addy is very plausible, but consider other possibilities: 1. Addy keeled over from heart attack. The shocked husband did not know what to do and buried her just as she fell. He surmised that he would be under suspicion. She would have been fully clothed and with shoes. Embalming is not necessary if the body is buried within 3 days after death. In early America, embalming was a luxury and not commonly done. It became popular during the Civil War because it was necessary to preserve the body for a week or more to allow time to ship the body and for relatives to gather for the funeral. Many soldiers were buried on or neaby the battlefield where they fell - some in mass graves. These bodies were not emblamed. 2. Addy died by an accident. 3. Addy committed suicide. Such an event would have been hush-hush. The 6 yr old: I know it was possible to put a 6 yr old on the train and semd her from Denver to Chicago. I myself would have not done this. I would have required an adult escort. I guessing she was put in charge of the Conductor who would have seen to it that she got off at the right stop and to answer her questions. Passenger service was much more personal in those days. But if i had been that little girl, I'd been very afraid. I would not have sent her alone on such a trip. There are too many things that could go wrong. Maybe her birthdate is in error and she was older than 6. An Aside: In my family search, I found an ancestor who died during a harsh winter. The ground was frozen deeply and the cemetery crew was not able to dig a proper grave on time. (They did not have bull dozers, back hoes, or nimble tractors back then. In frozen ground, graves were dug by pick and shovel.) A wake and funeral was celebrated on scheduled. The casket and body was put outside to freeze. The "stiff" was left frozen until the grave could be deepened. He was interred about 2 weeks after the funeral.
...See More
What a waste - dead malls
Q
Comments (31)
Interesting how the shopping styles change. Lots of malls around here are having trouble and some have closed but the Mall of America is going strong. It all started in Edina, MN when Southdale Shopping Center opened the first enclosed regional shopping center in the nation. There were certain advantages to the mall concept such as having a number of places to choose your shoes or the like. There'd be various specialty shops, etc. Instead of having someone from housewares come make a key for you, you could talk to a locksmith. When much younger and more willing and able to walk more it was fine, but today I'm not built for malling. There were some smaller malls that did quite well too for a number of years. But then people's shopping habits started to change. The convenience era began. Fast food and fast shopping. One stop and get your turnip seeds, house paint and aspirin in one cart. Walmart, Kmart, Target and more began popping up and Powers, JC Penney, Sears-Roebuck (remember Roebuck?) Montgomery Ward and more began to suffer. Economic ups and downs and malls suffered. People started to prefer specialty stores. Then the traditional mall anchors such as Wards and Sears began to hurt more. Many didn't survive. Add to the problem stores like Kohl's and others I can't recall offhand, have chosen to pull out of the malls and go with freestanding buildings. Some of the malls brought on their own problems. They tried to go cheap. Didn't maintain the building and people didn't like grungy looking places. Leaking roofs didn't help and parking lots that resembled minefields would shoo away people too. Rent is expensive for small tenants and the economic bust of the last near-decade has had its impact too. Many of the malls around here are being bought and replaced with townhouses. One local one, Apache Plaza was developed into a mini village with streets of small shops, plus a Walmart and Cub foods.
...See More
monica_pa Grieves
11 years ago
I remember when it was built, and I also went to Minneapolis many times for work.
It touted itself as the largest Mall in the US, based on its square footage of land, but it really was an indoor amusement park surrounded by a "frame" of limited retail space. Lots of walking around and up and down escalators in a square circle to get from store to store.
linda_in_iowa
11 years ago
DS & I made a day trip there one of the first years I was here in Iowa. We weren't really impressed because it is so big. I am sure it is a teen girls dream mall.
Rudebekia
11 years ago
I live very close to it and rarely if ever go. Too big!
monica_pa Grieves
11 years ago
I preferred Rosedale Mall. More stores. Better all around.
nanny98
11 years ago
Shopping is not a favorite thing for me, but when we went to Iowa for a Winnebago Rally a few years ago, one of the side trips we took was to the Mall of America. I can only say that it was an experience worth having; just amazing to see so many people and so much stuff, reminded me of a state fair. Seeing the Cabella's on the way there definitely was a show stopper.
3katz4me
11 years ago
I used to drive by it every day on my way to work when it was under construction - very interesting to watch. I also used to go there once in a while when that was the only Macys in Mpls. Now that Daytons became Marshall Fields became Macys I rarely go there. Plus Macys isn't what it used to be.

I do go to Rosedale occasionally and it certainly doesn't have more stores than MOA. Mostly I shop online.
cynic
11 years ago
I've never been a mall lover. Bigger is worser AFAIC. Although I'm not close to it, I've never been to MOA and don't plan to go there. Been to Rosedale Center a few times when I did some work there and it's not bad but again, too big for my shopping needs and no desire to hang around there either.

FWIW, Rosedale Center has 150-160+/- stores while MOA has 520+/-+.

Used to be that more stores=more competition and that would mean better prices and service. Not since the concept of the "mall" happened!

I preferred the Apache Plaza and Brookdale sized shopping centers if I had to go to a mall. But they're both history. Both sites are now home to Walmart stores as the anchor in the developments.
joan_mn
11 years ago
We live about 60 miles from it. I've been there three times, twice to meet someone and once to take my GD, Steph, to the aquarium. I detest shopping, and it is way too big to find anything worth going for, to me. Give me my super WalMart in my hometown any day.
Rudebekia
11 years ago
Rosedale and HarMar are my "go to" malls. Even the restaurants and theaters at Mall of America don't attract me. I suspect it is mostly out of towners who shop there--no one I know visits it more than once or twice per year.
emma
11 years ago
My husband and I went to a Cushman meet in Farmington a few years back and the women had a day trip to the mall. It was the first time I had seen the double buses, don't know the correct term for them but very interesting. They impressed me more than the mall.
golfergrrl
11 years ago
Here's a story. We were visiting in Denver and decided to
take a side trip to MOA. We'd never been to Minn. and had
heard that MOA was something special. My friend is a shopoholic and I wanted to see the shark exhibit. Well,
it was a nice 1800 mile drive...to and from. The amusement
park was impressive. Like someone said, waaay too much
walking. We have a zillion malls here in California...this one was just bigger. After visiting SeaWorld and the Monterey Aquariam, the shark exhibit was a disappointment.
We did discover the Aquamassage machines which are heavenly.
Minnesota is a beautiful state. The rest areas are a treat.
Our hotel was across the street. My most fun was watching
the planes land... flying right by our window.
arcy_gw
11 years ago
When it first opened it was full of very unique and interesting stores. My son's first Christmas I had the best time shopping there. Presently it is like every other mall, and Mpls has a dearth of them. It is still large but nothing unique to make it worth the trip or traffic hassle. I would NEVER, never go on a week-end. There are actually thousands who fly in or make it a destination on their vacation. SAD!! Now that they could not keep Camp Snoopy I would be surprised if we ever go again.
bengardening
11 years ago
My comp quit working and I finally got a new one.

When we lived in Bismarck one of my DD friends won a trip for 4 to the MOA. The kids were about 9 years old. It had to be taken before school started and I was the only parent that could take them. I had only driven in Minneapolis one time before and I was following my husband then. One of the kids had an Aunt and Uncle who lived down there and he helped guide me a little bit. There were 2 girls and 2 boys who went. The package included 2 night stay in a Double Tree Inn, tickets to Camp Snoopy, tickets for the Aquarium and food at the Rain Tree Forest Cafe. I can't remember if there was anything else. I know this isn't very nice but I let the kids do anything they wanted at the hotel. The first thing one kid did when we got there was spill a bag of chips on the floor. We kind of made a disaster out of the room. The kids had a lot of fun. When we went to Camp Snoopy it was on the last day and I knew I had to drive the 400+ miles back to Bismarck and I was tired. I layed down on one of the benches and went to sleep. One of the security guards came over and asked me if I was OK. The kids got a laugh out of that. All in all we had a good time.

Mall of America is 20 years old

Comments (15)

phyllis__mn

jel48

Related Discussions

monica_pa Grieves

linda_in_iowa

Rudebekia

monica_pa Grieves

nanny98

3katz4me

cynic

joan_mn

Rudebekia

emma

golfergrrl

arcy_gw

bengardening

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US