The Grand Forks, Fargo, Minneapolis Trek

The Metrodome in the foreground of the skyline of Minneapolis.

Every long weekend (and often any weekend), a steady and sometimes very large stream of traffic flows south down Highway 75 to the U.S. with the intent of combining a shopping trip with a holiday.

The three primary destinations usually are Grand Forks, Fargo and Minneapolis.

Grand Forks has generally been the quickest destination for a family with young children, those that don't like to drive far or those with only a few days. Columbia Mall has always been a favourite with Winnipeggers ever since it was built in 1978. With Target, JCPenny and Dayton's as it main attractions, Winnipeggers flocked to hotels nearby and shopped in a fairly stylish mall for the time. For a time in the 1970s, many Winnipeggers by-passed Grand Forks to go to Fargo's West Acres Mall which was built in 1972.

I remember that I felt there was a huge difference in the look and feel of Columbia Mall and that West Acres felt like it was from a different era. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Grand Forks remained the closest and possibly the best regarded shopping excursion destination for Winnipeggers. The opening of the first Wal-Mart in 1990 in Grand Forks and rise of the Canadian dollar for a time led to huge crowds in the city. At roughly two hours away from Winnipeg, it seemed everyone was going down to shop.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in 2008 to compete with the Target Supercenter that had opened across from Columbia Mall in 2001. Columbia Mall has never quite been the same since it lost Target. Even with the opening of Sears in the mall in 2000 and the change of Dayton's to Macy's, the mall has not found anyone to occupy the boarded up Target. The movie theatres in the parking lot closed a few years ago as well. The mall in 2009 completed a food court but there are still empty store fronts today.

After the 1997 flood, one of the hotels we stayed at was never the same. The Westward Ho was badly damaged. We stayed there twice after the repairs but the flood damage was too much. It was around this time that our family started making a journey to Fargo as Grand Forks re-built.

I believe that we weren't the only ones to see that the street where the mall was located 12th Avenue had become a hub of big box stores not found in Grand Forks. Barnes and Noble became a favourite stop if only for a day trip from our Grand Forks hotel. Eventually, our family started to by-pass Grand Forks altogether.

While Grand Forks remains a big attraction for the people of Winnipeg, it is not unusual to see many Manitoba licences all over Fargo on a long weekend as well.

The more intrepid travellers and avid shopper makes the full trek to Mall of America in Minneapolis. The casinos and sports teams also are destinations for many people. The Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Wild draw regular Winnipeg visitors year round. The Mall of America opened in 1992 and has probably contributed greater number of Winnipeggers by-passing Grand Forks and Fargo altogether. Combined the mall with the factory outlet stores in Albertville, Minnesota and most power shoppers can't resist making it a four day weekend.

Over the years the rise and fall of the dollar and the steady march northward of retailers Winnipeggers like has caused ebbs and flows of traffic down Highway 75. Still, there is likely nothing that will stop the travel south of the border for a getaway that involves a little relaxation and shopping.



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Grand Forks and Fargo

Grand Forks has been the main choice for Winnipeg travel for many years. It solidified its position over Fargo with the construction of Columbia Mall in 1978. Prior to that, shopping was done downtown or at the already aging South Forks Plaza built in 1964.

West Acres Mall built in 1972 had been challenging Grand Forks for Winnipeg's affection ever since it was built with Sears and deLendrecies anchoring 50 stores.

Throughout the 1980s, Grand Forks was the hands down choice of cross border shoppers from Manitoba. In the 1990s, as the dollar started to drop, cross border shopping also started drop off.

Another reasons for people to stay in Winnipeg was the opening of Walmart in Winnipeg. In the early 1990s, it had been one of the reasons families travelled to Grand Forks. In addition to Walmart, some other U.S. based chains also started to open in Winnipeg. Some of the exclusiveness of Grand Forks disappeared in the 1990s.

In 1997, Grand Forks was deeply damaged by the Red River flood. While Columbia was untouched, some hotels were devastated. I stayed in Grand Forks a few months after the flood in what was supposed to be a cleaned up hotel and had to ask to be moved to a second floor that did not have have the smell of mildew. The heydays of the 1980s were pretty much over though and the flood only capitalized a major change in Winnipeg shopping getaways.

In 2001, Grand Forks capped off an amazing re-building program and gave Winnipeg a new reason to visit with with addition of the Alerus Center. For the next few years, Winnipeggers headed down on a regular basis to concerts that bypassed Winnipeg.

As the dollar started to rise, Winnipeggers started to head back down for weekend shopping attracted by the new Target across from Columbia as well as some new stores such as Best Buy. However, more discerning shoppers were going further afield to Fargo for Barnes and Noble and some stores in West Acres not found in Grand Forks such as Hollister.

Other shoppers were heading down all the way to Mall of America in Minneapolis and Factory outlet stores in Albertville, MN. Those that headed that far down usually did so on a long weekend rather than the two day splurges.

Grand Forks will always be more attractive for some Winnipeg travellers for the plain reason that it is just 2 hours away. Columbia Mall and the surrounding hotels offer supreme convenience for travellers.

Fargo is a little harder to commute to and West Acres doesn't have the hotel conglomeration that Grand Forks does. Still, for someone who wants a little bit of difference in their weekend travel, here are some of Fargo's highlights.

West Acres

It has double the amount of department stores. Macy's, JCPenney, Herberger's and Sears. Some stores not in Grand Forks are Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch. The mall is newly renovated and attractive.

Downtown Fargo

Rebuilt and appealing for the person looking for a new eatery, hotel or shopping experience.

Other Stores

Scheels super sport store is worth going to just for the Ferris wheel. Barnes and Noble is bigger and better in Fargo.

Recreation

Bonanzaville is a historic village in West Fargo open from spring to fall.

Restaurants

Space Aliens
TGIFridays
Timberlodge

For people with nostalgia for old Winnipeg namesakes there is:

Mr. Steak
Country Kitchen



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