--- title: Mall of America History: How Huge Shopping Centers Became a Big Thing description: Aug. 11, 1992: The Mall of America opens in Bloomington, Minn. canonical: https://time.com/3985668/mall-of-america-history/ author: Jennifer Latson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-11T15:00:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:09.524Z article:section: History og:title: Mall of America History: How Huge Shopping Centers Became a Big Thing og:description: Aug. 11, 1992: The Mall of America opens in Bloomington, Minn. og:url: https://time.com/3985668/mall-of-america-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef742fbdd4782215/69885df935ba6fe458c0e866/mall.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Mall of America og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mall of America History: How Huge Shopping Centers Became a Big Thing twitter:description: Aug. 11, 1992: The Mall of America opens in Bloomington, Minn. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef742fbdd4782215/69885df935ba6fe458c0e866/mall.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why America’s Biggest Mall Is Getting Bigger > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Aug 11, 2015 3:00 PM UTC  Mall of America on Aug. 12, 1992 Mall of America on Aug. 12, 1992 Bill Pugliano / Getty Images by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Aug 11, 2015 3:00 PM UTC America’s supersized malls may, at first glance, resemble fossils from the pre-Amazon era. These retail dinosaurs seem to litter the nation’s landscape, skeletally intact but losing life as e-commerce drives brick-and-mortar stores out of business. That isn’t the whole story, though, as evidenced by the fact that the country’s largest mall — the Mall of America — has not only survived the onslaught of online competition but is growing even bigger. Last year, the mall’s management group [broke ground](http://www.startribune.com/ground-broken-on-325-million-mall-of-america-expansion/250815941/) on a [5 million square-foot expansion](http://triplefive.com/en/pages/moa/phase-2) that will roughly double its footprint. Retail is only part of the expansion plan, which includes hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions like an NHL-sized ice arena. That’s a key to the resilience of the Mall of America and other gargantuan shopping centers: They aren’t just for shopping, as [TIME reported](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,987409-2,00.html) in 1997. Back then, 12 states ranked malls among their top three tourist attractions, per TIME. Like the Mall of America, many of these were half-mall, half-theme-park hybrids. The Ontario Mills mall, for example, a California behemoth the size of 38 football fields, was drawing crowds with its virtual-reality racetrack and a park called the American Wilderness Experience, which featured 70 species of live animals and interactive nature displays — catering to patrons who liked a little of the outdoors with their indoor shopping. “Malls have always been about more than the efficient delivery of goods,” [TIME’s Christopher Matthews noted](http://business.time.com/2012/08/10/reports-of-the-shopping-malls-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated/) in 2012\. “They’re about shopping as an experience. They’re about spending a Saturday out of the house, with friends and family, perusing goods, eating sweets, and people watching.” When the Mall of America opened on this day, Aug. 11, in 1992, it offered the top-of-the line version of that experience, as [TIME described](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,976262,00.html): --- > “” --- The mall’s sheer physical size is part of its allure — and it’s what the Internet can never match. In fact, the Mall of America’s next big competitor may not be on the Internet, but in a Miami suburb, where [plans for a megamall](http://time.com/money/3735568/american-dream-biggest-mall-usa-miami/) twice its size are in the works. The $4 billion proposal includes an indoor ski slope, sea lion shows, and submarine rides. The owners of the Mall of America aren’t worried about the nation’s new largest mall cutting into their business, however: they’re the ones behind the venture. **_Read more from 1997 about megamalls, here in the TIME archives_**: [The Mall, The Merrier](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,987409-1,00.html) ### See the Factories Where Amazon Can Move 426 Items a Second  Employees collect merchandise ordered by customers for shipment from the Amazon.com distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 26, 2012. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images  A worker collects order items at the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on Nov. 28, 2013. Andrew Yates—AFP/Getty Images  Merchandise sits on shelves before shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 26, 2012. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images  An employee packs merchandise for shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center in Phoenix, Arizona, Dec. 2, 2013. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images  A picture shows the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on November 28, 2013, ahead of Cyber Monday on December 2nd, expected to be one of the busiest online shopping days of the year. Andrew Yates—AFP/Getty Images  An employee packs orders in the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on November 28, 2013, ahead of Cyber Monday on December 2nd, expected to be one of the busiest online shopping days of the year. Andrew Yates—AFP/Getty Images  Employee Maria Miller loads boxes onto a conveyer belt for shipping at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images  Interior view of the hall of a logistics center of the online shopping company Amazon, taken on March 26, 2014 in Leipzig, eastern Germany. Peter Ending—AFP/Getty Images  Packages sit in regional delivery dividers ahead of distribution at the Amazon.co.uk Marston Gate 'Fulfillment Center,' the U.K. site of Amazon.com Inc. in Ridgmont, United Kingdom, Dec. 3, 2012. 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