Macy's Announces Holiday Schedule

Cincinnati-based Macy's Inc. has unveiled its "Magic of Christmas" holiday schedule. In addition to its 82nd annual Thanksgiving Day parade in New York, the retailer will light its Great Tree in Atlanta's Lenox Square on Nov. 27, a holiday tradition now in its 61st year. The following day, Macy's will unveil its Christmas windows and 50-ft. Christmas tree at the Summer Street building in Boston. In Chicago, the retailer’s tree in the Walnut Room of the former Marshall Field’s flagship store will feature ornaments from the store's "Great Trees" of the past along with toys from FAO Schwarz. During three Saturdays in December, Santa Claus will rappel down the side of an office tower in downtown Cincinnati, Macy's headquarters city, kicking off a holiday fireworks display in the city's Fountain Square. In Minneapolis, Macy's 46th annual holiday auditorium display features "A Day in the Life of an Elf at Macy's Santaland" in the downtown store's 8th floor auditorium. The retailer also has special events and window unveilings planned for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Ore.

Two of Shea's Creations make Metro's Top 10

a tale of twin cities

The top 10 new restaurants of 2008

Twin Cities metropolitan Magazine 12/08

by Mecca Bos-Williams

There's a pervasive attitude among those in teh know that the Twin Cities dining scene is somethign of a two-headed creature. On teh one side are teh invariable losses: the deaths of trasures liek Farm in the Market and jP American Bistro - places that have served to elevate teh landscape. On the other side, there are the invariable phoenixes: For every loss, we are blessed with two or three births. As a diehard optimist, I say the dining outlook is as half-full as ever, and here's why.

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If an urban all-night party is what you're after, there's no cooler place to be right now than Barrio, the latest venture by Tim McKee and Josh Thoma of La Belle Vie and Solera fame. Billed as a tequila bar, the space feels more like a hip European-style club for the grown and sexy 25+ crowd. The kind you find on vacation with house music pumping out of the floor-to-ceiling windows and well-dressed revelers flirting happily with the assistance of free-flowing top-shelf spirits. Barrio has some decent bar food: made-to-order guacomole and corn-tortila tacos, that sort of thing, but i say the star of this show is the vibe: a much-needed breath of funky-fresh air into downtown's staid Nicollet Mall.

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The fact that Stillwater - best known for paddleboats, overpriced antiques and Americana kitsch - got its own Jamaican jerk shack this year gives us hope that anything's possible in the Minnesota cullinary scene. Smalley's, the other new project by Thoma and McKee, has received a lot of press for its pirate-bar theme, which is just a tongue-in-cheek nod to the "pirate" lifestyle of cooks and chefs. The restaurant features authentic Jamaican-style barbecue cooked over pimento wood - the source of allspce adn the basis of all good jerk.

David Shea discusses how environments influence purchases

Kaplan: Never mind the merchandise, how about that shelving?
By Allison Kaplan akaplan@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 11/14/2008 01:42:39 PM CST - St. Paul Pioneer Press

You already figured retailers were manipulating you with their promotional offers. You wondered about the possibility of deceptive mirrors and unusually flattering lights. There's nothing random about a store routing you through electronics on the way to socks. Now, it seems even the display cases influence buying decisions. Think that belt is trendy? That could have as much to do with the glass shelf it is sitting on as the belt itself.

Queen of retail nuance Joan Meyers-Levy is at it again. As a follow-up to her finding that consumers spend more in stores with higher ceilings, Meyers-Levy, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, conducted a study on display fixtures. She concluded that the materials used for the fixtures could influence a customer's perception of the product. Wood conveys tradition. Glass is subconsciously viewed as more hip.

There are limits, of course. No display case is going to make a sleek metal object look like an antique. And independent-minded shoppers might take the opposite approach, regarding a product in contrast to the display space, so that if the fixtures are especially modern, the product will look less so. Regardless, Meyers-Levy's shopping experiments in controlled environments show display fixtures do much more than hold merchandise. We take them in visually along with the goods being sold. "The influence of the fixture rubs off on the product," she says.

Her report, to be published in the Journal of Marketing Research, confirms what retail designer David Shea has long known intuitively. Merchandise alone does not make a store successful. Every detail of the space itself counts.

"People are viscerally affected by what they see, smell and touch," says Shea, whose Minneapolis-based Shea Inc. has designed spaces for dozens of stores and restaurants, including Macy's, JB Hudson and Hot Mama. Every countertop, every table, every screw is carefully considered. In a recent remodel of high-end active-wear store Trail Mark at the Galleria, Shea wanted "Aspen chic" — warm and comfortable but also stylish. He found the balance by using steel to play up the technical attributes of the apparel but making it weathered for a rustic sensibility.

And you thought it was down filling that made that ski jacket seem appealing.

But let's back up. My first question for Meyers-Levy was: What compels you to study store details like shelves and ceilings?

Shiny shoes and pretty sweaters just don't hold her interest. This marketing expert really doesn't like to shop.

"When I go to a store, I usually have a purpose," Meyers-Levy says. "I find myself going in as a consumer, browsing. But then I start thinking, the malls are packed. People spend a lot of time there. We know we have a problem with debt — why are we buying so much? Is something in the store influencing us?

So, it's the stainless-steel hanging racks causing us to overspend on jeans.

Blame won't pay credit card bills. But it is worth being aware of the many manipulations that bombard shoppers every time we enter the mall.

Next time you shop, try to think about that jacket or pretty platter without the trappings of store surroundings. Will you love it as much at home, where you mix your metals, woods and glass? Be aware of how the atmosphere might color your judgment. Look up, look around, and yes, look down. Even the floors likely have sway with shoppers. To know for sure, we'll have to wait for Meyers-Levy's next report.

Fusion + Fashion 2008
14 November 2008
The ninth annual Fusion and Fashion event, benefiting the Ronald McDonald House, was held Friday, November 14, 2008 at the Landmark Center in St. Paul, MN.

Shea Interior Designers partnered with Kari from Kate-Lo tile and Joanne from MDC Wallcovering to design, create, and model a dress made from tile and wallcovering.








Cori does a quick fix as Amanda gets ready.













Amanda shows off the dress.

Heather, Amanda, Jennifer, Cori

Shea and TCF reflect Cub Foods’ commitment to environment

MINNEAPOLIS (November 12, 2008) – Shea, Inc., a Minneapolis-based design and marketing firm, worked with TCF Bank on the design of an eco-friendly version of its in-store branch in the new Cub Foods store in the Phalen neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. The Cub Foods store and the TCF branch opened to the public on Friday, October 31. Cub Foods has applied for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification and TCF voluntarily followed suit by adhering to many LEED initiatives in the design and construction of the branch.

LEED for New Construction is a performance-oriented rating system where building projects earn points for satisfying criterion designed to address specific environmental impacts inherent in the design, construction, operations and management of a building. Based on the amount of points earned, a building can receive Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum status. Cub Foods has plans for the Phalen location to be the second grocery store in the nation to gain LEED Gold Certification and the first grocery store in Minnesota to gain LEED Certification at any level. Cub Foods’ efforts to gain points included installation of 44 skylights and energy efficient interior and exterior lighting, advanced refrigeration technology, a maintenance-free floor that eliminates the need for cleaning chemicals, designated parking spots for energy efficient vehicles, and employee shower rooms to encourage employees to walk or bike to work.

To show support of Cub Foods’ environmental efforts at the new St. Paul store, TCF worked closely with Shea, Inc. to implement a more “green” design in this particular branch. Regionally sourced, LEED-certified lumber and finishes were used throughout the space and every attempt was made to use low-emitting materials from adhesives and sealants to carpet and wallcovering products. TCF has plans to carry many of these items forward into future branch designs, further demonstrating their ongoing commitment to local businesses and improving the customer experience. TCF Bank now has 58 in-store branches within regional Cub Foods stores, with another opening in Eagan this month.

Shea, Inc., now celebrating its 30th year, is a marketing and design firm integrating expertise in marketing, architecture, and interior design. Shea blends diverse perspectives, skills, cultures and knowledge into solid creative strategy for clients. Shea’s client list includes Macy’s, TCF National Bank, Morton’s The Steakhouse, Wells Fargo and Midcontinent Communications. For more information on Shea, please contact Andy McDermott at 612.594.4245 or visit our Web site http://www.shealink.com/.

Shea restaurant in the news

City Pages reviewed Shea's newly-opened restaurant Barrio. She gives great details on the food. So if you haven't been there yet and unsure of what to order when you get there, here's the scoop:

Barrio treats tequila with wine-style reverence

Terrific new bar adds brighter possibility to everyone's tequila story
By Rachel Hutton
Published on November 10, 2008 at 4:41pm
Just about every drinker I know has a tequila story, and for some reason the stories always seem to end with the person hunched over the toilet, waking up in a stranger's bed, or spending the night in jail. One particularly regrettable tale—the one in which my friend, sensing he was about to be sick, crawled toward his bathroom, but only made it as far as his fan...which was sitting on the floor, blowing—began with margarita pitchers. The last time I had straight tequila was the bachelorette party at which I swore I'd never attend another. After watching the bride-to-be bite a hair off a random guy's chest, somebody ordered a round of shots. I tried to take my tequila for the team, but, instead, spat it out all over the dance floor.


But leave it to local real estate developers Tim Rooney and Ryan Burnet (Burnet worked with his father, Ralph, on the illustrious Chambers and W hotels) to partner with Tim McKee and Josh Thoma—the guys behind La Belle Vie, Solera, and Smalley's Caribbean Barbeque—to class up the much-maligned spirit. At their new tequila bar, Barrio, they're treating the spring-break party drink with a reverence typically reserved for wine.

Nicollet Mall feels worlds away from a genuine barrio—you don't see too many Chipotles in actual lower-class, Spanish-speaking neighborhoods—and the restaurant's clientele is less likely to be local Latinos than downtown revelers and convention-goers. The vibe at Barrio is more like that of a cozy Chino Latino. The dark, narrow storefront is swathed in red and black, lit with flickering tea lights, chandeliers, and a candelabra that looks like it's been dripping wax for decades. The eclectic decorative style could be described as Latin Goth, for its eerie, Day of the Dead-like festivity. The walls are covered with marionettes, retro bullfighting posters, and monochrome visages of Fidel and Che—has the Argentine revolutionary's image finally become the ultimate hipster cliché? It's hard to believe the space used to be a Dunn Bros. coffee shop/bike messenger clubhouse, with the mezzanine serving as storage for a Rush's Bridal shop.

Considering the care that went into calibrating Barrio's intimate atmosphere, it's a shame to see a giant video screen nearly spoil the mood—it was as gauche as a dinner-party host serving her guests on TV trays. How was I supposed to concentrate on a conversation with my friends when my peripheral vision was being infiltrated by images of John Wayne in a coonskin cap? Whatever happened to the quaint notion of offering one's companions your undivided attention, I wondered, just as my cell phone rang and I remembered that I needed to text someone.
Based on the size of the menus—food is listed on a narrow slip, while drinks take up nearly two sides of a broadsheet—Barrio puts its emphasis on what's poured, not plated. You could have a beer, or a glass of wine from the mostly Spanish and Portuguese selection, but that'd be like going to Matt's Bar and ordering the chicken sandwich.

Barrio's Jucy Lucy, as it were, is its 100-plus-bottle tequila list, sourced by general manager Junior Williams. The tequilas are grouped by seniority—blancos are aged less than two months, reposados less than a year, anejos less than three years, and extra anejos more than three years. Aging tends to replace tequila's bright, vegetal flavors with richer, smoky, Cognac-like ones. "It's amazing how much tequila can mimic other liquors," Williams notes. Barrio's shots are sippers, not shooters, which range from $4 to $60 a shot, and if you order from the top shelf, the bartender will literally scramble up a ladder and bring down the bottle.

If you're wary of taking your tequila straight, the menu offers several compadres, or chasers, which range from the traditional tomato-citrus sangrita to the most modern of mixers, Red Bull. A combo dubbed the Riebel Knievel (named after Jack Riebel, a former La Belle Vie chef who now heads the Dakota's kitchen), for example, pairs a shot of Cazadores Reposado with a spicy pink-grapefruit soda compadre. I liked the tequila, which had caramel undertones and a smooth, buttery finish, but in the end I found myself equally compelled by the perky, salty soda.
From there, my group moved on to margaritas and cocktails created by La Belle Vie's mixmaster, Johnny Michaels. Though I liked the idea of mixing in liquors like absinthe and Cointreau, I preferred the classic Cesar Chavez margarita to the more experimental ones. But overall, the drink list possessed more intrigue than we had tolerance. "I'm going to have to sleep at the W," my friend remarked, as she cut herself off. Fortunately, Michaels has created a stellar list of nonalcoholic concoctions, and there's no excuse for ordering a commercial soft drink when you could sip a blood-orange soda or a tamarind-cinnamon cola.

While Williams tells me that several of Barrio's servers and bartenders are tequila buffs, the staffers I interacted with didn't convey the sort of enthusiasm for the spirit that would have really encouraged me to explore. (If you're not satisfied with your server's knowledge, you may want to ask for Williams, who says he has tried every tequila in stock and is happy to create custom flights.) Perhaps a few more visits to Barrio will win me over to high-end tequila, but for now, I'd rather put $12 toward a small plate and a taco than a shot of Casa Noble Crist.


McKee worked with Barrio's executive chef, Bill Fairbanks (a longtime La Belle Vie sous chef) to develop the menu, which is based on street foods from Mexico and Central and South America. Largely composed of sharable small plates, the menu reminded me of a Latin version of Solera's Spanish tapas. And after sampling roughly half the items on Barrio's dinner menu, I didn't find a single item I couldn't recommend.


It's only natural to draw comparisons between Barrio and Masa, the neighboring upscale Mexican eatery owned by the gourmet Italian restaurant group, D'Amico & Partners. While Barrio draws from a broader geography, has a clubbier vibe, and a lower price point, the menus both offer basic taqueria fare alongside more upscale items, such as crab empanadas. Barrio's $4-and-under taco section includes home-style pork carnitas and chewy skirt steak as well as a more elegant spiced shrimp with tomato/mint salsa and a Tecate-battered, fried mahi-mahi. Snacks like these, and the red chile enchilada with a fried egg and chorizo, all have the bold, simple punch of a post-shift chef's meal.

Small plates, all priced at $7.50, are balanced between hearty, humble fare and lighter, spa-style dishes. On one end of the spectrum, Fairbanks serves a pair of rustic barbecue pork sopes—a thick masa cake topped with pulled pork, avocado, and habanero-pickled onions—that seem made for street eating. On the other, he's created a diver scallop ceviche with grapefruit, orange, cilantro, and avocado that looks like it came straight from the La Belle Vie kitchen. (In fact, Fairbanks demoed the dish there this summer when he was testing recipes.) A few of the small plates incorporate Barrio's signature spirit, though it's difficult to detect the tequila's effect in the finished product. A bright mix of papaya, avocado, and watercress freshened up a fatty, tequila-cured salmon, while a vivid lemon-ginger mojo (a Cuban sauce) enhanced the smoky flavor in a sugarcane-skewered, tequila-marinated shrimp.

The large plates may seem simple, but their subtleties make them shine. Baby-back ribs are prepared Oaxaca-style, which means the barbecue sauce has hints of tamarind, chipotle, and ancho chile, and they're served with earthy black beans and creamy fried plantains. A nice piece of seared ahi tuna was served on a bed of quinoa (the petite grain is native to South America), with tomatillo, avocado, radishes, and cucumbers that made the dish pop and crunch with texture. At lunch, the menu maintains a similar hearty/light balance. The Cubano is no slapdash sandwich, as each of its elements has been carefully considered: fatty pork shoulder, ham, Swiss cheese, and mustard are tucked into a crusty Vietnamese banh-mi bun. A succulent piece of mahi mahi, steamed in a banana leaf, is served on a plain salad of romaine lettuce and hearts of palm but accented with both a cilantro-pumpkin seed pistou and a bell pepper-citrus relish.

The dessert list was fine, but compared to the rest of the fare it seemed less accomplished. After losing their last two pastry powerhouses—Adrienne Odom moved back to New York, Michelle Gayer opened Salty Tart—McKee and Thoma have installed Diane Yang as head of their restaurants' sweet side, but Barrio's desserts don't adequately show off her potential. The citrus flan I tried was fine, but not interesting enough to supplant a traditional one. A tres leches cake was dressed up with cute little pearls of Valrhona chocolate, but the cake itself had a grainy texture, even when sopped with milk that tasted like leftovers from a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. But the churros—ahh, the churros—were a textbook execution. The light, airy, deep-fried fritters glittered with sugar and dissolved into a molten sweet-fat puddle on the tongue. The accompanying dunking chocolate, thick as pudding, is made from a traditional Oaxacan variety that's flavored with almonds and cinnamon. The kitchen rounds it out with a hint of chile, less to surprise the tongue than to deepen the flavor.

These sorts of fine-dining subtleties—the care taken to source just the right ingredient, to calibrate the flavors, to garnish the plate—will probably go largely unnoticed by most of Barrio's clientele. But the restaurant's relaxed vibe makes it feel okay just to like something without having to know why. We don't necessarily need to dissect the nuances of a Barrio margarita to know it's good, or, as my friend put it, "a whole lot better than what I barfed into my fan."

Shea-designed Brasa named on of Top 40 Cheap Eats in the US

Brasa Premium Rotisserie named TOP 40 CHEAP EATS IN THE U.S. by GAYOT.com

A former service station is now home to some of the tastiest comfort food in Twin Cities. Leaving his upscale side behind, Alex Roberts, chef-owner of nearby Alma, takes a stab at home cooking, and we're lovin' the results. This is slow cooking utilizing the very best of local farm-raised, regional ingredients; suppliers are celebrated. Minnesota-raised pork is slow-marinated in peppers and tomatoes while the standout crisp-skinned chicken is sold in sandwiches or by the plate. A bring-the-family spot, Brasa also specializes in a dozen or so Southern- and Caribbean-inspired side dishes, including yams with spicy andouille sausage, rice with pigeon peas, fried yuca, pickled cauliflower, crème fraîche-drizzled collard greens and a citrus-burst cabbage salad. Do not miss the corn muffins, pocked with sweet corn kernels, and the simple slices of white cake topped with buttercream frosting, a birthday-every-day treat. The downside: no reservations, which can translate into a long wait for one of just about 50 seats. Luckily, Brasa does to-go very well.

Click here for to go to Gayot.com to read the posting and see other winners.

Shea & Interstate partner to revitalize a property in St. Paul

The article posted below is from today's Star Tribune's Business section regarding Shea's client Interstate Partners and our project that we call 500 Jackson (or 9th & Jackson). Alas, no mention of Shea, but check it out!

Eagan developer goes to downtown St. Paul
Interstate Partners has focused on the suburbs. But now it looks to centralize its business operations with the move.
By SUSAN FEYDER, Star Tribune
Last update: November 9, 2008 - 10:42 PM

St. Paul's downtown office market is about to get a small but unusual addition, when developer Interstate Partners moves its headquarters from Eagan to a renovated property at Jackson and Ninth Streets.
The new offices will be in two adjoining buildings that Interstate acquired about a month ago for about $900,000, according to company President Greg Miller.
The buildings have been reconfigured into a single 12,000-square-foot structure with features that include a rooftop garden. Interstate Partners has been in Eagan for about 10 years and is scheduled to move into its new headquarters in December, Miller said.
Interstate Partners has specialized in developing suburban office parks, including projects in Apple Valley, Shoreview and Eagan. Its current work includes a second office park in Eagan and a commercial development at the former stockyards site in South St. Paul.
"Though we have major projects underway in several area communities, operating from this central location in St. Paul will give us the benefits of an urban business center," Miller said of the downtown facilities.
Interstate's relocation is a welcome change for downtown St. Paul, which has seen the amount of office space decline in recent years, largely because of the conversion of older buildings to housing.
It's also typically one of the softest office markets in the Twin Cities, with a vacancy rate of 24.5 percent as of the third quarter. That compares with 17 percent for the Twin Cities overall, according to figures compiled by the local office of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker.
www.shealink.com

Shea's Design lands JB Hudson the title of "Cool"

November 5, 2008 12:11 PM CST
National mag names JB Hudson among ‘coolest stores’

by Finance and Commerce staff

Instore magazine, a national title for jewelry store owners, recently ranked the new downtown Minneapolis location of JB Hudson Jewelers as a fourth place winner in its “America’s Coolest Stores” competition. JB Hudson relocated in February from its longtime home inside the downtown Macy’s store to 901 Nicollet Mall, in the vintage Young Quinlan Building. JB Hudson opened its original location in 1929. The new store location is 7,500 square feet.

Minneapolis-based Shea, Inc., did the interior design work and some marketing for JB Hudson.

Architect Angus Goble, one of the judges of the competition, commented that the JB Hudson store offers a “stylish and classy interior with great attention to detail, materials and the integration of design elements. The store also has a beautiful exterior. It soars effortlessly.”

3 Kittens Needle Arts welcomes new business in new Shea designed home

MINNEAPOLIS (November 4, 2008) – In September, 3 Kittens Needle Arts relocated from a site in Lilydale, Minnesota, to a brand new spot in The Village at Mendota Heights, at the intersection of Dodd Road and Hwy 110 in Mendota Heights. 3 Kittens worked with Shea, Inc., a Minneapolis based design and marketing firm, on the design of the new 2,100 square foot store, and the exposure at the new location has given them a notable spike in business. Since the relocation, the company, owned by Cis Mezin, Laura Rasmussen and Julie Mast, has seen increased sales in all categories, and classes offered to customers have been rapidly filling to capacity.
Mast pointed out, “Shea helped us create a comfortable space where our product is the focus. Our location in a new shopping center with great neighbors has helped to increase our exposure to new customers and elevate the experience for our loyal customers.”

3 Kittens Needle Arts is a full-service needlework store, catering to knitters, needlepointers and crocheters with over 1000 yarns, hundreds of knitting and crochet patterns, a large selection of hand-painted canvasses and needlepoint threads, buttons and other accessories. The store also offers many knitting and crocheting classes from beginning to advanced levels.
3 Kittens Needle Arts, at The Village at Mendota Heights, 750 Main St. Suite 112, Mendota Heights, MN, 55118, 651-457-4969. www.3kittensneedlearts.com

Shea, Inc., now celebrating its 30th year, is a marketing and design firm integrating expertise in marketing, architecture, and interior design. Shea blends diverse perspectives, skills, cultures and knowledge into solid creative strategy for clients. Shea’s client list includes Macy’s, TCF National Bank, Morton’s The Steakhouse, Wells Fargo and Midcontinent Communications. For more information on Shea, please contact Andy McDermott at 612.594.4245 or visit our Web site www.shealink.com.

Shea's Spooky Critters

Check out a few of the "mini Shea-ites" in their Halloween costumes!

A Chili Peper

A Cowboy

A monkey