We don’t know yet if there are any Macy store closing in our markets here, but here’s an interesting take from the mall side of the story.
Malls feel the heat as Macy’s, other chains close stores
Don Pablo is the latest restaurant here in the Twin Cities to announce the closing of their Richfield location at the CSM – Shoppes at Lyndale. This leaves the owners – Food Management Partners – with only the Eden Prairie location remaining here in Minnesota, and it’s fate is probably uncertain too. At one point, the Don Pablo – Texas based chain had almost 100 locations, and now less than 20 remain.
Over the last few days, 8 of the 12 Minnesota Ruby Tuesday restaurants have closed, as has 1 of the 2 Fargo stores. The remaining stores are in Inver Grove, Shakopee, Rosedale and Southdale.
As the Site Selection Broker for 9 of the 12 Ruby Tuesday restaurants in Minnesota, I find it interesting that high profile properties like Plymouth and Eden Prairie were shuttered while two properties in smaller, less dense, suburban-fringe markets where Ruby Tuesday was the only ‘player’ remain open.
The race for space is on, as every piece of decent retail/restaurant real estate that comes available will have multiple interested parties. Stay tuned!
Lots of restaurants closing this summer here in the Twin Cities, and rumors are flying around about more coming:
On August 1st, just days prior to Fresh Thyme opening with great anticipation, Vadnais Square in Vadnais Heights sold to Dakota Upreit for $20.6 million or $166 psf. The 124,000 sf shopping center is anchored by Fresh Thyme and shadow anchored by Target. Additional key tenants in the 100% occupied center include Xperience Fitness, Famous Footwear, Dollar Tree, Pet Supplies Plus, AT&T and Chipotle. This is the first Fresh Thyme anchored center to trade in the Twin Cities market.
With the opening last week of two more stores, Fresh Thyme has four locations and more coming. The Savage store opened in 30,000 sf of the former Rainbow store, with the Vadnais Heights store of the same size going into the former Festival Foods store. By all accounts, they opened with lots of buzz and great sales. Their Bloomington store opened last year, and was the only site until Apple Valley opened this spring. The next location to open is Plymouth at Highway 55 and Vicksburg in mid-September, along with St. Louis Park, Prospect Park, Waite Park and West St. Paul in the works.
They also added liquor to their offerings, with the Vadnais Heights stores having a liquor store. Plymouth will also offer liquor, and more will be added to future locations if feasible.