Shouldn’t be a surprise to me that after a year plus of pandemic, businesses are feeling it. As I drive about my neighborhood, I see that a few businesses have bitten the dust: FedEx Kinko’s and Wax City at the Hub are gone as well as Old Country Buffet and my dog-training place, Canine College.
But it’s heartening to see that new folks are still willing to try starting up business in their places. This morning I see that the Old Country Buffet is becoming a “Million’s Crab” – looks like the first one in the Twin Cities. And Wax City is being replaced by “The Archery Cosmetic Tattoo”. I was a little excited about the tattoo place until I realized it’s all about eyebrows and other cosmetic stuff – no skulls or motorcycle gang graphics! I can’t wait to see what’s going into the FedEx storefront. The dog-training place is still sitting empty; I can’t imagine what kind of restoration the owner would have to do to that building to make it palatable to anybody else. I have a small (probably irrational) hope that maybe Canine College might be able to come back.
This is just in my small corner of the world but I’m assuming it’s same elsewhere. I’m torn; it’s sad that businesses have failed but I’m glad there is enough hope out there that new businesses are opening. Now if I could just get a bagel shop to open up within walking distance of my house!
Anything business that you valued gone under? Anything new opening up near you? What would you LIKE to open up near you?
Trail Baboon 
A favorite restaurant went under – Curran’s – though I have written before about that. Still makes me sad. It will not reopen as a new restaurant, there will become apartments on the site. Another family favorite, Harriet’s, closed – though that has a new restaurant taking over its spot. I a glad that Prima and El Jefe weathered the storm. Would be nice to have an independent coffee shop nearby, but I think the Starbucks might prove to be too much competition. Sigh. And probably best that Patisserie 46 is just beyond “comfortable walking distance”…
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I am sad that Harriet’s has closed. My sister, cousin, and I used to meet there for lunch on a semi-regular basis.
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Agree about the coffee shop possibilities. I did actually (many years ago) wish that we had a coffee shop up on 54th and I guess it turned out to be one of those “be careful what you wish for” things. . Starbucks not my favorite.
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Lutheran Social Services of ND borrowed a lot of money to build affordable housing in the oil patch. With the oil bust, there were no longer people who needed the housing, and LSS had to declare bankruptcy and close. That ended a lot of wonderful programs and services.
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i have seen a lot of businesss close that will be missed and many more that will not be
the world is a new place and working from home will make finding new uses for office and retail space of old an interesting challenge
i live in the burbs and if i walked to the nearest retail it would be a 2 mile walk and all you get is a grocery s hardware and a bagel shop
the ups, picture frame and tailor went belly up
the other direction is the mall with new and old coming and going . it’s going to be interesting to see how all these restaurants that used seating space to pile up boxes of cups and napkins will deal with having to let people back into their production space
music venues will be welcomed back i guess video streaming just isn’t the same.what is it that makes a persons funny line in person funnier than the same line on a video. something about sharing the same space vs streaming zooming etc…
if i could wish a place to open it would be the foot massage place with a cigar smokers lounge on one end maybe a massage school where they need honest input from expert evaluators
and maybe the latest beam me up scotty enterprise where you can pick the quadrants you want to be beamed to and stop all the greenhouse from planes trains and automobiles
we all carry our transporters with us now we just need to add the bmus app to get around
excuse me i’m off to nepal for lunchbox with a view at monk everest patio gardens then dinner in florence (i love the gnocchi with pesto) before transporting back for planting my flowers on saturday morning
ta ta
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with the world being a work from home place today maybe the affordable housing could entice people to work from bumfuch north dakota and develop a communities of online nomads who go where they are most wanted
i know a town in oklahoma that is offering something like 100,000 to anyone who moves in there to work virtually from the concept they developed
but lutherans are challenged at thinking outside the box aren’t they
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Lutherans?? I thought it was pretty much any American over the age of 17…
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That’s really sad about LSS, Renee.
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Rise and Shine Baboons,
The places that are closing have been invisible to me because I have done little shopping during COVID, with the exception of grocery stores and Target. Now I look for things and I have the experience of “something is missing” but I am not always sure what it is. The ones I am sure of are clothing stores. None of the places I once shopped for clothing exist anymore. Herbergers closed before COVID. Christopher and Banks made some old-lady clothes that fit me—gone. The Naturlizer store at Medford outlet where I found BZee shoes- closed. There are a few online left, though. I won’t buy clothing from Amazon. They are dominating too much of the market.
A church we attended for awhile may not make it—it appears to be struggling to survive. COVID did not help this process but there the problem is that they are so horrible to their ministers that no one will take the job anymore.
I think pandemic problems intensified pre-COVID difficulties.
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Morning- I have always said I need a Fleet Farm closer to my side of town. We live NE and the Fleet farm is on the Southern edge of town. There’s a Menards North and South, both equal distance away from me. The Fleet Farm is close to the Menards South so that is helpful at times.
And there is a liquor store and movie theater out that way too. Somedays I can make quite the adventure out in that neighborhood!
I can’t think of any small business’ that have closed this year; partly I don’t get out much. Partly my John Deere dealership is still open… as is that aforementioned Fleet Farm…
I miss some places that closed a long time ago like Waldo’s Pizza. (1980’s)
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Ah – Waldo’s Pizza. If I am remembering, the decoration theme was early days of flight… or am I thinking of a different pizza chain?
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I don’t remember much about the decor… an airplane does sound familiar. I heard there’s still a Waldos in Mankato, maybe that’s what you’re thinking of??
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Our last local drugstore, Goltz Pharmacy, didn’t make it. I’m sure there must be others, but that’s all I can come up with in Winona. My beloved Blue Heron Coffee Shop is on leave until… I hope some time this summer they will re-open – they need to create outdoor seating, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see part of the parking lot used for that.
We have new businesses on a newly created multi-purpose block downtown, where there was a Hardee’s a coupla years ago. One is Sapori, a nice little Sicilian bakery with several tables, serves soup/sandwiches too. Also an upscale restaurant called Nosh (there’s one in Lake City, too) had opened just as Covid hit last spring – it’s survived somehow, so far.
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Before the pandemic my local shopping district was already having trouble, with many shops disappearing and staying empty. Luckily the good shops stayed in business but now I’m worried they’ll be gone. My favourite shop the hardware store is still in business and I think it’ll survive. A frozen yogurt place closed down, which saddened kids around the neighbourhood. I like to think that when the pandemic is ‘over’ there’ll be a wave of new businesses popping up everywhere. That would be fun to see.
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Where are you located, scaledflower? Noticed that you spelled favorite with the British spelling, so I’m wondering. Welcome to the trail.
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I haven’t been out and about much since March 17th of last year, so, like Jacque, I don’t really know much about what is happening in my community – except for what I read about.
I do know, though, that some of favorite restaurants are still hanging in there – two with a little help from a GoFundMe campaign.
I consider myself lucky to live within a reasonable commuting distance to everything that I need. Honestly, I can’t think of a good idea for what would improve the local retail scene, but that’s probably due lack of imagination on my part.
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When I was a teenager I remember having lunch with my mother at the River Room in the downtown St. Paul Dayton’s store, and having soup and a slice of apple pie with cinnamon ice cream for dessert. It was quite the elegant lunch for me. The River Room has been gone or a number o years, and last year one of the few remaining department store restaurants closed – the Lakeshore Grill in the Southdale department store that was once Dayton’s, more recently Macy’s. I sort of hate to see those store-based restaurants go. The Lakeshore Grill still had the popovers that were a tradition in the Dayton’s stores.
These days you can always go to a mall where you go to a store to buy clothes and then have lunch in a restaurant or fast food place nearby. The difference is subtle, but time has changed the experience.
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I loved those popovers. Forgot about that.
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My grandmother loved department store restaurants. I’ve benefited a lot from this is a child. But the department store restaurant meal that I remember the most is the one that I didn’t finish. I got up and left the table and went outside and sat in the luggage department until my family was finished. The reason? My father decided he needed to sing from La Traviata at the table.
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Oh DEAR!
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That’s funny, vs. My dad would need to be pretty drunk in order for him to either sing or dance in public.
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Not entirely apropos, but it brings to mind this old song…
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Dog Gone Happy Training can fix your dog’s unwanted behavior fast
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