In the ghost town of downtown St. Paul, some businesses are thriving. Why?

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With the March closing of the Lunds & Byerlys supermarket on Robert Street and the city’s condemnation of the abandoned Alliance Bank building, Downtown St. Paul is dead.

Except for the Bulldog. And Alary’s. And Candyland. And especially the Jubilee St. Maries convenience store in the skyway, which on any workday finds a line of customers snaking through aisles offering everything from Laffy Taffy to pajama bottoms.

“They’ve got pretty much everything you need,” said John Schadl of St. Paul, who stops in a couple of times each week.

Despite the ghost town of failed businesses or lunchtime-only establishments that hermetically seal themselves after 2 p.m., a handful of shops are always hopping. My basis for this is a wholly unscientific but 100% observational study on my regular afternoon walks between Lowertown and Rice Park.

What’s their secret?

“It’s the only thing here. If you were going to a Wild game and you wanted to have a drink beforehand, where would you go? You go to the only bar that’s open.”

Driving home Chapman’s point is that he was speaking on a Sunday, when, like every day, it’s open until midnight.

He’s wrong that it’s the only one, however; Alary’s on 7th Street has a 1 a.m. closing time on Fridays and Saturdays. And as far as games go, they’ll take you there.

“The owner does things like run a shuttle bus up to the Xcel and CHS and Allianz Field,” said Chris Nelson of St. Paul. “I live closer to other bars, but I take the extra time knowing that I’m going to see familiar faces and relationships I’ve developed with the staff.”

A few blocks away on 6th, the Bulldog is another spot open late that draws patrons from both the neighborhood and further away. Eva and Sam Kamara visit regularly from Vadnais Heights.

If accommodating hours, along with shuttle service and menu, are reasons why these places thrive, location doesn’t hurt. The Bulldog faces Mears Park and is a fly ball from CHS Field.

But that doesn’t explain everything.

“Honestly, geographically we’re not in a great place,” said Mike Rose, co-owner with his wife, Annie, of the Lost Fox.

Make that the Hard-to-Find Fox. On 4th Street hidden by Green Line trains at the end of the line blocking the front entrance, you have to know the restaurant is there to find it. But many do — so much so that in just three years of operation, it’s become the de facto capital of Lowertown, hosting several neighborhood events.

Not all have been cheerful. In September, neighbors gathered to remember 66-year-old Carrie Kwok, who was shot to death outside the Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative where she lived.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of dumb stuff you have to put up with,” he said, “but I think over time we’ve just figured out ways to gently, gracefully approach these situations. And people in the neighborhood help where they can. Thankfully, we haven’t had to replace windows for about two years now.”

The Lost Fox isn’t the only establishment dealing with violence against staff. Other owners I spoke with reported the same, as did Lunds & Byerlys, citing it as a factor in its closure.

Persevering may be another explanation for why those have thrived. So is listening to customers.

“If you listen to what people say, you start to steer in the direction of what people like,” Rose said. “I thought this would be more of a coffee shop, but now we sell more food than we do coffee. You just kind of evolve naturally with the neighborhood.”

Or beyond the hood: Candyland on Wabasha is a bona-fide tourist destination.

Running on reputation as much as popcorn fumes, Candyland traces its roots back to 1932. But Jubilee St. Maries has it beat. The current owner purchased the skyway convenience mart in 1993 as the last in a chain of tobacco shops that started in 1910.

They still sell tobacco — and anything else you can imagine.

“I had an all-day meeting and realized I did not have a thermal mug to hold my coffee,” said Schadl. “They had it. It was a black insulated mug with a Vikings logo on it. It saved my life!”

The hours of operation — 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. — are also key, Schadl said.

“Sometimes you get caught up in meetings that go over lunch and then it’s 2 p.m., and most of the places to eat are closed. But you can always count on them to grab a snack,” he said, adding the main reason for his patronage are the two sisters who work there. “They’re the kind of folks that know you by name and recognize you.”

That was Dreadlocks for Dingoes, and the customer getting their nails done wasn’t a person at all. It was a chihuahua-dachshund mix.