St. Louis Park - General Topics

[Mdcastle]

Is the Galaxy Drive-in on hold, due to COVID-19?

If Micro Center moved, would they choose a smaller space? Large space, low rent, plenty of parking… seems like a dying breed in well to do first ring suburbs.

I don't see Micro Center choosing a smaller space. Especially not if the rent is higher and especially not if there's not lots of free surface parking. A lot of times the store is packed at it's present size. And the size is part of the attraction. Live in Chaska and need a new laptop? Drive in and there's 50 of them on display for you to try out and see how the keyboard feels? Need a 9 pin to 25 pin RS-232 adapter for a 30 year old POS system today? Drive in from Oakdale and grab one off the shelf. Live in Bloomingon and want to build an AMD gaming system? Drive in and talk to someone knowledgeable and walk out with the parts, at prices that are competitive with ordering online. It wouldn't surprise me if they lost money on motherboards and CPUS and stuf competing online, considering how excited they are to be sure you have every cable and accessory you could ever possibly need.

Presumably we tolerate state highways in the suburbs because people in the suburbs don't like to be stuck in traffic, that means Hennepin County doesn't have to pay to maintain highway 7, and it makes it easy for people to drive to Micro Center. In fact even Highway 7 as wide as it is was too congested for people's liking so we started building interchanges.

[Multimodal]

I don't see Micro Center choosing a smaller space. Especially not if the rent is higher and especially not if there's not lots of free surface parking. A lot of times the store is packed at it's present size. And the size is part of the attraction. Live in Chaska and need a new laptop? Drive in and there's 50 of them on display for you to try out and see how the keyboard feels? Need a 9 pin to 25 pin RS-232 adapter for a 30 year old POS system today? Drive in from Oakdale and grab one off the shelf. Live in Bloomingon and want to build an AMD gaming system? Drive in and talk to someone knowledgeable and walk out with the parts, at prices that are competitive with ordering online.

Live in Eden Prairie and need a new laptop? Take SWLRT and there's 50 of them on display for you to try out and see how the keyboard feels? Need a 9 pin to 25 pin RS-232 adapter for a 30 year old POS system today? Take SWLRT from Hopkins and grab one off the shelf. Live in Minneapolis or St. Paul and want to build an AMD gaming system? Take the Green Line and talk to someone knowledgeable and walk out with the parts, at prices that are competitive with ordering online.

Think how much Micro Center would save not paying for the land & maintenance for a parking lot.

[Mdcastle]

So MicroCenter is conceding the person from Oakdale and Chaska's business to Amazon? And the people from Eden Prairie who are too scared or otherwise unwilling to ride a bus or light rail to Amazon? Doesn't sound like a winning business model to me to have a regional type store only, the only one in the region accessible to people able and willing to ride transit regardless of the overhead of having a parking lot.

Judging by the people I see in Microcenter and the products the store sells, the patrons seem to be above average wealth. There's a substantial overlap between people of above average wealth and those unable because of where they live, or simply unwilling to ride transit. I've spent thousands of dollars at Microcenter but if they didn't have a surface parking lot I'd never go there again and just order everything online.

[BikesOnFilm]

I would also argue that if the selling point of Microcenter is talking to someone knowledgeable for computer issues, I've never gotten that experience. It's been mostly 'poorly trained sales staff hurrying to stick their employee sticker on a part I researched myself before I walk out of their section.'

Literally the only reason to go to Microcenter is if they have a sale on a part that is more competitive than Newegg's price. And that's getting rarer.

[Multimodal]

Judging by the people I see in Microcenter and the products the store sells, the patrons seem to be above average wealth. There's a substantial overlap between people of above average wealth and those…

… living in bright, shiny, new, expensive apartments & townhomes in Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) around SWLRT stations, the E Line, the B Line, etc.

Not to mention that just across Micro Center’s parking lot is the almost-ready Elmwood Apartments, 55+ for those well-to-do residents with lots of disposable cash for their tech needs.

[Mdcastle]

So how many people of above average wealth are going to be living in TOD around the transit lines compared to a McMansion in Eden Prairie. And how many of those people would refuse to visit Microcenter if they had a surface parking lot, compared to people from the McMansions refusing to visit Microcenter if they had to ride a bus.

[BikesOnFilm]

Considering much of the development will be market rate, I'm sure the majority of people living in the TOD will be 'above average wealth.'

The wealthy in the McMansions can go wherever they like. I feel like we've wasted enough time paving over valuable land in order to chase the fleeting attention span of the leisure class, let's start building cities around who actually lives here.

[trafficeng985]

Is the Galaxy Drive-in on hold, due to COVID-19?

If Micro Center moved, would they choose a smaller space? Large space, low rent, plenty of parking… seems like a dying breed in well to do first ring suburbs.

Opened yesterday!

[karlshea]

I use that MicroCenter all the time and I'm in Stevens Square, but taking transit there would be ridiculous. It's an hour one-way at a
minimum, 40 minutes of which is walking.

What about my relatives in Edina (I know, lol)? It's either a 50 minute walk one-way, or a 1h 20m transit ride one-way (including a 30 minute walk) wrapping around the lakes in SLP.

I'm not sure they need a huge lot, but if there's no parking at all (or if street parking is impossible) they are going to lose a huge amount of their customer base.

I'm all for transit, but you can't wish away the reality of the system we have.

[BikesOnFilm]

I'm all for transit, but you can't wish away the reality of the system we have.

Too true. And while the transit discussion here is less about the current transit to the site but more the currently under construction SWLRT, ultimately Micro Center is going to do what's best for its business and customers. Likely, once the owner of the strip mall decides to cash out and sell to a developer, Micro Center would relocate out of St. Louis Park to one of the suburbs mentioned in the hypotheticals in this thread.

It would be sad to lose for my own convenience (I don't find the staff helpful but it's nice to run in and out when I need something quick), but it would make zero sense to keep auto oriented uses like this along a major transit corridor if someone wants to build something denser and transit oriented.

[candycaneforestelf]

As an exurbanite, I use this MicroCenter once or twice a year specifically for electronics purchases in volumes I would not trust transiting on public transit, both physically and in cash value. A PC case box is very awkward to carry even if it's legitimately the only thing you're carrying.

Also, during the handful of times I've been there on a weekday over the years, it seems like it's filled with IT professionals who are specifically there to pick up parts they need that day. Sometimes that even feels like the case on weekends. Those cases are cases where they often cannot afford to be spending more than 20 minutes traveling.

MicroCenter, by nature of it being a regionally focused store, is not conducive to transit.

[Anondson]

New plans for the former Santorini site. https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... orini.html

[schwinnletour]

St. Louis Park is taken the action of legalizing cannabis dispensaries:

https://www.hometownsource.com/sun_sail ... a293e.html

The majority of suburbs in Illinois post state legalization banned them within their borders so this is an interesting development for when the State moves forward with rec. legalization.

[Anondson]

Word is Roller Garden is closing for good May 8. Just got an email from them.

Family ran it for 52 years. Wanting to retire plus COVID sent them over the edge are their reasons.

Their email says the building is not being torn down. But not what will replace it.

Sad news.

[DanPatchToget]

Didn't take long for people to comment on a Facebook group that it'll probably be turned into apartments, because heaven forbid we build more housing when it's sorely needed.

Since it's pretty much confirmed that the building won't be torn down, what new use could they put in there?

[Anondson]

No matter what goes in it, there will be “concerns about parking!”

[QuietBlue]

Which is funny, because the rink has been operating since before most of the current residents likely moved to the area, and the building has been around longer than most people have been alive, period. Yeah, on a busy night, there was a lot of street parking, but people should have known that when they moved to the area.

I am curious as to what will replace it.

[Korh]

Is it bad that the first thing I thought for a replacement was turning roller garden into an (indoor) beer garden.

[Mdcastle]

Strib reporting it will be a gymnastics arena.

[Anondson]

As much as I see gymnastics in huge demand I never thought about it for this. It’s perfect.