Day in the Life of an Idiot

 I know most people play a version of, "If I won the lottery..." 

Today, Shawn and I played this in a hyper-local way. Here in Saint Paul, there's a lovely stretch of cutesy-businesses on a street called Grand Avenue. (https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/directory/grand-avenue/) It's set up to be kind of a tourist destination. But, lately, it's been hemorrhaging businesses. Just last night, Shawn read that we're going to be losing a famous walleye fish fry restaurant, Tavern on Grand. Most notably for the fact that Mikhail Gorbachev ate there, during his US tour.  

Shawn and I drove up Grand Avenue this morning to her work and counted all the empty storefronts. 

It's a lot.

To brighten the mood, we started playing the "if I had all the money in the world" game, only with the twist of "what business would I sponsor to go on to Grand Avenue to revitalize it?"

Wanna play?

You don't have to be from around here to suggest an idea. This is all fantasy, anyway. I'm just curious what you'd want in a walkable street lined with shops--small business to chain stores. What would make you come out at night, or just come out. I will say that Grand Avenue already has one very lovley children's bookstore called The Red Baloon, but one of our fantasies was to just make it a bookstore haven? LIke how there are just bookstores neighborhoods in places like Japan and in Engliand. So, tell me your dream bookstore ideas too. 

Here's what we have so far:

Shawn:
She would like to start a restaurant/storefront that specializes in English tea. Like, a fancy-ish place where they specialize in making a High Tea, but also do things like have a little storefront where you can buy British baked goods. In our unlimited budget dream, she would also flight in former contestants from the British Baking Show and have them be guest bakers for a week and also give talks about their experiences and a cooking demo.  (In case you're wondering, you can already have High Tea here in Saint Paul. You have to have reservations, of course, but tea is served at the historic Saint Paul Hotel:  https://www.saintpaulhotel.com/happenings/afternoon-tea/)

My barista at Claddagh, Lee:
He really likes hearty baked bread and wants a kind of Second Harvest type place. I said that would be allowed so long as it was on the far East end, far enough away from Breadsmiths not to draw off their business.I said that I really love the experience--even in Minnesota winters--of the line that forms at Brake Bread's window on Saturday mornings. It feels really cosmopolitan. 

Me:
I'm planning a theater--like a little indy place, hopefully somewhere close to Emmet's (which might be the only bar on Grand) so that people could come to Grand Avenue in the evenings for drinks, dinner, and a show. My place would be very experimental, but would also have a screening room so we could host  international film festivals. I'd really, really love to have something like the old Asian Film Festival people back in business, to have midnight showing of old Jackie Chan films. Or... honestly, I would go to the U of MN and just ask various cultural departments if there's some under-represented group that would like a stage. Maybe we could become the Malaysian film festival HQ or Karen-speaking or Somalia... something like this that might draw in folks.
Grand Avenue already has one really neat, nerdy shop that I recommend to anyone visiting our area: Mischief Toys and Books. So, dream quirky! Dream personal!

Like offcntr, we could pretend you can just afford and staff a pottery outlet here!

Everyone else? What business would you start? Rules of the game: you're just the idea person. You don't have to have the skills to run it. You also have an absolutely unlimited budget. You think what Grand Avenue (or the fictious version of our dreams) needs is a full-scale amusement park like the one at the Mall of America, yes, sure, we;ll build it. Just tell me what you think would make a nifty shop/feature, etc. in a walking-around business district!