Largest Shopping Malls in the United States

[Wigs]

my post was simply a joke to provoke the people from the minneapolis area and it worked.

OMG! we have the biggest, bestest mall!

Let's keep on building these mega malls and then complain that our downtowns are empty

[toggie]

my post was simply a joke to provoke the people from the minneapolis area and it worked.

"Internet troll
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
On the Internet, a troll is a person who posts messages that create controversy or an angry response without adding content to the discussion, often intentionally. Though technically different from flaming, which is an unmistakable direct personal attack, trolls often resort to innuendo or misdirection in the pursuit of their objective, which is to create controversy for its own sake, discredit those with whom they disagree, or sabotage discussion by creating an intimidating atmosphere."

[supastar]

It is rather funny that some Canadians on this forum blast American cities for sprawl when one of their own is home to the world's largest waste of topography. I much prefer shopping at neighborhood stores and wandering great urban streets like Smith & Court Streets here in Brooklyn, Bloor Street in Toronto, Ste-Catherine in Montreal, M Street in Georgetown, etc...

I like this review of my Brooklyn neighborhood in the U.K.'s Guardian

On foot in Brooklyn

Visiting New York means seeing Manhattan, right? Wrong. Across the East River, urban bars and boutiques are breathing new life into those brownstone streets. And the views aren't bad either, writes Paul Simon

Sunday August 26, 2001
The Observer


Tulips in Prospect Park
_For once, I credit Posh and Becks with discerning taste. If their first-born had to be named after a borough of New York, they couldn't have chosen better than Brooklyn. (Manhattan or Staten Island are crazy names to land a kid with, Queens is spicy but... and Bronx sounds like one of those mutton-headed linebackers shoulder-barging opponents off the American football field. No obvious connection there.)

If it were still a city in its own right, Brooklyn would be the fourth biggest in the United States. Settled independently from New Amsterdam in the 1640s by the Dutch and named Breuckelen, the port steadily swallowed up other settlements on the rump of Long Island until it was incorporated into New York City in 1898.

It's a stone's throw across the East River from the southern tip of Manhattan, an easy walk by bridge, yet the vast majority of visitors to New York never get there. I'd been to the city twice before and never stepped foot off Manhattan. When friends moved to Brooklyn I had a new reason to try. Armed with the Time Out Book of New York Walks, I had a template to work from.

Since we were staying in Brooklyn, my wife and I started our exploration in its heart, the residential neighbourhood of Carroll Gardens. This is brownstone land, neat avenues of three- or four-storey homes with 'stoops', short flights of steps up to imposing front doors. Unusually for New York, it's an area that seems designed for living in; there are even front gardens and children. Italians made this district their own, evident in the number of bakeries selling cakes and pastries, and corner delis where old men congregate to chew the fat. Statues of the Madonna and saints populate garden shrines - I'm no canonic scholar, but I'd guess St Francis was among them given the attendant fawns and odd flamingo.

Brooklyn has seen waves of immigration, from the Mediterranean and eastern Europe, Spain and its colonies and the Middle East. The latest wave is of American urban professionals forced to look beyond Manhattan for affordable homes. And, like previous arrivals, they bring their culture with them.

Smith Street is symbolic of the new order, full of caf�s, bars and boutiques. I particularly liked a shop called Crush, with a sign declaring, 'Hip stuff you'll want'. Most important of all, and most likely to lure people across the East River at night, new restaurants open all the time. (We went back for an evening meal at a buzzy place called Banania.)

Carroll Gardens blends into Cobble Hill, closer to the old industrial waterfront. Its greatest secret is Warren Place, an enchanting row of what look like almshouses, with brickwork arches above the doors, separated by a neat strip of garden. They were built in the 1870s to provide decent cottages for working men. Together with the Home Buildings, on to which the row backs, with their open stairs, iron railings and communal yard, you could have walked into a corner of London's East End reshaped at the same time by philanthropists across the sea.

If you've managed so far not to succumb to the cake shops, Atlantic Avenue will sorely tempt you. Signs in Arabic and English reveal its growing Middle Eastern community, and Sahadi is the fabulous grocery that keeps it in spices and feeds it a mouthwatering mix of snacks. If they leave you thirsty, try a pint of locally brewed Brooklyn Lager at Pete's Waterfront Ale House.

Brooklyn Heights is the exclusive end of town. Many streets still have wooden clapboard houses that speak of colonial times, and boast connections to authors such as W.H. Auden, Arthur Miller, Norman Mailer and Truman Capote. But the jewel in the crown is Brooklyn Heights Promenade, a bench-lined footpath covering a busy expressway that offers unrivalled views across the East River to Manhattan's skyscrapers.

And the view is going to get even better. A new Guggenheim museum is planned for the piers that the promenade overlooks, designed by Frank Gehry, architect of the museum's mind-boggling Bilbao outpost. This will surely be the best spot from which to admire his next fantastic creation. You can get closer still down below at the old Fulton Ferry District pier. The abandoned warehouses round here are being snapped up by loft developers anxious to cash in on the view. They've even given the place a sassy name - Dumbo (Down Underneath the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). Not as sharp as SoHo, TriBeCa or Nolita, but somehow apt, because I believe I could afford to live here only when I see an elephant fly. If a slice of the view is beyond your means too, console yourself with a slice of pizza from Grimaldi's on Front Street, reputedly the best in New York.

Here you face a choice: return to Manhattan or explore deeper into Brooklyn's hinterland. The Coney Island funfair and Russian enclave of Brighton Beach lie at the end of the F train subway line. Closer by is Prospect Park, landscaped by the same people who laid out Central Park, and in their own view the superior creation. On its perimeter stands Brooklyn Museum of Art, a gallery that asserted its independent spirit in 1999 when it exhibited the elephant-dung pictures of Chris Ofili. Nearer to downtown Brooklyn is the emerging suburb of Fort Greene, focus of African-American life and home to the film maker Spike Lee. It has its own scene and fans of hip-hop will tune into its bars.

Eventually, though, for most visitors the time comes to head back to Manhattan. You can do this by subway, but infinitely better is to do the last stretch, across the Brooklyn Bridge, on foot. It's a landmark in its own right, the world's first steel suspension bridge, opened in 1883. Slightly awkward to reach from Brooklyn's riverside, but persevere and you'll soon be on the boardwalk that carries you and commuting cyclists up above the traffic.

Now you have a real opportunity for larking about. Hum the theme tune from Saturday Night Fever as you strut your way across the river like John Travolta. Every step takes you closer to the skyscrapers - the Municipal Building to the right, the Gothic Woolworth Building to the left and beyond the twin towers of the World Trade Center. You're back in Manhattan, which is about the most exciting place possible to arrive.

But real, laid-back Brooklyn will tempt you back again.

[AB Born]

Facts on West Edmonton Mall:

http://www.westedmall.com/info/fastfacts.html



Facts on Mall of America:

http://www.mallofamerica.com/about_the_mall/mallfacts.aspx

[dimondpark]

Here are some malls in Latin America
Santiago, Chile
[IMG]Great List. It would be great to see how these metro areas rank per capita. [/IMG]





Lima, Peru


Buenos Aires, Argentina












Monterrey, Mexico

[Wigs]

^^^ Well in this thread, I guess I'm a troll!

But the fact remains that shopping malls outside the core of a city suck and just contribute even more to sprawl. Just look at the crappy suburbia completely surrounding the West Edmonton Mall, as a prime example. I find it ridiculous that both Minneapolis and Edmonton have built these behomoths. Sure, they draw tourists in, but they are still Malls! Instead, the downtowns of Minneapolis and Edmonton should have built/build landmark attractions that attract people to the core and add culture and life to the city, not the 'burbs.
I think most of the intelligent people on this board will agree with me.

Originally Posted by WIGS

I find it ridiculous that both Minneapolis and Edmonton have built these behomoths. Sure, they draw tourists in, but they are still Malls! Instead, the downtowns of Minneapolis and Edmonton should have built/build landmark attractions that attract people to the core and add culture and life to the city, not the 'burbs.

Not only do I agree with you, but I'm sure most would agree that a tourist attraction should be built within the core or downtown of a city. However, a lot of people, especially the suburban types have a misperception that their downtown is full of thugs and/or that it's totally inconveniant for them to spend their time and money in their downtown area.

[toggie]

Minneapolis and Edmonton didn't decide what was built in their suburbs...

consider this. there is an existing suburb. there is a lack of retail. how would you rather get it. 1 building. or multiple buildings scattered around the city. first of all with separate locations you have to drive between place to place to get what you are looking for using gas and polluting the environment and contributing to already existing traffic. the solution is to build the stores at one location. it's cold (-4 Fahrenheit this morning) so put a roof on and call it a mall.

the mall of america was build in an already heavily developed area. just 6 lanes of traffic away from the Minneapolis city limits. the only reason for the open land was the relocation of a stadium to a downtown setting. so why not through a tourist attracting 1.7 billion dollar generating mall there.

I highly doubt that the mall of america contributed to sprawl. the area was already full of office buildings and houses and hey the traffic infrastructure was already there because of the stadium. and it's next to the airport so the people that visit because of the mall don't get lost and clog up our highways.

much of the same can be said about other malls. the "bad" malls that we hate so much are built in rural areas and cause low density housing to spring up around them.

this is not true about the mall of america.

After viewing this list of malls, I would like to know how close each is to the nearest downtown and/or major airport. For example, the Mall of America is located about 5 miles south of downtown Minneapolis, 5 miles southwest of downtown St. Paul, about 2 miles from the MSP International Airport.

[IHateBirds]

I know that Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem is about 7 miles from downtown and approximately 25 miles from Piedmont Triad Intl Airport.

[Dream'n]

The mall in Argentina looks beautiful.

[Milton]

That Argentina mall is very nice.

Interesting that metro Buffalo is able to support a Top 25 mall with the Walden Galleria. Recently my parents took a trip to the Buffalo area just to get a taste of American mall stores for a change. They ended up taking the wrong exit though.

BTW, does anybody know what/where the tallest mall is? Malls usually have 1 to 3 stories, I've seen downtown ones with 4 or 5(actually Eaton's in TO has 7 in one part including offices if I remember correctly) but what's the tallest throughout NAM/the world?

[HurricaneHugo]

that Buenos Aires mall is purty!

[Cleveland Brown]

5 Northland Shopping Center Southfield, MI 2,200,000 sq ft

That's strange

About 2 mil square feet of this mall are either vacant or filled with low tiered local stores. The once glorious inner ring Detroit suburb has been hit hard.

Also its weired because it's the worlds oldest indoor mall built in 1954 or '55. I haven't been there in years because it looks the same only like they put up some cheap accent pieces. Without major changes it'll probably be town down within a decade.

[miketoronto]

Buffalo has such a large mall, because of Canadian shoppers I believe.

There was a time when Toronto residents knew Walden Galleria better then malls in Toronto, I think.

There was a huge huge weekend shopping spree thing going on with Toronto and Ontario residents going to Buffalo for the day, for cheap American shopping at the Walden Galleria and all the outlet shopping.

Even now many Toronto residents go. So many people I know have just gotten back from going to Buffalo for shopping.

[toggie]

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/filmnotes/shoppingcenter.html

Suburban Center
1946 Abraham Levitt's Levittown on Long Island pioneered the post-war era of mass-produced low-cost housing tracts located in automobile suburbs and satellite cities on the edge of large urban centers.

1947 The Broadway-Crenshaw Center opened in south Los Angeles in November, with 550,000 sq. ft., 13 acres parking, anchored by a Broadway department store, Woolworth variety store, and Von's supermarket. Known today as the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Shopping Plaza, it remains in operation as the oldest regional shopping center in the U.S.

1947 The North Shore Center opened near Beverly MA to serve as a regional shopping center for the Boston area, designed by Kenneth Welch as a village green with stores surrounding a 100-ft. landscaped central open area.

1949 Don M. Casto opened the Town & Country in the suburb of Whitehall east of Columbus: "Nighttime shopping was inaugurated at Town & Country Shopping Center in Columbus, Ohio, when developer Don Casto hired Grandma Carver (a woman who dived from a 90-foot perch into a 4-foot pool of flaming water), to perform her act in the lighted parking lot, bringing shopping center promotion to a new level." (ICSC 2000)

1950 Northgate opened near Seattle on April 21 as one of the first regional shopping centers defined as a "mall" with a Bon Marche department store and 800,000 sq. ft. for stores arranged in a linear pattern along a 44-foot wide pedestrian walkway, or"mall" that would become the center spine of all future regional shopping centers. The word came from the British game of pall-mall, or "ball and mallett" combining elements of croquet and golf, played since the 1500s on a wide fairway green.

1950 The drive-in grew in popularity as cars and suburbs shifted population away from center cities; the Campus Drive-In near San Diego State University featured a 50-foot-high neon majorette.

1951 Valley Plaza opened as the first shopping center designed to be built near major freeways, anchored by a Sears store, located in the rapidly growing suburbs of the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles.

1952 Lakewood Center opened 7 miles north of Long Beach near a Douglas Aircraft factory as one of the largest shopping malls in Southern California, with 100 stores and parking for 12,000 cars on 154 acres, anchored by a 350,000 sq. ft. May Co. department store with 2 supermarkets at each end of the linear center. In the next 8 years, 13 other regional malls would be built in the Los Angeles area.

1954 Austrian-born Victor Gruen designed Northland, near Detroit, with 110 stores in 1,192,000 sq. ft. on 2 levels, in a cluster arrangement surrounded by parking lot, modeled on the agora, the town squares of ancient Greece. "Gruen, a refugee who had fled the Nazis and arrived in New York in 1938 with $8 in his pocket and little more than his T-square in his luggage, had worked on some of those early open-air shopping centers. Then Detroit's J. L. Hudson department store chain commissioned him to design a center 8 miles away from its flagship downtown store to take advantage of the recent suburban developments spawned by the city's postwar expressways. In 1954, when it opened, the Northland Center was the world's largest shopping mall." (US News 12/27/99)

1956 Victor Gruen's 95-acre two-level Southdale Center Mall opened Oct. 8 in Edina, MN, near Minneapolis, the first fully enclosed shopping center, with a constant climate-controlled temperature of 72 degrees, inspired by the design of the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele designed and built by architect Giuseppe Mengoni 1865-77 in Milan, Italy. In Maryland, James Rouse opened in October the Mondawmin Mall west of Baltimore.

BTW the worlds oldest indoor mall is in Milan Italy not Southfield MI

and the US's first fully enclosed shopping center is in Edina MN, according to that article and the mall's website, and that article mentions the Northland shopping center... is part of it outdoors or was a roof added later??? or does it have to do with climate control???

[Cleveland Brown]

I was wrong

Anyway the JL Hudson company built so many (Direction)Land malls in the Metro Detroit area that they eventually killed their downtown store which was #2 or #3 in size. Ironically, JL Hudson no longer exists as they have been changed to that Crapshell Fields thing.

Serves them right in aiding sprawl.

They sold to Dayton in 1969, left Detroit in 1983 and over 100 years of the family name was removed in 2001-2002.

[toggie]

All thanks to the Target corporation headquartered in Minneapolis Minnesota.

[stanford]

12 Northshore Mall Peabody, MA 1,900,000 sq ft

hmm... you dont say... i always feel like its a really small mall... but anyways... how large is an acre in sq. ft?