East End / Thresher Square / Trader Joes - 713 Washington Ave S

[MNdible]

Yes, ESG was in one of these buildings for many years.

[contrast]

BRW was there in the 90s. I liked the office layout- the combining of the two buildings at different floor heights made it rather interesting, if not odd in some places. Building had a light scoop on the roof to bring natural light down into the interior. Haven't been inside in years. Probably should drop in before the next remodeling starts.

[HiawathaGuy]

New grocery store likely for Thresher Square development
August 8, 2014
http://www.journalmpls.com/news-feed/ne ... evelopment

At last night’s Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association meeting a representative from Sherman Associates hinted that the retail included in the Thresher Square development will include a grocery retailer.

It’s not Trader Joe’s. Tony Kuechle, Sherman’s senior vice president of development, said the 20,000-square-foot space is much larger than the typical Trader Joe’s store. ...

[Anondson]

This is a nice addition to the Mill District.

[ECtransplant]

I would have loved a Trader Joe's. Still absolutely great to get another grocery store around downtown. Any speculation on who it is?

[Silophant]

Target Express?

[grant1simons2]

No. I think this should be a small grocer like family run and stuff

[Jacobean]

Despite the comments, I would not be surprised if did end up being a Trader Joes. Its hard to tell from the article if the Sherman rep specifically denied it was going to be Trader Joes, or merely gave the non-committal statement about the site being larger than a typical Trader Joe's footprint. TJ's has started doing larger stores than their typical ~12k-15k sf, so its certainly possible. http://nreionline.com/retail/retail-rea ... spirations

My other thought was maybe Fresh Thyme, which is looking to expand into the Twin Cities. Although I believe their format is typically ~30,000 s.f. and kind of doubt they would do an urban format. http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... tores.html

[MSPumpkins]

It sounds like they're interested in going after the university students, which makes me think Target Express is unlikely because they just opened a location in Dinkytown, plus its not quiet a grocery store. While it's a little big for Trader Joe's, I could see this being an Aldi (Same parent company) Sounds about right square footage wise and would appeal to students. Otherwise I was also thinking possibly a Supervalu store such as Jerry's, but I think that's pretty unlikely. As for a small family owned and run grocer going in here... Good luck with that. Either way it'll be great to have a grocer on the other side of town.

Edit: Forgot about Kowalskis, could definitely see them making a move for an urban store.

[twincitizen]

Kowalski's or Fresh Thyme. Book it.

[Minneboy]

It would be a good move for Kowalski's as I find them very much like Lunds who has 2 stores nearby a Kowalski's would be a natural. Or would it?

[grant1simons2]

I'd dig a K-wals. They make good cheap sushi

[uptown067]

Even considering the growth in this area, we've got to be reaching a saturation point for grocery stores in this area.

[Silophant]

Idk, there's a good amount of residential around Elliot and Gold Medal Parks, and 10-15 blocks to Whole Foods or Lunds is a pretty long walk with grocery bags. Or is there a grocery store in the area I'm not aware of?

[Anondson]

The developer said the prospective grocer insists on the skyway because they hope to draw college students riding the LRT to the near station and walking the skyway to it. *shrug*

[mplser]

Even considering the growth in this area, we've got to be reaching a saturation point for grocery stores in this area.

There really aren't any grocery stores in the area. I live in downtown east and I go to the aldi on Franklin

[Azel]

The developer said the prospective grocer insists on the skyway because they hope to draw college students riding the LRT to the near station and walking the skyway to it. *shrug*

Could be Aldi?
Or CVS?
Or, Fresh Thyme Farmers Markets? They're opening one of those in Bloomington at Penn American Phase II that's 28K.
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/m ... -penn.html

[min-chi-cbus]

I don't know much about Fresh Thyme but Kowalski's I can see being a viable option considering the clientele of the neighborhood (Mills District, more premier n'hood downtown).

[nfschauer]

I work at a Kowalskis and the only one I hear of them building is the one in Excelsior, though in order to keep up with Lund's, they really need to start building more stores. This would be a good spot because Kowalski's caters to upper class and there are a lot of high end luxury apartments nearby. This would be a perfect spot for them, they already have an organic store in downtown (Whole Food's), so they shouldn't build another one of those...

[mattaudio]

Kowalski's once tried to expand into the burbs (as did Byerly's before their merger with Lunds) with mixed success. They built a nice store in Lakeville (which now has three Cub foods, one a former Rainbow, that have opened since) and it promptly closed. My take on it is that suburban Cubs and the like are usually rather nice and new, well-stocked, etc so the upmarket options aren't differentiated by much. Whereas urban Cubs seem to be much more tough - I don't go to them anymore because they seem to have stock issues, less organic selections, and are rather run down. Thus upmarkets have more room for differentiation in urban areas. Just a theory.