A dead mall
HarMar Mall, located in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul suburb of Roseville, is truly a rare find. It exists as a low-slung, single level enclosed center lacking any traditional department store anchors. The first generation facility can easily be mistaken for a power center or even a strip plaza as one passes on Snelling Avenue. But behind several modest mall entrances is an enduring example of the first generation shopping mall.
1- HarMar Mall’s main entrance. 2 to 4- The façade facing Snelling Avenue. 5- The southern mall entrance. 6- The rear mall entrance.
The Twin Cities are ground zero for the development of the enclosed retail facility as we all know today, and there are still a few remaining examples. Though venerable destinations like Apache Plaza and Knollwood Mall are long gone, The MSP’s contribution to the retail history of the U.S. can still be found at Northtown Mall, Southdale Center, and HarMar Mall.
HarMar Mall Mallmanac ca. 2016. View the full PDF version here.
I entered the interior of HarMar Mall through the entrance just to the north of Michael’s. I was immediately met with low ceilings and tiled floors reminiscent of any middle school built in the nineties. The far end of the corridor to my right ended at the mall entrance to Marshall’s while going left brought me to the “food court,” which seemed to consist of a Subway and a few tables and chairs lining the narrow hallway immediately in front of it.
1- Burlington. 2- The east facing façade on HarMar Mall’s back side. 3- Double levels of shops at the mall’s western most point. 4 & 5- The north facing exterior. 6- The main entrance for the mall’s north end.
A maze of more slender passages brought me to an exit on HarMar Mall’s north face. Not impressed with what I had already seen, I walked along more exterior and vacant storefronts heading for the main north entrance to the enclosure. I walked past several sketchy characters through the vestibule and back into the facility, not expecting much more.
1 & 2- The northern most corridor of HarMar Mall. 3 to 6- The maze of small corridors on the facility’s northwestern end, leading to the diminutive “food court.”
One thing I’ve found throughout several malls in the Twin Cities is that they tend to contain innocuous, bland corridors upon first entrance. However, they lead to grand central concourses with vaulted ceilings expansive courts. Southdale Center and Seven Points Uptown have these qualities, and I was glad to find that HarMar Mall was the same.
HarMar Mall pamphlet ca. 2022. View the full PDF version here.
The soaring curved ceilings of HarMar Mall’s central area were housed within handsome slats of dark wood contrasting beautifully with the corridor’s basic straight lines. Alternating lights and planters lead to the focal point of the shopping center- a central structure comprised of four brown brick columns crowned by a sign simply displaying the name HarMar. I loved it; they truly don’t build them like this anymore.
1- Just inside HarMar Mall’s northern entrance. 2 & 3- The far northern portions of the center’s main north-south concourse. 4- Looking down the northern east-west corridor. 5 & 6- The small hallways leading to two of the facility’s minor mall entrances.
HarMar Mall opened in 1963 as one of the first enclosed shopping malls in the country. The unique moniker is a portmanteau of the owners’ first names, Harold and Marie Slawik. Though containing no major anchors at the time, later that same year Target opened their first store adjacent to the new retail destination just to the north.
The highlight of HarMar Mall, the main central concourse including the access to the basement area.
Competition was added when Rosedale Center opened just across Highway 36 from HarMar Mall. The extant center embarked on a large expansion the following year, growing closer to the maze of concourses that we see today. Without any major department store anchors, HarMar’s largest draw in its earlier days was its multi-screen theater complex, growing from two to three to eleven screens before closing in 2006.
HarMar Mall Mallmanac ca. 2024. View the full PDF version here.
There was talk of adding a Von Maur department store to HarMar Mall’s retail selection but plans never came to fruition and the Davenport based retailer opened an outlet at Rosedale Center. Burlington opened in 2014 on the east side of the mall near Home Goods former spot, which was vacated in the early 2020s.
1- Where the main central corridor and the southern east-west wing meet. 2 to 6- Along HarMar Mall’s southern corridor. 7- Burlington’s mall entrance. 8- The narrow passageway leading to Cub Foods.
Still boasting, in addition to Burlington, a Barnes & Noble, Michaels, Marshall’s and Cub Foods, these vendors thrive in large part to their outdoor accesses. The interior of HarMar is, unfortunately, pretty much dead. I see the facility becoming a target for demalling, which would be a shame considering what would be lost.
