Approximately 40 million people visit the mall annually, 80% of whom are from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Illinois and Ohio.

[9] A plaque in the mall's amusement park commemorates the former location of home plate[10] and one seat from Met Stadium was placed in Mall of America at the exact location it occupied in the stadium, commemorating a 520-foot (160 m) home run hit by hall-of-famer Harmon Killebrew on June 3, 1967.

[13] Organizations involved include Melvin Simon and Associates,[14] Teachers Insurance and Annuity,[15] and the office of architect Jon Jerde.

[22][23] In 2003, after a protracted six-year legal battle between Simon Property Group, the managing general partner of the property, and the Ghermezian brothers/Triple Five Group, over majority ownership of the site, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the Ghermezians, effectively transferring control and planning authority of the mall back to the creator of the concept.

[24] The dispute stemmed from a 1999 purchase of Teacher's Insurance's 27.5% equity stake by Simon Properties, giving them majority ownership.

The bill gave the city of Bloomington the ability to increase taxes on sales, lodging and food and beverages to finance a parking ramp at the mall.

[29][30] In March 2014, ground was broken on the mall's north side for the $104 million, 14-story JW Marriott hotel, owned and financed by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

In early 2000, a Mardi Gras-themed bar, Fat Tuesday, shut its doors due to indecent exposure and alcohol-related offenses.

[41] On November 29, 2011, Google announced indoor maps for Mall of America along with several other places like airports, parks, and public spaces.

Former junior anchors include Best Buy, Marshalls, and American Girl, with the latter being replaced with a 24,000-square-foot M&M's retail store, which opened in late 2020.

[51] Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium offers special events such as sleepovers, scuba diving, snorkeling and birthday parties.

[52] In the lower level of the eastern parking ramp is the Mall of America station, the busiest transit hub in Minnesota with services to and from many destinations in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.

[57] As Doug Reynolds, the former Security Director at the mall noted in a congressional testimony in 2008, BDOs are taught to "look for intent, rather than means.

The objective is to focus on suspicious indicators in three categories: People, vehicles, and unattended items like backpacks, shopping bags, and suitcases.

In 2010, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported that mall security officials were instructed to question or detain individuals exhibiting what they deemed "suspicious behavior".

[59] At the time, some officials within the Bloomington Police Department worried that the mall's security methods may infringe peoples' rights.

[64][65] In February 2015, the al-Shabaab militant group also released a propaganda video calling for attacks on the Mall of America and other Western shopping centers.

[66] On December 21, 2014, thousands of protesters attended an unauthorized demonstration organized by Black Lives Matter in the mall's rotunda.

The demonstration was in response to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the then recent jury decision not to prosecute the white officer in that case, as well as the death of Eric Garner of New York.

The lawsuit additionally asked that the court jail Black Lives Matter activists unless they publicly announce that the demonstration is cancelled on their social media accounts.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota called the mall's lawsuit an "improper prior restraint on speech" and an unconstitutional overreach.

[74][75] On April 12, 2019, a five-year-old boy was thrown from the third-story balcony by 24-year-old Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda of Minneapolis, outside the Rainforest Cafe, and landed near the Michael Kors store.

[81] In March, 2022, the man, Kahlil Wiley, pleaded guilty to one count of second degree assault with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to three years and nine months.

Three people were also arrested for allegedly aiding the shooters as they fled the scene and hid from authorities at a nearby Best Western hotel.

[85] On December 23, 2022, the mall was placed under lockdown after a "long-standing feud" led to the fatal shooting of a 19-year old male inside the Nordstrom department store.