Downtown Macy's Closing. (Minneapolis, Marshall, Dayton: condos, buying, income)

[Miley Cyrus]

More retail turnover in downtown. Should we just expect to see downtown consist of office buildings, bars and restaurants in the future? Guess we'll see how long the new Saks experiment lasts.

[Ghengis]

they were dead to me when they went from Dayton's to Marshall Fields...DEAD I say!

[gweilo845]

Not really surprising. There are a lot of people in it during weekdays, but most of those are window shoppers or people just passing through on the skyway. Like most stores downtown, it's a ghost town on nights and weekends. The gauntlet of panhandlers around the building doesn't help, either. Probably the only reason the Target is still around is because it's connected to the headquarters and a lot of execs do tours through there for vendors. Retail downtown isn't very sustainable. The people living in the multimillion dollar condos aren't walking around to shop; they'll drive to Northeast or Uptown, while the lower-income people can't afford to shop at most of the stores. When I lived in the area, the Target would be dead on the weekends, but the Family Dollar a little south of downtown was always packed.

[Rhody2Mn]

This is sad news but not surprising. The store was fantastic when it was Dayton's but when it became Marshall Field's and later Macy's, it slid downhill fast.

I think there are really two issues at play here: 1) Department stores all over the nation are fading from relevance as people continue to turn online to shop. Macy's in particular is struggling and I wouldn't be surprised if most of their stores close within the next few years (with the exception of big city locations like Chicago or New York). 2) As gweilo845 pointed out, downtown retail isn't sustainable for a variety of reasons. Although Minneapolis is growing, downtown is still largely a 9-5 Monday-Friday scene that doesn't support retail on nights and weekends in a way a bigger city would. The majority of people in our region still live in suburbs and find it much more convenient to drive to their nearby stores or malls that offer the exact same thing downtown has but without the hassle of having to park or deal with what is perceived (even if incorrectly) to be an "unsafe, crime-ridden" area.

In my opinion, if retail is to succeed downtown, it needs to offer a shopping experience that is unique and can't just be replicated at a suburban mall. Why shop at Macy's downtown when its stores at Mall of America, Ridgedale, Rosedale, and Southdale are all a short distance away? Perhaps if new stores or concepts to this market were introduced that aren't available elsewhere, more people would opt to shop downtown.

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by Rhody2Mn

This is sad news but not surprising. The store was fantastic when it was Dayton's but when it became Marshall Field's and later Macy's, it slid downhill fast.

I think there are really two issues at play here: 1) Department stores all over the nation are fading from relevance as people continue to turn online to shop. Macy's in particular is struggling and I wouldn't be surprised if most of their stores close within the next few years (with the exception of big city locations like Chicago or New York). 2) As gweilo845 pointed out, downtown retail isn't sustainable for a variety of reasons. Although Minneapolis is growing, downtown is still largely a 9-5 Monday-Friday scene that doesn't support retail on nights and weekends in a way a bigger city would. The majority of people in our region still live in suburbs and find it much more convenient to drive to their nearby stores or malls that offer the exact same thing downtown has but without the hassle of having to park or deal with what is perceived (even if incorrectly) to be an "unsafe, crime-ridden" area.

In my opinion, if retail is to succeed downtown, it needs to offer a shopping experience that is unique and can't just be replicated at a suburban mall. Why shop at Macy's downtown when its stores at Mall of America, Ridgedale, Rosedale, and Southdale are all a short distance away? Perhaps if new stores or concepts to this market were introduced that aren't available elsewhere, more people would opt to shop downtown.

I think the outlook for downtown retail is even worse than you portray. The 9-5 office workers no longer support any retail outside of lunch restaurants, convenience stores, and the like. Whereas 25 years ago many downtown office workers shopped during their lunch hours, many no longer have this time available as the demands of their job have them eating at their desk five days a week. Walk through the skyways at lunch time and see how many people are buying their lunch at a take out place. The exception is a quick run to Target but no one is doing clothes shopping down there anymore.

[Thedosius]

There are actually quite few empty storefronts in the downtown skyways, probably fewer now than in the ~15 years I've worked there- at least around the Nicollet Mall/Marquette part of downtown. The Macy's store is one of 100 across the country they'll be closing. I think department stores with their massive brick-and-mortar presence are dinosaurs- even the Bloomingdale's in Mall of America closed a few years ago. I agree with Rhody that the emphasis should be on something unique rather than something you can get more conveniently in a suburb. My hope is that they can modify the Midtown Global Exchange model and turn parts of the building (at least) into an incubator for local small businesses. I can't think of any large department store I'd be excited about going there.

I'm curious if floors 3+ will even remain retail. Personally I forget they're even there. I would not be surprised to see housing or office space going there.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by Rhody2Mn

This is sad news but not surprising. The store was fantastic when it was Dayton's but when it became Marshall Field's and later Macy's, it slid downhill fast.

I think there are really two issues at play here: 1) Department stores all over the nation are fading from relevance as people continue to turn online to shop. Macy's in particular is struggling and I wouldn't be surprised if most of their stores close within the next few years (with the exception of big city locations like Chicago or New York). 2) As gweilo845 pointed out, downtown retail isn't sustainable for a variety of reasons. Although Minneapolis is growing, downtown is still largely a 9-5 Monday-Friday scene that doesn't support retail on nights and weekends in a way a bigger city would. The majority of people in our region still live in suburbs and find it much more convenient to drive to their nearby stores or malls that offer the exact same thing downtown has but without the hassle of having to park or deal with what is perceived (even if incorrectly) to be an "unsafe, crime-ridden" area.

In my opinion, if retail is to succeed downtown, it needs to offer a shopping experience that is unique and can't just be replicated at a suburban mall. Why shop at Macy's downtown when its stores at Mall of America, Ridgedale, Rosedale, and Southdale are all a short distance away? Perhaps if new stores or concepts to this market were introduced that aren't available elsewhere, more people would opt to shop downtown.

This story has been repeated in city after city. Pittsburgh's downtown Macy's closed late last year. Our original Kaufmann's Department store was replaced by a Macy's. The store went from 11 stories down to 4 and the selection was not as nice as the former store. Sadly we lost Sak's and Lord & Taylor recently too. All three stores solidified two city blocks luckily all three either have been or are in the process of redevelopment.