Southtown Center facts for kids
The center's former movie theater
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| Location | Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S. |
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| Coordinates | 44°51′37″N 93°18′18″W / 44.860148°N 93.304889°W |
| Address | 7800 Penn Avenue South (at Interstate 494) |
| Opening date | November 3, 1960 |
| Developer | Kraus-Anderson, Inc. |
| Management | Kraus-Anderson, Inc. |
| Owner | Kraus-Anderson, Inc. |
| No. of stores and services | 38 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 5 (4 open, 1 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 534,650 square feet (50,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 (2 in Kohl's and former Herberger's) |
| Parking | 2,100 |
Southtown Center, often called Southtown, is a big shopping center in Bloomington, Minnesota. Bloomington is a suburb of the Twin Cities. Southtown Center has over 534,650 square feet (49,672 m2) of shops.
The center has 38 stores. Its main stores are AMF Bowling Centers, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl's, and TJ Maxx. The first part of Southtown Center opened on November 3, 1960. More parts were added in 1963 and 1964. Some parts of the mall are inside, but most of it is like an outdoor shopping area. Over the years, new buildings were added. The mall has also had small updates to keep it looking good.
Contents
History of Southtown Center
How Southtown Center Started
Southtown Center first opened its doors on November 3, 1960. It was the very first large shopping center in Bloomington, Minnesota. A company called Kraus-Anderson, Inc. built the center. This company was based right there in Bloomington. The founder, Lloyd Engelsma, was in charge of the project.
Engelsma said that Southtown was built on what used to be "a strip of cow pasture." This was near a busy road in Bloomington. The shopping center took up almost 37 acres of land. Engelsma had high hopes for the new center. Building the mall was a bit tricky. There were three worker strikes that slowed things down a lot. Bad weather also caused more delays during construction.
The first big store to open at Southtown was Montgomery Ward. This was a large department store from Chicago. It became the mall's only main store at first. The Montgomery Ward store was huge, covering 188,050 square feet (17,470 m2). It was the biggest Montgomery Ward store in the whole United States.
New Additions to the Mall
After Southtown Center opened, more things were added. In 1963, a large AMF Bowling Center was built. This bowling alley was 43,000 square feet (4,000 m2). It was built on the north side of the property. Guess what? That bowling alley is still open and used today!
In 1964, a Mann Theatres movie theater was built at Southtown. This was a big deal because it was the first movie theater in the Twin Cities to be connected to a shopping center. The movie theater got a complete makeover in 1980. Some of its original look was changed. Then, in 1995, the cinema was torn down. This made space for even more stores to be built.
Changes Over the Years
Montgomery Ward was the biggest store at Southtown for a long time. But in 1998, Montgomery Ward announced they would close some of their stores. This was to help the company make more money.
After Montgomery Ward closed, two new stores moved in. Herberger's, another department store from Minnesota, took over a big part of the space. Toys "R" Us also leased the other side of the old Montgomery Ward store.
In September 2014, the city of Bloomington made some plans. They wanted to change how some parts of the shopping center were used. However, Kraus-Anderson, the owner of Southtown, said these changes would "threaten Southtown's existence." They felt that customers liked the mall just the way it was.
Many local people and customers of Southtown also agreed. They even made a website to try and stop the city from changing the mall. Even with these concerns, the city council approved the project in July 2015. In April of that same year, the Toys "R" Us store at Southtown closed. It had been there for 26 years. Even with this closing, Southtown Center has usually had almost all of its stores rented out for many years.
On April 18, 2018, it was announced that Herberger's would be closing. This happened because its parent company, The Bon-Ton Stores, was going out of business. The Herberger's store at Southtown closed on August 29, 2018.
