Minneapolis to pay to fill empty storefronts

MINNEAPOLIS — Take a walk around downtown Minneapolis and you’ll see them: empty storefronts — one after another. 
Now, the city of Minneapolis is opening up its checkbooks, spending $224,200 — money previously approved in the 2024 budget — to combat the problem.
“This is an opportunity that we’ve been dreaming of,” said Drew Kinkade, Founder and Director of Flavor World.
Flavor World is a Twin Cities-based creative hub that makes clothing, hosts events and provides services for the local art scene. It is one of five local arts organizations selected to be a part of Vibrant Storefronts.
Each organization is getting subsidized rent to take over five vacant downtown storefronts.
“Right now, by far our biggest expense as a business is rent,” said Kinkade.
Flavor World will provide space for a rotating gallery and a pop-up shop for local artists at the old Fast Print location on Harmon Place.
“We want to have quarterly gallery openings, as well as we host events called art shares, kind of like art show and tells,” said Kinkade.
Just down the street, Black Business Enterprise, a nonprofit that gives a helping hand to black and low-income entrepreneurs, has already set up shop in their new location, making a space for local artists to collaborate and showcase their art.
“We really hope to spotlight and shine the light on a lot of the artists that are typically unseen,” said Nancy Korsah, Executive Director for Black Business Enterprise.    
Both organizations hope to give these empty storefronts new life.
“Downtown is not dead,” said Korsah. “We have amazing organizations trying not just to bring people back, but bring community together.”
The Minneapolis Downtown Council on Monday published its 2035 Plan, outlining its goals for revitalizing the area.