Your business week, 11/22 – 11/28
Minnesota’s state exports are moving faster than the country’s.
- Minnesota’s third-quarter exports totaled $5.4 billion. This is the highest in three years and an 11% increase from last year. The United States’ exports only grew 5% during the period.
- Who’s moving and shaking?
- Optics & medical products = $1 billion, ↑13%
- Machinery = $822 million, ↑8%
- Electrical machinery = $701 million, ↑14%
- Vehicles = $366 million, ↓5%
- Plastics = $364 million, ↑23%
- Ores, slag & ash = $135 million, ↑769%
- Aircraft/spacecraft = $129 million, ↑8%
- Food byproducts = $126 million, ↓13%
- Pharmaceuticals = $104 million, ↑29%
- Stone, plaster & cement = $90 million, ↑14%
Online is king: Cyber Monday hits a record $6.59 billion in sales.
- Black Friday brought in a mere $5.03 billion, and Thanksgiving Day shopping saw a $2.87 billion total.
Minneapolis
Jennifer Lopez (J.Lo) is headlining the Super Bowl Eve show at the Armory.
- It was Bruno Mars and Tayor Swift last year in Houston.
- J.Lo is, apparently, still making music, as new tunes were promised by the show’s promoters Nomadic Entertainment Group.
Minneapolis’ gangster kitsch: Al’s Place (named for Al Capone) opens in Northeast.
- Located above Stanley’s, the speakeasy is decked out in 1920’s gear, and the wait staff are as well. They even play roles of gangsters and molls. Because that’s what people need when they re getting drunk.
- Getting inside, as it is a speakeasy, is also a kitschy affair: Enter through a door on the side of Stanley’s marked by a green light, or through a photo booth inside of Stanley’s.
- You will be greeted by a fog machine. Why, you ask? Because in the 1920’s you could still smoke cigarettes in bars, and you can’t have a 1920’s-themed speakeasy without that smoky 1920’s speakeasy effect, apparently.
St. Paul
New (different) plan for old Pioneer Press building: Real Estate Equities has paid $8.7 million to convert the former office building in affordable housing units.
- Going down: The original plan, with Stencil Group, called for market-rate housing. Now they’ll be “affordable,” i.e. available to But a mix of housing, in a downtown St. Paul recently dominated by high-end conversions, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
- St. Paul approved $24 million in affordable housing credits to help pay for the building’s $49 million redevelopment (because turning offices into homes is always harder than it looks).
Metro
Roast beef was not enough: Arby’s is the Buffalo Wild Wings buyer.
- The price tag is $2.9 billion, at $157 a share.
Beyond
We’re still talking about Amazon’s HQ2 (though not quite as much these days).
- The Twin Cities are still a very soft “ummm, maybe…” though the Wall Street Journal put us in the “long shot” category.
- CNBC picks Charlotte/Raleigh-Durham/Greensboro-High Point. Other favorites include Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, and the New York Times likes Denver.
- So, pretty much, it’s still a “Who knows?” situation.
Just in Time (Inc): Des Moines-based Meredith Corporation just bought Time, which, like many old-school publications (Time has been around since 1930), has been struggling to keep up in the digital age, for $2.8 billion.
- Meredith is the company behind such quaint magazines as Midwest Living and Better Homes and Gardens. This acquisition breaks them into an entirely new market, as Time, Inc’s publications also include Sports Illustrated, People, and Fortune.
- The deal has some in the media industry a little apprehensive, as the (in)famous billionaire Koch Brothers contributed $650 million to the buy out, leading to speculation that the massive media platform will be used to further their political agenda.
