Suburban Malls and Associated Retail News

[Mdcastle]

Usually the only reason they close a store that isn't performly poorly is if it's a non-SuperCenter and they can't convert it to a SuperCenter, either because it's too small or, in the case of Silver Lake Commons, is prohibited by a lease agreement.

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/loc ... e1086c855d

A Walmart spokesperson said after a "careful and thoughtful review process" the company made the "difficult decision" to close the location on Friday, April 21. In a statement, they added that the store didn't perform "as well as we hoped" and didn't meet the company's financial expectations, but employees will be able to transfer to another store.

Whether that means too many criminals were stealing stuff or not enough people were buying stuff or both, I don't know. The CEO did back in December threaten to close stores where there was too much stealing, and despite Walmart being coy about it there like they are here, it's speculation that's why the two Portland stores closed.

[seanrichardryan]

It's a supercenter, but there is another about 5 miles away in Brooklyn Park.

[Bakken2016]

It's a supercenter, but there is another about 5 miles away in Brooklyn Park.

which is not nearly as transit accessible.

[Tom H.]

Time for wholesale redevelopment / grid repair at the former Brookdale site? The oxymoron that is "transit-accessible big box retail" is ready to be put to bed here.

[Tcmetro]

There's so many parcels that are vacant (or have vacant buildings) in the area and very little good development besides the new apartment building on Bass Lake & Brooklyn Blvd. I don't think there's much hope for the few office buildings around there either.

[Mdcastle]

There's also chatter on Reddit to the effect that Walmart found it too difficult and expensive to staff the place due to the proximity of Minneapolis and their living wage ordinance.

My take is that any kind of regional commercial in the area is doomed due to the relatively poor freeway access relative to other regional commercial sites. This was even more true back in the Brookdale days when 100 wasn't even a full freeway, but is still true today. And there's way too much retail space just for the neighborhood.

And no, there's not much of a market for aging small to medium sized suburban office buildings either. In just the last year or two we've seen three of them in just Bloomington demolished to be replaced with apartments.

[Trademark]

There's also chatter on Reddit to the effect that Walmart found it too difficult and expensive to staff the place due to the proximity of Minneapolis and their living wage ordinance.

My take is that any kind of regional commercial in the area is doomed due to the relatively poor freeway access relative to other regional commercial sites. This was even more true back in the Brookdale days when 100 wasn't even a full freeway, but is still true today. And there's way too much retail space just for the neighborhood.

And no, there's not much of a market for aging small to medium sized suburban office buildings either. In just the last year or two we've seen three of them in just Bloomington demolished to be replaced with apartments.

Hard disagree with there not being good freeway access when you have multiple exits (Xerxes, Brooklyn Blvd, and Bass Lake Road) that you can take to get there. As far as there being way too much retail space for just the neighborhood. This space pulls in customers from all of the Northside due to their being barely any retail there.

Plus in the near future when the Downtown Brooklyn Center Master Plan is executed (Which looks like THE best suburban redevelopment plan) just north of Bass Lake Road will support 1500-2300 new units.

https://clients.bolton-menk.com/brookly ... 5.2020.pdf

[SurlyLHT]

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.

[pannierpacker]

We are now down to only three Walmart's that are transit accessible with relatively frequent buses.

South St Paul, Bloomington and Fridley

To be fair, the Roseville one is only a half-mile huff off of the 32.

[Rube Dali]

We are now down to only three Walmart's that are transit accessible with relatively frequent buses.

South St Paul, Bloomington and Fridley

You can add West St. Paul to that.

[Trademark]

We are now down to only three Walmart's that are transit accessible with relatively frequent buses.

South St Paul, Bloomington and Fridley

To be fair, the Roseville one is only a half-mile huff off of the 32.

It is around that distance, but having to carry a bunch of stuff from Walmart over a half mile, in addition to whatever walk it took to get to the station in the first place is not optimal at all.

@rubedali I meant West St Paul. Always get those two mixed up

[at40man]

Maplewood Mall Sears building purchased by the HmongTown Marketplace, and they plan to open a new market on the upper level, and perhaps a bowling alley or something else for the lower level: https://finance-commerce.com/2023/12/se ... arly-2025/

I think this is great news for the mall. Many of the shops there have a bit more of an Asian vibe, and I think this is a great way to differentiate this mall from the others. Maplewood Mall definitely still has life left in it.

[commissioner]

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.

Not to go off topic (kinda) but if you're talking about the one in St. Paul, it was small and had a lot of theft. It closed right before the George Floyd riots.

[at40man]

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

[Mdcastle]

Kind of wonder if Hy-Vee is going to pull out of this market entirely, since they haven't shown any inclination to keep expanding to establish themselves.

[Tom H.]

Hy-Vees close at 10pm here? I grew up in Hy-Vee country (Sioux Falls to be exact) and those things were open 24/7 except for the major holidays, probably 5 days a year tops. My high school freshman "hazing" involved being taken to Hy-Vee at 3:30am and singing I'm A Little Teapot over the PA system. (RETVRN, We Used To Be a Country, etc. etc.)

[Silophant]

Might have been a pandemic change to all of them? I just clicked around the HyVee website, and 6-11pm seems to be the standard hours now in (outstate) MN, SD, and IA. For comparison, there's still a few 24 hour Cub Foods around, but most of them seems to be 5am to midnight.

[pannierpacker2]

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

Maplewood Hy-Vee is also only open until 9pm these days. It used to open later. I sure hope Hy-Vee doesn't completely abandon the Twin Cities market. Their Maplewood location has been good for the surrounding area and also seems decently busy. They also post security there at night. Seems a lot of larger format grocery stores (including Cub) suffer from these theft issues.

[Emerson Uptowner]

I see Hy-Vee's advertising everywhere. The grocery store model has changed. More and more people are getting everything delivered. I call it lazy but that is the way we are going. I don't know a Cub or even a Wal-Mart that is open 24/7. Reduced hours are also because of staffing.
The way we shop is going to keep changing.

[SurlyLHT]

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.