Southdale Center (Edina, MN) - the first modern mall?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- This is it! The first* modern mall! Come join me on a tour of Southdale Center where I share its history. What's Southdale like in 2021? Is it alive? Dead? I share this tour to let you decide.
* I explain this in the video
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Having grown up in Edina during the 50’s and 60’s, I have many fond memories of Southdale having been there countless times with my parents. There was even a small zoo in the basement that most are unaware of. In my later years, I was a police detective with the Edina Police Department and had an office in the basement for almost 14 years where I processed shoplifters and conducted retail crime investigations. Never a dull moment at the Southdale Mall!
Brandon Deshler (Edina Police Retired) 39:15
Edina is one of the most boring suburbs in the twin cities area. It has also become kind of ghetto. When people say Edina is where rich people live I usually laugh😅
That mall was all downhill once Suncoast Motion Picture store closed. Had a very different vibe since it was at night. Very thoughtful and meditative. Loved it.
Thank you for these videos. I lived i Minnesota all my life until i moved to the Southwest two years ago. Used to live a mile from here. Wife used to work here and I've been to sereval of the malls you've filmed. It's so wonderfully nostalgic for me.
Keep in mind, Southdale has been as you described for many years. It's not great, but it's not getting especially worse. And in the mall world, that's almost a win...
And they’re at least trying to adapt between the Lifetime Fitness, Dave & Busters and government offices which is more than you can say for many malls.
I did go to Southdale , in 1992 a friend of my moms went I haven’t been there since about 1976 that was fun!❤
I worked there in the early 2000's at Mrs. Fields and A&W!and Gsmes by James!
Before covid this place was actually pretty busy. I went regularly
I loved Southdale and Burnsville back in the 80s. The basement area in Southdale with Suncoast Pictures, Al's Diner (?) etc. was almost like a secret find. ;-) I despise outdoor malls. Thankfully I live near Ridgedale which is still alive and well-ish.
Well as Dead Mall videos go this was one of the better type with a strong voiced narrator and many cool shoots of the Mall .
What a walk down memory lane.
I would shop here every Black Friday.
I worked at the MAC inside macys
I worked at the GNC…
Learned to drive here.
So many memories…
Yes! I’ve been waiting for this one!
I'm from Michigan and the Marketplace tile was at my Hudson's which was acquired by Macy's. It was where a bakery used to be. I remember getting cookies as a kid and I still get excited like a kid seeing the tile every time I go to the mall.
I agree with you about the outdoor centers. We have the opposite problem here in Houston, relentless heat and humidity for half the year or more. Only a handful of old malls here have been redeveloped in that style. There are not a lot of new ones either, but we have a ton of big box centers. Anyway, great video on a historic mall. Southdale seems to have just enough to keep it going, but desperately needs another retailer to fill that empty Herbergers.
Now it is, I'm buying the area!
After watching, I think your channel is definitely on par with the best retail channels out there. Great work!
This was the most upscale mall of the super regional malls in the eightird. When I went there in Nov 88, I thought it was boring as hell. Every space was a retail store and very few restaurants. Also it was too expensive and stores were mostly for rich middle aged women. Knollwood had more stuff for teenage boys.
We lived in Minneapolis in the early sixties, and Southdale was my mom's favorite destination. In the lower level, that had no stores, there was an empty room with coin operated horses(life sized), a rocket ship, and three cages in the back, with a wallaby, a cockatoo, and some kind of monkey, I think.
My grandparents lived off of 50th & France. They would take us to Southdale shortly after it opened. So many childhood memories. Especially in the lower level kiddie area. Of course the Dayton family had the greatest store and were instrumental in developing Southdale.
Completely agree with you about outdoor malls. Rosedale AMC put their ticket booth outside and it was a disaster.
I didn’t experience that first hand, but I remember reading about it in the newspaper.
They did very much the same to my childhood mall, the Nanuet Mall in Rockland county NY. Opened in 1969 when I was three it was the perfect size mall. The county didn’t need a huge mall. Buy they built one anyway, the palisades mall which is half empty and in foreclosure. So they torn down the Nanuet mall and put up an open air lifestyle mall. It’s over 60% vacant now. New York winters are cold. So people go to the Paramus Park mall 20 minutes away. Just ridiculous planning.
Oh yeah! I remember the Southdale Arby's! It wasn't in the food court. They had their own store front not far from one of the entrances.
I remember!!!!!
Great video. Thanks.
DeLeo Bros is a step above Sbarro in my opinion. Similar by the slice or whole pizza concept. I’d recommend it if you’re at Southdale or MOA and wanting a slice!
Thanks for the info! Now that I know they have slices, I’ll have to check it out.
I haven't been here in a few years, and had no idea the third floor got so abandoned! I remember the store that was originally Suncoast Pictures became a locally-owned video game store for awhile, which was fun. All gone now!
California Pizza Kitchen was my only reason to visit Southdale. Have not been there since it closed.
I learned to drive in this parking lot
I had to go to the mall of America to the apple store to get my phone fixed last Saturday
And I listened to some great Christmas music while I waited for it to be fixed!
There was even a Mini dealer by the movie theater. Circa 2005? If I recall.
I will never understand why people hate the Mall so much. What's great about the Mall is it doesn't matter what the weather is doing because you're protected inside with lots to do. Plus you get exercise with walking. I miss the way Malls use to be back in the 80s and 90s. Nothing today compares to the Mall. On line shopping is boring and you never really know what they are going to ship to you and returning items is a pain. At least when you go to the Mall you know what you're getting. And I am not a fan of the Target style complex. Boring.
It’s because it’s Edina
@@argynews2825 ?
@@argynews2825 Every Day I Need Attention.
I used to work at Southdale. I ate at DeLeo's twice. The first time I ate there it was so bad I assumed something must have gone wrong. It was so bad I decided I had to try it again, because I assumed something must have gone wrong. Have you ever eaten at a restaurant where the food was SO bad you tried it again? I never had. Anyway, the food was just as bad the second time. When I see it's still open all these years later I kind of want to try it again. It can't possibly be serving food as bad as it was when I ate there or it would be out of business. Also, I noticed the opened a Mall of America location too. Makes me feel crazy.
I cant wait for this. I KNOW this will be a good video.
I haven’t been to the outlet mall in Eagan since early 2019
I remember a CPK mall entrance.
I managed the 1 Potato 2 in the mid 90's and the Cinnabon in the late 90's
Thanks for this video. This is one of the Twin Cities area malls I haven't been to yet, and thanks to this video, never will. It's way too big for its own good with only a few stores. Why travel here and walk a million empty hallways just to get to a store that's in a better, smaller, more occupied and busier mall.
We drove about :0 miles from Chaska to Southdale mall in Edina, Bloomington , were considered upscale cities for years. My dad would hate freeway driving. Going to Southdale Target, was closest to chaska, until Eden Prairie got a Target store in the 1980 s, then mom started getting back to Target, by 2000, Chaska got a SuperTarget. Mom would have been excited about SuperTarget, in our city😊
Yeah they're no longer upscale anymore...kind of becoming rather ghetto.
Great video 👍👏🏽
Very depressing, grew up in the '60's. Loved southdale. Haven't been there since 1980, family and kids have gotten in the way.
I always loved Southdale Mall. I would make special trips there to eat at Ruby Tuesday's and go to Gortons and the other shops they have/had. Southdale had a really nice JCP(for as nice as JCP could be,they have been going down the toilet too), better than the JCP here, which is surprisingly still open.
My closest mall, Apache, is doing so/so, minus Herbergers we have three anchors still. I think Apache should turn the vacant Herbergers into a condo or apartment unit, or a Dave and Busters as they are losing a good opportunity there. That would bring in shoppers and maybe keep the mall from looking like Valley View mall, I believe. Gosh, I use to love going to Valley View mall, I can't believe how bad it has gotten. It was soooo busy at one time, just elbow to elbow busy.
Most of Apache is occupied, so I suppose that is good and it would probably make for a boring video, since it's not all boarded up. They even have new stores coming in from time to time. It's definitely not as busy as it once was though.
I am a late 80s , super early 90s baby, and back in my day(what a cliche term) the mall was the place to be. It was arm to arm, bump into people on the weekends busy and not just during the holidays. I try to frequent the malls as much as possible. I don't want to see them die. I still like seeing what I am buying and touching it. People complain about all of our stores dying, but they use Amazon for everything, Amazon is going to kill brick and mortar totally at some point. People don't realize what they have until it is gone, I am guilty of learning that the hard way. Get out and shop, folks. Once you are old and can't get out as much, you will be sorry you didn't. Or in my case, come down sick and can't get out as much. Get out there people!
J used to go there all the time in the 80s and rarly 90s. I am going there today.
This used to be a great mall in the 80s and 90s....even early 2000s.
Deleo Pizza is pretty decent pizza, it is a New York style pizza location. It's pretty decent for the kind of pizza. The biggest draw of it, is as you eluded to in your commentary. The 80s decor makes it feel a bit like a trip back in time. It may be worth popping in, at least once.
Am I mistaken or do you have a video that shows a former Suncoast storefront with glass palm trees? I'm trying to find where that might be. I thought it was Eden Prairie Center but I couldn't find it.
By the way, I think DeLeo Bros. Pizza is great. Their pepperoni four cheese is incredible and the atmosphere is homey.
The Suncoast storefront might be Maplewood Mall. I don't have an Eden Prairie Center video, yet, but I have an idea for a Christmas in July video that'll be releasing next summer. I finally went to DeLeo Bros in September and it was fantastic. I think my friend and I also had the pepperoni four cheese.
Yodeling!urneal Catch you later.
Just discovered your channel! Have you been to the new Kowalski’s at Southdale yet?
Welcome! Yes, I thought the grocery prices were a little high, but I enjoyed the curry soup I made at the ramen bar. I would go back for the freshly prepared food.
@@YodelingLoonRetail Yeah, those prices are a Kowalski’s signature. I only go when I can get my mom’s 20% employee discount!
Having moved to Minnesota and was explained to why they call it a center versus our mall is a center is basically a enclosed mall. Unfortunately that definition and verbiage seems to be lost on the modern public shoppers. Such as the Burnsville Center is called a center. Some people will denigrate the name to the more common term mall but it’s not a mall
This is supposedly the oldest indoor mall in America.
I wish i could have seen it in the 50s 60s and 70s!!!!!!!
Here in Charlotte NC we have 3 healthy malls
I have a question for you - does Minnesota have any Dillard's? I wondered with the vacant Bon-Ton/Sears locations if that would be a good place to open some?
Minnesota has great malls. I have only been to the Mall of America one time and that was during the Camp Snoopy theme park.
I don’t think we do. My first Dillards sighting was at Jordan Creek.
@@YodelingLoonRetail: Eastern Iowa actually has some. If you come here, I can think of about 2 malls that do have one on the Iowa side. Moline, IL has a regional clearance center.
Dillard's has some good deals upon occasion.
It is practically empty of stores and devoid of people!
Eagan has the crappy Outlet Mall
It sure it crap.
This mall is ugly. I went into it and felt like there were few stores and pointless design.
Southdale needs Hotels, Apartments, Bars,Pubs, Roller rink, Ice skating, Ski hill, gun range Whole Foods a Trolley system to ride around, because all that walking is annoying.
The restaurants need to have open seating to the mall to add life
Har Mar Mall - Roseville
I disagree with his comments on Mall of America. Very easy to get into and out. It's really a well done Mall.
I may have to agree with you and disagree with my past self. :D MOA is a pleasant place to visit during weekdays for a quick lunch in one of the food courts, but dang is it crowded on the weekend.
Minneapolis has "Dale" malls, while Milwaukee has "Ridge" malls...
and then there is a marriage of the two: Ridgedale mall
E.D.I.N.A
Every Day I Need Attention.
Fun fact, Dayton family even had their own currency or Bank Notes.
I have heard that acronym, but I didn't know that about the bank notes. Thanks for sharing!
@@YodelingLoonRetail The little mall in Roseville, by Rosedale was called Pavilion Place? Had a theater.
My bad, they were near but not the same. There was an independent Audio King in the parking lot. One has a old country buffet
I eant malls to come back strong.
The original design of the mall has been replaced by lots of additions which makes it look bloated and uninteresting. I watched a video from the 1950s and was impressed how functional and warm the original building was. This mall lost its identity.
Is this mall closed or open, looks empty !!
It's still open, but it's usually quiet during the week. I was just there yesterday.
That place really died since covid
You know, it is an exceeding, mystery to me why enclosed living spaces of the same nature as malls, have not become the norm today. When I was a kid, throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, it was always, the assumption that this would be the wave of the future. I live in Canada myself, where a good chunk of our year is spent in winter conditions, so climate controlled, indoor, living spaces, seems the most logical thing, under the sun. The same applies to extremely, hot parts of the world, as well. It's worth noting that malls in Asian Countries have not faced to same decline as in North America, for this very reason, I believe. They are places of refuge from the heat, so no one wants to see them gone. Well, the same applies to cold, northern, nations as well. The lack of vision in this world, completely, boggles my mind sometimes.
My Best. Be Well and Safe. Out. 🙂🖐🏼
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I was surprised not to hear about the Lake View Store here in Duluth: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_View_Store. I always thought that was the first "mall", but I suppose it depends on definitions.