With brief, occasional, italicized and sometimes gratuitous commentary…
• The Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal reports that "Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey declared a local emergency and Gov. Tim Walz activated the Minnesota National Guard to help quell looting and violent unrest that spread throughout the Twin Cities on Thursday in the wake of the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police earlier this week.
"Meanwhile, Target Corp. said late Thursday that it would close 24 Twin Cities stores — its entire retail footprint in the metro — until further notice, following looting incidents by mobs at at least two of its locations."
The story also details some of the violence occurring in Minneapolis and its impact on retail:
"Violence, which developed Wednesday evening after initially peaceful protests at the Minneapolis Police Department's Third Precinct, grew worse and spread beyond the city. Crowds that had looted and burned dozens of small businesses along Lake Street — as well as some large ones, like Target's Lake Street store and a nearby Cub Foods — appeared at retail locations in St. Paul. Target's Midway store was struck by looters, leading to an hours-long standoff with police and Minnesota state troopers. Police reported fires at NAPA Auto Parts, T.J. Maxx, The UPS Store and Furniture Barn, the Pioneer Press reported."
• From the Des Moines Register:
"Kum & Go will open an urban convenience store in downtown Des Moines, a new concept for the locally owned gas station chain.
"Its 3,000-square-foot store will be located in the renovated Edna M. Griffin Building, a historic structure that was the scene of a major event in the city's civil rights history. It is slated to open in spring 2020.
"The walk-up store will focus on 'healthy and better-for-you products,' as well as traditional convenience store items, said Tanner Krause, president of Kum & Go. It will also serve as a test store for the chain's new items, and, if the business model is successful, a prototype for additional stores in the 11 states the company serves."
I assume that these folks have gone to visit Green Zebra in Portland, Oregon - which is the gold standard, I think, for how to do this.
