Three years after closing its Minneapolis site, Hard Rock Cafe is about to reopen in Minnesota — this time at Mall of America in Bloomington.
The glitzy new restaurant, bar and performance space has seating for 400 people and adjoins the Nickelodeon Universe theme park.
It’s scheduled to open this month, but the precise date hasn’t been announced.
It also presents a dilemma: Should its signature T-shirts say Hard Rock Cafe Minneapolis, or Hard Rock Cafe Mall of America?
“Popular question,” company spokeswoman Tara Hippensteel said Wednesday. “We have both. We’re testing to see what the consumer wants.”
Hard Rock’s unique location — inside the glassy interior of MOA, and next to Lego — transforms what had been an under used meeting area adjacent to Nick Universe.
Soon, the multi-leveled Hard Rock Cafe-MOA will feature dining, live performances and rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia — including Bob Dylan’s harmonica, Kurt Cobain’s lyrics and James Brown’s jacket — next-door to theme-park rides like Blue’s Skidoo and the Backyardigans Swing-a-long.
Mall of America is working to expand its entertainment options to give its 40 million visitors a year greater access to interesting experiences not available online, beyond just selling stuff.
In the past year or so, MOA has added a zip line, a center for traveling exhibitions like Barbie and Star Trek, a nightly light show, more high-end restaurants, a high-end hotel, and construction is underway on another.
During a preview tour of the cafe Wednesday, Hard Rock curator Jeff Nolan highlighted the range of the restaurant’s memorabilia collection. The cafe walls feature clothing, guitars and other items from Madonna and Rihanna, Carl Perkins and Will.i.am, Linda Ronstadt and Lady Gaga.
“I think we did a pretty good job of representing not only iconic artists, like the Beatles, Elvis, Hendrix,” Nolan said, but also local favorites, beyond superstars like Dylan and Prince.
The Hard Rock Cafe brand is now owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
The company lists 189 Hard Rock venues in 58 countries, mostly cafes but also 21 hotels and 10 casinos.
Minnesota’s previous Hard Rock Cafe was in Block E in downtown Minneapolis.
Tom Webb can be reached at 651-228-5428.
Follow him at twitter.com/TomWebbMN.
