Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

[uptownbro]

Very disappointing news. The place usually seemed to have solid foot traffic. Was there a reason given outside of the usually corporate platitudes?

[alexschief]

Time for a Uniqlo.

[Silophant]

Bet they would have gotten more foot traffic if they had every bothered to unlock the doors to Nicollet after unboarding the windows.

[grant1simons2]

Good riddance to anyone who wants to leave Nicollet. Now break this up into 5 different spaces and let the magic happen.

[Nick]

Does it feel at all weird to still be saying stuff like that at this point in the game, or not really?

[mnmike]

Yeah, good riddance...because we know how fast these spaces fill up. Retailers are just chompin' at the bit to move in! And let's boycott Target for closing early until they close all together...I am sure Marshall's will close on their own somewhere in there (they are still open, right?)...and then we won't have to worry about any pesky occupied storefronts on Nic at all! Sorry for the painfully sarcastic reply. I just wish the core would find it's stride already...it remains super disappointing. Of course the last few years have been rough. But it seems like for decades we just keep saying...now finally the core can be the right mix of....(vacant store fronts). But I guess it is to be expected, as the office market will probably never really be the same. Still...a lot of other cores of cities that are "less healthy" by a lot of measures that are less disappointing.

[Tyler]

IMO this is the exactly the kind of business you'd expect to bail. So IDK "good riddence" but something close to that. DT needs to evolve obviously, not cling to the past that's never returning.

[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/