The largest shopping mall in the United States, with over 500 stores spread across four floors surrounding a seven-acre indoor theme park (Nickelodeon Universe) at its centre. The complex also houses SEA LIFE Minnesota Aquarium, a 14-screen cinema, a mini golf course, and multiple food halls. The numbers are genuinely staggering — 40 million visitors per year, a floor area larger than 88 football fields. Whether or not shopping is your goal, the sheer scale of the place is worth experiencing. The aquarium is one of the better ones in the Midwest: a 300-foot underwater tunnel, sharks, rays, and an octopus tank. Admission to the mall itself is free; the theme park and aquarium charge separately.
Mall of America
The largest shopping mall in the United States, with an indoor theme park and aquarium
A story
Mall of America opened in 1992 on the site of the old Metropolitan Stadium, where Babe Ruth once played — a home plate marker still embedded in the floor of the amusement park marks the spot. The mall was the first in the United States to include a full indoor theme park at its centre, and it generates so much heat from shoppers and rides that it has never required a central heating system, even through Minnesota winters.