The Dairy Queen at the Mall of America has closed, marking the end of an era for the soft-serve ice cream chain at the mall following a lawsuit about unpaid rent.
Mall of America evicts long-running tenant Dairy Queen for unpaid rent
Mall of America filed an eviction complaint stating the franchise had nearly $75,000 of unpaid rent since January of this year.
June 28, 2023 at 12:56AM
The Mall of America's website lists the store — located in suite E282 — as temporarily closed. A spokeswoman for the mall confirmed that the store closed June 4.
In May, the mall filed a complaint against the mall's Dairy Queen franchisee, Non-Typical Cos., seeking the store's eviction after it failed to pay nearly $75,000 of back rent since January of this year.
Non-Typical Cos. did not respond to a request for comment.
Non-Typical Cos. had a five-year lease — signed in June 2018 — to operate on the second floor of the mall, close to the now-closed Sears store and the Rotunda. Dairy Queen has had a presence at the Mall of America for years before the recent five-year lease. This location also houses an Orange Julius, which DQ — headquartered in Bloomington — also owns.
Since the mall filed the lawsuit, the two parties have settled, but the terms of the settlement are confidential.
The Mall of America has sued several tenants in the past few years for unpaid rent as some began to miss payments during the pandemic.
Despite Dairy Queen's recent closing, numerous other ice cream options remain at the mall, including Cold Stone Creamery and Mexican frozen treat store La Michoacana Purepecha.
Health officials say the recent outbreak of the highly contagious virus looked bad this summer, but optimism is growing they may have contained it.
