River Hills Mall (Mankato, MN) - a lively 1990s mall 

I grew up in Mankato, I am a 90s child and I remember how amazing Christmas time in the 90s walking the River Hills Mall was. I remember hanging out at the arcade and food court, then in high school cutting class to go to the food court. So many good memories. Also I signed up for the military out of this mall.

Sad about so many great stores of the past ... Goodman Jewelers, County Seat, Fanny Farmer Candy, The Dahl House and Musicland (70s), Casual Corner, Herbergers ... what a shame.

This mall looks like it’s doing better than Burnsville Center.

My mom owned Brestlers Ice Cream and Yougurt. My family ran it. I grew up in that mall.

River Hills is also a regional draw - I grew up outside a small town a hour or two away and when we went to "the mall", it was either river hills or the empire mall in sioux falls. I'm sure it's not quite like it was, with amazon and walmart becoming more dominant, but it's still a factor. Back before the internet hit, the mall was really one of the few places you could find things outside of the "sphere of interest" you would generally find in a small town. It really was a place of discovery when you grew up surrounded by cornfields, church sermons, and two tv channels. it was also just something to do when your recreation options got fairly limited once the weather got too cold. when we were young we thought being at the mall felt a little bit like what living in "the city" must have been like, even though in retrospect we were dumb as shit and incredibly naive. still have a lot of good memories, though. part of me will always wish it were still possible to go to pocket change arcade, ruttles, suncoast, and software etc. that new arcade is a sad shadow of what pocket change was in its heyday

Speaking as someone who lived in Mankato for five years, you do have reasons to visit the dead malls, like seeing a movie at Mankato Place, or maybe you have an appointment or your kid has dance class at Madison East, or you make an MGM run at Belle Mar. The fact that these dead malls still serve a purpose to the Mankato community is IMO why they’re still, thriving is the wrong word, but hanging in there.

I remember the old arcade being by the food court area and that arcade was the biggest one which even the one in the video can never beat it because the old one had about 15+ ticket earning games, 10 pinball machines, and 10 normal video arcade games. Plus being the 90's where most arcade places they constantly change the pinballs and video arcade games every few months so there was something new or once in awhile you get a classic coming in which gives you a chance to play something from the 80's in it's original arcade version.

wow this mall is alive and well

Used to go here as a kid with my grandparents when we were in town visiting. Was always pretty lively. Looks like a lot of A-list (for Mankato) stores have left. Mall itself still looks to be in good nick, though.

I lived in Mankato in 1993-1995 and was a regular shopper at the River Hills Mall. I played a lot of Mortal Kombat 2 at their arcade! I'm glad to see that the mall is still doing well. Many malls are not.

I've worked at the River hills mall for the last six years, so its a little bit of a trip to see it two years in the past. I also went here as a teenager on the rare occasion I went out with friends in the mid to late 2010's. The space where Riddle's jewelry is used to be two or three different spaces, with the corner space having the coolest set of iron gates, its where the hot topic used to be. I remember being pretty bummed when it moved, because what better store to have cool iron gates right? The Target recently had its 30th anniversary!

You should have seen it when it was farm land ....

Going to the mall was an activity. Social interaction. Thumbing through cd's in musicland (as another comment remebered). Getting some exercise. My childhood was in Madison East. Christmas time was the best. All the people. The warm greetings. Everything that is.....(unacceptable? Now...). Society seems to be determined to destroy every goodness we ever had. Interactions are made via cell phone now. Put 2 "bff's" in a room and they don't even speak directly to each other. My friends and I would make an afternoon out of wandering the mall. I live in a rural area(as another commenter mentioned) which made the experience all the more like being in "the city". Kids today would say the mall is boring. But compared to tapping on a cell phone screen blowing up colored circles for an imaginary reward.......I beg to differ.

Great job on this video. My wife and I are huge dead mall fans and we are Patreon’s of a number you tubers that do this sort of thing. I haven’t seen much around here. We did a video of this mall back in April of 2020 right after the initial shut down. We used to go to the River Hills Mall every Friday or Saturday. Have some food, walk around, buy a CD, and meet friends. After all, there really isn’t anywhere else in Mankato to go and you pretty much run into everyone you know there. I am going to check out your other videos. You did a great job with this, way better than I did with mine Right up there with Sal and Ace’s Adventures and WallyB and the like. Keep up the great work and maybe we can connect sometime to share a burger at the mall and chat about dead malls. Keep up the great work!

I was there in 1990s

Man Mankato looked way better back then compared to now

Still go here

Nice video!

I live and was raised in mankato and let me tell u this place is pretty much dead..someday have more business than other days ..back then it was good but now nope.....I use to go to Madison east mall for dance it is now just pretty much different sections of mayo clinic

If you want to see something interesting. Look up Birchwood Mall in Michigan. More so the images.

You need to check out cedar mall in owatonna

Why do all 90s malls look the same?

#sad