Apache Mall is the largest enclosed shopping mall in Rochester, Minnesota. It was built in 1969 at the intersection of U.S. Route 52 and U.S. Route 14. The Mall's food court has had free wi-fi access provided by the city's only cable television company, Charter Communications since January 2007. Apache Mall is owned and managed by Brookfield Properties Retail Group, who acquired General Growth Properties in 2018. The mall is anchored with Barnes & Noble, JCPenney, Macy's, and Scheels All Sports. In 2014, the mall's Sears store was closed. However, shortly after the Sears was shut down, plans for a Scheels All Sports were announced, as well as an expansion of the building. Scheels opened in 2015. Herberger's closed down in 2018.
History[]
Apache Mall opened in 1969 on former farmland purchased from George Baihly. By the mid-1960s, southwest Rochester had grown significantly, with the extension of U.S. Route 52 past U.S. Route 14 (which had been the highway's termination point for a few years). The extension of the freeway helped extend the city's "belt-line" in some respects with a push south. Suburban development had taken hold by this point and over the next twenty-five years, the area would grow quite a bit.