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Photo by Monica Wright
Amee Whittaker’s new Tangletown store, Green Goober, sells an array of eco-friendly toys.
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Biz buzz: What’s green for goober is good for the globe
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By Brian Voerding
One morning on her way to work as a Montessori schoolteacher, Amee Whittaker passed a Nicollet Avenue storefront with a “For Rent” sign. A stream-of-consciousness revelation followed:
“Gepetto and Pinocchio popped into my head, and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to have this little wooden toy shop in Minneapolis?’ Then a thought flowed into my head, ‘How would a business like that sustain itself?’ Then I thought, ‘What about sustainable toys?’”
And Green Goober was born.
Whittaker’s toy store at 5411 Nicollet Ave. S., which opened last month, sells a variety of toys made from wood, recycled milk jugs and other plastics, and an array of other sources. All toys are manufactured with sustainable processes and packaged using minimal materials.
Whittaker knows toys.
She’s been a mom for over a decade and has worked as both a nanny and a preschool teacher. But when she decided to open her store, she didn’t want to stop at just understanding the final product.
Whittaker spent two years researching toy manufacturers, searching for good fits for the store. She focused on places that not only made sustainable toys, but practiced what their products preached: Energy efficiency, eco-friendly manufacturing processes, donating percentages of profits to social causes.
“It’s pretty cool that these companies are investing all this time and money into putting out a great product that we can use and pass down from generation to generation,” she said.
The toys are largely aimed for younger children — ages 3 to 6 — though Whittaker plans to expand her inventory early next year to include options for children through teenagers.
Green Goober is Whittaker’s first business, and she works at the store full-time. That means her three children often get off the afternoon school bus near the store and wander in for a while.
Sometimes they help out, but mostly they play. Every time they came in, they found something different to explore, and that’s when Whittaker realized Green Goober’s potential.
And realized that her children were the best salespeople she could get.
Green Goober is open Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–8 p.m, Saturdays 11 a.m.–7 p.m., Sundays 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Call 823-2222 or visit www.greengoober.com for more information.
Swaddling clothes and more for the urban baby
A clothing-and-much-more store for infants, Punkin Pie, recently opened at the intersection of Nicollet Avenue & Diamond Lake Road.
It has “everything you would ever need for a baby or kid,” said Stacy Elkins, who owns and works at the store along with her husband, Khaled Salem.
Elkins said her shop can satisfy needs of a wide range of customers, from those looking for basic clothing and supply brands to those looking for boutique-style and one-of-a-kind items, the “kind of stuff that you’re not going to see everywhere.”
Punkin Pie features clothing lines for infants, toddlers and young children up to age 6, including eco-minded items made from organic cotton and environmentally friendly processes. It also sells handmade wooden toys, stuffed animals and other items. Any item can be giftwrapped and shipped at a customer’s request.
Punkin Pie is located at 5454 Nicollet Ave. S. Its hours are 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Monday–Saturday, and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Sundays. Call 822-0203 for more information.
Moshi moshi, sushi
A new sushi restaurant in the Lyn-Lake area, Tiger Sushi, is expected to open later this month on the ground floor of the Murals of LynLake apartment complex (just north of the Midtown Greenway on Lyndale Avenue).
It will be the second location for the restaurant — the first is thriving in its Mall of America digs, said Chris Katayama, one of Tiger Sushi’s owners.
Katayama said he and the other owners chose the Lyn-Lake area because of its proximity to other sushi places (like Fuji-Ya at Lake Street and Garfield Avenue, and Tango Sushi in Calhoun Square) and because of the neighborhood’s vibrancy and high foot traffic.
He said the new 130-seat Tiger Sushi will have a full liquor license, along with outdoor patio seating.
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Newest development proposal: A courtyard with pool and movie screen in the heart of the Uptown nightlife scene
UPDATED August 31, 2010, 11:04am
By Nick Halter
A new development proposal in Uptown calls for the construction of a three-level restaurant with a rooftop patio, plus a private, ground-level courtyard with a pool and movie screen in the heart of the Uptown nightlife scene. The courtyard would go between Cowboy Slim’s and the new restaurant, which would be built directly across from the Lagoon Cinema on Lagoon Avenue, according to a plan submitted to the city of Minneapolis. The owner of the site is Uptown Gassen LLC, which is owned by Clark Gassen. Gassen is proposing a 3,000 square-foot, single-level retail building that would go along Girard Avenue between Lake Street and Lagoon. Underneath the proposed development would be a 125-car parking ramp. The restaurant’s three
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Harriet concession contract nears approval
UPDATED August 30, 2010, 1:00pm
By Jake Weyer
1 Comment
The board will decide this month whether to approve local restaurateur Kim Bartmann’s concept, Bread & Pickle.
After more than a year of community review and a selection process that narrowed a field of nearly a dozen applicants, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is scheduled to vote this month on a new Lake Harriet concession contract.
Staff recommended local restaurateur Kim Bartmann’s concept, Bread & Pickle, based on the suggestion of a community group that reviewed and interviewed the applicants. That group was made up of former members of a Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) the Park Board assembled last year after public outcry over a proposed concession change that would have required a new building. The CAC examined concession opportunities and drafted recommendations used to review applicants.
“The CAC was really a lengthy, drawn-out, long process,” said Park Board General Manager Don Siggelkow. “But it yielded the information and the understanding that I think brought this conclusion the way it needed to happen.”
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Urban fashion store and art gallery opens on Hennepin
UPDATED August 26, 2010, 10:14am
By Nick Halter
With rare Michael Jordan sneakers dating back to 1985, local art work, a DJ table and pinewood floors, Moh Habib on Aug. 21 unveiled Studiiyo 23, an urban fashion store and art gallery at 2319 Hennepin Ave. Everything about Studiiyo 23, from the name to the design to the merchandise, is a reflection of Habib, a 34-year-old world traveler who spent his high school and college years in Minnesota. “In those travels — I’ve been to 30 countries and 169 cities so far — I picked up the best of what I like from all those spots, and what I did was try to merge everything I love in life into one space,” he said. Habib has spent the last eight years working in Japan and Switzerland, first for Northwest Airlines and later as a
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Bryant Lake Bowl operator plans to buy Casey’s Bar and Grill
UPDATED August 25, 2010, 2:12pm
By Nick Halter
Kim Bartmann, who runs popular Lake Street establishments Bryant Lake Bowl and Barbette, said she has a purchase agreement for Casey’s Bar and Grill, 3510 Nicollet Ave. Bartmann wouldn’t offer specifics on what she will do with the space. She is asking to present to the Kingfield and Lyndale neighborhood groups soon to show them her plans. She said the renovation will last a couple weeks and said work will be done on the kitchen and dining area. Casey’s has a very limited food menu. “We’re a very food-focused company, so I think that will be a major change,” she said. Bartmann said Casey’s current owner has taken good care of the place and kept it clean. “It has a lot of potential,&rdq
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Neighborhood notebook
By Dylan Thomas, Nick Halter and Sarah McKenzie
THE WEDGELHENA hires new newspaper editorLowry Hill East Neighborhood Association hired a new editor for its monthly newspaper, The Wedge. Wedge resident Quentin Skinner took over with the July issues of The Wedge. Best known as the theater critic for City Pages, Skinner also has written two novels set in the Wedge, where he has lived for 15 years, according to an announcement posted Aug. 2 on thewedge.org. ——— WHITTIER Rex Hardware demolishedWrecking crews in early August demolished the former Rex Hardware building at 2601 Lyndale Ave. S. The demolition came 11 weeks after the Minneapolis City Council overturned a Heritage
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Parks update // Lake Harriet health
By jake weyer
Park Board applies for grant to study Lake Harriet healthThe Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has decided it’s time for Lake Harriet to get a checkup. The board frequently receives complaints about the lake’s smells and surface algae and is hoping to perform a diagnostic study — funded by a $55,000 matching grant from the state — to see just how healthy the popular body of water is. “These grants are specifically being put out to prevent lakes from being designated as impaired lakes,” said the board’s Environmental and Field Services Director Debra Lynn Pilger. Pilger presented the details of the “clean water partnership grant” to the board at its Aug. 4 meeting. A
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Green digest // More mini markets
By Dylan Thomas
Farmers market season is at its late-summer peak, and more neighborhoods this year have easy access to fresh tomatoes and sweet corn thanks to an expansion of mini farmers markets sites. The number of mini farmers markets located mainly in low-income neighborhoods has tripled between 2008 and 2010, reported the Whittier-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), which established the market program in collaboration with the city. The Walker Place Farmers Market in the East Harriet neighborhood near a senior housing facility was one of the mini farmers markets to debut this summer. The Stevens Square Farmers Market, Southwest’s only other mini farmers market site, opened in 2008. The mini farmers markets are limited to five or fewer
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Wine may flow, after all
By Dylan Thomas
Uptown wine tasting was in question this springStart working on your swirl, sniff and slurp technique: The annual wine tasting sponsored by Hennepin Lake Liquors may go on this year, after all. This spring it appeared the wine tasting, an important fundraiser for Uptown-area neighborhoods, might not return for its 28th year. In mid-August, though, event organizer Pat Fleetham said he was nearly ready to announce a fall wine tasting. Fleetham said he was “tentatively proposing” a date in October for the tasting but still needed to finalize agreements with event sponsors before he could announce a time and location. The event in recent years had been held in early June. In March, though, Fleetham wrote in an email to
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Biz buzz // New improv theater
By Nick Halter
New Lyn-Lake improv theater will focus on long-formA new improv theater is coming to Lyn-Lake this fall, leasing the space formerly held by Lava Lounge clothing store at 3037 Lyndale Ave. Huge Improve Theater, the nonprofit company that is leasing the space, plans to have a roughly 100-seat theater open in late October and is pursuing a beer and wine license from the city. While Minneapolis already has improv theaters like Comedy Sportz and Brave New Workshop, HUGE Executive Director Butch Roy said the Lyn-Lake theater will be dedicated to a unique form of improv — long-form. No theater in the Twin Cities is devoted to the form. Most know improv in its short form through the “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” TV
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Schools notebook // Southwest steady on AYP
By Dylan Thomas
Six Minneapolis Public Schools in Southwest met goals for student proficiency in reading and math this year, down from eight schools in 2009. The district as a whole saw slightly fewer schools making AYP, or Adequate Yearly Progress, toward student achievement goals. About 14 percent of district schools met benchmarks on state standardized tests, down from nearly 19 percent in 2009. The slide means more district schools will face escalating sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind law, although many in education say the law sets an unachievable goal. Approved by Congress in 2001, No Child Left Behind set a goal of 100 percent proficiency on math and reading assessments by 2014. But the ever-rising benchmarks mean more schools every year are
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Park Board organizing LRT advisory group
By jake weyer
Adding another facet to the ongoing Southwest light rail discussion, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board voted last month to organize a citizens advisory committee (CAC) to mitigate the impact of the route on parkland. Park Board commissioners, City Council members, neighborhood associations, Mayor R.T. Rybak and County Commissioner Gail Dorfman will appoint the 17-member CAC. The group will consider historical, cultural, visual, social, and safety issues associated with the 14-mile Southwest Light Rail Transit line (LRT). The route will start Downtown, travel along the Kenilworth trail between Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles, then stretch through St. Louis Park, Hopkins and Minnetonka, ending in Eden Prairie. Along the way, it will intersect or run
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