Culture
When a Shopping Mall Goes to the Dogs
A Twin Cities mall invited people and pets to walk indoors each weekend—but the event’s popularity was also its undoing.
In last year’s brutal winter in Minnesota, Elisabeth Ostrander was watching the local news when someone on screen said they wished they had a place to walk their dog indoors. Ostrander was then the senior marketing manager for the Rosedale Center, a typical suburban shopping mall located in Roseville, about 11 miles north of Minneapolis. “So I thought, ‘Why couldn’t they walk at Rosedale before the mall opens?’” she recalls.
The next Monday, she floated the idea past her general manager. By the following Sunday, the mall opened its doors to the Twin Cities’ four-legged friends, inviting them to take a stroll. With just a few posts on social media and a partnership with Sidewalk Dog, a dog-friendly guide to Minnesota, it took off from there.