Victor Gruen's plan for Southdale centered on a daylit "town square" with an enormous skylight, a fishpond, eucalyptus trees and umbrella-topped café tables, laid out like a European street brought indoors. The original tenants included a Red Owl grocery, a Walgreens, a Woolworth, a bank, a barber and a post office. A skating rink and a zoo gave people reasons to stay. Seventy years later, the corner of France Avenue between Highway 62 and I-494 has rebuilt most of that list. A grocery, a gym, a hotel, apartments and a serious dinner reservation now sit under or beside the same roof.
Southdale turned 70 on Thursday, October 8. This is its first holiday season with every piece of the current reinvention in place. The luxury wing was completed this spring, and the steakhouse the center had been waiting on opened in October. The result is a December when a trip to Southdale can easily be about something other than a gift list.
The first version had 72 stores and a chimp named Zsa Zsa
Southdale opened in 1956 with 72 stores on what had been Edina farmland. It was the country's first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall and the model for hundreds that followed, including the Mall of America a few miles southeast. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune's July retrospective, 75,000 people came to see it that first fall.
Gruen and the Dayton family intended the mall as one part of a larger community development. The school, offices and park in that plan were never built. For most of the next six decades, Southdale was simply a mall. Its palette went from midcentury modern to 1980s mauve and mint to the white and cherry wood shoppers know today, and the last original tenant, Ralph's Shoe Service, closed in 2011.
The errands came back before the luxury did
Since 2012, Simon Property Group has spent about $400 million on Southdale. In the Star Tribune's account, the mall is "returning to its past" by restoring the mixed-use, community-oriented pieces Gruen intended. Most of the reinvention happened in the parts of a mall people use for errands, well away from the stores that get the headlines:
- Life Time occupies the former JCPenney as a gym and co-working space.
- Kowalski's took the ground floor of the former Herberger's, and Puttshack opened above it on Oct. 9, 2024, with 25,000 square feet of tech-enabled mini golf, bars and restaurant service.
- The old food court is gone. Kowalski's burger, sushi and ramen "bars" took its place.
- Pickleball courts, a movie theater, an arcade, a tailor and a nail salon fill out the center's million square feet.
- Apartments and a hotel stand on the surrounding property, so the site is occupied around the clock.
Mall representatives told the Star Tribune that Life Time, Kowalski's, the restaurants and the theater have extended Southdale's hours. Placer.ai data from this spring showed foot traffic up nearly 30% compared with 2019. Tom Hanchar, Simon's vice president of leasing, described the thinking behind the changes in that same article:
"Shopping centers have to be a fabric of the community. Sometimes shopping would be part of it, and sometimes not."
This change shapes December more than any single store does. Someone picking up groceries at Kowalski's or leaving a workout at Life Time is already inside the building where the Santa line and the holiday music are.
The wing that took a year to fill
- May 2025. Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co. had signed, and the wing was reported as fully leased.
- June 12, 2025. Southdale opened its dedicated luxury wing. David Yurman was the only tenant open that first morning.
- November 2025. Gucci opened, alongside recent additions elsewhere in the mall such as Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Aritzia and gorjana.
- Spring 2026. Tiffany & Co. opened and completed the wing, which now includes Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Max Mara, Moncler, David Yurman and Rolex.
This is the first holiday season with all of those doors open. Hanchar told the Star Tribune that local luxury tastes run understated: "We're not in Miami where it's a huge showy piece. Here, it's a curated, smaller piece." Simon's mall page lists Alo, Princess Polly and Läderach Chocolatier Suisse as on the way.
Dinner arrived on October 17
The Star Tribune's July piece found one gap left in the plan. In its reading, the Galleria across France Avenue had the edge in trendy restaurants, and Southdale's answer was a steak and seafood room expected that fall. That room is Smithson Steak & Seafood, which opened Oct. 17 at 2160 Southdale Center. It comes from Sharon and Randy Stanley, who also own 6Smith in Wayzata and Baldamar at Rosedale Center, and it is the most upscale of their restaurants.
The Star Tribune's preview reported several specifics:
- The beef. Hand-cut, custom-aged prime and wagyu, and the first Irodori Wagyu served in the Twin Cities, from Creekstone Farms.
- The prices. Steaks run from an 8-ounce prime filet at $65 to a 22-ounce bone-in rib-eye at $90, and caviar service is $80.
- The room. Shea of Minneapolis designed it, starting with a 13-foot brass-framed glass entrance, bronze lions and Carrara marble at the host stand. A tucked-away booth is numbered 9¾.
- The schedule. Lunch, dinner and happy hour daily. Weekend brunch runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and weekday happy hour runs 2 to 4 p.m.
The restaurant sits on the north end of the center with ample parking. It was planned with both mall access and its own exterior entrance. Mpls.St.Paul Magazine compared it with its sibling this way: "If Baldamar is a party, Smithson is a dinner party." Smithson's Saturday hours run until 10 p.m. With that, the mall has a reason to stay into the evening, much as the original skating rink once did.
December on Center Court
The seasonal traditions still center on Center Court, the descendant of Gruen's skylit square. According to Explore Edina's holiday guide:
- Santa's Photo Experience runs Nov. 20 to Dec. 24. A sensory-friendly Caring Santa visit is Dec. 6, and pet photo sessions are Dec. 6 and 13. Reservations are highly recommended.
- Cookie Wonderland from the Minnesota Star Tribune brings finalists from its Holiday Cookie Contest to Center Court from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Dec. 10.
- Holiday music plays on the second-level bridge above Center Court from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays in December. School bands and dance groups perform at other times during the season.
Simon's posted holiday hours list Southdale as closed on Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, and open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Black Friday, Nov. 27. Most December weekdays run 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Hours open at 9 a.m. starting Dec. 19, and Christmas Eve closes at 5 p.m.
Across France Avenue, the rest of the square
The Star Tribune describes Southdale and the Galleria as complements that together make Edina a regional destination. The holiday calendar crosses the street the same way.
At Galleria Edina, the Standard Vintage Market's holiday edition brings about 20 vintage dealers and around a dozen local makers on Nov. 21 and 22. Complimentary valet parking runs near the CōV entrance from Nov. 27 through Dec. 31. Galleria is closed on Christmas Day. The seasonal pop-up Lodge Twenty Five carries alpine-inspired gifts, and Bissinger's and Foxwell cover chocolate and home goods.
Up the avenue at 50th & France, Small Business Saturday on Nov. 28 leads into the annual tree lighting on West 50th Street at 5 p.m., with Santa, music from The Mistletones and sleigh rides. A menorah lighting follows from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 6.
Gruen pictured a mall surrounded by the rest of daily life. In 2026 that surrounding life runs the length of France Avenue. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, an Edina household can buy groceries at Kowalski's, watch the 5 p.m. tree lighting at 50th & France, and make it to a Smithson table before the restaurant closes at 10 p.m.
If you want to talk about how Edina's commercial corridors are changing and what that means for the homes nearby, MN Living Real Estate would be glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
