Shea works with Pacifier on City Center relocation

Pacifier to relocate downtown Minneapolis store

by Sam Black, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal
Pacifier, a baby clothing and products retail shop, is moving its downtown Minneapolis store.

The retailer is moving into City Center at 40 S. Seventh St. It will be on the skwyay level between Brooks Brothers .Brooks Brothers Latest from The Business Journals New Tommy Bahama store set to open at Crabtree Valley MallBrooks Brothers to open in GeorgetownCasual Male debuts new XL concept Follow this company .and Allen Edmonds shoes the first week of October. It has signed a lease deal there that's longer than three years.

It began a store-wide clearance event at its old location, on the first floor of Gaviidae Common near Bruegger's, according to Wing Witthuhn, who owns the shop along with her husband, Jon. In 2008, newly-named vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin shopped there as part of a $75,000 shopping spree during the Republican National Convention.

Pacifier expects the new space will have better foot traffic on the skyway level than the old location.

"There's a lot more traffic up there and the perfect space opened up and it was just the right size, and the landlord offered us a good deal," Witthun said.

Toronto-based Brookfield Properties Corp. owns Gaviidae and City Center.

Minneapolis-based Shea designed the new space, which is slightly smaller but has a more sophisticated design and feel. It will also stock more clothes that go up to size 4, Witthuhn said.

Pacifier's original store, at 310 E. Hennepin Ave., won't be impacted by the move.

The move is a good one for Pacifier because it gets access to more customers, but its also a good one for the landlord because it enhances the cash-flow and image of City Center's retail space. Brookfield put City Center up for several months ago.

The once-struggling City Center, which is attached to an office tower at 33 South Sixth, has had two big land deals recently, including a new 300-seat performance space called New Century Theatre and a new restaurant called Rosa Mexicano, which opened this week.