Just perusing their website. I could waste an insane amount of time and $$ there! It’d be my heaven.
Ugh. I’d rather die. I like spending money just fine, but shopping is torture. Give me online vendors any day of the week.
Joe
It’s fun to see the folks I assume are tourists, taking pictures in front of the big displays, expecially around Christmas. The amusement park area is still impressive. But the shops just seem like the standard mall shops that are everywhere.
So! etv78 – you’ve just received $1,000 and have been dropped off at the west entrance for several hours. Where are you going first?
$1,000? That’s not a real “insane” amount of money. 
Yeah, it’s really not that interesting. Just huge and loud.
However, my favorite factoid is that they don’t need to heat the space, even in the worst winter. The waste heat from all the electrical equipment, plus the body heat of all the people, is enough to keep it warm.
It has a few advantages over “standard mall shops” - Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack aren’t to be found anywhere else nearby - and for me that’s most of my clothes shopping.
If you need to find a pair of shoes, it will have dozens of shoe stores (and Nordstrom) all in one place. Its a little like Zappos with immediate delivery (and you’ll walk your back end off). Most malls will have one or two shoe stores. Clothing is similar - while it doesn’t have a lot of unusual choices in clothing stores, it has one of pretty much every sizable chain.
I was in Maplewood Mall the other day and it isn’t even worth going into - there just isn’t enough in there.
I’m not a huge shopper, but I’ll stop by MoA when I need to get anything - because I know that if its available in any mainstream sense, I’ll find it there. And its on my way home.
It’s a nice place to take my son in the middle of winter when it’s 2 degrees outside. They just rennovated the aquarium which is very nice, Nickelodeon Universe is a thrill for him, they’ve got a decent mini-golf course, and the food selection is much better than your average food court. You can also walk for miles so you don’t get stir crazy during our long winters.
I hate the MOA for every day shopping. If I need a pair of black pants or a dress for a wedding, it takes way to long to find anything there. Even if I know exactly what store I want and where it is in the building, I still have to deal with a 5 story (maybe 7?) parking ramp and acres of stores and hallways.
On the other hand, when I want to check out the current fashions and do some people watching, or when my niece had a prom dress emergency and needed a dress for next weekend, the MOA is a good place.
Eh, you get used to it. It’s just a big mall. Lots of stores. I go there maybe three times a year or so.
Dangerosa, you did know that there’s a Nordstrom Rack up in Maple Grove, didn’t you? By the Best Buy, behind Hoolihan’s. No idea where you are in the Twin Cities, but maybe it’s closer.
I see after re-reading that it’s probably not, but there is one there for any of you keeping score at home.
I’ve been there and it’s fun for a visit but it’s just a mall. It’s not like you get great deals or anything. But it’s definitely worth seeing if you’re in the Twin Cities.
Moving thread from In My Humble Opinion to Mundane Pointless Shopping I Must Seek.
No, other end of the world.
The Rack is the sort of place that you need to just stop in without expectations. If you want something specific, they certainly won’t have it. If you swing through on a lark, you’ll find yourself some perfect deal.
I NEVER stop at the MOA on Friday nights or weekends. Its an easy breeze through at 4pm on a Tuesday. But, if I have to go pick up some lip gloss, Ulta at Southdale is easier than anything in the MOA.
Dreadful place. Only go there twice a year or so when I have no choice.
It’s one of the few places near me where there’s a shoe store that carries a good selection of shoes for my size 11.5 EEEE feet.
I used to take the Rykid there a lot when he was little.
The ‘Upper East Side’ used to have several bars, some arcades, a comedy club, and a Planet Hollywood. I think the only thing left up there is a Hooters. Too bad.
Last year I visited with my girlfriend, who’s from Chisago. Same mall crap, save the theme park, Lego land, and the first ever all crocs store I’ve seen.
In hindsight, the Joe Mauer and Brett Favre jerseys I bought appear to have been snake bitten…
I went there about 10 years ago with very high expectations, and was very disappointed. It was surprisingly dirty – I guess they don’t have big enough janitorial staff. And it also seemed they had problems keeping all the stores filled. And did the place really need like 6 different candle stores?
I visited the MOA a few years ago-what is the big deal?
It is just a standard american mall-times 5.
Exactly what is the point of a mall with 4 Macy’s or 4 Banana Republics, or 4 Hollister shops?
I don’t get it.
Apparently it’s been very trendy for the local hipsters to dis the MOA for the past decade.
Apparently people like to shop. Those people are convinced that a bigger mall is a better mall.
There is another advantage. Minnesota has no sales tax on clothes. So people from other states and Canada come in for a weekend, do a years worth of shopping, and leave. I don’t get how that’s cost effective by the time you add travel costs, but a lot of people do it (I suspect those people are bad at math). Its a tourist destination.
When they built it, I thought it was ridiculous. But its been pretty darn successful. I’m rather surprised.
(It has one Macys (a Bloomingdales, a Nordstrom and a Sears). 1 Banana Republic. And one Hollister. It does have FOUR Aloha Shades though. Two Bare Escentuals, two Ambercromies, two Bath and Body Works…)
I visited MOA while on a business trip a few years ago. My coworker and I rode the roller coaster then wandered around. He bought something for his girlfriend and I bought something for my kid. It was pretty cool.