Grand Avenue Is Refilling One Storefront at a Time

On Jan. 10, Grand Hand Gallery closed its longtime storefront at 619 Grand Ave., near Dale. Seven weeks later, on Feb. 27, it reopened about a mile west at 1338 Grand, according to the Community Reporter. The space at 619 didn't sit empty for long. CataMEWsement moved into it from downtown St. Paul, and MyVillager counted it among the spring arrivals on the avenue.

One storefront emptied, and one small, specific business moved in. That's how most of the change on Grand Avenue in Summit Hill has happened since last holiday season. The biggest project on the street, at Grand and Victoria, runs on a much longer timeline and won't open until 2027. So if you walk the avenue at the Grand Meander on Dec. 5, the new places you find will mostly be small storefronts spread along the street.

The Small Storefronts Turned Over First

The arrivals of the past year are worth listing together, because each is small on its own and the pattern only shows up side by side.

Almost every name on that list is an independent business in a single storefront. Several are reuses: a vintage shop, a cat-themed shop in a former gallery space, and an existing store adding a refill bar instead of opening a second location. The Pioneer Press included Dorsia Vintage in a spring roundup of Grand Avenue's vintage, book, and gift shopping. Mor reached its first anniversary on Oct. 11, a year after opening at 844 Grand, as the Community Reporter noted in late October.

The Familiar on Grand also comes from people already on the block. Racket reported that the wine bar at 949 Grand is from the crew at nearby Catzen Coffee, and that it promises "high-end wines in an intimate, gothic atmosphere." A coffee shop team opening an evening spot a short walk from its first one fits the year's pattern. The people adding to Grand are mostly people who already know it.

The neighborhood's own leaders talk about this in measured terms. Kim O'Brien, executive director of the Grand Avenue Business Association, told MyVillager that the association has been "excited to see all of the new creative businesses come to the avenue in the last few years and flourish," and that it has been working to fill vacant commercial spaces with businesses that meet community needs. In the same story, Monica Haas, executive director of the Summit Hill Association, said, "I'm optimistic. We have some great things coming, but we still worry about empty storefronts." She pointed to high rents and limited parking as challenges and said "it's a struggle for independent businesses" in the current economic climate.

High rents and limited parking help explain why the storefronts that turn over fastest are small ones. An independent can take one space and open quickly. Anything bigger takes longer, and you can see that at Grand and Victoria.

The Corner Running on a Longer Clock

Grand and Victoria has been the avenue's best-known retail intersection for decades, and it has changed more this year than any other block in Summit Hill.

Evereve was first. The women's clothing store closed its Victoria Crossing West Mall location at the end of business on Feb. 25 after declining a 10-year lease renewal, Bring Me The News reported. The paper identified the building's owner as Ohio's State Teachers Retirement System. Within two months, the company announced it would stay at the corner by moving across the street. Its new store, about 6,000 square feet, is at 870 Grand Ave. in the space Pottery Barn left in early 2024. The Pioneer Press reported in April that this building, Grand Place, has the same owner. In August, MyVillager described the store as renovating the space with a goal of opening before the holiday shopping season.

The northeast corner is the bigger change. Victoria Crossing East Mall and the former Billy's on Grand have been demolished. In their place, the six-story Grand Victoria broke ground on Aug. 6, according to the Pioneer Press. Here's the scope of the $44 million project:

• Nearly 90 market-rate apartments
• 121 indoor parking stalls
• 12,800 square feet of street-level commercial space for two restaurants and one retailer
• Juut Salon returning as that retailer
• An opening in 2027

Paper Source, an East Mall tenant, closed in January as the redevelopment was set to begin, Bring Me The News reported in February. The developer, Ari Parritz of Afton Park Development, told the groundbreaking crowd that the site had "all the attributes of a developer's dreams and a developer's challenges: an iconic corner, a grand street, a historic neighborhood rich with 150 years of development."

Summit Hill has seen this kind of timeline before. A few blocks away, Peter Kenefick replaced his Dixie's on Grand restaurant with Kenton House, which opened in fall 2023 with Saji-Ya and Emmett's Public House on the ground floor and 80 apartments above. Razava Bread Co. joined in late 2024. Kenefick is also an investor in Grand Victoria. That's a full building and its last retail space filling in a year after it opened, which shows how long Grand Victoria may take to settle.

So this December, the corner looks like a construction site across the street from a store in the middle of its move. The places that have already opened are the small storefronts east and west of it.

Two Saturdays on the Calendar

The Grand Avenue Business Association calendar listed two ribbon-cuttings for Saturday, Nov. 7. Evergreen Collective's, for its expansion and new refill bar at 1104 Grand, was set for 10 a.m. Moloney's Irish Imports was listed from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1124 Grand. Moloney's opened a year earlier, on Nov. 8, 2025, as the Pioneer Press reported, so its ribbon-cutting fell one day short of its first anniversary on the avenue.

The bigger date is the Grand Meander on Saturday, Dec. 5:

1. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with holiday treats, entertainment, and visits from Santa.
2. Free trolley rides and special sales and activities at participating businesses run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
3. The association says more holiday activities will be announced.

Most of this year's new places are in Summit Hill's stretch of the avenue, between about Dale and Lexington. Starting near 619 Grand and walking west puts CataMEWsement, Calmera Massage, Mor, Evereve's planned space at 870, The Familiar at 949, Evergreen Collective, and Moloney's all on one walk, with the Grand Victoria site at the Victoria intersection along the way. Grand Hand Gallery's new home at 1338 Grand is farther west in Mac-Groveland, on the trolley's side of a longer day.

For anyone driving to the far west end of the avenue, the city's Grand and Snelling reconstruction reopened Grand to through traffic on Aug. 27. The city's Oct. 16 project update said the intersection was fully reopened, with only minor repair work remaining through October.

How This December Will Look on the Avenue

A year ago, Victoria Crossing East and Billy's were still standing, Grand Hand Gallery was still at Grand and Dale, and Evereve was still in Victoria Crossing West. This year, the gallery is in Mac-Groveland, the East Mall is a construction site, and most of the new names are independents that each took one storefront. The corner's restaurants and Juut Salon's return are set for 2027. For this holiday season, the changes are in the single storefronts along the rest of the street.

For more on the streets around the avenue, our Summit Hill neighborhood guide and St. Paul overview cover the blocks beyond Grand.

If you're on Grand for the Meander and start wondering what the 2027 corner could mean for your own block, we're glad to talk it through over coffee at one of the new places. At West + Main Homes MN, we keep up with Summit Hill one storefront at a time. Let's Connect.