A quest to find the best Lids at Mall of America

Lids isn’t just a store, it’s a mall staple. Any mall without a Lids is not a mall and the Mall of America isn’t just any mall. It’s the mall. Of America.

There are six Lids at Mall of America. Well, seven if you count the Lids section inside Macy’s. Or I guess six, if you don’t count the Lids Locker Room pop-up near Nordstrom. As I type this from the food court, which is where Radio Row for Super Bowl LII is located, I am facing the storefront of a Lids.

With so many Lids to chose from, I began to wonder, “Which Lids inside the Mall of America is the best Lids?” And so my quest began.

My first stop was the Lids closest to Radio Row on the third floor of the mall. This Lids is called Lids Locker Room. Lids Locker Room is a pop-up store that exists to fulfill the needs of all NFL fans traveling to the mall for the Super Bowl. The store is huge, at least for a Lids. When I asked one employee if this Lids was the best Lids in the mall, he begrudgingly admitted it wasn’t. He told me that the best Lids in the mall is in fact on the second floor.

Pros: This Lids is convenient to the food court. This Lids features licensed Super Bowl memorabilia, jerseys, and yes, lids. This Lids really has it all.

Cons: This Lids only has NFL jerseys. An employee of this Lids admitted it was not the best Lids. This Lids is also temporary. This Lids is therefore disqualified from contention.

An employee at Lids Locker Room tipped me off to the Lids near Bubba Gump Shrimp. He said it was a pretty good Lids, but admittedly not the best Lids. Myk, a former Buffalo Wild Wings employee at the mall and current employee at the Lids near Bubba Gump Shrimp, believes that his Lids is in fact the best Lids. “Even before I started working for the company, this is the Lids I would come to,” he said.

Pros: This is one of the larger Lids stores inside the mall. This Lids is located next to Bubba Gump Shrimp and Margaritaville. There was a pirate on stilts at Margaritaville when I walked by.

Cons: This Lids was a little bit farther away from the middle of the mall than I would like.

The third-floor Lids next to Tervis is your classic Lids. This Lids doesn’t fuck around with superfluous merchandise like jerseys and sweaters. This Lids really has one thing: Lids. Devale, who works at the third-floor Lids next to Tervis, is a Minnesota native. His sister is a Vikings cheerleader. Devale sold a lid to an Eagles lineman earlier today, despite his allegiance to the Vikings. That is a classy move and instantly pushed up the third-floor Lids next to Tervis higher in my rankings of Lids.

Pros: This Lids knows what people go to Lids for: Lids. This Lids also featured the most dedicated Lids employee I met all day.

Cons: This Lids was difficult to find. I walked an entire mile loop around the mall before I was able to find it.

[a photo of the Lids on the second floor would go here if I had remembered to take one]

The promised land of Lids. I had heard from a few Lids employees that the Lids on the second floor was the best Lids. I walked into this Lids and was instantly impressed. There were jerseys of every team in every sport hanging on the walls, there were sweatshirts, Super Bowl merchandise, and yes, lids. Matt, an employee of the second-floor Lids was ecstatic to extol the virtues of his Lids. “This is the best Lids,” he told me. When I asked to confirm this with another employee he joked, “You better say this is the best Lids or I’ll kick you outta here.” But he wasn’t joking.

Pros: This is the only Lids on the second floor, making it a must-stop for any shopper who is on the second floor but doesn’t want to go to the first or third floor.

Cons: Honestly, this was a solid Lids.

Nothing is more synonymous with a shopping mall than the sweet, familiar smell of Cinnabon. The first-floor Lids near Cinnabon basks in the glorious scent of unbaked cinnamon-flavored dough all day long. Minnesota native Michael said that working near Cinnabon isn’t a perk, it’s a curse. “Our back room smells like Cinnabon 24/7. It’s dangerous,” he told me. Michael also added that this is one of the few Lids with a bathroom in the back.

Pros: It’s next to Cinnabon. It has a bathroom.

Cons: Michael told me that earlier in the day an Eagles player came to buy a hat but was scared off by Patriots media members outside of the Lids. I assume it was the same player who then went upstairs to the third-floor Lids next to Tervis to purchase his lid. That’s the perk of having more than one Lids in the mall, folks. However, this is a con for the first-floor Lids by Cinnabon, because it’s so out in the open that the media could be lurking anywhere.

The first-floor Lids not by Cinnabon is located next to a Vikings team store. According to an employee, this is a very busy Lids, because Vikings cheerleaders go to the Vikings store often on the weekends, and they get a lot of traffic. She told me her favorite Lids is this Lids. She says it’s because she works there. That’s called bias.

Pros: This is a decent-sized Lids. It is conveniently located just 100 yards away from the other Lids, in case you wanted to go Lids-hopping.

Cons: It doesn’t smell like Cinnabon.

The final stop in my quest to find the best Lids took me to Macy’s, where Lids has a small outpost with Vikings lids and various other NFL merchandise. This Lids is not a real Lids. There is no giant entryway that reads, “Lids.”

This Lids is disqualified from contention.

Last place: First-floor Lids not by Cinnabon

Tied for third place: Third- floor Lids by Bubba Gump Shrimp and third-floor Lids by Tervis

Second place: First-floor Lids by Cinnabon

First place: Lids on the second floor

*Lids inside Macy’s and Lids Locker Room are disqualified.*