Downtown Retail & Restaurant News

[John21]

I liked Hopcat. Food was solid and their beer list was better than Cityworks. Prices may have been a bit high. I'm sure their rent was a bit high as well.

[Austinite]

I am sorry but any business that closes is another blow to downtown. We are also talking about more jobs here. Personally I think a mix of independent restaurants and "chains" (HopCat wasn't a huge national chain) downtown would appeal to a broader mix of visitors and residents. I really don't see Nicollet becoming lined with small, independent restaurants anytime soon (or chains for that matter considering the ongoing civil unrest/safety concerns/COVID). Unless the city comes up with some plan in conjunction with building owners/managers to lower rent and taxes it's really going to be hard to fill these vacant spaces - restaurants and retail. Now is the time for the city to really step up and try to make incentives for businesses to remain downtown. Also -Candyland closed on 8th.

[Austinite]

Candyland closed off 8th and Marquette.

[grant1simons2]

1st off, Nicollet needs massive change to become a vibrant and welcoming area again. And I really don't see that coming in a 10,000 sqf restaurant (see Cityworks). Nicollet was on the verge of death before Covid-19. Spaces have been tough to fill for years since the fall of Macy's, Saks Fifth Ave and others. Luckily, landlords have finally learned that splitting their footprint could actually be the better approach to fill up spaces in a more manageable time frame. Continued splits will help more business grow meaning more employments and more general activity.

2nd off, I literally live downtown. North Loop is beeming with activity. Maybe not the activity it would have had if the Twins were still playing, but its residential core is keeping it alive. Downtown core has always had this problem of being a place for workers. No workers, no business. And as a resident of North Loop, Id have very little reason to go to Nicollet if it weren't for Target. North Loop works because there's a mix of nail salons, bakeries, dentists, furniture stores, etc built below residential uses. Again, small scale uses, more employment, more activity, more resilience.

Also, Candyland having 2 locations within a block of eachother was weird in the first place.

[alexschief]

The facelift of City Center was a missed opportunity to simply tear that entire bottom structure down and rebuild it as housing with smaller spaces for ground floor retail. The businesses that fit in the existing City Center spaces are taking body blows all around the country and seem unlikely to recover. That middle stretch of Nicollet is abandoned outside of work hours, and that particular block is a huge nothing.

Waiting for a developer to spot the skirts of the City Center tower as the redevelopment opportunity that they are. Dayton's will help, but the critical piece on Nicollet is the City Center block.

[Austinite]

True about Candyland. They should have consolidated and made their store more of any experience and a bit more welcoming. City Center, Gaviidae and Daytons all could have a huge impact if they have the right mix of tenants/uses and also make their spaces more updated/inviting. These issues are not new. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

[Silophant]

L'More Chocolat is moving from Wayzata to the old Espresso Royale space at 13th and Hennepin.

[alexschief]

I joked about this on Twitter, but I have a serious comment, which is that one under-discussed advantage of minimum wage laws is that they may make it easier for businesses to attract and retain employees.

If you're a prospective employee, looking for work, working in Wayzata might mean less pay (only the state minimum wage) and more expenses (you can either pay the costs of living in Wayzata, or you can pay the costs of car ownership to get to Wayzata). You'd be less likely to even consider jobs there in the first place, and more likely to quit for a better opportunity somewhere else.

There is obviously a give-and-take with minimum wages, and a weakening economy changes the calculus somewhat, but the argument that they are all negative for businesses is not true.

[Austinite]

L'More Chocolat is moving from Wayzata to the old Espresso Royale space at 13th and Hennepin.

Great news!! I was going to order chocolate from them once! These are the types of businesses that make coming downtown fun.

[MNdible]

Re: minimum wage, most job postings that I've seen even for the most entry level of positions were well above the federal and even the state minimum wage (which will, it appear, edge north of $10/hr this January based on its inflation adjustment). The exception remains tipped jobs, where the employees could get paid a lower minimum wage knowing that they'd make up the difference (and in a good restaurant or bar, quite a bit more).

[Mdcastle]

If paying employees some arbitrary figure that is more than what their labor is worth made good business sense companies would be doing so without government making them.

Now if you're a poor person in say Hopkins rather than drive your $1000 car to Wayzata and park for free, now you have to pay to park it downtown instead. That's going to suck up a lot of your wage increase. Of course I guess there's the option of riding next to strangers in a poorly ventilated bus in the middle of a respiratory pandemic, a bus that runs and stops on it's schedule, not yours...

[NickP]

I guess I would respond to that by saying I think everyone is worth being able to live.

[Austinite]

If paying employees some arbitrary figure that is more than what their labor is worth made good business sense companies would be doing so without government making them.

Now if you're a poor person in say Hopkins rather than drive your $1000 car to Wayzata and park for free, now you have to pay to park it downtown instead. That's going to suck up a lot of your wage increase. Of course I guess there's the option of riding next to strangers in a poorly ventilated bus in the middle of a respiratory pandemic, a bus that runs and stops on it's schedule, not yours...

I would argue against the statement what their labor is worth, but again, some of these jobs aren't or were never meant to be long-time jobs/careers, i.e. coffee baristas, retail cashiers, etc. They were designed to be for for teenagers, etc., or part-time positions to supplement one's income. That why I kinda don't understand the push for unions for coffee shop workers. I am all for treating employees fairly, but a union seems pretty extreme.

[LakeCharles]

[...] some of these jobs aren't or were never meant to be long-time jobs/careers, i.e. coffee baristas, retail cashiers, etc. They were designed to be for for teenagers, etc., or part-time positions to supplement one's income. That why I kinda don't understand the push for unions for coffee shop workers. I am all for treating employees fairly, but a union seems pretty extreme.

It doesn't really matter what they were "designed" to be for, because they aren't that, and haven't been for a long time. Most coffee shop workers are now supporting themselves (and a family) on one or more jobs. If they want to be able to negotiate to improve their experience, good on them.

[Tcmetro]

Few points I want to make:

Probably a reason this chocolate shop is moving downtown. Likely because more people will shop there.

If you live in Hopkins and are driving a $1000 car you're probably paying for a lot of repairs every year. The first car I bought was only slightly more than your figure and I probably spent twice on it in repairs in two years, not to mention having to ride the bus when it broke down.

Both Wayzata and Downtown Minneapolis should have affordable housing for workers. It's not sustainable to expect low wage workers to have insane commutes. High paid downtown workers don't have to worry about where they live because the past fifty years of public transportation investment in the Twin Cities has been based around shuttling professionals from Garage Mahals in every interchange armpit to the big shiny towers. The park and ride system is extremely overbuilt and is only at 50% capacity. Local bus services have been long neglected and have had to fight to get even a reasonable portion of the funding.

Someone living in Hopkins and working downtown (service job or not) will soon be able to ride light rail. Which operates frequently and has the same travel time all day.

[Austinite]

The Mpls/St. Paul Magazine has an updated listing of restaurants and local retailers that have closed. St. Croix downtown closed.

[Silophant]

Boludo is opening a second location in the former McKinney Roe space. I suspect it'll work better there than a fancy restaurant.

[grrdanko]

Boludo is opening a second location in the former McKinney Roe space. I suspect it'll work better there than a fancy restaurant.

The problem with McKinney Row was they charged fancy restaurant prices without offering fancy restaurant quality of food and service. People are happy to pay more if they are getting something for their money.

I'm excited about this. Hopefully it's successful and they can add late night service. That would be a big win for the neighborhood.

[MNdible]

I wonder how they'll subdivide the space. Boludo only needs a little bit of what was a huge space, and it would be a shame to gut out all of the fancy interiors after such a short run.

[seanrichardryan]

'fancy' Eh... it was cheap pastiche of a brasseire with a weird 1970s fern bar vibe. Completely out of context for the space and building. Gut it.