Shalawn Randall thought she hit the jackpot in 2022 when the Minneapolis Downtown Council chose her online boutique as one of 10 businesses it would move into a skyway storefront.
It was a great deal: Rent was capped at 20% of sales for two years.
But skyway retail is a hard business these days, and this week she is packing up her 500-square-foot B’Youtique store in Baker Center. Foot traffic was slow, and sales never hit the goal of $25,000.
“I never got to that,” she said.
Randall, who kept her day job as a trust compliance specialist, is now looking for affordable space elsewhere.
With the leases now expiring for participants, the Downtown Council has re-evaluated the Chameleon Shoppes program with major changes.
The program launched in 2019 as a way to plug empty downtown storefronts and at the same time help new retail businesses owned by women or people of color.
The council is adding business training, store location assistance from real estate experts and technical support largely missing from the first go-round.