Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

[PhilmerPhil]

Sad day: Happy Days Market appears to have closed.

[grrdanko]

Sad day: Happy Days Market appears to have closed.

They've been closed for at least two weeks.

[min-chi-cbus]

Is this the only central district in the world where the population is increasing but retail is shuttering?

[Silophant]

No, I'm pretty sure every central district in the world, whether the residential population is increasing or decreasing, sees a business close down from time to time.

[grant1simons2]

Chrome and Kit and Ace are closing. Not too surprising. Home bias favoring One on One and Kit and Ace was upstairs in a bit of an odd spot. Also they gave away free champagne on Friday.

http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/Blogs/T ... orth-Loop/

[VAStationDude]

Is Chrome still a thing anymore?

[grant1simons2]

Yeah, kind of. I see more Trash Bags being worn by our local couriers. Chrome was also charging $35 for a bike cap. They're usually $18. I know it's North Loop so it should be expected, but they were overcharging a bit for the smaller things.

[uncle phil]

The Kit and Ace location was always the oddest choice to me...they had almost no visibility up there.

[sanguinic]

Will the store last through February?
http://www.startribune.com/macy-s-consi ... 397946281/

[MN Fats]

The convenience store on the first floor of the old Retek building is closing by the end of the month. Sign in front of the store says they lost their lease.

[eastharrietguy]

If Macy's downtown closes it will be a sad day indeed. So many memories... my first 3-piece corduroy suite for $60 from Dayton's bargain basement... my first credit card, when I was still a U of M student, worked in Men's Casual Sportswear part time for 2+ years in the 80s... maybe another dept. store could take it over? Nordstrom?

[eastharrietguy]

Sorry... just saw the separate Macy's thread...

[amiller92]

The convenience store on the first floor of the old Retek building is closing by the end of the month. Sign in front of the store says they lost their lease.

Flower shop on the skyway level moved too. Wonder what the deal is over there.

[grant1simons2]

Why do brokers in Minneapolis not understand that leasing out giant spaces is not a healthy strategy for downtown? I know, they get more money. But do they really?

[xandrex]

Oof. http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... -this.html

Not a good year for Minneapolis retail.

[MNdible]

Big picture, though, this could be a big improvement if done correctly:

As part of the renovations to the site, Ferguson said the skyway, which now heads down an escalator to a central building lobby immediately after crossing from IDS Center, will be rerouted through what is now the bookstore and lead to a Nicollet Mall-side entrance.

[Sacrelicio]

Oof. http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... -this.html

Not a good year for Minneapolis retail.

I think the problem with downtown is that the retail is a lot of chain retail stuff that is struggling to survive everywhere, combined with high rents for large spaces and lack of interest. I think the key is get more specialty stuff and upscale restaurants, plus smaller convenience and neighborhood services like drug/pharmacy. Large bookstores, Sports Authority, Office Depot etc. is sort of a bad use of such a space. People downtown don't frequent them enough and no one wants to go downtown for that kind of stuff. Spread the North Loop model to downtown. Break up the large spaces. Maybe have something similar to Midtown Global Market. The old Macy's/Dayton's space might be a good place for that.

[Silophant]

Sad. I mean, it had clearly been on borrowed time at least since they stopped bothering to staff the skyway-level checkouts a few years ago, but I was hoping they could stick around long enough to get updated to the restaurant concept that they're testing at the Galleria, if that was successful.

[mnmike]

Sad to see the two levels split up, as the article says...and yet another restaurant on the first level. This would be a perfect spot for a nice destination 2 level retailer...like Uniqlo (see new one in Denver) that we seem to not be able to lure. So would the Y spot on 6th and Nic. I guess it is just going to be a restaurant row pretty much. Could be worse I suppose. I keep hoping to see announcements for some of the many vacant spaces on Nic (even more restaurants), but nothing...and now we are adding lots more spaces. Hard to remain optimistic!

[Silophant]

Victory for the streetscape: Kisa Boutique moved down from the skyway level of RBC Plaza to the 6th St.-fronting space below it.

Also, Fixology Repair disappeared, leaving a note on their door that they're moving to a (apparently secret) bigger and better space downtown. This makes RBC Plaza the only skyway-connected building I can think of with a fully-leased street level and multiple vacant bays on the skyway level.