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Here's a wacky business concept: Take a lackluster economy and open a giant mall - the biggest in the country - and hope that people come from the world over and spend gobs of money.
Oh, and anchor the mall with four stores, two of which are in bankruptcy and none of which is the hometown institution, Dayton's.
"Doomed to fail," sniffed one New York City analyst.
"Entertainment and retailing, it will not work," predicted another consultant.
Well, the chin strokers were wrong. Bloomington's Mall of America, celebrating its five-year anniversary Aug. 11, is either the hottest trend to ever hit retailing or a concept that is doing pretty well, depending on whom you talk to. But either way, few are calling it a flop.
But that's not the whole story of Twin Cities retailing in the 1990s. The metrowide retail boom that came after the megamall opened may be even more astounding.
Since the Mall of America's groundbreaking in June 1989, about 10.5 million square feet of leasable retail space - including the megamall's 2.5 million square feet - has been added to the Twin Cities market, according to United Properties-ONCOR International, a commercial real estate developer and manager based in Bloomington.
That's the equivalent of three more Mall of Americas.
Feel the power
While there's only one "Ninth Wonder of the World," as one of the megamall's developers once called it, there are a whole lot of retail power centers lining the Twin Cities' major thoroughfares.
They've sprouted not just in growing suburban areas, such as Woodbury and Burnsville, but even in mature markets such as northeast Minneapolis.
"Power center" is retail-speak for a strip mall with biceps. They're usually several stores with the same architecture but separate buildings. Anchored by big boxes, that is, large superstores - SportMart, Best Buy - they're easily accessible by car.
"A shopping mall is a totally different shopping experience. It might be good for mom with a stroller, or great for kids after school or retired people. But the power-center shopper wants convenience and selection," said Kathleen Nye-Reiling, co-owner of Towle Real Estate Co. in Minneapolis.
But power centers tell only part of the story. Construction of smaller, more traditional neighborhood strip centers - consisting...