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Columbia Mall (Grand Forks)

Columbia Mall
Columbia Mall logo
Location Grand Forks, North Dakota
Opening date August 2, 1978
Developer Dayton Hudson Corporation
Owner GK Development, Inc.
No. of stores and services 70+
No. of anchor tenants 3 (1 vacant)
Total retail floor area 710,000 square feet
No. of floors 1
Website shopcolumbiamall.com

Columbia Mall is an enclosed regional shopping mall in Grand Forks, North Dakota and is located at the intersection of 32nd Avenue South and Columbia Road.

It is the largest mall within 70 miles (110 km). Located 80 miles (128.7 km) from the Canada–US border and 140 miles (225 km) from Winnipeg, the mall draws a significant number of customers from Canada.

Columbia Mall, which opened in 1978, was developed by the Dayton Hudson Corporation (now Target Corporation) at a cost of roughly $20 million.

Today, Columbia Mall houses three department stores (JCPenney, Sears, and Scheels), a 430-seat food court, and more than 70 specialty merchants. GK Development, Inc. of Barrington, Illinois, is the current owner of the mall. In 2005, GK Development added the new Dakota Cafe food court, a children's play area, and renovated the restrooms.

Dayton Hudson experienced fierce competition for a new mall in the city of Grand Forks in 1975. While their proposal was to build a mall at the intersection of 32nd Avenue South and Columbia Road, Inland Construction of Edina, Minnesota wanted to build a mall at 32nd Avenue South and Washington Street (one mile east of the Dayton Hudson site), which was quickly dismissed, while a group of local investors and Farber-Kelley Ltd. of Toronto advanced a proposal for a mall at Demers Avenue and 42nd Street to be called "Marketplace West". While Marketplace West was initially preferred by the city planning department, a referendum was called to annex Dayton Hudson's proposed Columbia Mall site to the city. When it passed, the city council interpreted it as a public endorsement of the Columbia Mall project. Interestingly, the Marketplace West site would later become the home of the Alerus Center arena and convention center.

Columbia Mall opened on August 2, 1978 with 571,800 sq ft (53,120 m2) of retail space. Major merchants at the new mall included both Dayton Hudson-owned Target and Dayton's stores as well as a JCPenney store. The mall's early marketing efforts included a jingle, "Meet me at Columbia Mall," that was also produced as a television commercial and recast in a holiday version.


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