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Mall of America

Largest shopping mall in the U.S.

Headquarters:
60 East Broadway
Bloomington, MN 55245
Employees: 11,000
Owned by Triple Five Group
Privately held

Website: http://www.mallofamerica.com

Career Site

The Mall of America is located in Bloomington, MN, a suburb of Minneapolis, and is the largest shopping mall in the United States with 520 stores and over 4.2 million square feet.

The mall has a rectangular shape and three levels of stores.

Each year, over 40 million tourists from Canada, England, Sweden, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Latin America, France, Germany and throughout the world come to Mall of America to take in the sights and capitalize on no sales tax on clothing in the state.

Anchor stores include Macy's, Nordstrom and Sears. There is also the largest indoor park in the country -- Nickelodeon Universe, with 27 rides and attractions; Sea Life Aquarium, a 1.2 million gallon walk-through aquarium; Moose Mountain Adventure Golf; Theatres at Mall of America - a 14-screen movie theater with VIP theatre.

Restaurants and entertainment in the mall include: American Girl, Hooters, Tony Roma's, House of Comedy, Napa Valley Grill, Buffalo Wild Wings, Famous Dave's BBQ, Rainforest Cafe, Tiger Sushi and Ruby Tuesday.

There is also a Lego store with over 180 different elements and a 34-foot-tall robot.

The temperature in the mall is kept at 70 degrees year round. There are 12,550 parking spaces available.

Over 400 events a year are held at the mall which feature celebrities, music artists, performers, athletes and authors.

More than 5,500 couples from around the world have exchanged vows in the mall's elegant Chapel of Love Wedding Chapel.

The Mall of America has a Parental escort Policy that requires guest 15 and younger to be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on Fridays and Saturdays after 4:00 p.m.

The open hours of the mall are 10 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. Monday thru Saturday and 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Mall of America is owned by Canadian-based Triple Five Group.

There are 11,000 year-round employees at Mall of America and 13,000 during peak periods of the year.

History

In 1982, Minnesota's professional baseball and football teams, the Twins and the Vikings, moved from Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington to the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. This opened 78 acres of highly accessible prime real estate. The property is located only a mile and a half from the Minneapolis St. Paul international Airport at the intersection of major highways.

Three years later, the Bloomington Port Authority purchased the stadium site and began entertaining proposals for development. There were four major proposals given serious consideration:

Office Complexes
Condominium/residential uses
New convention/visitors center
Mixed use retail/entertainment center

The fourth proposal was selected, and in 1986 the Ghermezian brothers signed a historic agreement with the Bloomington Port Authority to develop the nation's largest retail and entertainment complex. The Ghermezian's had just completed building the world's largest retail and entertainment center, West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada.

On June 14, 1989, the Ghermezian's Triple Five Group and local dignitaries broke ground. It was a day to remember. With cold winds gusting up to 35 miles an hour, the headlines read, "Why Minnesota?"

Despite the media detractors, naysayers and ominous groundbreaking conditions, construction continued and on August 11, 1992, when Mall of America® opened its doors, the face of the Minnesota had changed forever. The Mall was 71 percent leased with 330 brand new stores open for business, including four nationally recognized department stores: Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Nordstrom and Sears, together under one roof for the first time. It was also the first day of work for more than 10,000 employees.

The mall cost over $650 million to build.

Updated January 9, 2015