Places to hit while in Minneapolis?

[bleedxslow]

Sup guys, hoping you can share some tips with me.

I live in Winnipeg Canada, and my girlfriend and I are planning to head down to Minneapolis for a few days. She wants to go to the water park, zoo, and Ikea. Neither of us are too interested in going to Mall of America, I've been there before and rarely buy anything from those stores.

I'm hoping someone on ST lives in Minneapolis and can tell me what stores to hit. I've heard Nicolet Mall, but I've also heard that's more of the mainstream expensive brands, which we're not interested in either. I've also heard Uptown is good.

We're basically looking for boutique-y shops, street wear type shops, sneaker shops, vintage shops.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

[TheFly]

Hi!

There isnt many decent botique shops here in Minneapolis. I really dont know of any clothing/shoe botiques (there was one but it closed recently). There a Toy/Art store called Robot Love (www.robotlove.biz) that has some clothing (25sf/obey). Theres a skate shop called Cal Surf (www.cal-surf.com) that gets in SB's. The Ox-Op gallery is interesting to stop into (www.ox-op.com). I've only been here like 7-8 months so there's probably some places I'm missing. I really can't find a decent clothing/shoe botique store anywhere.

Nicolet Mall is exactly what you said, mainstream blah blah blah. Theres maybe 1 or 2 stores worth checking out if you're there, but nothing special.

If you want food/bar recommendations let me know, theres a decent amount of that around!

[TheFly]

Well, I thought I would list some random 'things to do' around Minneapolis.

1. Walker Art Center/Sculpture Garden (www.walkerart.org)

A nice museum with a lot to see. Great gift shop. The sculpture garden is pretty big and nice. Its right south of downtown, and worth seeing if you're into that kind of thing. Free to all every Thursday evening (5–9 pm) and the first Saturday of each month.

2. Minnehaha Falls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnehaha_Falls)

Not really a major attraction, but if you got a couple hours to kill and want to see some nature crap its close to uptown and a nice spot to take a walk. You can also take the rail line from downtown to here if you want. (the rail also continues on to mall of america/ikea. Mall of America is crap, but its right across the street from Ikea so you might as well go in, check out the amusement park and leave so you can tell everyone you went to The Mall Of America and got a soft pretzel or something.)

3. Guthrie Theatre (www.guthrietheater.org)

Brand new (opened less than a month ago) Theatre with a few bars and just a crazy place to walk around. Right on the mississippi in downtown, a couple blocks from Ox-Op. Another thing to check out if youre in the area and want to 'sight see'.

4. Bryant-Lake Bowl (www.bryantlakebowl.com)

Uptown favorite. Bar/Bowling Alley/Theatre. Go there, drink some good beers and bowl in the weirdest combination of places ive seen.

5. Al's Breakfast (http://www.consolidateddiversions.com/als.html)

Unique/small/tiny/miniscule/tasty/greasy breakfast place in Dinkytown (the college area). If you like diner breakfast go here, its one of the most interesting places.

-Down the street is Loring Pasta Bar which is expensive and silly but nice looking. The second floor of LPB is bob dylans old apartment and they cut out the floorboards so you can see up into it.

6. I'm thinking.

[bleedxslow]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've defintely taken note of a few! I've been to Minneapolis alot of times for shows, but have never gotten to really take it in and see what there is to see. I've eaten breakfast at the Egg and I which was really good, there was a couple of neat vintage shops right near there as well, on East Lake? I think?

Do you know of any mom and pop type sneaker shops? That's what I'm going for, and my girlfriend just wants to check out some vintage shops, so I guess we'll head uptown and see what they have.

Any hotel recommendations?

[TheFly]

Yeah The Egg and I is on Lyndale Ave in uptown, a couple blocks from Lake Street.

There's a mom and pop shoe store on Lake St that has some decent shit. Its on Portland Ave S and Lake or Park ave S and Lake. Just a few blocks east of Uptown. And as for vintage places theres a few around the Lyndale-Lake intersection.

1. A Vintage shop

2. Another Vintage shop and Bryant-Lake Bowl (across the street)

(if you make a loop where the green path is, theres probably 2-3 more used/vintage stores, as well as a nice record store called cheapo and a bunch of other shit you might find interesting).

3. Walker Art Center

4. oops, doesnt exist.

5. Al's Breakfast and Dinkytown (possibly some little shops up here, i dont go there much though. Its the college-town.)

6. Guthrie art center and Grumpys/Ox-op. (Washington Ave).

7. Roberts Shoes. Mom and pop place with a bunch of shoes. Dont mind the "We have White Air Forces!" in the window. Kind of ghetto but they stock nice stuff sometimes. Chicago and Lake st.

8. Robot Love

9. Heading towards the Minehaha park waterfalls. (54th and Hiawatha)

Not pictured:

Sex World: Big sex shop... Washington and 2nd ave.

[TheFly]

Cant really help you on hotels.

Just try to find a place downtown I guess.

[bleedxslow]

Awesome info! Thanks so much! I think I've got a pretty good game plan of place to check out now. I've driven by Sex World before, had to laugh at the name, maybe I'll stop in this time. Isn't Cal Surf somewhere nearby there?

[TheFly]

Cal Surf is on W Lake Street... just a few blocks west of the map. Right in uptown. It's just a skateshop pretty much, but like I said before they have some SB's once in a while worth picking up.

If you need any more info just ask.

PS. on the map above i forgot to put Lyndale Ave... which is the street that 8 and 1 are on. With the green line running down it. I've been drinking all day and forgetting shit.

[bleedxslow]

Not sure if I understand your question. In Winnipeg or Minneapolis?

[bleedxslow]

Depends what you're looking for, I suppose. I feel the same way you do, I rarely go out shopping in Winnipeg. The majority of my wardrobe has found it's way to me from eBay or online shops.

I'm sure you know of all the good stores already anyhow.

-Sk8 for SB's.

-King's gets lots of Stussy, Vans, Fucking Awesome, Diamond, etc... but by the time you get there the staff has already picked everything over and all that's left is L's and XL's.

-Denali sells Nudies, they have an exclusive on them as far as I know. I don't know if you've ever been, but there's a dude named Jon that works there that made my head spin with the amount of denim knowledge he dropped on me.

-Urban Bakery across from Portage Place sometimes gets some cool stuff, but it's hit and miss.

Aside from that, it's just your typical crappy euro brands like Diesel and G-Star and Seven's.

Do you know of any cool shops I didn't mention? What part of the city are you from?

[bleedxslow]

I live pretty close to Polo Park myself.

Kings got FA hoodies and t-shirts, only at the Pembina location as far as I know.

I check out Holt's here and there, but I've never found anything worthwhile. I try NOT to enter Portage Place mall if I can. It's basically the butthole of Winnipeg. I work for Shaw, so I don't really need to dress in anything more than khaki's and a button up or a polo.

Harry Rosen can get bent. I have been in that store 4 times and each time I have never been greeted nor helped. They only talk to you if you look like money. Especially the asshole with the long grey mane of hair.

Entertainment... hmm. If you've been here for 2 years, you've probably seen all there is to see. I'm 23, so I don't go to bars too often anymore. To be honest, the only things worthwhile seeing in Winnipeg/Manitoba are the provincial parks, camping, beaches, etc... if you're into that. If I stay in the city I'm usually somewhere around Corydon. I feel bad for ya, Singapore, Seattle, Vancouver, to Winnipeg? Gotta hurt!

[bleedxslow]

I go to Fiona at Edward Carriere on Broadway. She does a great job, and she's a cutie too. There's a girl there named Alicia that is really good with the choppy japanese style haircuts, I would recommend her as well.

[bleedxslow]

Yep, just call and say you'd like to make an appointment with _____

Despite being a ritzy hair salon, the prices are pretty decent too.

[desertfox]

Bleedxslow, I thought Flame and I were the only winnipeggers on SF. Nice to see there's someone else in the 'peg that isn't into the crappy euro brands and has some fashion sense.

On a side note, Flame I recommend you see either Po or Charlene (my GF) at Oxford's Salon on Osborne. Both are very good at doing wild hair styles. My GF is the only stylist I know that owns a Hair magazine based on Japanese hairstyles. Prices are reasonable too.

[desertfox]

Harry Rosen can get bent. I have been in that store 4 times and each time I have never been greeted nor helped. They only talk to you if you look like money. Especially the asshole with the long grey mane of hair.

Funny you mentioned him. I work at a CD store down the hall and the dude is actually pretty nice. Never met such a proper looking gentleman that likes to say "Fuckin' A" while giving the peace sign. Ah yes, interesting fellow that Robert Naumko..