Replacing Mindbender both challenge, opportunity for West Edmonton Mall: analysts

The 15-storey space inside West Edmonton Mall's Galaxyland indoor amusement park that once housed the Mindbender roller coaster on July 14, 2025.

Patience. These things take time. Especially now.

But whatever replaces the Mindbender, West Edmonton Mall’s iconic former roller coaster, will be a ride.

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For those wondering when something else will fill the 15-storey space at the popular destination mall’s Galaxyland indoor amusement park, the answer isn’t forthcoming.

Lori Bethel, the mall’s vice-president of parks and attractions, said in a statement Wednesday staff is “hard at work on an exciting new ride” for the space.

“We encourage everyone to stay tuned for more information as we work towards the unveiling of this new addition,” Bethel told CTV News Edmonton.

West Edmonton Mall closed the Mindbender in January 2023 after 37 years of service. At the time, the roller coaster that reached speeds of 96.5 km/h on its 1,280-metre-long track had been closed for four months for maintenance. Crews finished dismantling the structure by the end of that year.

Missing magnet

It’s “pretty important” the mall fills the space for the same reason the Mindbender was added in the first place: to attract even more people to Canada’s largest mall, says retail analyst Bruce Winder.

“When the roller coaster’s taken out, something’s missing,” Winder said. “It’s like they’re missing a tooth now, and they’ve got to fill it. They’ve got to do something with it because a lot of people like that, maybe newcomers to the area, tourists. (It’s) something to see.”

Beyond drawing customers to the mall, such attractions help increase the amount of time a shopper spends on the property, says Lisa Hutcheson, managing partner of Toronto-based retail consultancy J.C. Williams Group.

“The longer a shopper stays in a store or in a mall, the more they’re likely going to spend,” Hutcheson said, referring to a study conducted by retail analytics firm Path Intelligence that found a one-per cent increase in “dwell time” leads to a 1.3-per-cent boost in sales in a retail environment.

“By increasing that dwell time there, by going to an attraction, they’re probably going to eat food. Maybe one of the family members will go off and say, ‘I don’t want to be part of this; I’m going to go do my thing.’”

What could go in its place

Winder said the Mindbender’s replacement could simply be another roller coaster, since that’s what the space was originally created for.

There is an opportunity to think beyond the tried-and-true, though, says David Ian Gray, a Vancouver-based retail strategist and an instructor in retail studies at the Capilano School of Business, as “there’s a lot more technology on hand today than there was in the 1980s.”

He said in terms of theme parks, one needs to look no further than one of the world’s most iconic operators, Disney, and its constant refreshment of attractions, never mind what’s happening across the globe and how aware people are of such developments.

“They’re always upgrading, integrating with some of the major franchises that are out there,” Gray said of Disney. “(And) there are very interesting modern developments coming out of Asia, in particular. Dubai is so well known for its mega malls with ski hills and such, but I think what’s different in 2025 and the last part of this decade compared to the 1980s is just how global not only the ideas are but the exposure that people have is, and the number of people that might have seen Asian malls and that sort of thing.”

When shoppers may see replacement

The sheer size of the Mindbender space means it will take more time not only to plan for what goes into it but also to perhaps find the right partner to help take it on.

Galaxyland already has a corporate associate in Hasbro, with the amusement park’s attractions bearing names of the toy-and-game company’s brands such as Mr. Potato Head, My Little Pony, GI Joe and Monopoly. The park itself is officially known as Galaxyland Powered by Hasbro.

“It takes time with that big a footprint, no matter who it is,” Hutcheson said.

“They may be trying to even just find a big partner to come in and take a look at it.”

If that partner isn’t Hasbro itself, Gray said it wouldn’t surprise him if the mall is talking to global entities to see if there’s a fit, not only because of what such a partner would bring in terms of expertise but because of the relatively volatile economic times.

“Especially today, we’re in an era with interest rates that are higher than we’ve seen in some time – a lot of big projects like that take on debt – and the economy right now has dampened sort of the risk interest in promoting big projects,” he said.

“Whatever goes in will have a life of many years, and I think most approach that with the idea that we’re not going to just look at the economy of today, we’re looking at what the future might bring.”

Making the right move

Whatever may replace the Mindbender, Winder says West Edmonton Mall has to straddle keeping its existing customer base happy while continuing to draw in new ones, not unlike most businesses.

That’s not to say the mall hasn’t been innovative or hasn’t changed with the times already. After all, the mega-mall first opened by the Ghermezians in 1981 and rapidly expanded over the 1980s and 1990s was a trailblazer in several respects to become the city’s top tourist and shopping destinations.

“One of the reasons it’s one of the marquee malls in North America is because it was one of the first to offer experiences, back when no one else was offering experiences, everything from the skating rink to the midway and everything,” Winder said, while adding “They’re kind of like other malls right now.”

“Other malls are all trying to get something, anything to draw people in, knowing that demographics have changed,” he said. “What drew in Boomers and Gen Xers might not be the same to draw in millennials and Gen Z consumers. There are a lot of folks scratching their heads in mall land right now trying to come up with that formula.”

Gray said he doesn’t see the Mindbender replacement question as “an insurmountable challenge,” rather a chance to create something that has staying power, not unlike the Mindbender itself.

“It’s a great opportunity for West Edmonton Mall to take all its core good ingredients, make them modern and make them a revamped proposition for the now,” he said.