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Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: May 26th, 2020, 2:12 pm
by Record Machine
Is Nicollet Mall even worth the continued effort and investment? Even parts of Manhattan are sleepy after business hours. Maybe it's ok. There are so many other pockets of the city where people are naturally drawn to, I don't see that part of downtown ever being as dense as we might want it to be. Build up Washington, build up St Anthony Main, North Loop etc. This attempt to will Nicollet Mall into something more than it is feels like chasing a ghost.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: May 26th, 2020, 2:25 pm
by SurlyLHT
I agree, retail is dying all over, COVID is accelerating it. There are better ways to invest in our Downtown

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: June 2nd, 2020, 8:44 am
by Multimodal
The Downtown Minneapolis vibrancy conundrum: http://tcbmag.com/news/articles/2020/ma ... -conundrum
Wow, so many great things in that article (and a few that don’t make sense).

1. Photo caption “Downtown East is another neighborhood with lots of new housing but little streetlife” as it shows the intersection of two very wide streets (at least one is also for transit). Not a fun place to walk or congregate. Compare that to the North Loop which, other than Washington Ave., has mostly smaller streets that eventually end in T-intersections rather than being wide through streets for cars. Think about that.

2. Great talk about smaller businesses. I didn’t know Mayor Frey was so concerned about it. It’s a good thing to worry about. A downtown filled with huge chain stores isn’t very different from a mall—little street vibrancy both because it pulls cars/motorists from a long way away (necessitating more car infrastructure than pedestrian), and it’s a long space to walk past without interacting or having a coffee shop or other gathering spot. It’s a dead zone.

3. Also great talk about San Francisco’s tax on unrented storefronts. Force rents down; force building owners/management to subdivide space.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: September 10th, 2020, 3:29 pm
by Austinite
Candyland closed off 8th and Marquette.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: September 25th, 2020, 8:06 pm
by Silophant
L'More Chocolat is moving from Wayzata to the old Espresso Royale space at 13th and Hennepin.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: September 26th, 2020, 8:19 am
by alexschief
I joked about this on Twitter, but I have a serious comment, which is that one under-discussed advantage of minimum wage laws is that they may make it easier for businesses to attract and retain employees.

If you're a prospective employee, looking for work, working in Wayzata might mean less pay (only the state minimum wage) and more expenses (you can either pay the costs of living in Wayzata, or you can pay the costs of car ownership to get to Wayzata). You'd be less likely to even consider jobs there in the first place, and more likely to quit for a better opportunity somewhere else.

There is obviously a give-and-take with minimum wages, and a weakening economy changes the calculus somewhat, but the argument that they are all negative for businesses is not true.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: September 26th, 2020, 7:50 pm
by Austinite
L'More Chocolat is moving from Wayzata to the old Espresso Royale space at 13th and Hennepin.
Great news!! I was going to order chocolate from them once! These are the types of businesses that make coming downtown fun.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: September 28th, 2020, 8:32 am
by MNdible
Re: minimum wage, most job postings that I've seen even for the most entry level of positions were well above the federal and even the state minimum wage (which will, it appear, edge north of $10/hr this January based on its inflation adjustment). The exception remains tipped jobs, where the employees could get paid a lower minimum wage knowing that they'd make up the difference (and in a good restaurant or bar, quite a bit more).

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: October 9th, 2020, 7:42 am
by Mdcastle
If paying employees some arbitrary figure that is more than what their labor is worth made good business sense companies would be doing so without government making them.

Now if you're a poor person in say Hopkins rather than drive your $1000 car to Wayzata and park for free, now you have to pay to park it downtown instead. That's going to suck up a lot of your wage increase. Of course I guess there's the option of riding next to strangers in a poorly ventilated bus in the middle of a respiratory pandemic, a bus that runs and stops on it's schedule, not yours...

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: October 9th, 2020, 8:35 am
by NickP
I guess I would respond to that by saying I think everyone is worth being able to live.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: October 9th, 2020, 10:14 am
by Austinite
If paying employees some arbitrary figure that is more than what their labor is worth made good business sense companies would be doing so without government making them.

Now if you're a poor person in say Hopkins rather than drive your $1000 car to Wayzata and park for free, now you have to pay to park it downtown instead. That's going to suck up a lot of your wage increase. Of course I guess there's the option of riding next to strangers in a poorly ventilated bus in the middle of a respiratory pandemic, a bus that runs and stops on it's schedule, not yours...
I would argue against the statement what their labor is worth, but again, some of these jobs aren't or were never meant to be long-time jobs/careers, i.e. coffee baristas, retail cashiers, etc. They were designed to be for for teenagers, etc., or part-time positions to supplement one's income. That why I kinda don't understand the push for unions for coffee shop workers. I am all for treating employees fairly, but a union seems pretty extreme.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: October 9th, 2020, 11:27 am
by LakeCharles
[...] some of these jobs aren't or were never meant to be long-time jobs/careers, i.e. coffee baristas, retail cashiers, etc. They were designed to be for for teenagers, etc., or part-time positions to supplement one's income. That why I kinda don't understand the push for unions for coffee shop workers. I am all for treating employees fairly, but a union seems pretty extreme.
It doesn't really matter what they were "designed" to be for, because they aren't that, and haven't been for a long time. Most coffee shop workers are now supporting themselves (and a family) on one or more jobs. If they want to be able to negotiate to improve their experience, good on them.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: October 9th, 2020, 1:24 pm
by Tcmetro
Few points I want to make:

Probably a reason this chocolate shop is moving downtown. Likely because more people will shop there.

If you live in Hopkins and are driving a $1000 car you're probably paying for a lot of repairs every year. The first car I bought was only slightly more than your figure and I probably spent twice on it in repairs in two years, not to mention having to ride the bus when it broke down.

Both Wayzata and Downtown Minneapolis should have affordable housing for workers. It's not sustainable to expect low wage workers to have insane commutes. High paid downtown workers don't have to worry about where they live because the past fifty years of public transportation investment in the Twin Cities has been based around shuttling professionals from Garage Mahals in every interchange armpit to the big shiny towers. The park and ride system is extremely overbuilt and is only at 50% capacity. Local bus services have been long neglected and have had to fight to get even a reasonable portion of the funding.

Someone living in Hopkins and working downtown (service job or not) will soon be able to ride light rail. Which operates frequently and has the same travel time all day.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: November 10th, 2020, 2:43 pm
by Austinite
The Mpls/St. Paul Magazine has an updated listing of restaurants and local retailers that have closed. St. Croix downtown closed.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: January 15th, 2021, 12:58 pm
by Austinite
Has Brooks Brothers closed in City Center? I thought they were going to reopen with a remodel?

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: January 15th, 2021, 1:57 pm
by HKM
Has Brooks Brothers closed in City Center? I thought they were going to reopen with a remodel?
Google maps lists it as "permanently closed" and looks like BB has been closing stores nationally with little media coverage since filing for bankruptcy over the summer.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: January 15th, 2021, 4:29 pm
by Austinite
Has Brooks Brothers closed in City Center? I thought they were going to reopen with a remodel?
Google maps lists it as "permanently closed" and looks like BB has been closing stores nationally with little media coverage since filing for bankruptcy over the summer.
Well that sucks. Never shopped there myself - a bit too expensive for my budget but another shopping option gone downtown.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: January 17th, 2021, 2:10 pm
by uptown82
Brooks Brothers moved across the hall from their old location this past summer. They were open a month or two and then moved out. Banana Republic in IDS is moving out too. 60-80% off the whole store currently. Almost every store in skyway level of gaviidae is closed. Retail downtown is looking quite sad at the moment. I hope it can recover.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: January 18th, 2021, 8:10 pm
by Austinite
Brooks Brothers moved across the hall from their old location this past summer. They were open a month or two and then moved out. Banana Republic in IDS is moving out too. 60-80% off the whole store currently. Almost every store in skyway level of gaviidae is closed. Retail downtown is looking quite sad at the moment. I hope it can recover.
Thanks for the update. Very sad indeed. I hope the building owners/managers take this opportunity to lower rents to attract a mix of local and national retailers after this starts to get better again. Not just happening here - retail is closing nationally. Even NYC.

Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

Posted: January 24th, 2021, 12:42 pm
by DTSB
Brooks Brothers moved across the hall from their old location this past summer. They were open a month or two and then moved out. Banana Republic in IDS is moving out too. 60-80% off the whole store currently. Almost every store in skyway level of gaviidae is closed. Retail downtown is looking quite sad at the moment. I hope it can recover.
Are you sure Banana Republic is moving out? All of the Banana Republic stores are having a 70% off Winter sale. I thought that is what was going on downtown. Not because they are moving out.