When he helped start the
Experience Southwest marketing campaign to promote Southwest Minneapolis businesses, Matt Perry hoped it would lead to even more hyper-local branding efforts.
This has started happening at 50th and Bryant, says Perry, who is the president of the
Nicollet East Harriet Business Association (NEHBA), which is behind the Experience Southwest initiative. Besides a website that features local businesses, Experience Southwest encouraged people to shop locally during the holidays, for example.
This Saturday, an event called “Experience 50th and Bryant,” which goes from noon to 5 p.m., will celebrate the business node's movers and shakers. Each participating business is hosting mini-events, with special discounts, prizes, face painting, and more. (For a full list of participating businesses, check out the Facebook
page).
It’s “a great example of a business district branding itself under the larger umbrella of "Experience Southwest,”” which Perry hopes will happen elsewhere.
As an example of the activity at this intersection, he says, in April, the
George and the Dragon Pub opened up.
Patina, which had closed temporarily after a fire, has reopened.
Nearby, a new restaurant is coming to the intersection this fall, called
The Lynn on Bryant, he says.
Zinnia Folk Arts recently took over a separate space.
Kasia Organic Salon and
The Malt Shop helped lead the charge on the event.
Between the old and new businesses, “There’s a nice mix of eateries and retail, which is the perfect recipe for an attractive business node,” in which people can go from one place to another, he says.
Through the event, “This is a chance for people to say, ‘Wow, things are happening again at 50th and Bryant,’” he says. “It’s again becoming a destination spot.”
It demonstrates “how new and long established businesses, working together, can fuel renewed interest in a business node,” he says.
Source: Matt Perry, president, NEHBA Business Association
Writer: Anna Pratt