2025 Top 10 Retail Center Experiences: No. 4 Mall of America
Like its Triple Five sister property American Dream, Mall of America is a show business venue as much as an indoor amusement park and got-it-all shopping center.
In the past year, DJ Marshmello played a surprise set to a crowd of 5,000 people. The fast-rising girl group Katseye performed for more than 8,000, and 90s music fans were treated to an appearance by Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan.
MOA itself scored a screen credit recently as the set for a scene in the Netflix series “Love is Blind.”
“Our retail brands are becoming more innovative in taking advantage of our events, because we enter our relationship with them in a unique way,” said Jill Renslow, Mall of America’s chief development and marketing officer. “We have a great team here that’s committed to supporting them. If they want to get deeply involved in an event, we’ll expand their lease lines to enable them to engage with fans.”
Waterdrop, which sells a wide variety of dissolvable cubes containing fruit and plant extracts that can be dropped into glasses of water, was set up with a spot on the second level of MOA during one event. Hundreds of people lined up to sample the product.
Regular participants in activations at the mall include brands such as Evereve, Lululemon, Nike, Torrid, PacSun, Vuori, Carhartt and Victoria’s Secret.
Not surprisingly, MOA’s grandest event is its kickoff of the holiday season. Thirteen thousand people passed through MOA’s doors during the first hour of its opening on Black Friday 2024. From Wednesday through Sunday of that week, the nation’s largest mall produced the nation’s largest shopping crowd — half-a-million people.
As for shopping experience, Mall of America’s 5.6 million sq. ft. of space allows it great freedom in expanding its tenant mix. Twenty new brands were added to the roster in 2024, many of them first-to-market concepts.
“Tenant collaboration with our team is truly the secret to our success,” Renslow said. “We begin planning and collaborating with tenants on events and promotions as soon as they sign a lease.”
