Shot in the Dark

More Vibrancy!

Not sure if I’m getting tired of Trump winning – but I’ve had enough of Saint Paul losing.  

The Cub on University Avenue is closing after several decades:

The store at 1440 University Ave. W. will close its doors to the public on Aug. 2, and 96 store employees will be laid off starting on Sept. 22.

In a statement, a Cub spokesperson said the closure is part of an effort to “optimize our footprint.”

“We know the impact our stores have for the people who work in, shop in, and live in our communities. Like any food retailer, we’re constantly working to optimize our footprint, which includes investing in stores – like our newly remodeled Cub in Burnsville, MN – as well as closing stores where necessary so we can operate as efficiently and effectively as possible,” the company said.

“Optimize our footprint” is apparently how corporations say “We’re tired of the shoplifting, vagrancy, panhandling, the lack of prosecution of anything that happens, and the fact that so many people who do shop at Cubs will go to Roseville because of less hassles and a lower sales tax”

I live less than a mile from that Cub – and I haven’t gone there in literally decades.   Back then, there were 3-4 big box groceries in that half=mile; Rainbow, Target and Walmart (although it wasn’t one of the Wallmarts with the big grocery sections, it was still a low-price option); Cub was never as cheap as Rainbow or as clean as Target.   

After Rainbow and Walmart disappeared?  It was easier and cheaper to go to Roseville.  

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Mitch Berg

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13 responses to “More Vibrancy!”

  1. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    But can BIPOC people go to Roseville too?

    Seriously.

    I remember when the left was howling about “jobs moving to the suburbs” as if it was impossible for North Minneapolis residents to drive a few miles to Brooklyn Park or Fridley. Meanwhile immigrants who had traveled thousands of miles to get to Minneapolis were car-sharing to Shakopee – and now days immigrants from Myrammar are commuting Saint Paul to Austin to chop pork for Hormel.

  2. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Oh, they drove there, Greg. That’s why a nice north side mall, Brookdale, eventually became “blackdale” and then they just tore the whole thing down. This computer on which I’m writing this is sitting on a dining room table that we bought at a Brookdale Dayton’s Home Store back in the 80s.

    And that’s when they started heading up to Northtown, another nice mall (area) just north of Fridley where I saw the first Star Wars some 40 years ago, but now I wouldn’t go there. Victim of Northtown Mall homicide identified as 15-year-old boy, from a few weeks ago.

  3. Pig Bodine Avatar
    Pig Bodine

    this presents the City of St Paul with a wonderful opportunity; they can lease the building from Cub and convert it to a homeless shelter and needle exchange facility.

  4. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Oh, I hear to jdm.

    In the 70’s, I lived in Camden across the street from Patrick Henry High. It was heaven then. People literally had putting contests on the lawn of their front yards.

    Now, you dodge stray bullets.

    For this, and much of the destruction of the Twin Cities, I blame the Supreme Court Shapiro v. Thompson (1969) ruling, which overturned waiting periods for welfare.

    The courts thinking was such things restricted the “right to travel”.

    I kid you not.

    Biden merely extended that to the world. Under his administration anyone from anywhere could travel here to collect welfare.

  5. John "Bigman" Jones Avatar
    John “Bigman” Jones

    I have heard from local residents that the Midway shopping experience – fast food, grocery store, Walmart when it existed – varies with the color of store management and location. The cleanliness of the store, the courtesy of the help, the promptness of service, all vary with skin tone (the lighter, the better; the darker, the worse) and with proximity to the Capitol (the closer, the worse; the farther, the better).

    That could simply be hateful haters blaming everything on poverty and race, of course. It’s possible that surly help, sticky floors and locked restrooms are a reflection of lack of customer affluence, not lack of management competence. Or it could be the legacy of slavery, systemic white supremacy, or possibly climate change, I don’t claim to have all the answers. I just know what people tell me. But when even someone as fair-minded as Our Gracious Host admits that White Flight to Roseville is preferable to shopping in the Midway neighborhood, well, that’s confirmation enough for me.

    Maybe the City can interest Keith Ellison in taking over the store to run it as a government operation, to avoid the risk of a “food desert” next to a soccer stadium? Be nice to see an example of Socialism Done Right, for once.

  6. John "Bigman" Jones Avatar
    John “Bigman” Jones

    Moderation. Hmm, no canines mentioned. Oh, but I did mention a political theory that seems to be protected. Let’s try again:

    I have heard from local residents that the Midway shopping experience – fast food, grocery store, Walmart when it existed – varies with the color of store management and location. The cleanliness of the store, the courtesy of the help, the promptness of service, all vary with skin tone (the lighter, the better; the darker, the worse) and with proximity to the Capitol (the closer, the worse; the farther, the better).

    That could simply be hateful haters blaming everything on poverty and race, of course. It’s possible that surly help, sticky floors and locked restrooms are a reflection of lack of customer affluence, not lack of management competence. Or it could be the legacy of slavery, systemic white supremacy, or possibly climate change, I don’t claim to have all the answers. I just know what people tell me. But when even someone as fair-minded as Our Gracious Host admits that White Flight to Roseville is preferable to shopping in the Midway neighborhood, well, that’s confirmation enough for me.

    Maybe the City can interest Keith Ellison in taking over the store to run it as a government operation, to avoid the risk of a “food desert” next to a soccer stadium? Be nice to see an example of Social Justice Done Right, for once.

  7. SmithStCrx Avatar
    SmithStCrx

    A bit shy of 25 years ago I worked at the Targhetto on University, before it was torn down and rebuilt as a Super Targhetto with the grocery store. Back then I used to do my grocery shopping late at night after work, and my store of choice was Rainbow.

    Where I live now, near Maplewood, the former Rainbow is a Hy-Vee, which I tend to avoid because of costs. My local Cub foods across the street, no longer has hand baskets for shoppers to use because they all “walked off,” and Corporate got tired of paying to replace them. And while it’s not so sketchy that I refuse to shop there at all, I only go to that location if the 2 other Cub Foods that are closer to the local Sam’s Clubs are missing some vital item.

  8. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Oh, funny, Greg. I read your second comment while I was at the club. One of the guys there also grew up in and around Camden although later than you. On the other hand, he was a third generation Camden-ite and he nodded knowingly and got a good chuckle out of your description.

    On a different but related topic, Jesse Kelly has remarked that “It’s not that communists fail. It’s that they have different goals than you do. You want things to work. That’s not at all a priority for them.”

  9. mjb003 Avatar
    mjb003

    Optimize our footprint might also be another way to say work with cities who understand business models- ie big box helps the small business by bringing traffic to it. Long before the soccer stadium was even conceived, NIMBYs were in a tizzy over any potential development of the vacant bus barn site because parking! And someone might drive there! So, businesses eventually gave up and moved to less hostile environments. Now some of those NIMBYs are pleased with themselves. So pleased, in fact, that they want to take this opportunity to also remove the freeway, because ZOMG cars! The result of which will leave the area dead do a long time. Bill McGuire has shown some contempt for those NIMBYs as he has tried to get interested business development. But, he isn’t really a power player, and ultimately I would guess he doesn’t care all that much. Given who is in charge of much of the city, I would suspect the NIMBYs will win. And they don’t much care about the destruction of the neighborhood, either. They wouldn’t have been caught dead at the Midway Shopping Center even when it was thriving.

  10. FRESCHFISCH Avatar
    FRESCHFISCH

    Hate to say it, but is Target next?

    Their policy is to let shoplifters walk free.

  11. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    FRESCH.
    You might be right. Target is basically keeping some stores with high pilferage open, due to their repeal of their LGBTQ whatever sections. According to a couple of people that I have spoken with in higher end management, the rope is about at the end.
    On another note, Cub just reopened their rebuilt Burnsville store at County 42 and County 5. They are definitely attempting to make their new stores appear more upscale. I’ve been in there a couple of times already and it will definitely break the stereotypes on their stores.

  12. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    I worked for Target corporate for over a decade. They started sniffing their own farts about 20 years ago and it’s been a slow slide ever since. No retailer can survive shrink forever and I see Amazon trucks all over my neighborhood day and night. People respond to incentives and big box retailers aren’t providing sufficient incentives to survive.

  13. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    Given who is in charge of much of the city, I would suspect the NIMBYs will win. And they don’t much care about the destruction of the neighborhood, either. They wouldn’t have been caught dead at the Midway Shopping Center even when it was thriving.

    That’s been such a theme in the neighborhood for as long as I’ve lived here – the rest of the city are puppets dancing for the Merriam Park NIMBYs.

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