Southdale in Edina, Minneapolis, Minnesota, opened in 1956. It was the world’s first fully enclosed, climate controlled mall.
Much expanded and extended over the intervening years, it now houses 120 speciality stores, restaurants, bars and a cinema.
Southdale, also known as ‘Southdale Center’, was developed by the Dayton Company, who owned Dayton’s department store in Minneapolis. It cost $20 million dollars to build. Designed by Victor Gruen, (an Austrian immigrant), it was modeled on the malls and arcades of European cities. Gruen disliked the suburban lifestyle of 1950s America and set about designing a building that would bring people together in a place with a sense of community. He wanted to achieve an atmosphere of leisure and excitement, as well as, intimacy and to this end he incorporated paintings, decorative lighting, fountains, tropical plants and flowers in his design.
The Southdale Center housed a branch of Dayton’s, Donaldson’s, Walgreens Pharmacy, Woolworth’s and many other large retail brands. Its opening day attracted 40,000 visitors – a feat that proved that this new retail model was destined to be a great success.
Contribution to Retail History
Southdale was designed with two things in mind, the consumer and the future. Its creators recognized that consumers were increasingly looking for convenience and variety and so the mall was designed to be a one-stop destination housing a wide variety of retail outlets, services and leisure activities. It became a blueprint for similar malls across the developed world.