City Center, Minneapolis, 1987

Here's a beautiful photo of Minneapolis' own City Center, back in November or December of 1987. Unfortunately, this photo is from days gone by, and the building has been mostly gutted of retail space and replaced with offices.

In the far back, you can see the now-defunct Donaldson's department store. Donaldson's was the primary competitor to the also now-defunct Dayton's department store. Donaldson's met its end when Carson Pirie Scott purchased Allied Stores Corporation in 1987. Carson's (as it is known to Chicago locals) then rebranded all of the Donaldson's stores under their name. In the early 1990s, Carson's then closed all of their stores in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

The fondest memories I had of City Center was the gorgeous food court on the third floor, decorated in classic 80s mall style, with lots of plants and glass windows. Sadly, this too has been demolished to make way for the Minnesota State Bar Association; as if we didn't need another reason to hate lawyers...

Ryan