Coastal Seafoods' new 3,000-square-foot market and cafe now open in Minneapolis

The Twin Cities fish market Coastal Seafoods is growing.

Its new Minneapolis location opened this week, right across the street from its much smaller former home. (There's another location in St. Paul.)

The new store, at 2007 E. 24th St., is almost four times larger than the original, and will have a cafe for prepared foods that showcase the underwater creatures also available to purchase raw.

"It's a way to show off these products, for people who maybe aren't familiar with a certain fish," said Keane Amdahl, Coastal Seafoods' marketing director.

With all the new freezer and refrigerator space in the 3,000-square-foot digs, the market is seriously expanding its seafood offerings. And it's venturing into other foods, too, with a charcuterie and cheese case.

Other than the new address, little is expected to change right away. New products will gradually roll out online, until the store opens for in-person shopping Aug. 31. Until then, it's continuing with curbside pickup at the new location. Just look for the metal fish hanging on hooks.

When the store does open to customers, they'll be limited to entering 10 at a time. There is no indoor seating for the cafe yet, and a cooking school space won't be offering classes, for now.

The plans for the expansion have been in the works for two years, Amdahl said. "We've been working on it for quite a while, but obviously it's pretty intricate and the pandemic put an interesting spin on the whole thing."

It couldn't be better timed. With home cooking taking off, and the addition of online ordering and curbside pickup in the last few months, "we've actually been growing quite a bit," Amdahl said.

"This allows us to bring in a much wider variety of things, because we've not had the space before," he added. "There are a lot of really great high-end and cost-effective products that we haven't been able to carry. They're going to be a lot more accessible to a lot more people. This is really changing the game."

Coastal Seafoods is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The cafe will be open as of Aug. 31 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Sharyn Jackson • 612-673-4853

@SharynJackson