Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

[Azel]

Heard any credible rumors about the former Office Depot space in City Center lately?

[xandrex]

How is a sweater from Askov Finlayson or Martin Patrick 3 any harder to wear than a sweater from Len Druskin? The Galleria Druskin even stocks some of the same brands as Martin Patrick 3.

Not harder to wear, but a lot of these boutiques charge prices that are mind-boggling. The bigger stores appear to have a bit more of a range (even if overall they're still fairly expensive).

Honestly, we need more places like Gap downtown than we do Askov Finlayson. I like AF a lot, but for retail to thrive, we need to appeal to people who are more comfortable paying $50 for a pair of jeans moreso than $250 pairs.

[twincitizen]

We also need existing places like Banana Republic and Brooks Brothers to get their asses down to the street level, instead of hiding up in the skyway malls.

[mullen]

why should they? that's where the business is for the thousands of dt office workers. why should the be on the street when we as a city have created this convenient second level that is weather controlled.

[ECtransplant]

A couple months after I moved to Minneapolis and wanted to go to Brooks Brothers I couldn't find it. Once I realized it was in the skyway, I still circled around a couple times before finding it.

[MplsSteve]

If every development was as well designed as the IDS Crystal Court, retailers could be on the street level and still be visible and easily accessible from both the skyway and the street.

[mnmike]

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... polis.html

Oh good, Walgreens is confirmed for the Sak's space...though not exactly the flagship version mentioned earlier. I wonder if 23,000 sq feet will occupy more than the first level. Perhaps the 2nd level will be split up with a skyway running through the middle. I think the building is around 90k square feet? So 23k is about one floor perhaps.

[lordmoke]

Still, double the size of a typical store is a pretty big deal. Glad this space won't be vacant!

Hopefully this means the current Walgreens location gets a new tenant and an overhaul. That building needs some help.

[Silophant]

I'd like to see the second floor rearranged such that the skyway path doesn't pass through the store, if it does use the second floor. I think that's one of the biggest barriers to getting consistent evening hours for the skyway system, that you can't really convince Macy's and Saks to stay open late just to let people walk through. (Though they do in the morning, of course).

Wonder if there's any chance this Walgreens would be open 24hrs like the Corner W in Stadium Village? A 24-hour convenience store would be pretty helpful to the 70k by 2025 plans. Not sure if there'd be enough demand to support it yet, though.

[Andrew_F]

If this ends up being 24hr (or at least open to 11 or 12, as opposed to 8 at the current Walgreens), it would be huge for downtown's livability. With the residential and hotel growth on this end of downtown, I could see it. A large convenience store with good hours within easy walking distance is a great amenity. I'm actually pretty excited about this, much more so than I would be over a specialty retailer.

[TommyT]

Don't know where to post this, but Caribou Coffee in the Baker Center appears to be moving from their current location to the [former] Nic on 5th leasing space they had [in the Baker Center.] Much larger space for them but it looks same ole' same ole' as far as the store itself goes.

[grant1simons2]

Don't know where to post this, but Caribou Coffee in the Baker Center appears to be moving from their current location to the Nic on 5th leasing space they had.

They're moving into Nic on Fifth? Street level or skyway? Or typo...

[mnmike]

He is saying they are moving to where the Nic on Fifth leasing office was in the Baker center.

[TommyT]

He is saying they are moving to where the Nic on Fifth leasing office was in the Baker center.

^^ Correct. Thanks Mike.

[grant1simons2]

Oh! Thank you for the clarification

[MinnMonkey]

Walgreens is going to lease the entire 37,000 square feet of space that Saks occupies, and use 23,000 for their store. Their flagship store in Chicago is 27,800.

So, the marquee store isn't that much smaller than a flagship store, and they have a ton of extra space to convert it to a flagship store in the future if they want to.

[ECtransplant]

So what is Walgreens going to do with that extra 14,000 sq ft?

[MNdible]

Three words:

Authentic German Discotheque.

[lordmoke]

Three words:

Authentic German Discotheque.

Walgreen's is from Chicago though, so it will probably turn out to be Polish.

Nobody will even miss Nye's.

[xandrex]

Three words:

Authentic German Discotheque.

Walgreen's is from Chicago though, so it will probably turn out to be Polish.

Nobody will even miss Nye's.

Or move Nye's there.

#nyegreens