Suburban Malls and Associated Retail News

[Tcmetro]

Becker / former Herbergers at Northtown is becoming an Asian food hall.

https://m.startribune.com/blaine-asia-v ... 600363238/

[J. Mc]

Wal-Mart also closed the University Ave store not terribly long ago. I wonder how the Robbinsdale Hyvee is doing? Maybe that will be the next store to close. Their prices are higher than the nearby Cub.

I have it on good authority that Robbinsdale Hy-Vee is ailing, in part due to theft. There has been talk of them closing it. They've adjusted the hours to a 9 PM close, when every other location closes at 10 PM. Additionally, there has been a pull-back of advertising with Hy-Vee in the Twin Cities market, with their expansion plans being cancelled. It all starts to add up.

Terrible idea to tear down a sturdy architectural landmark for this albatross.

Not to say "I told ya so" to former Mayor Regan Murphy, but.... #ThanksReganMurphy

I think I've commented about this store before. They have a lot of costs and they're more expensive than the nearby Cubs. We use the pharmacy and buy cheap Chinese food here, but don't buy any groceries. We rather go to the Cub on 36th or W. Broadway or the Crystal Aldi.

They have good security and added gates to the entrances to the Robbinsdale Aldi.

I think between Cub, Walmart, and Target and the foothold Aldi has it's hard to get the volume needed for a grocer with a large footprint.

I've noticed that Aldi has adjusted. In Crystal they got rid of most of their cashiers and lowered their prices.

Cub, has goodwill in the Twin Cities. It's interesting that the Cub on W. Broadway is open until 10pm. Longer than this Aldis in the suburbs. The Cub in Crystal, which is very close to his Aldi is open until Midnight.

I've noticed ALDI so far seems to be strategic about their new self-checkout installations. Maplewood and IGH-Robert have them, but still all cashier at W. 7th and IGH-Cahill (first ALDI location opened in MN).

Two of the Cubs in Eagan are still 24hr. I was talking to a cashier at the Eagan North one while shopping after work at 1am and she said it all comes down to theft and customer flow. 46th/Hiawatha Cub was 24 hours until about ~6 months ago. Always a few folks shopping there whenever I would stop in at night. It is still open until midnight currently. I think the HarMar Cub is still 24hrs as well.

[COLSLAW5]

Just got back from europe and the most interesting thing I saw was almost every store with self check out, even Ikea, had one way gates to come into the store and then gates that required you to scan your receipt to get out. Also one of the store actually activated a random "spot check" where an employee came over and rescanned all of my items.

Both things seem like a decent low impact way to create a barrier to theft. Will be interesting to see how long until its implemented here.

Also almost every chain-ish style restaurant used self checkout kiosks like you see at Mcdonalds

[DanPatchToget]

Just got back from europe and the most interesting thing I saw was almost every store with self check out, even Ikea, had one way gates to come into the store and then gates that required you to scan your receipt to get out. Also one of the store actually activated a random "spot check" where an employee came over and rescanned all of my items.

Both things seem like a decent low impact way to create a barrier to theft. Will be interesting to see how long until its implemented here.

Also almost every chain-ish style restaurant used self checkout kiosks like you see at Mcdonalds

My only issue with those is if the store didn't have what I was looking for I didn't know if I could just walk out without buying anything or if I was stuck having to buy something. Probably could've just asked an employee, but this occurred in Germany and my knowledge of German is pretty limited.

[nBode]

In Milan some of the supermarkets with self-checkout gates have one of the manned registers designated as a "didn't buy anything" exit. I guess that way they can sort of keep an eye on people leaving without buying. Secondly it's pretty common for the stores to have a sort of security-guard type person at the entrance.

[Anondson]

Concept to redevelop the JCPenney section of Eden Prairie Center.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... pment.html

[Tom H.]

Concept to redevelop the JCPenney section of Eden Prairie Center.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... pment.html

Relevant: JCPenney at EP Center closes permanently

I'm guessing it's discussed in the bizjournals article, but JCP has confirmed that the EP location is permanently closed. JCP had been calling it a "temporary closure" since the fire in April.

[Anondson]

Yup. Very first paragraph.

“JCPenney at Eden Prairie Center has closed for good as the mall’s owner floats plans for the store's redevelopment.”

Also…

“The redevelopment would involve demolishing the JCPenney site and repurposing its parking lot.”

[angrysuburbanite]

The city of Eden Prairie has been wanting this closure to happen for quite a while now... they really seem to want non-commercial use of this space.

[Tcmetro]

Page 116 of the 5/21/2024 city council meeting agenda packet has a site plan for the Eden Prairie Center JC Penney redevelopment.

https://documents.edenprairie.org/WebLi ... denPrairie

The site plan shows 620 apartments/townhomes, a 140-key hotel, 145,000 sf of office, and 45,500 sf of retail. Not only would this remove the JC Penney, but also what looks to be about 40% of the mall itself. There haven't been any planning applications made so I think it's likely that the plan gets modified if it ever comes to fruition. This preliminary plan is being used for a traffic study of the area.

[Mdcastle]

Regional malls that don't have a large entertainment component in rich areas seem to be doing slightly better than those in poor areas, but it seems everyone sees the writing on the wall. It's why Mall of America and Bloomington are desperately trying to cook the numbers to make the indoor waterpark work. To get the Mall of America shifted to an even balance between shopping and entertainment.

[angrysuburbanite]

Page 116 of the 5/21/2024 city council meeting agenda packet has a site plan for the Eden Prairie Center JC Penney redevelopment.

https://documents.edenprairie.org/WebLi ... denPrairie

This looks much better than I thought it would; I like the greenspace though I wish the section from the center of the mall (the C label) to the apartments was pedestrianized instead. The removal of any parking for Target will be met with opposition, since this is Eden Prairie, after all.

[BikesOnFilm]

The removal of any parking for Target will be met with opposition, since this is Eden Prairie, after all.

I'm sure Target will fret about what it'll mean for Black Friday, but the back half of Target lots are always empty 364 days of the year. I don't see random people coming to a public hearing complaining about losing the right to park a half mile (hyperbole) away from the store's entrance.

[Tom H.]

Without those never-used distant Target parking spaces, where will two random cop cars park next to each other and roll down their windows to chat?!?

Seriously though, that plan looks good. All the activity at the mall is on the south end anyway, near the food court / AMC / B&N / Scheels, so removing that northern third or so makes sense as it's mostly dead anyway.

[Tcmetro]

According to KSTP an employee at the Maplewood Macy's said the store is closing at the end of the month.

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/m ... f-january/

[mattaudio]

Maplewood and Burnsville Macys closing.
https://s202.q4cdn.com/285121676/files/ ... 9-2025.pdf

[Emerson Uptowner]

Maplewood and Burnsville Macys closing.
https://s202.q4cdn.com/285121676/files/ ... 9-2025.pdf

Not a surprise. I am curious if any of the remaining Macy's in the metro are converted to Bloomingdale's. This is Macy's plan at some point they have just not revealed the locations.

[Rube Dali]

Walmart will close its Coon Rapids store as it's not capable of having a full grocery store without adding on.
https://search.app/oqTW6

[Mdcastle]

Claire's store in Knollwood (as well the ones in Baxter and Bemidiji) to close.

The entire chain has been in trouble and filed for bankrupty on Aug 6 for the 2nd time in 7 years. Nationally they've been starting to get locked out of their stores due to rent nonpayment and were informally starting to liquidate and wind down operations, kept low key to prevent their staff from deserting before the end, but now they've been bought by a white knight venture capital investor, Ames Watson.

https://chainstoreage.com/claires-sells ... -stay-open
https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com ... 10_240.pdf

They've been hurt recently by tariffs, but greater issues I see are once you get your ears pierced (something I'm sure they make a lot of money off, it can get close to $100 to buy piercing studs I'm sure they pay under $20 for) there's not a compelling reason to keep coming back and paying mall store prices for Shein / Temu type stuff that you can just buy from Shein and Temu now. There's also an overall decline of shopping malls and new places like Rowan (now open in MOA and Southdale) and Lovissa to do ear piercing. And beyond there piercing service unlike Lovissa and Banter which have more adult oriented stuff, there's not really a reason for older teens and adults to shop at Claire's.

I'm not sure why Claire's needs three seperate stores at Mall of America, but I guess the people that have the actual financials know better than me.

[MNdible]

...paying mall store prices for Shein / Temu type stuff that you can just buy from Shein and Temu now...

I'm far from an expert on tariff law, and also not a fan of Trumps tariff policy in general, but one interesting element is that the existing policy that allowed any shipment up to $800 made from an overseas retailer directly to a US customer to completely skirt all tariffs is being eliminated. This was the "de minimis" exemption, and was a huge part of what allowed Shein, Temu, et. al. to completely undercut local retailers.