New stores coming to Duluth, anyone know of any? (Cloquet: theatres, subsidized)

[knke0402]

Why does everyone in Duluth complain about increased taxes, but at the same time complain about the crappy road maintenance. Dont you people understand that Taxes PAY for roads? You dont get that? Comeon people. Duluth is decaying. I cant believe some of the buildings here. Spend a year in the Twin Cities and you DUluth people will know what I mean.

[knke0402]

and how do you people shop at the normal Target?

Coming from years of brand new SUper Target shopping, I laugh when I walk into the Duluth Target. Its a joke.

Duluth is a city stuck in 1991. Look at the cars, the homes, what people wear, the buildings/businesses. Even the radio stations are 6 months behind.

Im angry that I cant listen to the KQ (the real KQ, not the joke of a KQ up here) morning show.

[knke0402]

Duluth- 4 H club

Hicks
Hippies
Hunters
Hikers

[duluthian2008]

knke0402, all three posts that you submitted to this thread had nothing to do with what this thread is about. Please dont post anything else other than posts that related to this tread. Thanks.

[aluminumpork]

Originally Posted by knke0402

and you DUluth people

Please don't speak down to us as if we're less than you. We're not idiots, we know our city's problems and we know why we love our city. Of course Minneapolis has big, shiny new buildings, stores and roads! It's the economic center of the state. Us "Duluth people" don't think Duluth is or will ever be Minnesota's economic hub, but we do have high hopes for our city. This thread is here for people who are interested in Duluth's growth and have constructive news and information related to this thread's topic.

[knke0402]

Originally Posted by aluminumpork

Please don't speak down to us as if we're less than you. We're not idiots, we know our city's problems and we know why we love our city. Of course Minneapolis has big, shiny new buildings, stores and roads! It's the economic center of the state. Us "Duluth people" don't think Duluth is or will ever be Minnesota's economic hub, but we do have high hopes for our city. This thread is here for people who are interested in Duluth's growth and have constructive news and information related to this thread's topic.

High hopes?

What high hopes? That maybe YOUR city WON'T be another $20 million in debt this year.

The sad thing is, is that there is no CONSTRUCTIVE news and INFORMATION. So, what is there to talk about? That MAYBE Duluth might get a new restaurant? A new building gets built on a monthly basis where I'm from, no speculation and pipe dreams neccessary.

I'm not trying to put anyone down, but just please understand that Duluth isn't as great as everyone from Duluth paints it to be. The City has horrible problems and many of its citizens do not get involved. I have been to City Council meetings and other city meetings, and no one comes. There are roads that are so delapidated that if it were in my town, people would be knocking at the City's door all day everyday until something was done about it, but here people just accept it. They accept that every other home looks as if it is 100 years old and is about to fall over with the next snowfall.

Duluth is a niche region. It was once important for the iron range and taconite, air force base, and all the other industry that left in late 70s and through the 80s. It was once a City with infrastucture set for 150,000 people and now houses only 80,000. I understand its struggles, but the city reminds me of a tiny Detroit. With a vastly diminishing housing stock, what do you think is going to happen in the future? These homes that are 50-60-70-80-90 years old are only getting older, in a cold climate, without repair. Tumble, tumble. With no new industry or solid economic base, this City is going to crumble, crumble. So, by sticking to topic, that is my input- that New Stores Coming to Duluth doenst mean anything. Small, meaningless jobs at Stores doesnt create an economic hub or vital region. It doesnt increase tax base, or at least enough to keep up with failing housing, buildings, property values, and roads.

[aluminumpork]

There are also plenty of homes from the early 1900s that have been completely remodeled and repaired. There are housing developments for low, middle and upper income families popping up left and right. Our housing stock may be aged, and many of them are indeed falling apart, but new developments and people that remodel older homes (and there are plenty of these people) help to offset this negative trend. This thread is important to me not because I'm oh so excited to eat at a Buffalo Wild Wings or TGI Fridays locally, but because developments (even small developments) of any sort shows interest in the region. Of course another Olive Garden isn't going to save the city, but the fact that Olive Garden sees an opportunity for profit here is what excites us. We absolutely need more companies to locate branches and/or headquarter here, especially high tech companies in my opinion.

Let me reiterate, we know our city has problems. We know the vast majority of our roads are in terrible condition and our city government has money problems, but there is nothing wrong with being positive about things. We're all hoping to get the direction of city changed, because we feel that it has so much potential. We know this thread isn't going to change anything, it's simply a forum for sharing information. Maybe your right, maybe the city has no hope and it will soon crumble into oblivion. But looking around and feeling the passion that so many residents have for this city, I find it hard to believe that such a thing would be allowed to happen. When the city cut funds to parks and rec, volunteers cleaned it up. When the city cut funds to libraries, volunteers helped shelve books in their free time. As we all know, Duluth has hit upon hard times in the past and has managed to pull through. The developments we've seen lately (especially downtown) is something that I at least haven't seen in my lifetime here and it's something to get excited about. There's nothing wrong with that.

Myself and others on this forum may very well paint Duluth in a favorable light, but we don't lie about anything. The way we describe the city to others is the honest way we see it ourselves. There are very nice neighborhoods with very nice houses (and yes, some houses here rival some McMansions of the cities). There are very safe areas here with sidewalks I'd feel comfortable walking at 3AM. There are neighborhoods where a good portion of the roads have been completely re-done (Lakeside for example).

The other members involved in this thread and I are here to talk about developments in Duluth that we find interesting. Whether you feel it's constructive or not has no bearing on it. Random, petty, and massively stereotypical insults have no place here and are not constructive no matter which way you spin it.

We paint Duluth in an appealing, yet truthful light. You paint in an unrealistically negative way with no other intention than trying to cause a stir and get a reaction from people.

[chublake]

It was interesting to go through the threads on this site. We lived in Duluth for 25 years ago and still have our lake home. We moved away 5 years ago, live in Alabama and have the lake home for sale. So, we still do come to the area and all of our kids live there. These restaurants that you mention that you want, we have most of them here where we live. BFF is not particularily good and doesn't do well. But, Duluth really doesn't have a "wing" place, so it might go good there. Sonic is all over the place and is fun for awhile. Macaroni Grill was here but closed, but it was very good and preferable over Olive Garden. Five Guys just opened here and you can't get near the place, it is awesome!! But you have Culvers, which we love and wish would come here. Ruby Tuesday is way over priced as far as I am concerned and more like a Perkins with no pancakes. Red Robin is here and was doing great until Five Guys showed up. Chili's is a staple here and always good and always busy. Texas Roadhouse Grill is darn good!! Logan's Roadhouse is very good. On The Border was closed about the same time as was Macaroni Grill, so that makes sense since they are floundering a bit. Panera is all over the place and all of them are always busy. My personal opinion is that Grandma's has Cheesecake Factory beat hands down. They only do mall locations, so if Miller Hill doesn't get them, you won't see them.
Now, if you want to really lobby someone to come to Duluth and open a restaurant, here is who I would suggest. We actually fly to Chicago for pizza at Lou Malnati's and My Pie that used to be in Minneapolis is still in Chicago and could be had. Both have wonderful deep dish pizza. Must be for us to fly there just for it!!
We used to drive a few hours every two weeks to Madison, WI to go to Pedro's Mexican Restaurant. It's AWESOME. If they came to Duluth, I might rethink selling my house. Remember Zona Rosa? Well, Pedro's is as good if not better and that is saying something. They have two locations in Madison and one in Brookfield (Milwaukee). Franchises are available. My mouth is watering.
I'm glad to see that Duluth is moving forward. Our daughter said that it was just announced that Cabelas is coming to Cloquet at the intersection of 35W and Hwy 33 along with perhaps a Lowe's and maybe more. That's fantastic news as our lake home is only 4 miles from there and it might sell.
Your threads are fun to read to keep up on the area. Nice work. Gotta go and buy some airlines tickets for Madison now that I have myself whipped up into a frenzy over Pedro's. Go to their website and just take a look. Someone get on that one!!

[knke0402]

You people still don't understand.
Retail doesn't help anything.
Retail and restaurant industry follows very very closely with the macro -economy.

Let me explain. Retail and restaraunts are an intusties that reflect what the overall economy is -as well as housing. When houses are being built, and new residents are moving in, new restaurants and retail is built to accomodate those new people. Well, no one is moving to Duluth right now, therefor, any new retail or restaurant needs to NOT cater NEW customers, it will cater to those already lving in Duluth. So instead of 100 places to eat, a new BWW (ha, not BFF), will make it 101 places for 80,000 people. Read a newspaper. Retail is the crappiest it has been since the early 1980s. Restaurant business is the worst since the 1980s.. Wait!? what happened in the 1980s? Oh yeah, thats right, the USA's last recession.

I live in Duluth, Im not trying to paint it in a negative light, but thats how things are. Duluth is a dying city. Its fact, thats all I do in these forums is spread fact, and it seems that no one can handle it. Ive been hit with bad reputation for stating FACT. People, if you cannot handle fact get out. Lift the sheets over your eyes and understand what is real. Duluth is dead. Simple retail and restaurants dont mean a thing. From where Im from there are 10 TGIs in a 20 mile radius, maybe thats why I dont see the big deal wiht all the discussion. I used to live 4 miles from a Cabelas, and i didnt think it was that great at all, but people RAVE about it...

People, before you get defensive about Duluth, understand what is going on there. Yeah, its a nice view, and unneccesarily hilly, but very decayed and aged. This area needs a new industry-corporation- something that will sustain jobs, create new jobs, have a large tax base and attract more business,-not in terms of retail/restaraunt.

So, again, my post was completely on topic, so if you fools could stop telling me to stop posting and stick to the topic, read a little better-they do teach reading in Duluth school system? Or is that undercut and slacked like everything else in this cruddy city?

[aluminumpork]

Thanks for the info chublake! How recently did your daughter mention the Cabelas news? I know there was word a few years ago that they would be building in Cloquet, but last I heard they decided to cancel, or at least put it on hold. Lowe's has also been mentioned, but we haven't heard much past that. Pedros sounds good! haha, but I'm guessing we'd have a tough time getting that one.