In praise of Twin Cities strip malls

First things, first: I don’t like strip malls. 

I’ve long disdained the definitive U.S. form of urban commercial architecture, and the reason is simple. One-story commercial buildings fronted by surface parking lots invariably lack good sidewalks, create lots of asphalt and cultivate sprawl. If it were up to me, strip malls would not exist. 

That said, I’ve had to rethink my strip mall priors. The other day, following a friend’s recommendation, I navigated through Bloomington to visit Penn Lake Roast Beef, an unassuming establishment in the middle of an unassuming strip mall in the middle of an unassuming part of Bloomington.

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I was astounded. Penn Roast Beef is a low-budget, wood-paneled, family-run Chinese restaurant that somehow specializes in roast beef sandwiches. In other words, it’s the kind of entrepreneurial gem that, for me, prompts love at first sight. I’ve had my strip mall radar activated since then, on the lookout for great small businesses lurking in obscure, gray strip malls at the margins of urban life. 

I also reached out to readers (via my newsletter) to request examples of great strip malls. I received a few excellent nominations. 

Strip mall history

Urbanist orthodoxy tends to criticize strip malls for their wasteful land use and the fact they prioritize parking over walkability. That is all true, but at the same time strip malls offer something precious these days: affordable, small-scale commercial rents. That makes them important spaces, particularly in suburbs where commercial land-use zoning is rare. 

It turns out that strip malls haven’t changed much since their inception in the mid 1950s. Early incarnations like the Miracle Mile in Golden Valley (1951) or Highland Center in St. Paul’s Highland neighborhood are still going strong. Though the businesses are all different, the buildings are basically unchanged, apart from updated branding and superficial facade work. 

Other early efforts like The Hub in Richfield are less successful these days, and in some cases planners are trying to find ways to redevelop the land. But on the ground, transforming strip malls with infill development is a daunting challenge, partly because the lack of upkeep and overhead required for a strip mall property turns it into a real estate cash cow. Owners of these properties are reluctant to give that up a passive income stream for an expensive, risky investment. 

Still, some strip malls are experiencing a bit of transition.

“My favorite strip mall in St. Paul is Sun Ray,” reader Ben wrote. “I think many residents don’t pay it much mind other than to gawk at the gigantic, retro-chic sign by the entrance. It’s lost a few businesses and may not be what it once was, but I still love it all the same.”

Sun Ray represents an urban planning puzzle because it sits right at a new Gold Line bus rapid transit station. Ideally, its owner would develop the parking lot into new housing, transit-oriented development predicated on seamless service in and out of downtown and the 3M headquarters in Maplewood. In reality, the building will likely stay a parking-oriented strip mall for another generation.

What makes a standout strip mall?

Great boutique strip malls don’t have to be large. You can find another legendary mix of businesses in the St. Paul strip mall at the corner of Energy Park Drive and Raymond Avenue, right next to the train tracks in the spot where the St. Anthony Park commuter rail train station depot used to sit. 

Today it hosts a Pump N Munch gas station cloaking a fabulous Lebanese deli, something of a surprise to those expecting little more than gasoline and packaged snacks. Every day, the gas station owners make fresh hummus, falafel, gyros and baba ganoush alongside deeper Levantine cuts like mujadara hayat (lentil and onion). 

Meanwhile, you’ll find some of the best pho in St. Paul just next door. (Note: this is a claim I do not make lightly.) Running down the rest of the small building: a hair salon, a sleep clinic, an Erbert’s & Gerbert’s and a family-run Mexican restaurant. All of this makes this modest strip mall the functional equivalent of an commercial corner on an old streetcar line, a great venue for diversity in an otherwise bourgeois part of St. Paul. These small spaces provide small-business diversity and entrepreneurship that make cities come to life, albeit in an un-walkable, car-centric way.  

The secret to a great strip mall is pretty simple: low rents and small spaces. This is something notably missing in commercial real estate elsewhere in the Twin Cities, strips like St. Paul’s Grand Avenue or Uptown Minneapolis.  

Another great example sits just north of the St. Paul city border.

“The best strip mall in Roseville is Lexington Plaza, which has an incredible sign that I hope they never get rid of,” wrote Noelle, who lives in Roseville. “This strip mall is home to the wildest and best assortment of stores.”

She listed the following:

St. Paul Bagelry (best bagels in the Twin Cities), Bricks and Minifigs, Café Meow (the cat café), Neko Clawww (overstimulating claw game and gashapon store), Bicycle Chain (Roseville’s only independent bike shop), Namaste Brows and Boutique (get your brows done and buy handmade Nepali goods), Music Go Round, John’s Tailors, Keys Café, Poke House, and the building that formerly housed arguably the first Dairy Queen in Minnesota. 

That’s an impressive lineup that, for me anyway, rivals the Mall of America. 

The affordable, small-scale spaces in a strip mall are a kind of a secret sauce that’s proven hard to replicate in other urban environments. Once a year, while teaching at the University of Minnesota, I send students into Burnsville to explore the 20-year-old “Heart of the City” development. They wander around the “urban downtown” section of an otherwise entirely car-dependent second-ring suburb and describe what they find there. 

The keen-eyed among them never fail to notice that the most vibrant place in Heart of the City is not found among the “new urbanist” architecture, but is actually the strip mall a block away, boasting adjoining Somali, Thai and Mexican restaurants alongside a locksmith and a corner store. Next to that, the carefully designed, mixed-use spaces seem rather lifeless.

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Maybe pricey real estate is a flaw for any new construction. Jane Jacobs once wrote about how “new ideas need old buildings,” but it seems like struggling commercial strips could learn a few things from strip malls about how to catalyze affordable, flexible retail. 

I will give the last word on strip malls to Constance, from North Minneapolis, who wrote in thus:

“When our beloved Aldi closed at Penn & Lowry, I started making a weekly trek to the Aldi at Bass Lake Road and Broadway in Crystal. In the process of going there, I pass by the most interesting-looking strip mall, right on the north side of Bass Lake Road between Bottineau Blvd and (roughly) Broadway. 

“This mall contains a La Michoacana ice cream place, a taco bar, an African grocery store and deli, a dress shop, a greasy spoon, (Egg House Cafe) and I don’t remember what all else. Two things attract my eye: first, the diversity of the shops, and second, the sidewalk looks wide enough for outdoor cafe seating, which would be so cool to see at the restaurants.”

A new old strip mall to check out next time I’m in the northwest metro? Sounds like an adventure. I can’t wait.

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