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Northtown Mall (Blaine, Minnesota) facts for kids

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Northtown Mall
Northtownmall.jpg
Former Powers Dry Goods/Donaldson's anchor
Location Blaine, Minnesota, United States
Coordinates 45°07′38″N 93°15′38″W / 45.12735°N 93.26065°W / 45.12735; -93.26065
Opening date 1972
Developer Robert Muir
Management Washington Prime Group
Owner Washington Prime Group
No. of stores and services 100
No. of anchor tenants 6
Total retail floor area 621,109 sq ft (57,702.9 m2) (excludes Home Depot)
No. of floors 1

Northtown Mall is a large shopping mall located in Blaine, Minnesota, in the United States. It's a popular place for shopping and fun.

The mall has many big stores called "anchor stores." These include Hobby Lobby, LA Fitness, Best Buy, two Becker Furniture World stores, and Burlington. Northtown Mall also has over 100 other stores and places to eat. You can find a food court there too.

A special thing about this mall is that it has a public charter school inside it. It's called Paladin Career and Technical High School and it opened in 2002. The mall is owned by a company called Washington Prime Group. More than 5.5 million people visit Northtown Mall every year!

Mall's Beginning: 1972

Northtown Mall first opened its doors in 1972. When it started, it had 33 stores. The main stores, or "anchors," were Montgomery Ward, Powers Dry Goods, and Woolworth.

Over the years, some of these original stores changed names or were replaced. For example, Powers Dry Goods became Donaldson's.

New Stores Join In

In 1983, another big store called MainStreet was added. By 1988, MainStreet stores changed into Kohl's.

In the 1990s, more changes happened. A Target Greatland store opened nearby in 1992. The old Woolworth's store was split into two new stores: HomePlace and Best Buy. Also, a food court was added to the mall around this time.

Donaldson's changed names several times. It became Carson Pirie Scott, then Mervyn's, then Herberger's, and finally Becker Furniture Outlet. In 2006, The Home Depot opened in an area outside the main mall building.

Titanic Model Display

From 1972 to 1985, a large, 30-foot model of the famous ship Titanic was on display at the mall. It was later moved to the Marine Museum at Fall River.

Changes Over Time

Many stores at Northtown Mall have changed over the years. This is common for shopping malls as new businesses open and old ones close.

Anchor Store Updates

In 2001, both HomePlace and Montgomery Ward closed their stores. HomePlace was replaced by Steve & Barry's in 2003.

Three years later, in 2006, Kohl's moved to a new location outside the mall. In the same year, Mervyn's closed all its stores in the Twin Cities area. The Mervyn's at Northtown Mall was actually one of their busiest stores!

The old Kohl's space was then taken over by Burlington Coat Factory, which opened in 2005.

Mall Renovations

In 2007, the mall had some big changes. A fitness center called LA Fitness was added. This meant some of the smaller mall stores had to move. Also, the old Montgomery Ward building was torn down. A The Home Depot store was built in its place. However, this Home Depot does not have an entrance directly into the mall.

On January 23, 2008, a company called Bon-Ton announced that they would open a Herberger's store in the old Mervyn's spot. This new Herberger's opened on September 10, 2008. It became one of the mall's main stores. Herberger's closed on August 30, 2018. A Spirit Halloween store opened in September 2009.

The mall had another big renovation project that started in August 2014 and finished in the fall of 2015. As part of this, a new Hobby Lobby store opened in 2015. It is a very large store, about 55,000 square feet. Like Home Depot, Hobby Lobby also has its own entrance and does not open into the mall itself.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Northtown Mall (Blaine, Minnesota) para niños

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