Minnesota paving the way for a new type of shopping center: cultural malls

[AUDIO PLAYBACK] (SINGING) Did you ever feel like you want to be

Someone else for just one day

Did you ever feel like you--

- Hey.

[HORN HONKS]

- Get in, loser. We're going shopping.

[PLAYBACK ENDS]

CATHY WURZER: That iconic line from Mean Girls demonstrates the cultural significance of shopping malls in the '90s and 2000s. They were gathering places for a lot of us. As you probably know, Minnesota was home to the first indoor shopping mall in the nation-- that was Southdale-- and one of the first so-called mega malls, the Mall of America in Bloomington. But as shopping malls and big box stores are fast becoming a thing of the past, Minnesota is now paving the way for a new type of mall-- cultural malls. Just last week, the developer of Asia Mall in Eden Prairie announced plans for Asia Village in Northtown Mall, which is in Blaine. Joining us on the line right now is that developer, Michael Bui, and Bruce NUSTAD, the president of the Minnesota retailers association. Michael and Bruce, welcome to the program.

MICHAEL BUI: Thanks so much for having me.

CATHY WURZER: And, Bruce, thanks for being here. Appreciate your time, both of you. Michael, I understand that Asia Village would replace the Becker Furniture store outlet, which is a pretty big piece of property there. That's the anchor of Northtown Mall. How much space are you looking at?

MICHAEL BUI: Yeah, it's about 130,000ft, directly facing highway 10 with a huge parking lot. So we're so excited for the building and the fact that it's connected to Northtown mall.

CATHY WURZER: So you looked at that space, and what's in your mind? When you first saw that, you thought to yourself, yeah, I could do what with that?

MICHAEL BUI: Oh, we're going to create an Asian-inspired shopping complex, retail dining, and a terrific food hall. So we're very excited for what we're planning, so we hope to share all that news coming up.

CATHY WURZER: Now, Bruce, as you know, malls have been on the decline here, with the big box stores as well. Sometimes, these places stand empty. I'm thinking what place comes to mind really is, say, Burnsville Center, which is virtually empty. Why are cultural malls a potential solution to fill these big spaces?

BRUCE NUSTAD: Cathy, thanks for covering this. Michael's got it right. There's a great opportunity to take some space that is already a retail destination of sort and put something in there that consumers are really going to enjoy. Minnesotans, we love two things. Cathy, we love deals, and we love unique shopping opportunities. And this is a great unique shopping opportunity.

CATHY WURZER: Michael, tell me about the uniqueness of, say, Asia Mall in Eden Prairie. I'm thinking also there's the plan for this old Sears store here in downtown Saint Paul that might be an Asian community hub. I mentioned Burnsville Center. There's supposed to be an Asian-themed food hall there, too. What do you think's going on here?

MICHAEL BUI: Yeah, so at the Asian Mall here in Prairie, we've been open for about 16 months, and it's just overwhelming support and response. We've had people come back numerous times, not just a one-time visit. It comes down to really the food that we offer, a one-stop shop for a lot of different Asian-inspired cuisine. And also the grocery store attracts a lot of individuals, too. Often, grocery stores like this are in this urban areas, either Saint Paul, Minneapolis, so not a lot of big groceries-- Asian-inspired groceries in the suburbs. But it really comes down to the food, Asian cuisine.

CATHY WURZER: And, Bruce, do you see cultural malls having an impact on the retail industry?

BRUCE NUSTAD: For sure. Look at any downtown in any Minnesota city. And like Michael said, what you have is you've got great dining options. You've got great product options. You have a great experience. And cultural malls are really offering consumers this amazing, unique experience. So I think we're going to see more of that. I think we've seen them across the country but definitely a great rise here in Minnesota.

CATHY WURZER: And, Michael, as developer, you have a situation where you've got a lot of space. Are you finding that it's maybe a little more affordable as a developer because it's just been sitting empty?

MICHAEL BUI: Oh, definitely. Our group of investors, we're basically small-time mom and pop operators. We would have never been able to build from scratch a building of that size, with that big of a parking lot. So I think it's a win-win for everyone. We're able to take over the space and then invest in the property and build this cultural mall.

CATHY WURZER: We're talking about Asian-themed cultural malls. Are you seeing other cultural groups doing the same thing, say, East African individuals, maybe Latino? Is that also what you're seeing out there on the horizon? Michael?

MICHAEL BUI: I've seen a lot more Asian inspired. So I haven't done my research in other cultures I guess.

CATHY WURZER: That's OK. I was curious.

MICHAEL BUI: I can picture it coming.

CATHY WURZER: You can picture it coming?

MICHAEL BUI: Yes.

CATHY WURZER: Bruce, what do you know about this?

BRUCE NUSTAD: Yeah. No, I do. You think of Midtown Global Market. You think of some of these other mall-centric shared opportunities. And I do think sometimes what starts out as a specific mall for a specific culture grows into a mall experience for all. So I do think we're going to see more of that. I think we're seeing it on the rise right now, and we're going to see more of it even in some of our small towns here in Minnesota.

CATHY WURZER: Say, when you go back to the very beginning of what was the problem for these large-scale malls here, Bruce, what do you think led to the downfall of some of them? Did it become an outdated experience for many of these malls?

BRUCE NUSTAD: Yeah. No. Yeah, like all things, I think there's a little bit of a cycle to it, and you have to reinvest and reinvent. And you look at the malls that are doing well. They've reinvested and reinvented themselves. And those that aren't are looking for new and fresh opportunities like this.

CATHY WURZER: Beyond cultural malls, I'm curious here. From where you stand, Bruce, what are other large owners, developers of malls doing with the space? Can you reconvert them into, say, housing or schools, that kind of thing?

BRUCE NUSTAD: Yeah, you're seeing a lot of multi-use thoughts even on malls that are really popular. I think of Rosedale. Even with the success of that mall, they're still looking at what's next? What does residential look like there? How do you take some of these-- like Michael's done, how do you take some of these large spaces and break them into more manageable spaces for entrepreneurs to take a shot at living their American dream?

CATHY WURZER: That leads me, Michael, to a question. I'm sure you-- as you have developed the Asian Mall in Eden Prairie-- Bruce mentioned smaller entrepreneurs. How big of a deal is it for smaller Asian entrepreneurs to have this opportunity?

MICHAEL BUI: Humongous. We're just excited. Actually, at Asian Mall, I'm just an operator here. I own several restaurants. So I teamed up with the mall owners to open up Asia Village.

CATHY WURZER: Got it. Sorry about that.

MICHAEL BUI: For me initially-- yep. For me initially to be able to open up three restaurants in this Asian Mall, it's been night and day. The traffic's been terrific. The response-- and a lot of times there's really nothing like this in the suburbs. You have a lot of your big American chains.

CATHY WURZER: Right.

MICHAEL BUI: I think people want variety now, which has amazed me. I've been here since the '80s, and I remember back then nobody really knew pho or banh mi sandwiches. Now I'm amazed at young Americans, six years old, coming in and eating Vietnamese beef noodle soup, which blows my mind. Even my kids don't like McDonald's anymore. I used to love McDonald's as a kid, but they want sushi. They want ramen noodles. They want pho. I think that's what's really helped our small business owners to compete.

CATHY WURZER: And you're the malls. Your restaurants, who are you drawing from? Do you have a sense as to where folks are coming from?

MICHAEL BUI: All over the Twin Cities. They want that one-stop shop, so we get a lot of locals that come on a weekly basis. But on weekends, our lot is full. People travel all over the metro area to visit the Asia Mall. We have a lot of unique offerings that you can't find at Mega Mall, or Rosedale, or other malls. What we strive to do in these cultural experiences, really unique opportunities that you can't find anywhere else in the Twin Cities. We really wanted to go with authentic shops and dining experiences.

CATHY WURZER: And, Bruce, before we go, when you look at the landscape here in the next-- I don't know-- 5, 10 years, what do you think might it look like here when it comes to the shopping experience?

BRUCE NUSTAD: Yeah, I think Michael's right on. I think people are craving that uniqueness. Sometimes, there's commodities that you can get anywhere, and people are just competing on price. This is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to really compete on that experience and bring something new and fresh to the marketplace. So we're going to see more of this, definitely not less of it.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Michael Bui and Bruce Nustad, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. Good luck.

MICHAEL BUI: Thanks for having us.

BRUCE NUSTAD: Thanks, Cathy.