Your business week, 6/28 – 7/4
Liquor stores are now officially open for business on Sundays.
- Read our article here: Sunday Liquor Sales Are Here.
- Some liquor stores have opted not to open on Sundays. And some stores (or just one: Surdy’s) opened back on March 12 (why wait until July?) resulting in a large fine and liquor license suspension.
Minneapolis
Goodbye, Mossimo. Farewell, Merona: Target is discontinuing two of their clothing brands in favor of A New Day (to replace Merona) and Goodfellow & Co. (to replace Mossimo).
- Target is also introducing an “athleisure” brand of casual activewear called JoyLab, and two new furniture and homegoods lines called Project 62 (more modern) and Threshold (more traditional).
- The new lines will be available 8/27/17. Go here for a sneak peak: TargetStyle.
Minneapolis has approved a gradual $15 minimum wage hike.
- Large companies must raise wages to $15/hr by 2022. Small companies by 2024.
St. Paul
Ecolab’s University Center building is in foreclosure.
- New York-based C&K Properties has defaulted on the building’s mortgage, according to lender Wells Fargo.
- Used by Ecolab for corporate training, the tower is one of three buildings on the (soon to be former) Ecolab campus: Ecolab began relocating its operations to the former Traveler’s Building earlier this year.
More Gander Mountain news:
- First of all, it’s not Gander Mountain anymore. It’s Gander Outdoors.
- CEO Mike Lemonis is keeping five Minnesota stores open: Lakeville, Forest Lake, Hermanto, Bemidji, Baxter. There are also plans for a brand new store to be built in Woodbury.
- Six others are closing. Read our article here: The future of Gander Mountain.
Metro
Best Buy makes deal with Amazon and Google for store space.
- 10’x4′ spaces added to the expanded 700 stores to showcase Google Home (Google’s digital home assistant) and Amazon Echo (Amazon’s digital home assistant).
- This deal will help Best Buy better compete with online retailers (like, well, Amazon), as well as continue their quest to become the #1 dealer of home tech devices.
Burgers in the sky: Perennial “best burger” contender B-52’s has a rooftop. That rooftop has a patio. That patio is now open for business.
- The upstairs will be called B-52 Up Top, with all the same burgers and brews available.
Beyond
“Pharma Bro” Martin Shkrelli is on trial for on trial for securities fraud charges.
- Basically a Ponzi scheme. Shkrelli (allegedly) defrauded investors from hedge fund MSMB, and then repaid them with assets from his pharmaceutical company Retrophin.
- Retrophin is the pharmaceutical company for which Shkrelli raised the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000%.
- Such a charmer: Prosecutors recently requested a gag order for Shkrelli, claiming he is potentially swaying the press, the public, and the jurors with his words about the case.
