25 years of shopping, hanging out at Mall of America
Aug 11, 2017, 12:45 PM
Roll out the cake: A mall so big it was named after an entire country, Mall of America celebrated its 25th anniversary on Friday.
The shopping center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington with own ZIP code received a ton of best wishes on social media.
Happy 25th Birthday @MallofAmerica! Wishing you many more. https://t.co/bzys7IWY9c @BloomingtonCVB #MOAturns25 pic.twitter.com/eZIFOgwxw9
— TheWalkingTourists (@WalkingTourists) August 11, 2017
Happy birthday to our great friends at the @mallofamerica! A quarter century never looked better. #MOAturns25 pic.twitter.com/z8QXJ5wXl6
— Minnesota Super Bowl (@MNSuperBowl2018) August 11, 2017
On August 11, 1992 at 9 a.m., we opened our doors for the first time. Twenty-five years later, the fun hasn't stopped! #MOAturns25 pic.twitter.com/Bab8awVj2g
— Mall of America (@mallofamerica) August 11, 2017
The Biggest Mall in the United States Celebrates its 25th Anniversary –
@mallofamerica #MOAturns25 #kdwbnoah – https://t.co/AcNWW7PJNm— Florida Daily Post (@FLDailyPost) August 11, 2017
The mall opened under quite bit a of scrutiny in 1992. It was not a regular mall. At. All.
First, it was ginormous — 270 stores were scheduled to welcome shoppers, a TV station reported and cost over $650 million. Local businesses felt their livelihoods threatened.
Second, it had an amusement park. We are not talking about a lone carousel. Camp Snoopy (eventually making way for the 7-acre Nickelodeon Universe) boasted roller coasters and a log chute ride, a train, a Ferris wheel, big ol’ spinning rides and swinging rides.
Up until a few years ago, high school had operated out of the mall. That is a teenager’s dream.
The megamall (5.6 million square feet) even has a chapel where thousands have married, and a miniature golf course. And a zip line. Multiple stadiums could fit inside.
More than 40 million visit yearly, which beats Disney World attendance by miles.
Let’s take a look at the mall that could eat America.
Opening day 1992
Mall trivia
About that zip line
Surprise!
Then there was the time YouTube regular Serge the Car Hauler Dude fluttered $1,000 down on a crowd during Black Friday 2013.
Stuff happens at the mall, y’all.
