Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

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Tyler
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby Tyler » January 5th, 2014, 4:33 pm

I'm going to assume Avian means 10,000 sq ft and as of right now am predicting Land of Nod...
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gpete
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby gpete » January 5th, 2014, 6:40 pm

Oh yeah, just realized Avian's post had 10000 with comma in odd place. Made me think 100k but prob 10k. My bad.


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MNdible
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby MNdible » January 5th, 2014, 10:55 pm

Creative Kidstuff, HQ'ed in Minneapolis, might be a good guess as well. I think their stores are usually smaller than 10,000 sf, but this might be a good location for a new flagship store.

Scott16475
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby Scott16475 » January 6th, 2014, 7:52 am

LegoLand like the one in Kansas City! (just a guess).

David Greene
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby David Greene » January 6th, 2014, 10:45 am

Are there really that many kids downtown? A store like this seems more appropriate for Uptown where the populatiion of children is skyrocketing. We've had three families with kids move in on our side of the block alone over the past year.

And H&M doesn't carry maternity. And Columbia and Northface don't have baby sizes. They'd better get with the times!

Viktor Vaughn
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby Viktor Vaughn » January 6th, 2014, 11:42 am

Are there really that many kids downtown?
A lot of people with kids work downtown.

min-chi-cbus
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby min-chi-cbus » January 6th, 2014, 12:24 pm

Are there really that many kids downtown? A store like this seems more appropriate for Uptown where the populatiion of children is skyrocketing. We've had three families with kids move in on our side of the block alone over the past year.

And H&M doesn't carry maternity. And Columbia and Northface don't have baby sizes. They'd better get with the times!
I could be wrong but I'd be willing to wager that downtown is a more popular place for families with small children than Uptown right now, but that doesn't mean that downtown has more children than Uptown necessarily.

Didier
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby Didier » January 6th, 2014, 12:35 pm

I'd be willing to wager that downtown is a more popular place for families with small children than Uptown right now, but that doesn't mean that downtown has more children than Uptown necessarily.
What does this mean?

John
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby John » January 6th, 2014, 1:09 pm

I heard about this "rumor" of a children's store looking for space downtown a couple months ago. It would be a "destination" retail store for the entire metro area. They want access to parking or a ramp close by, so I'm thinking the location will be more on the periphery of downtown rather than the core. It's an intriguing idea that may seem a little out of place currently, however, if you envision downtown in 5 years (with all that's going on and including the demographics) it sounds quite plausible.

twincitizen
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby twincitizen » January 6th, 2014, 1:48 pm

Seems strange that they'd be looking at downtown over MOA. Even if it is unique or one-of-a-kind for our metro, it will have to be a pretty big draw to make it downtown. Plenty of retail locations have parking attached or skyway adjacent. Block E and City Center would be possibilities. Please let it be City Center, coupled with a complete exterior renovation of the Nicollet facade.

Scott16475
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby Scott16475 » January 6th, 2014, 2:32 pm

FAO Schwarz! OK, I'll stop. It would be fun if somone who has heard the rumor could tell us if one of us has guessed correctly. Thus far we have, LegoLand, FAO Schwarz, and Creative Kidstuff. You don't need to 'announce' which one, if any of the three, but you could say 'Yes' or 'No'.

min-chi-cbus
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby min-chi-cbus » January 6th, 2014, 6:12 pm

Is there a Lakeshore learning store in the area yet?

seanrichardryan
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby seanrichardryan » January 6th, 2014, 6:33 pm

Is there a Lakeshore learning store in the area yet?
Next to Leann Chin on Park Pl in SLP.
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Aville_37
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby Aville_37 » January 7th, 2014, 5:28 am

FAO Schwarz! OK, I'll stop. It would be fun if somone who has heard the rumor could tell us if one of us has guessed correctly. Thus far we have, LegoLand, FAO Schwarz, and Creative Kidstuff. You don't need to 'announce' which one, if any of the three, but you could say 'Yes' or 'No'.
Wasn't there an FAO Schwarz downtown years ago in the old Conservatory? Bring on more retail (especially destination retail) back to downtown. I am all for making downtown more family friendly.

Aville_37
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby Aville_37 » January 7th, 2014, 5:29 am

Personally would prefer Creative Kidstuff.

twinkess
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby twinkess » January 7th, 2014, 2:01 pm

FAO Schwarz! OK, I'll stop. It would be fun if somone who has heard the rumor could tell us if one of us has guessed correctly. Thus far we have, LegoLand, FAO Schwarz, and Creative Kidstuff. You don't need to 'announce' which one, if any of the three, but you could say 'Yes' or 'No'.
Wasn't there an FAO Schwarz downtown years ago in the old Conservatory? Bring on more retail (especially destination retail) back to downtown. I am all for making downtown more family friendly.
Yes there was.

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Avian
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby Avian » January 7th, 2014, 2:04 pm

It is 100,000 square feet, not 10k. Sorry about the confusion - I added the missing zero :)

As John mentioned, it will be a "destination" store. Whether they decide on downtown or another location they do plan on entering this market. I didn't intend for this to be a big deal when I mentioned it. No deal has been done yet. They are just looking at their options.

@ Aville_37 -Yes, there was an FAO Schwarz in the Conservatory on 8th & Nicollet. I don't think it lasted even 5 years.

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nBode
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby nBode » January 7th, 2014, 3:14 pm

Avian, I think anything you drop will be made into a big deal. You seem to have a reputation over here ;)

Anyways, 100k seems just massive for a children's retail store.

twincitizen
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby twincitizen » January 7th, 2014, 3:26 pm

For those counting at home, 100k square feet is an entire downtown block (about 109k actually). If this really were going downtown, we're talking about a multi-level space to be sure. I guess I'm just not holding my breath for a downtown location. Southdale has the entire 3rd floor available and Galleria has talked about a large expansion over their current surface parking lot. Those seem to be more logical locations, especially from a "density of kids from well-off families" standpoint.

Great news about the City Center renovation. As I've said before, dropping $50MM on Nicollet Mall renovation without doing anything about City Center would be a major disappointment. Fixing the way that building interacts with the street is absolutely critical.

John
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Re: Minneapolis & St. Paul Fantasies and Speculations

Postby John » January 7th, 2014, 4:25 pm

Great news about the City Center renovation. As I've said before, dropping $50MM on Nicollet Mall renovation without doing anything about City Center would be a major disappointment. Fixing the way that building interacts with the street is absolutely critical.
I'm optimistic we will here some news about City Center improvements by this summer! :D


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