Nicollet Mall

While the buildings being connected by skywalks is convenient and I’m sure great in the winter, this mall caters to the working residents of Minneapolis only. We went downtown on a weekend and it was a ghost town. 98% of the mall is closed. They have week day hours only. So, if you want to see the stores in every building, go during the week. We had to leave the skywalk buildings in order to find some place to eat.

Do NOT go to this «mall». One of the most unpleasant and unfriendly shopping experiences I have ever had — including the fact that there are no restrooms for shoppers

I’ll be short and sweet… not a mall, don’t waste your time unless you need to go to a Macy’s you want to get lost in.

Just. NO.
I expected to find an actual mall but it was just random shops strung together, connected by the sky walk. I went there on a Sunday from 12−6− EVERYTHING was closed except Macy’s. It was freezing outside and I got lost since the signs weren’t clear to find my way around. It’s okay if you’re going there on purpose for something specific but I didn’t see much and I didn’t enjoy the cold walk. Never again :(

My first time in Minneapolis and not quite what I expected! The place was clean but unusually quiet since I’m in the heart of downtown. This place was so depressing on the weekends. I expected to see more ppl and was ready to shop. But It felt like a ghost town instead. There was also construction on the street and really wasn’t any place for shopping. There was Target, Marshals, TJ Max, and other offices. There are places to dine but I didn’t see many ppl eating either. Im not sure why they even call this place a mall. It was a waste of my time and I would not recommend coming here if you are planning to go shopping. Go check out Mall of America if you want to have a good time. Trust me! You will thank me later.

The perfect place to enjoy a moderately expensive meal, an expensive day of shopping, or a romantic evening, all while embraced in the sights, sounds and smells of the ghetto. Stroll the mall while clutching your purse or wallet. Toast the blurry eyed vagrant from any of the few stubbornly remaining outdoor cafes and restaurants. Gaze at the well maintained shrubs, trees, fountains surrounded by encampments of ever present homeless. Enjoy the contrasts as you leisurely enjoy the rewards of your hard work; sensually experiencing those who incessantly enjoy leisure at your expense.

Awful. Saturday at about 6pm and nearly everything is closed. That doesn’t stop the gang bangers and junkies from hovering around here. What should be a nice walk is in fact just a plain shame. This is where community policing and loitering enforcement would come in handy. I’m guessing the nice looking older couple dining on the patio at McCormick probably would have enjoyed their meal a bit more had the heroin addict not approached them at least twice asking for help with his next score.
I shall not return.

If I could give it zero stars I would. This is not a mall people!!! They are all open office towers with nothing in them! You CANNOT call that a mall!!! I’m from Chicago and this was the most disappointing downtown I’ve ever been to. Indiana small towns have better downtowns than this. The only stores in this area are Macy’s, Marshalls and Barnes and Noble. I walked up and down this street for days trying to find a «mall» until I finally asked someone where the shopping was and she said it’s all around.
This area has great places to eat but that is all. Nothing else to do.

Macy’s closing. Talbot’s closing. What is even here.

Nicollet Mall is a pretty special part of Downtown Minneapolis. If you’ve lived, worked or visited downtown then chances are you experienced the unique atmosphere at some capacity. From the Thursday Farmer Markets, Holidazzle Village and various parades and special events the Mall serves as multiple venues. The bar/​restaurant options are good and new places pop up pretty consistently, for out of town visitors it’s a great area to shop, eat and drink before a show or game. There are some definite opportunities around the homeless population and questionable characters late at night, but overall Minneapolis Police do a pretty good job at making it safe. I can’t wait to see future renovations to make it even better!

This is a delightful area walking around or shopping, whatever you want to do. The variety of shops there are great, mostly to my taste. The area is beautiful. The people there do a great job at keeping up the place. I like that it’s not all just one type of shop or shops. It’s a variety of types. I like that most of the shops there are affordable. They have some that are spendy and others that are affordable. I like that there isn’t too much advertising like some other places.
The trumpeter who plays along the sidewalks almost everyday is delightful to listen to. I like that i can listen to him from a block or two away. He plays great music.

This reminds me of the 16^th Street Mall in Denver, but with less flair and fewer eateries and bars. The free mall bus was nice, but entirely too infrequent. Perhaps it was due to it only being April, but the atmosphere and vibe were pretty underwhelming.

I have worked on Nicollet for 18 years now. What a great place to work on. During the summer, they have an awesome Farmers Market going on. You can get fresh honey, roasted almonds and all the 2 day old produce from Rainbow.
I think they made some deal with the city council for diversity and the diverse crowd of Minneapolis bring out the old two day produce from Rainbow that they buy for 10 cents on the dollar and sell for a quarter on the buck. No bad on them, they are taking advantage of Minneapolis being «Diverse» in its business. While it makes me sick that fresh farmers are kept out because they don’t fit a right demographic, it shows you how city politics should make you want to puke.
They do keep the riff-​raff off of Nicollet, because they know it is a money making street, they are working to make Hennepin to be gang banger free. It will probably take a few more years. They need cops at each corner for about 5 blocks of Hennepin. It may cost 250 grand a year, but if you feel safe on that street, it could turn into State Street of Chicago, where you can walk safely at midnight on a Thursday. They have 4 or 5 top notch venues that could turn into the Minneapolis Broadway. How about a $ 15 an hour mall cop on every corner?
I really should be paid 200 grand to clean up this place. It kind of hurts to be this smart. Hennepin could be a billion dollar street!

I have always liked Nicolette mall. It is beautiful and lively. It has many businesses to choose from with a happy atmosphere. It would be nicer with less busses.

I love Nicollet Mall. Such a varied and fun place with all different types of people. Lots of stereotypes of Minnesotans being pasty white people go out the window when walking down this street. Very vibrant and cultured as well as being very business like at the same time. It has something for everyone. If you like to people watch, it is the best place in the city to do this (Hennepin Ave is also a good spot, but Nicollet has a more varied variety of people).
Even the people that annoy me like the people trying to get you to sign up for something, and the preachers who are always yelling, in a weird way I love it, as it adds to the city environment, adds some spice to things.
The reason this won’t get 5 stars is because of buses being allowed on Nicollet. I must admit, I have a personal reason for this. I work on 8^th & Nicollet and was very spoiled for a long time in being able to catch my bus right outside where I worked. I could wait inside on a freezing night by the Barnes N Noble for my bus and it was great.
Then my bus moved to 2^nd Ave, which, I had been spoiled for awhile so I was fine with, plus I was under the impression that ALL THE BUSES were moving to these new bus lanes on 2^nd and also Marquette, (told so by my bus driver and Metro Transit personal on the phone0 and so I was fine with it, since I never liked the buses on Nicollet anyway. But then I learned that some buses stay on Nicollet and not others. That bothered me. Why did my bus move but not others?
I have my own theories, as a lot of the buses that remain on Nicollet bus a lot of people who don’t work downtown and come downtown to just ‘hang out’ and cause trouble and just shady characters in general so the cops want to have them all in one area to keep better tabs on them, and the problem buses. If anything they should have pushed these people AWAY from Nicollet, the heart of the city, and not kept them close by, but whatever.
Bottom line, the street is way too small to accommodate buses. Plus, the street can’t handle the weight, as evidenced by all the road work done on this street all the time. It can also be impossible to walk across the street during the lunch hour.. I also think moving the buses would get rid of lots of shady characters as well, the ghetto people…7^th street anyone, in front of IDS. It would add a lot more character to the street and make it so much more inviting if it was pedestrian only. One last thing, they already move the buses on Farmer Market Day for clean up to Hennepin, with no problems, why not make this permanent? With all this negativity this is a great street to get out and enjoy the city, but it has SO MUCH potential to be a SO MUCH better.

Really people. I would think that Mary Tyler Moore would be worthy of her own Unilocal Page. But I find her here sharing space with a mall. And I think that is very sad.
I grow up watching Mary. And loved her dearly. Now I realized that I have grownup to be a bit like her. No, I don’t have the cool studio apartment with fun neighbors. But, although my job is not as glamorous as hers, much like her I work for a demanding boss who rarely gives any thank you for a job well done. And that was Mary’s relationship with her boss, Lou Grant.
So, of course I had to scour the streets of Minneapolis to find her. And there she was in bronze, in her warm wool coat, knee high leather boots doing the famous hat toss. She can turn the world on with her smile. She just might make it after all.

The state of Minnesota belongs to Charles Schulz and the Peanuts. But Nicollett Mall belongs to Mary Tyler Moore.
Mary Tyler Moore is one of my favorite actresses of all time. Her famous cap toss, which was featured on her show: «The Mary Tyler Moore Show», honored her a bronze statue in front of Macy’s on 7^th Street. I am giving a Five-​Star rating for the state of Minnesota giving her a statue on that street corner.
This outdoor street mall has plenty of restaurants, shops, offices, and corporate businesses such as Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Barnes & Nobles and a super Target store with the connected corporate headquarters together.
I also got a surprise on my second day in Minny! I was here on Thursday and every Thursday is the local farmer’s market on the lengthy strip. Local Farmers and food vendors display their best and the freshest food i.e. produce to admirers like myself. I bought a couple of Aurora apples just to hold me over till lunch. The apple was sweet.
But the lengthy street reminds me of Market Street. Many homeless are panhandling. A lot of riff-​raff activities do occur. For me, I just walk away.

I’m a little self-​conscious that I’m giving Nicollet Mall 5 stars, because no one else has, but whatever! I love Nicollet Mall. It has plenty of wonderful restaurants, shops, and attractions on it. You can grab something fab to eat, go to a concert at Orchestra Hall, or buy something fresh at its own farmers market on Thursdays during the summer!
My favorite time to experience it is during the lunch hour on a nice summer weekday when everyone is sitting outside eating lunch and shopping. There are food trucks around just about every corner, and the streets smell especially wonderful if the farmers market is going on and someone is roasting candied nuts. Yum! It’s a good feeling.

Fab spine of downtown Mpls. Where would we be without it? I concur, ditch the dirty buses and replace them with an electric trolley that runs from Washington Ave to Loring Park. Maybe the trolley could even run across the Hennepin bridge to Saint Anthony Main.
Especially bustling in the spring and summer, the Mall is a crucial, landmark strip.

If you’re in Downtown Minneapolis you’ll probably end up somewhere on Nicollet Mall whether you make it a destination or not, because it is in the center of it all. It’s a 12 block outdoor Mall that has large patio sized sidewalks, and a narrow road for buses and taxis only. If I was to name one flaw it has that would be the allowing of buses, large puffs of diesel smoke comin atcha while your eating outside really blows.
I think most people would prefer a slow moving trolley run by electricity instead. While that would be great, I think anything would be better than buses, and alternative options do exist so I don’t understand why this continues. With the exeption of that this is an incredible outdoor space and is a pedestrian paradise. You can walk or all the way from Loring Park using the greenway that connects it to Nicollet Mall through Downtown and almost to the Riverfront. If you included the multi block greenway that connects Gateway Park (ING Plaza) to the charming pedestrian friendly riverfront connection; 2^nd Street it is even longer yet.
Nicollet Mall is big so of course each block is different. The most dining places I think are between 8^th and 10^th Street, although there are quite a few that are not directly on the mall at both 6^th and 7^th Street. Many shops can be found from 5^th Street which is where the Light Rail station is, up to around 9^th Street. At 10^th Street is Peavey Plaza which is alot like an amphitheater and holds many outdoor events, many of which are free. During the Summer there is also a Farmers Market on the mall in the daytime, mostly between 6^th Street and 9^th Street.
I think the funnest way to experience Nicollet Mall is to take the light rail and walk the 5 blocks to Peavey Plaza. If your wanting to shop or dine this walk will also show you many good options. make sure to look down the intersecting streets as there are some really good places that are not directly on the mall. If your into exploring, and taking a nice scenic walk, I’d recommend walking down the greenways I mentioned earlier in this review. It’s about a 15 minute walk to the center of Downtown, 7^th and Nicollet from the beggining of the greenway at Loring Park and about 25 Minutes from 7^th and Nicollet to the Stone Arch Bridge/​historic riverfront using the greenway that connects to 2^nd Street.