Popular Articles

Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

read more
by Beth Ewen
June 2003

Related Article

Minnesota companies in holding pattern

Read more

Retail

Start early when fighting City Hall, say shop owners along 50th St. in Mpls.

Retailers along 50th Street in southwest Minneapolis have joined to fight a proposed parking ban. The city wants to ban parking on one side of the street from France to Lyndale avenues, a couple-mile stretch that’s home to Patina, Caribou Coffee, and many more small shops.

“We’re concerned about people being able to stop at our businesses and be able to shop, and we’re concerned that this will force parking into the residential streets,” says Rick Haase, co-owner of Patina, a gift and stationery store at 50th and Bryant. Patina has three other Twin Cities locations.

The group, an informal alliance rather than an organized body, printed signs that say “no parking, no neighborhood.” They’ve distributed postcards door-to-door asking for residents to attend public hearings. Although still hopeful they’d be heard, Haase says he fears the parking ban is a done deal. The ward’s council member, Barret Lane, was still seeking input on the issue in early May.

“What I’ve learned is it would have been more beneficial to us to have a stronger voice earlier on,” Haase says. “It was hard for us to visualize the city’s plan and the impact,” when a partial ban was tested months ago. “It takes a lot of energy to run your own businesses. You don’t pay attention until it’s at the ninth hour.”

Julia Blount, an aide to Lane, said in early May that “at this point” the plan is likely to go into effect in late June or July. “The city and county feel that this is a safe plan,” Blount says.

Julia Blount, 13th Ward: 612.673.2213; Rick Haase, Patina Inc.: 612.823.9700