Yogurt Lab adding four Twin Cities locations

The Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal reports that frozen yogurt chain Yogurt Lab is adding four locations in the Twin Cities area.  Its newest shop is in Eagan and opened last week, and a shop in downtown Wayzata will open at the end of the month.

Yogurt Lab CEO Aaron Switz said he was drawn to the Wayzata location because it is across from Sunsets restaurant and Lake Minnetonka, a popular spot for families in the summer.

Minneapolis-based Yogurt Lab also plans to open two more locations in the fall — in Uptown Minneapolis and in Apple Valley.

“We’re now tackling the suburbs,” Aaron Switz said. “We want to be able to get to enough spots so that people who like it don’t have to drive 30 minutes.”

Posted in Apple Valley, Eagan, Uptown, Wayzata

Cottage Grove Hopes for Retail Boom

South Washington County Bulletin reports that the city of Cottage Grove might be on the verge of a retail boom.  The emergence of the Shoppes at Cottage View, the groundbreaking of a 180,000-square-foot Walmart and several plans in the works to fill vacant retail lots, has the city poised to pull in shoppers from around the area.

City officials plan to attend the International Council of Shopping Centers’ retail convention in Las Vegas later this month with the hope of striking some deals. With multiple plans on the horizon to facilitate a more economically thriving and business friendly atmosphere, Cottage Grove Mayor Myron Bailey said he is optimistic.

“We’ve been doing a lot of reaching out to businesses and it’s really been a two-prong process,” he said. “We’ve been looking at a lot of end users and also have set up some appointments with bigger department stores. At the same time, we are bringing the Shoppes at Cottage View designs to the developer meetings (in Las Vegas) to discuss what is going there.” Continue reading

Posted in Cottage Grove

Work to begin at Walmart Supercenters in Roseville, Cottage Grove

The Pioneer Press reports that Walmart formally broke ground Wednesday, May 8, on supercenters in Roseville and Cottage Grove.

In Cottage Grove, Walmart held a ceremonial ground breaking for its 180,000-square-foot supercenter on the site of the old Cottage View Drive-In. The store is scheduled to open next spring.

In Roseville, Walmart held ground-breaking ceremonies for its 160,000-square-foot supercenter at County Road C and Cleveland Avenue. That store is also set to open next spring.

Walmart is continuing a major expansion into Minnesota after years of largely ceding the region to its discount-store rival, Minneapolis-based Target. In 1962, the first-ever Target store opened in Roseville, where Walmart, until now, hasn’t had a presence.

Posted in Cottage Grove, Roseville

Developer locks in land for $100M Eagan outlet mall

StarTribune reports that construction for a big outlet mall in Eagan, near the Mall of America, could begin within days now that the developer has closed on a deal to buy 29 acres of city-owned land for the project.

Baltimore-based Paragon Outlet Partners paid $5.8 million for the site, part of a larger deal with Eagan that includes moving streets and helping build a parking ramp near the shopping center.

Paragon wants to build a 400,000-square-foot, six-building complex with more than 100 stores at the site, located at the intersection of highways 77 and 13.  Ryan Cos. US has been hired for construction.

A Saks Off Fifth will anchor the center and Gap and Banana Republic have signed on for outlet stores, too.

Posted in Eagan

Southdale announces 3 new stores

The Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal reports that Southdale Center says it will add three new stores to its lineup this fall: Sperry Top-Siders, Vera Bradley and Kay Jewelers.

Sperry Top-Sider, a Richmond, Ind.-based shoe manufacturer, will open a 2,156-square-foot store. This will be the company’s first Minnesota boutique.

Vera Bradley, a Fort Wayne, Ind.-based company that sells bags, handbags, purses and backpacks, will open a 2,300-square-foot store. It will be the brand’s second store in Minnesota, joining a location at the nearby Mall of America.

Kay Jewelers is returning to Southdale with a 1,506-square-foot store near the new dining pavilion. The Akron, Ohio-based retailer used to have a store at the shopping center, but closed it a couple of years ago, before work began on a major renovation. It has 15 locations in Minnesota.

Posted in Edina

L.A. Fitness scouting for downtown Minneapolis location

According to Sam Black of the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, L.A. Fitness wants to open a gym in downtown Minneapolis.  The company’s site search has included skyway-connected buildings along Marquette Avenue and Nicollet Mall, according to multiple real estate sources with knowledge of the search who asked not to be identified to protect client relationships.

Irvine, Calif.-based L.A. Fitness opened its first Twin Cities location in Apple Valley in 2007. It now has 14 facilities in the market, including a location at Uptown’s Calhoun Square. It’s also building a new gym in Brooklyn Center.

Tom Martin, a retail broker at Cushman & Wakfield/NorthMarq who represents L.A. Fitness in the Twin Cities, declined to comment on the prospect of a downtown location. But he said the company remains in expansion mode.

“All logical trade areas left to explore are being considered,” he said.

Posted in Minneapolis

Truce Brings Fresh Juice to Uptown

James Norton of Heavy Table reports that now Minnesota boasts its first fully-dedicated fresh-pressed juice bar. Truce (a cheeky portmanteau of true and juice) opened in late April in Uptown Minneapolis.

Co-owner Blaire Molitor describes the thought process behind the shop’s juice offerings: “From the start we knew what we liked and what we didn’t like – we wanted to be able to taste each individual ingredient in each juice – never having one overpowering flavor. We also didn’t want any of them to be overly sweet or bitter. We tasted every pressed juice we could get our hands on and made notes on what worked and what didn’t. We then tested recipes over and over again until we were happy with the flavor balance. We had friends and family taste them to get additional feedback. Everyone is looking for something different – some people hate ginger, some want extra – so we tried to appeal to as many varying tastes as possible.”

Truce uses a large-scale hydraulic press based on the Norwalk method. Translated to home juicers, this means less air and more juice in the bottle. Much like the open-kitchen concept adopted by many upscale restaurants, the press is fully visible to customers via a glass door. If you visit early enough you might catch pounds upon pounds of fruits and vegetables meeting their maker as they’re shredded and pressed (think tons of pounds of pressure) to extract as many vitamins, minerals, and juices as possible.

Flavors range from Beginner’s Greens (kale, spinach, apple, lemon) to Root (carrot, orange, ginger, beet) to AMP (apple, mint, pineapple). Smoothies and detox cleanses will be offered soon.

Posted in Uptown | Tagged , , , ,