Construction is planned for the next two years
BY STEPHANIE FOX
During the 1970s, the Uptown neighborhood — especially the Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street crossroad — was a hub for small businesses and neighborhood artists who were drawn to the vibrant nightlife and music scene, and where local shops, restaurants and bars drew crowds from all over the cities.
Then, in 1984, Calhoun Square opened. The 100 little shops, bars and restaurants inside the mall still drew crowds, but to more upscale establishments like Bay St. Shoes, the Kitchen Window and restaurants like Sushi Tango and Chang Mai Thai. The place even inspired a Prince song including the lines ‘Let’s roll. Meet me there if you dare, Calhoun Square.’
Famous Dave’s in Uptown, now closed
The one-of-a-kind Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que and Blues restaurant opened in the southeast corner of the mall. Crowds came for the food and, at night, for the live blues music that was unique to this location. Now a chain, Famous Dave’s has over 120 locations in North America, and three locations in the United Arab Emirates. None of these have live music.
Some of the local shops at Hennepin and Lake began to close, replaced by national chains. Beloved establishments, like the popular Uptown Bar that was replaced by an Apple store. Down the street, Urban Outfitters, a Victoria’s Secret and a North Face store opened. But people still came to shop, eat and imbibe.
Then, in 2020 the epidemic arrived, and business began to dry up, with the COVID lockdown and a public avoiding crowds. The area might have survived but the worst was yet to come.
In June 2021, members of the Minneapolis Police Department shot and killed a young Black man named Winston Smith. Peaceful demonstrations against police violence were followed by threatening graffiti on locally owned businesses and soon, looting and arson. A woman named Deona Knajdek was killed when a man drove his car into a crowded demonstration. The area, once welcoming, seemed no longer safe.
The national chain tenants were leaving or had already left Uptown. Victoria’s Secret closed at the beginning of 2018. North Face closed a year later. The Apple Store closed permanently on Oct. 22, 2020. The last of the big chains to leave was Urban Outfitters when it shut its doors in 2022.
Calhoun Square, once a thriving shopping center, now sitting nearly empty
Calhoun Square is now mostly deserted and has been renamed Seven Points. Chicago-owned developers are promising construction of a new apartment complex but there is as yet no work on that, or any idea of when or if that will happen.
But the final blow for many businesses was a city update to Hennepin Avenue, which the City of Minneapolis said was designed to meet the public’s current and future needs. “The new, multimodal design improves space for people to: walk, ride transit, bike, and drive. The layout also provides space for enhanced stations of the future METRO E Line”, city posts claimed. The new plan eliminated parking for many businesses along the route, places that did not gain customers with the lure of walkability.
And — while the parking ramp at Seven Points is still operating and open — where there was once parking on side streets, now signs have appeared banning parking from 9 a.m. until 2 a.m. without a special permit.
Other mainstays left Uptown as well, blaming the street construction’s ‘logistical challenges’. The Uptown Art Fair that had been drawing hundreds of thousands of art lovers to the area since 1974 closed and then reopened as a scaled down event — three and a half miles to the south — at Bachman’s Home and Garden store. It has now been renamed the SoMi Art Fair, short for South Minneapolis.
A few businesses struggle to remain open
The Corner Balloon Shoppe, at the corner of 25th and Hennepin, survived Covid and the riots but the owner, Kristin Traynor has now left the area and reopened in Maple Grove. “I didn’t trust that the city wouldn’t take all the parking. We were having issues with people defecating at our front door and people sleeping at the back door. I did have an interview with our city council member Aisha Chughtai, and she just shrugged her shoulders. I miss the area, the feel of it, but Minneapolis is not business friendly. Because of lack of parking, customers have to park three blocks away.”
The Familia Skateboard Shop is now located in Northeast Minneapolis, far from their former address at 2833 Hennepin. General manager Dennis Burdick said the shop moved on Oct. 31st, 2023, a year and a half after swearing to stay on. The staff and owners were hoping for a rebirth after the riots, and they said, at the time “It’s starting to feel more normal,” but then the street closed down and parking went away. “We literally moved out because of the construction and the lack of parking. We had been in Uptown since 2009. They shut down the meters for construction access. Customers would complain. Where we are now feels how Uptown did 10 years ago.”
Not everyone has gone away. The Uptown Theater, which first opened 109 years ago and was known for showing art and cult films, closed to revamp from a movie theater to a performance venue, a place that seats 2,500 and now hosts popular musical artists.
The Corner Balloon Shoppe was renamed Uptown Balloons, with a new owner, Anna Hernandez, who says that sharing a parking lot in the back of her store — that her store shares with other businesses — makes it easy for her customers. While the street in front of the store is completely blocked, the parking lot allows people to shop online and pick up their orders without having to get out of their cars.
A few stores stayed and thrived. Magers & Quinn, the largest independent bookstore in the Twin Cities, first opened its doors in August 1994 and is still nearly always busy with customers.
Road work up and down Hennepin Avenue
Next door, Penzeys Spices, which has had a loyal customer base for 25 years at their Uptown location, has a small parking lot off their back alley, which makes it easier to shop without having customers walk several blocks to the store.
There is much optimism about reviving the area. New places will be opening soon with signs (literally ‘opening soon’) near dozens of ‘for lease’ signs. While Mosaic Coffee has yet to announce their official opening date, owners say they think that their block of Hennepin Avenue, just south of Lake Street, will become a coffee corridor. Up the street, in the former Paper Source location, a new coffee shop with retail from Asia, Moona Moono, will open Saturday, April 12. Owner Angie Lee said her shop will offer coffee and products trending in Asia or made by Asian and Asian American artists. Another recent development that’s cause for hope is the news that local real estate company, First & First, has purchased the building that housed the aforementioned Apple Store and the Uptown Bar & Café, at 3018 Hennepin Avenue. First & First also redeveloped the area that is home to Icehouse and Vertical Endeavors on Nicollet Avenue.
Farther north on Hennepin, Spectacle Shoppe, Isles Bun & Coffee, Osman Cleaners, and The Lowry are long time, beloved businesses that all have loyal customers.
Will Uptown and Hennepin Avenue again thrive? The answer is a resounding YES!
