[Archived] Uptown Retail & Restaurant News 2012-17

[mattaudio]

Electric Six was unavailable for comment.

[LakeCharles]

Thanks Matt. After all the talk I felt obligated to post the video.

[UrsusUrbanicus]

Electric Six was unavailable for comment.

Actually, I heard the new space was going to be a combination disco and Taco Bell, until the fire department and the electrical inspector put the kibosh on it.

[mattaudio]

It's the dance commander who gives those orders, actually.

[MattW]

CP snipping about the Library space.

http://www.citypages.com/restaurants/th ... er-8339286

[TommyT]

Apparently there is a new gay sports bar opening in uptown which will have volleyball according to a teaser I saw on FB. I wonder where this will be? it says the location will be announced in a few weeks and it will be l called game sports bar

[TommyT]

Here is the facebook page for the new gay bar that is opening in uptown. According to their fb page the address is 2841 Hennepin Ave which seems to be Salsa a la Salsa's address? Anyone hear anything? Is Salsa closing?

[TommyT]

https://www.facebook.com/gamebarmpls/

[BBMplsMN]

The Uptown location isn't listed on the main Salsa a la Salsa website (www.salsaalasalsa.com), but I'm not sure that it ever was. The Salsa Uptown website is a little odd (www.salsauptown.com), but again, maybe it's always that way. I could still make an Open Table reservation.

[TommyT]

Confirmed with a friend who works for Salsa that it is closing and becoming Game Sportsbar

[acs]

Gay bar scene <-------> Sports bar scene. I honestly didn't know there was that much overlap.

[TommyT]

Yeah, we will see I guess. There are gay Sportsbars in other cities but they are in places like Boystown

[twincitizen]

The Uptown Salsa location was more or less a franchise of the parent restaurant (Loring Park and Midtown Global Market locations), and Kaskaid Hospitality (Crave, et al) was a partner/operator of the Uptown location. Kaskaid bought and remodeled Old Chicago into southern concept "Boneyard", which failed in under a year. The Salsa deal was likely a quick attempt at salvaging the costs they put into Boneyard, but it must not be working out very well. I wonder if Kaskaid has ownership interest in the new bar...

Surely someone can make a Mexican restaurant (even if anglicized and/or douchified) work in Uptown...it just won't be Salsa a la Salsa.

[UrsusUrbanicus]

Gay bar scene <-------> Sports bar scene. I honestly didn't know there was that much overlap.

Yeah, I can't imagine gay guys having any interest in muscular men in tight outfits.

Joking aside, the Twin Cities LGBT community actually has a pretty sizable participatory sports scene as well. Just off the top of my head, there's a traveling rugby team, a hockey team, and an entire softball league. So yeah... someone tell the principal at Rydell High that we're both athletes and athletic supporters!

[Nathan]

Huge volleyball community too!

Let's not with the boxes! Sports can totally be gay af.

[Didier]

I've never been in this building and hate to generalize, but it seems like a large space to be targeted toward such a small group of people. Hoping it does well though. Uptown needs more randomness like this.

[LyndaleHoosier]

Just because it's a sports bar in nature, doesn't mean only those interested in sports will go there. Plus, I'm sure they will take advantage of the outdoor space, which will be awesome for happy hour. I live in Uptown and while I don't watch sports or participate in a league, I'd still go have drinks there because it's convenient and friends would probably go. I'm sure this will have a decent amount of success.

[xandrex]

I've never been in this building and hate to generalize, but it seems like a large space to be targeted toward such a small group of people. Hoping it does well though. Uptown needs more randomness like this.

It is a rather large space, though I have to imagine it will attract more than just people in the LGBT community (Uptown does have bro bars, but does it have any sports-themed bars? I can’t think of any off the top of my head). Also notable is the fact that while the LGBT community is a small percentage of the overall state population, Minneapolis is very much overrepresented—something like 12-13 percent of the population, or about 1 in 8 people in the city. I have to imagine greater Uptown area's numbers might be even higher than that.

[Didier]

My point was just that taking a fairly large space and marketing it primarily toward a small segment of a group that already represents only 12-13 percent of the population could be tricky. As you said, it'll probably have to be marketed less as a "gay sports bar" and more something a little more inclusive, like "sports bar that happens to be gay friendly" or something.

Maybe I'm totally wrong, though?

[David Greene]

Confirmed with a friend who works for Salsa that it is closing and becoming Game Sportsbar

Will the volleyball court replace the parking lot? I really hope so. There's enough district parking in the area.