Minnesota Megamall Gets Bragging Rights : Mall of America: An estimated 16 million people shopped, miniature-golfed, chowed down, went for a ride or partied there in its first six months of operation.
An attraction to rival Disney World or just an overgrown shopping mall? A little more than six months after opening its doors, the Mall of America seems to be somewhere in between.
“I feel overwhelmed. It’s decadent,” said Jan Fernkes of Bloomington, a first-time visitor peering incredulously at the seven-acre amusement park. “I’m just stumbling around here trying to decide which way is up.”
She isn’t alone.
“I’ve been here three times, and I still get lost,” Patrice Asleson of Burnsville, Minn., said between bites of baked potato in the food court. “I haven’t come close to seeing it all.”
According to conservative estimates, as many as 16 million people from every state shopped, miniature-golfed, chowed down, went for a ride or partied at the nation’s largest retail and entertainment center in its first six months of operation--between Aug. 11 and February. Forty million visitors were expected to trek there annually by 1996, according to pre-opening figures. And total sales after one year are expected to be 20% higher than the original $650-million projection.
Despite the mega-numbers, retail analysts aren’t ready to predict that the 2.6-million-square-foot mall will work in the long run. The novelty hasn’t worn off, they say, and the real test will come in the next couple of years.
“Right now, I think they’ve got a right to brag a little bit,” said Sid Doolittle, a partner with Chicago-based retail strategists McMillan Doolittle. “But it’s such a big project and it requires such huge volumes of visitors and purchases to be successful. Can it sustain that over longer periods?”
Numbers aside, the first six months showed that even the chrome-and-pastel city-within-a-city offering everything from Alamo flags to stuffed zebras has a slightly seamy side.
It became the target of a boycott last summer when the Minnesota chapter of Business and Professional Women accused Hooters restaurant, which features waitresses in shorts and cutoff tops, of exploiting women.
And during a recent weekend, reality set in when three people were shot at the Knott’s Camp Snoopy amusement park in a fight over a hockey jacket.
“The whole point of malls is to provide a new urban experience for people who are terrified of the real thing and had quite enough of it,” said University of Minnesota professor and culture observer Karal Ann Marling. “It’s ironic, because there really is no escape.”
Maybe not, but the Mall of America is trying its darndest to be a place people escape to--when cabin fever strikes, the kids become hyperactive or when a craving for fried cheese curds sets in.
The mall has tried to be everything to everybody. An ecumenical church has held services in its rotunda. Thousands of fitness-seekers have power-walked through its miles of corridors. A couple even plan to exchange wedding vows there and hold the reception at Camp Snoopy.
The mall’s proprietors have kept copious notes on who is doing what under its gargantuan roof. Among its observations so far:
* On average, visitors spend more than three hours per trip. Sixty-six percent eat something in that span and 26% spend money at Camp Snoopy.
* Nine of 10 patrons make a purchase, spending an average of $84 per trip, compared to the $35 industry average.
* 70% of all visitors come from within a 150-mile radius.
* Over 4 million rides have been taken at Camp Snoopy. The Ripsaw roller coaster leads the pack, but Paul Bunyan’s Logshoot is a close second. The park has also dispensed 20,000 gallons of boysenberry punch, 129,000 pounds of french fries and 32,000 pounds of mashed potatoes.
* 97% of guests say they plan to return.
* About 289,000 visitors have come by tour bus, and 96 groups have flown in from Japan.
Not everyone who comes from afar is impressed.
Louise and Wayne Stegman drove in from St. Joseph, Mo. They said the megamall compares unfavorably to the West Edmonton Mall in Canada, the largest on the continent.
“They have fountains, things on display; this one’s so plain,” Louise Stegman said.
“And there’s not much for the fellas to do while the women are shopping,” her husband added.
No records have been kept as to how long one must spend at the mall to truly get a sense of it.
“The fact that it’s so big creates a mystery, which ultimately may stand in its favor,” culture maven Marling said. “But will this still be a charmed environment in two or three years when we’ve all learned where the Easy Spirit store is?”
