With more than 2,300 new apartments in downtown Minneapolis that have recently opened or soon will, residents now have a new furniture and home-furnishings store in their backyard.
On Thursday, West Elm, a sibling of the Williams-Sonoma brand, opens its 112th store in North America at 128 N. 2nd St. in Minneapolis' North Loop neighborhood. The retailer is on the ground floor of Second + Second, a new apartment complex under construction with 158 units above the West Elm store.
"North Loop has a great balance of established urbanites as well as a huge percentage of millennials and university students across the river," said Hannah Wickberg, West Elm spokeswoman. "We prefer to be on the corner in the middle of a thriving neighborhood rather than in a mall."
The 11,000-square-foot store is slightly smaller than the Shops at Centennial Lakes location in Edina, which opened in 2008.
To fit the neighborhood, the Minneapolis store will offer a slightly different mix from the Edina store, Wickberg said. Smaller-scale sofas and lots of storage options will be highlighted. All of the West Elm stores feature accessible price points, similar to CB2 in Uptown, that are below Crate & Barrel's and above Target's.
One resident was happy to see West Elm join the neighborhood but expressed parking concerns.
"It's good to see a new store, but I worry about where customers will park unless they already live in the neighborhood," said 20-year North Loop resident Leann Britton.
West Elm will have pickup spaces outside its front door, along with on-street parking and a large nearby ramp at 25 N. 1st St. The owners of Martin Patrick 3 men's and home furnishings in the North Loop added valet parking last year to allay complaints from customers about parking difficulties.
