The mall is owned by Simon Property Group and the anchor stores are Macy's, Dave & Buster's, AMC Theatres, Hennepin Service Center, and Life Time Athletic.

Prototypes by the pair emphasized the communal aspects of their proposed shopping center where services like the public library and the post office could be incorporated with the functions of retail.

[6] While stranded in Detroit during a snowstorm in 1948, Gruen approached Oscar Webber, head of Hudson's, the second largest department store in the nation at the time (behind Macy's in Manhattan).

Webber initially declined, but a year later Hudson's agreed to finance a set of malls including Northland Center as customers moved out of the city and into the suburbs.

[11] Gruen was a European-style socialist; he found individual stores in downtown venues to be inefficient, and the suburban lifestyle of 1950s America too "car-centric" and wanted to design a building that would be a communal gathering place, where people would shop, drink coffee, and socialize, as he remembered from his native Vienna.

Southdale Center was loosely modeled on the arcades of several heavily populated European cities and purposely included "eye-level display cases" to "lure customers into stores".

"[14] In a statement to the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune (now the Star Tribune), Gruen and his economic consultant Lawrence P. Smith described the regional shopping center as a place that could "take care of today's needs and today's living" and would bring the community together by providing "a new outlet for that primary human instinct to mingle with other humans."

[16] Due to Minnesota's harsh climate in the winter, Gruen constructed the center with a roof and air-conditioning system capable of maintaining a comfortable temperature of 75 °F (24 °C; 297 K) year-round.

[43] In February 2011, Simon Property Group announced that Southdale would soon be anchored by Herberger's, a local department store chain, and would lease the space previously used by Mervyn's.

[44] Along with this announcement came the mention of a brand new food court to replace the nearly vacant one on the less-traveled third floor, a housing development consisting of apartments and condominiums, and expanded retail.

[46] However, the new food court forced the closure of one of Southdale's oldest tenants, Ralph's Shoe Service, which originally opened at the mall in 1957.

[47][48] Following several tenant terminations, the mall's Marshalls anchor announced that their 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2; 0.92 acres; 0.37 ha) Southdale location would move to a different shopping center in Bloomington, Minnesota.

[49] The new food court located by JCPenney was completed in 2012 and featured "upscale" dining options, such as Qdoba Mexican Grill and Smashburger; several other projects took place, such as cosmetic changes for the mall and the construction of new corridors.

Gordmans, a Nebraska-based discount retailer, filled the vacancy previously leased by Marshalls in July 2015;[51] however closed just two years later after filing bankruptcy.

[53] A Homewood Suites by Hilton resort was approved by the City of Edina and constructed in the shopping center's northeast parking lot in late 2016.

[55] The former JCPenney's building was razed, and in its place, a $43 million Life Time Fitness multi-level complex was constructed, featuring a rooftop pool, which opened in 2019.