Come for the roller coaster, stay for the shops: Can malls be fun again?

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Come for the roller coaster, stay for the shops: Can malls be fun again?
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Mall of America's recipe for success includes an amusement park, pop-up stores, weddings and raves. Can local malls take a page from the country's largest shopping center?

Mall of America's amusement park is one of the ways the shopping center lures tourists and locals to make a day of their visit.

"At some point of time, you know, you reach a tipping point," says Mohal, who advises malls and retailers at the consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal. Growing by adding locations no longer works, he says, so:"Malls have now been asking, how do I create a compelling value proposition?"— not just shops but stuff to do, reasons for people to return. There are even hotels, offices and apartment complexes so a shopper may never have to leave the vicinity.

The mall started out 80% retail and 20% entertainment, but now the split is closer to 60% and 40%, says Jill Renslow, one of the executives running this place. There's a Sea Life aquarium, mini golf, arcades, escape rooms and a psychedelic fun house called Wink World. Gleaning from sister malls — New Jersey's American Dream and Canada's West Edmonton Mall — Mall of America is now building a water park.

Almost on cue, a couple rolls full-size suitcases at the edge of Nickelodeon Universe: Janelle Mayfield and Evan McManus of Louisville, Kentucky.They jumped on the light rail at the airport and discovered it drops them directly at the mall. With a few hours to kill before Airbnb check-in, they thought they'd grab a bite — but found themselves between a log chute and a climbing wall. A roller coaster thunders overhead, heading for a loop.

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