Downtown Retail & Restaurant News

[amiller92]

Losing another of the few "public" restrooms available downtown.

[VacantLuxuries]

Still...a lot of other cores of cities that are "less healthy" by a lot of measures that are less disappointing.

A lot of other cores don't have a second, private-public retail environment that sucks the life out of the street level and has disjointed, confusing operating hours aimed at white collar workers instead of permanent residents.

I don't think we're going to see recovery in downtown's retail environment until it better focuses on the increasing number of people living in downtown versus the decreasing number of downtown commuters.

[Anondson]

I think each of us have our own “this’ll fix core downtown retail”.

Fix skyways
Fix the appearance of “crime”
Fix the dumb landowners
Fix the absence of residents in the center
Fix the dominance of driver priority

Certainly more.

[grant1simons2]

Good riddance, I hope this pressures the IDS landlords to really think about their now two massive empty corners. The corner across from this in Gaviidae has been empty for over a decade, Dayton's is still real empty, 801 Steakhouse put their bathrooms on the corner of Nicollet (I hope they go bust soon too), Men's Warehouse is gone, City Center is still being City Center, bye Saks off 5th, Walgreens old space has been empty since their departure, Panera closed.

It's evolutionary cycles. Nordstrom Rack represents the last bits of Nicollet trying to cling on to this 90s outdoor outlet mall concept. Time for new ideas and creative concepts. Or old ideas and old concepts. There are now 3 stories of retail spaces available on one corner, will it stay empty for good? Will we get a 3 story Uniqlo? I'm not sure, but I am sure that this puts pressure on the change makers to work even harder to make Nicollet a more attractive concept.

[VacantLuxuries]

I think it's also worth asking the question - is an empty retail parcel worse than a leased one with a tenant that doesn't draw anyone/provide value to the residents of Minneapolis? From the building's perspective - obviously leased space beats empty space. But I'd argue for any other interested party, a dud tenant is worse than an empty retail space.

An empty parcel, theoretically at least, forces a building owner and leasing agent to do something to fill it. A space filler like Nordstrom Rack or Men's Warehouse brings no one to downtown and as long as they keep maintaining the lease, provides zero motivation for owners/leasing agents to be introspective or try something else.

It's not much different than Uptown property owners having to slowly, painfully learn they don't actually own an upscale lifestyle center. Downtown isn't Ridgedale, it's never going to be, so stop looking for national chains to fill 20,000sq ft and use the space for something that's unique to downtown.

You'd think in these massive buildings that are mostly about office space anyway, they'd use the retail space as a loss leader to bring in stuff that acts as tower amenities or something brag worthy. If your tower's office space is getting older and renovating it back to Class A is out of the question, maybe a sweetheart deal to bring in unique retail or food options is in your best interest for talent attraction. Nobody is bragging that they work in the same building as Marshalls.

[Silophant]

Idk, as a downtown resident, and even as a northeast resident, I shopped at Nordstrom pretty frequently (though less so when I had to go out of my way into the Crystal Court instead of using the convenient sidewalk doors).

[SurlyLHT]

It's retail the margin's aren't great and COVID and work-from-home probably gave them a big hit and they probably didn't see a rosy picture in the near-term.

[Blaisdell Greenway]

Since they announced they're leaving after 5 years, my guess is they had a 5 year lease with 5 year option to renew and didn't take the option. This is a standard commercial retail lease length so you'll often see places announcing closures at the 5 and 10 year mark.

[xandrex]

A lot of talk about building owners needing to attract new business downtown but...do businesses even want to be downtown? My job is mostly remote, but I was in the office last week and walking around during a break, there's no other way to describe it other than a ghost town. It's kind of a Catch-22 situation, but unless you have a specific niche that works for downtown, why would you choose to locate there? It's empty, has a crime perception problem, is one of the harder places to find parking near where you want to be (yes, I know, I know...).

Uniqlo gets floated on here a lot and...what exactly is appealing about downtown Minneapolis to Uniqlo? Downtown is just not a place people come to shop. It would be out of the way for most people. Frankly, if one opens, it's going to be at Mall of America.

Folks are also commenting that we need something that will bring people downtown, but that's exactly what was tried and failed in the 90s and early aughts. A more sustainable approach might be luring the boring but crucial stores that make downtown easier and more hospitable. But that's a pretty tall ask when there aren't that many people living in the true core of downtown.

I'm generally bullish on the future of Minneapolis. But I'm fairly bearish on downtown as a thriving area of daily commerce anytime soon. It's actually pretty depressing how lousy most of Minneapolis' commercial areas are doing these days.

[daveybabymsp]

A lot of talk about building owners needing to attract new business downtown but...do businesses even want to be downtown? My job is mostly remote, but I was in the office last week and walking around during a break, there's no other way to describe it other than a ghost town. It's kind of a Catch-22 situation, but unless you have a specific niche that works for downtown, why would you choose to locate there? It's empty, has a crime perception problem, is one of the harder places to find parking near where you want to be (yes, I know, I know...).

Uniqlo gets floated on here a lot and...what exactly is appealing about downtown Minneapolis to Uniqlo? Downtown is just not a place people come to shop. It would be out of the way for most people. Frankly, if one opens, it's going to be at Mall of America.

Folks are also commenting that we need something that will bring people downtown, but that's exactly what was tried and failed in the 90s and early aughts. A more sustainable approach might be luring the boring but crucial stores that make downtown easier and more hospitable. But that's a pretty tall ask when there aren't that many people living in the true core of downtown.

I'm generally bullish on the future of Minneapolis. But I'm fairly bearish on downtown as a thriving area of daily commerce anytime soon. It's actually pretty depressing how lousy most of Minneapolis' commercial areas are doing these days.

I hope we see more pharmacy/hardware/grocery type options pop up along Washington(where people actually live. As far as I’m aware, there isn’t a single hardware store downtown. There are no pharmacies in Downtown East. And the only grocery stores in walking distance of north loop and downtown east are Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s respectively.


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[Trademark]

A lot of talk about building owners needing to attract new business downtown but...do businesses even want to be downtown? My job is mostly remote, but I was in the office last week and walking around during a break, there's no other way to describe it other than a ghost town. It's kind of a Catch-22 situation, but unless you have a specific niche that works for downtown, why would you choose to locate there? It's empty, has a crime perception problem, is one of the harder places to find parking near where you want to be (yes, I know, I know...).

Uniqlo gets floated on here a lot and...what exactly is appealing about downtown Minneapolis to Uniqlo? Downtown is just not a place people come to shop. It would be out of the way for most people. Frankly, if one opens, it's going to be at Mall of America.

Folks are also commenting that we need something that will bring people downtown, but that's exactly what was tried and failed in the 90s and early aughts. A more sustainable approach might be luring the boring but crucial stores that make downtown easier and more hospitable. But that's a pretty tall ask when there aren't that many people living in the true core of downtown.

I'm generally bullish on the future of Minneapolis. But I'm fairly bearish on downtown as a thriving area of daily commerce anytime soon. It's actually pretty depressing how lousy most of Minneapolis' commercial areas are doing these days.

I hope we see more pharmacy/hardware/grocery type options pop up along Washington(where people actually live. As far as I’m aware, there isn’t a single hardware store downtown. There are no pharmacies in Downtown East. And the only grocery stores in walking distance of north loop and downtown east are Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s respectively.


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Downtown Minneapolis in general is severely lacking in convenience stores. I wish 7-11 had a presence in this city as it would be really helpful to be able to run inside and grab something real quick while waiting on a bus transfer or something like that.

[mnmike]

Yeah, sorry, it's not all the skyways...and some other cities have their versions of them and do just fine. But if it was all the fault of the skyway, we would have a thriving active retail (whatever form that may take) scene on the 2nd level...we don't have that either. And honestly...if that was our thing and an attraction in and of itself with a thriving pedestrian scene at most hours of the day...I would be fine with that. And it actually kind of was what brought people to the core for a while... All cities don't have to follow the same formula. But even with lots of residents now connected to the skyway, or close to it...neither the street nor the skyway is working. And that is not even mentioning all of the special circumstances with the now changed office market and special recent circumstances. Remember, there were at least 2 to 3 decades there where the office core of Minneapolis was a pretty cool place, even after the skyways came. Probably would have lost it's shopping destination status much more quickly without them. It's not the skyways, they create their challenges, but they are not inherently evil. Losing them is not the simple fix to everything...and like it or not, they are a big piece of the identity of downtown and what people remember. The "problem" is lots of things. Mall of America? Changing retail habits in general? XYZ? Not sure anyone is completely correct...

and then of course everything the past few years.

PS, this is not at all surprising of course...it has been near impossible for retailers like this in pretty much any similar location across the country the past few years...it's just a problem we had even without all the office workers gone.

And also, what Xandrex said!

[mnmike]

I have always really really really thought we should try something like this. Somehow. I feel like we might have on some limited capacity before, but I guess it didn't do much.

https://www.cpr.org/2022/09/16/downtown ... p-program/

[Oreos&Milk]

A lot of talk about building owners needing to attract new business downtown but...do businesses even want to be downtown? My job is mostly remote, but I was in the office last week and walking around during a break, there's no other way to describe it other than a ghost town. It's kind of a Catch-22 situation, but unless you have a specific niche that works for downtown, why would you choose to locate there? It's empty, has a crime perception problem, is one of the harder places to find parking near where you want to be (yes, I know, I know...).

Uniqlo gets floated on here a lot and...what exactly is appealing about downtown Minneapolis to Uniqlo? Downtown is just not a place people come to shop. It would be out of the way for most people. Frankly, if one opens, it's going to be at Mall of America.

Folks are also commenting that we need something that will bring people downtown, but that's exactly what was tried and failed in the 90s and early aughts. A more sustainable approach might be luring the boring but crucial stores that make downtown easier and more hospitable. But that's a pretty tall ask when there aren't that many people living in the true core of downtown.

I'm generally bullish on the future of Minneapolis. But I'm fairly bearish on downtown as a thriving area of daily commerce anytime soon. It's actually pretty depressing how lousy most of Minneapolis' commercial areas are doing these days.

I hope we see more pharmacy/hardware/grocery type options pop up along Washington(where people actually live. As far as I’m aware, there isn’t a single hardware store downtown. There are no pharmacies in Downtown East. And the only grocery stores in walking distance of north loop and downtown east are Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s respectively.


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Downtown Minneapolis in general is severely lacking in convenience stores. I wish 7-11 had a presence in this city as it would be really helpful to be able to run inside and grab something real quick while waiting on a bus transfer or something like that.

No to 7-11

But YES! To Kwip Trip creating an urban design !!

They are the buc-ee’s of Minnesota!! Bring milk in the bag sales to the downtown!!!!!

I miss the Holiday “gas station” in the MOA.

[tedlanda2571]

I've probably posted this before, but my prediction is that in 20-30 years remote work will be viewed similarly to the way mid-century freeway construction is viewed today: as 'gee-whiz progress' that made life more convenient for a bunch of well off white people without any real consideration given to the destructive impacts on urban communities.

[VacantLuxuries]

Yeah, sorry, it's not all the skyways...and some other cities have their versions of them and do just fine. But if it was all the fault of the skyway, we would have a thriving active retail (whatever form that may take) scene on the 2nd level...we don't have that either.

To be clear, my comments about the skyway are not that we should abolish it. But I just went downtown during the weekday for the first time in a long time. I arrived at 5pm, and had a bit of time to kill before a 7pm appointment. The only reason I was able to get a drink from Starbucks was because they had the door halfway open as they were closing and they were nice enough to let me get a last order in. Fast food places that in other cities would be operating for dinner were shut down. Target's gates were shut at 5:45.

And it wasn't like it was a ghost town, either. There was regular post-work traffic throughout the skyway almost everywhere I went, other than dead end segments. There were multiple events happening downtown at this time. But tenants that are taking up space in this system, that in other cities would be open later if they were on the street level, were closed. You can't tell me that in other cities without skyways, nobody in the CBD grabs a bite to eat from fast food restaurants on the way home. Or picks up groceries on errands. But we've created a system and incentive for business owners to pretend that nobody exists after 5pm in Minneapolis.

Maybe the Downtown Council should spend less time on empty scarecars and intervening in local politics and focus on pressing skyway tenants to stay open until... hell, even 6pm would be a start. Work up to the weekends if things go well. My comments shouldn't be read as "the skyway is the reason retail isn't working in Minneapolis", rather "we are stuck with the skyway one way or another, so it should have standardized operating hours for its tenants and not focus exclusively on serving office workers on their lunch break." Because that's a recipe for a dead city outside of business hours.

[SurlyLHT]

Yeah, sorry, it's not all the skyways...and some other cities have their versions of them and do just fine. But if it was all the fault of the skyway, we would have a thriving active retail (whatever form that may take) scene on the 2nd level...we don't have that either.

To be clear, my comments about the skyway are not that we should abolish it. But I just went downtown during the weekday for the first time in a long time. I arrived at 5pm, and had a bit of time to kill before a 7pm appointment. The only reason I was able to get a drink from Starbucks was because they had the door halfway open as they were closing and they were nice enough to let me get a last order in. Fast food places that in other cities would be operating for dinner were shut down. Target's gates were shut at 5:45.

And it wasn't like it was a ghost town, either. There was regular post-work traffic throughout the skyway almost everywhere I went, other than dead end segments. There were multiple events happening downtown at this time. But tenants that are taking up space in this system, that in other cities would be open later if they were on the street level, were closed. You can't tell me that in other cities without skyways, nobody in the CBD grabs a bite to eat from fast food restaurants on the way home. Or picks up groceries on errands. But we've created a system and incentive for business owners to pretend that nobody exists after 5pm in Minneapolis.

Maybe the Downtown Council should spend less time on empty scarecars and intervening in local politics and focus on pressing skyway tenants to stay open until... hell, even 6pm would be a start. Work up to the weekends if things go well. My comments shouldn't be read as "the skyway is the reason retail isn't working in Minneapolis", rather "we are stuck with the skyway one way or another, so it should have standardized operating hours for its tenants and not focus exclusively on serving office workers on their lunch break." Because that's a recipe for a dead city outside of business hours.

This is wishful thinking given labor conditions and that many of these organizations are family run. I've heard that Mall of America is even struggling to have their stores open during non-peak times. If MOA can't do this how do we expect Downtown Minneapolis to?

We live in a different reality post covid with new labor realities especially for small businesses and need to adjust our expectations. Heck, I don't even expect fast food places to have their lobbies open anymore since they are often closed due to labor shortages.

[alexschief]

It's true that these types of retail businesses don't want to be downtown... but they do apparently want to be in the North Loop, which is "downtown" in my mental model of the Twin Cities, but a different submarket from the point of view of the consultants. I wish downtown landlords would think a bit about reasons why that might be the case.

Anyway, the skyway and highway issues are obviously the main structural ones, but downtown Minneapolis is going backwards on the former and nowhere on the latter. There's only one other solution that matches the scale of the problem (certainly there are smaller opportunities, I'd love to see landlords dividing their spaces into smaller portions), which is just to keep building more and more housing, and more and more offices that people will want to actually go to. Ultimately, only sheer numbers of people can overwhelm these structural handicaps.

The good news is that this is happening. By my count, there are at least 1,764 apartments under construction right now across the neighborhoods of downtown between NLG, Block One, 240 Portland, Duffey 2.0, and a couple of smaller projects. The 17 N Washington and Harmonia projects would add hundreds more. I think it's entirely reasonable to be pessimistic about downtown in the nearish term, but I think it's hard to justify longer term pessimism. The weight of demography will continue to increase and provide opportunities for businesses that want to take them.

Oh, and Uniqlo should move downtown because Nick and I alone will probably make it profitable.

[daveybabymsp]

It's true that these types of retail businesses don't want to be downtown... but they do apparently want to be in the North Loop, which is "downtown" in my mental model of the Twin Cities, but a different submarket from the point of view of the consultants. I wish downtown landlords would think a bit about reasons why that might be the case.

Anyway, the skyway and highway issues are obviously the main structural ones, but downtown Minneapolis is going backwards on the former and nowhere on the latter. There's only one other solution that matches the scale of the problem (certainly there are smaller opportunities, I'd love to see landlords dividing their spaces into smaller portions), which is just to keep building more and more housing, and more and more offices that people will want to actually go to. Ultimately, only sheer numbers of people can overwhelm these structural handicaps.

The good news is that this is happening. By my count, there are at least 1,764 apartments under construction right now across the neighborhoods of downtown between NLG, Block One, 240 Portland, Duffey 2.0, and a couple of smaller projects. The 17 N Washington and Harmonia projects would add hundreds more. I think it's entirely reasonable to be pessimistic about downtown in the nearish term, but I think it's hard to justify longer term pessimism. The weight of demography will continue to increase and provide opportunities for businesses that want to take them.

Oh, and Uniqlo should move downtown because Nick and I alone will probably make it profitable.

Agree with the highways & skyways analysis. I think if urbanists want to focus on a controversial campaign to remove one of those highway removal should definitely be the top priority!


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[Trademark]

Forcing the skyways to be open later, and having more visible entrances to the second story is really all that we need to turn the skyways from a negative to a positive. They are still a big draw to people who visit, and too regulars who know the system. If we got rid of them we would have more people on the streets by default but I think less people would be in downtown overall especially in winter.