In Rochester’s booming downtown, storefronts sit empty — but not for the usual reasons

ROCHESTER – Sisters Emma and Taylor Tauchnitz faced a conundrum: How best should they style a flowy frock on their mannequin? Plaid overshirt or no plaid overshirt? Maybe tied at the neck? How about at the waist?

It’s an important detail for the Tauchnitzes, who want to get their new displays just right. They’re launching, with their mother, Lori, the first physical location of their online store Sal Terrae on Saturday in downtown Rochester thanks to a new short-term program to fill empty storefront spaces downtown that could result in permanent shops.

“We want property owners to understand that something is better than nothing,” said Shawn Fagan, director of the Rochester Downtown Alliance (RDA). “How do we get life going in these properties?”

Unlike many other downtowns of cities its size, Rochester’s wave of growth has spurred outsized property values and increasing taxes, making it too expensive for some retailers to consider setting up shop.

The alliance’s storefront program is modeled after similar efforts in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Those programs have seen some successes — many of St. Paul businesses who participated in the downtown program remain open.

Fagan and other business owners hope to replicate that in Rochester, where stores and restaurants have struggled in recent years even with the city’s economic development push thanks to Destination Medical Center, an initiative that uses public dollars to help turn Rochester into an international medical hub.

Downtown Rochester has grown over the past decade due to DMC-funded initiatives, with further growth all but guaranteed as Mayo Clinic’s $5 billion expansion project continues.

New ventures have since taken up some of the empty spaces, but there’s still enough space in four buildings to garner the RDA’s interest.

Fagan said the RDA has received at least 15 applicants interested in the pilot program, which charges only 8% of sales and has tenants commit to about three or four months.

Most of the applicants didn’t qualify, according to Fagan — several artists applied seeking studio space, and other entrepreneurs didn’t have a full business plan to try out.

That’s a positive, though, Fagan said, because it’s led the RDA to develop resources that can help would-be business owners and nonprofits flesh out their ideas. And other businesses are coming, such as a vintage clothing shop and possibly a furniture staging/refurbishing business.

The Tauchnitzes have been in business for more than a year after Lori convinced her daughters to start an online clothing store that caters to women size XS to 3X.

“I was flipping through Instagram and this program popped up, and I just immediately was like, ‘We’ve got to do this,’” Lori Tauchnitz said. “This was the perfect step for us to give it a try.”

They’ve since taken over the bottom floor inside a building Fagan owns at 324 Broadway Av. S., setting up the store for community space for events, social gatherings or even a coffee chat.

“We want to be able to have girls come in here and be like, ‘I need to talk,’ or ‘I just need somewhere to chill for a little while,’” Taylor said.

The Tauchnitzes have committed to running the store through mid-February, but they hope business picks up enough to keep their location. Fagan hopes Sal Terrae and other businesses in the storefront programs succeed, or at least find another spot to operate in town.