New arrivals, departures around St. Paul's 'Little Africa'
After 15 years on University Avenue, Mike Udo shuttered his small storefront and threw open the doors late last month to his newly expanded grocery store in the former home of Hamline Hardware Hank at Snelling and Englewood avenues.
He's still in the process of moving items from one store to the next, but the new Udo's Grocery now offers sit-down dining and a kitchen serving Nigerian home cooking, from jollof rice with stewed chicken to a mixed meat dish prepared with egusi seed and a side of starchy fufu.
"It feels good, very, very good," said Udo, who used $25,000 from a St. Paul municipal STAR grant toward his new digs. "The community has been so supportive."
His isn't the only new or expanded storefront to make a recent go of it in the commercial corridor dubbed "Little Africa." After some notable departures, including the longstanding Fasika Ethiopian restaurant, the At Home big box furniture store and the sizable CVS anchoring the corner of University and Snelling avenues , a handful of new businesses have set up shop in the shadow of the Minnesota United sports team's new giant metal loon statue .
Dilla's Ethiopian Restaurant is working toward opening a St. Paul location at 1625 University Ave. W., next to the long-running Ax-Man Surplus store, according to the Midway Chamber of Commerce. The restaurant has developed a following on Riverside Avenue in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis.
Gene Gelgelu, executive director of African Economic Development Selections, said his nonprofit has selected a series of business counters and micro-shops to settle in the former Great Fans retail building on Snelling between Blair and Van Buren avenues, which is being remodeled. He hopes to identify a larger grocery operator by mid-October. AEDS will move its headquarters into the building's second floor around Nov. 1.
Just south of Snelling and University avenues, the hot yoga studio known as HotWorx plans to open near Bremer Bank on the ground level of the Pivot apartment building at 431 Snelling Ave. N. The St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections recently signed off on a number of conditions, such as requiring an employee with training in first aid and CPR to be on site during operating hours.
About two blocks east of Allianz Field, a Spirit Halloween store opened last week in the strip mall at 1400 University Ave. W., offering costumes and other spooky holiday fare through at least Nov. 3. Employees say if sales are strong, it could continue a couple months more as a Christmas store.
Chad Kulas, executive director of the Midway Chamber of Commerce, calls each of the openings bright spots for the Snelling/University area, which has garnered negative attention for increased loitering, panhandling and daytime drug dealing, especially around the vacant CVS.
"The more positive energy and store openings that we have, the better, because positive activity is a good thing and it reduces the likelihood of loitering when people have businesses that are open," Kulas said.
Shops weather 'crazy' rent increasesNear University Avenue and Pascal Street, a series of longstanding Black-owned businesses have had to weather hefty rent increases after new owners purchased the building in May, raising some question about whether they'll remain in place. Tim Wilson, proprietor of the Urban Lights music store, said that after 31 years on the avenue, he has no plans to leave, though he misses the foot traffic associated with the heyday of the now-demolished Midway Shopping Center . The customers who dropped by Foot Locker and other stores once situated across the street were his customers, too.
"We're sticking around," said Wilson, ringed by regular customers at his store counter on Thursday.
The Blessings hair salon and Earth's Beauty Supply wig and accessory shops next door also are staying put, for now, though proprietor Sawie Nebo said that could change. He's operated shops and salons on the avenue since 1990, and on Selby Avenue before that. "My customers are not used to having locks on all the products, but just to survive, that's the way it's got to be," said Nebo, during a lull Thursday between customers at the wig shop. "People on drugs walk in and walk out with product."
Christina Robert started out as a "shampoo girl" at Blessings Salon in 2009, and later became a full-fledged hair stylist. When the longstanding proprietor of the Ultimate Look barber shop decided to exit the business this year, she saw her chance to buy the shop this summer and keep it open under a new name — the Powder Room. The male stylists associated with a commercial tenant, the Cold Cutz Lounge, now operate in the back room, and the ladies in the front.
"The building sold without us knowing," said Robert, who was taken aback when her rent doubled. "The person came in and increased the rent a crazy amount, changed the terms of the lease."
Still, she said, she agreed to a three-year lease.
"I do think the area is a good one for growth," said Robert, whose shop sits directly across from the Allianz Field soccer stadium and a planned hotel and office building. "But the city is bringing in new businesses, and it should take care of the businesses that were here prior."
Community town hall Oct. 17City Council President Mitra Jalali, who represents the neighborhood, has advocated for new legal tools, such as non-criminal administrative citations , to hold errant property owners accountable for neglect. Some community advocates say the area needs an even more targeted approach, combining resources from various levels of government.
In late September, the Hamline Midway Coalition launched its "Stabilize Snelling and University" campaign, which seeks to petition City Hall — as well as Metro Transit and Ramsey County — for new resources specific to the intersection.
A list of requests will be presented to elected officials Oct. 17 at a Hamline University town hall, with the wish list likely to include a rapid response strategy from the city's Department of Safety and Inspections to known problem vacant properties, more resources from Metro Transit involving safety and oversight at the Snelling Avenue light rail stop, and more street outreach from Ramsey County and its homeless outreach partners. Jalali has said she plans to attend.
Jenne Nelson, executive director of the Hamline Midway Coalition, said another major goal of the new campaign is to turn the vacant CVS into a community center, or something equivalent, so it can become an asset for the area and not a "magnet for trash and graffiti."
With the influx of new businesses near the intersection, Nelson said there's cause for optimism.
"The more those vacant spaces fill in, the more that people will come to the neighborhood and see all of the many assets that are there," she said. "The way that the neighborhood really is thriving and really vibrant, even in the face of this challenge, I think there's a lot of reason for hope."
