Town Hall Brewery holds out as Seven Corners bar scene folds
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Town Hall Brewery owner Pete Rifakes is holding at Seven Corners. Photo: Nick Halter/Axios
It was last call at Palmer's on Sunday night, and for those counting, that means at least five bars in the West Bank neighborhood of Minneapolis have closed since 2021.
Town Hall Brewery is the lone survivor at Seven Corners, once a bar-hopping district that attracted patrons from near and far. But owner Pete Rifakes told Axios he is not happy about what's happened in the neighborhood and has considered closing or changing his business model.
Why it matters: The West Bank was once one of the most eclectic neighborhoods in the city, with theaters, the popular Midwest Mountaineering store, bars and restaurants. It's rapidly changed, and Rifakes is wondering if it will ever return to its prior vibrancy.
State of play: In addition to Palmer's, The Corner Bar closed in August, Republic closed in 2021, and Bullwinkle's was condemned in 2023. Part Wolf (previously Nomad World Pub) closed in 2022.
The big picture: While Rifakes and other owners have pointed to problems with crime, businesses have closed for myriad reasons.
- The Corner Bar's building was sold and the new owner didn't offer the bar a chance to stay.
- Palmer's had financial troubles tied to an employee, according to Racket.
- Midwest Mountaineering struggled to compete against the rise of big-box outdoor retailers.
Threat level: Rifakes told Axios sales are down 40% compared with 2019 and his property taxes, now $47,000 a year, have increased dramatically since he bought the building and opened in 1997.
What they're saying: Rifakes, who lives in the North Loop, said his complaints to the city about crime have gone unanswered and he sees more of a police presence near his home.
- "I don't want to say that the city doesn't care about the neighborhood, but they seem to throw money and attention to other areas of the city, which they don't do here," he said.
- His South Minneapolis businesses — Town Hall Tap, Town Hall Lanes and Sidecar — continue to be profitable.
Zoom in: Rifakes points to Bullwinkle's as the source of a lot of the trouble at Seven Corners. He and other nearby business owners complained about bad behavior that spilled over into nearby restaurants and said the bar should have been shut down years earlier due to code violations.
- The problems culminated in a 2022 shooting outside Bullwinkle's that left one man dead and three wounded. All of them, according to police, had been in the bar for a private party. That made people scared to come to the neighborhood, Rifakes said.
The closure of Bullwinkle's has helped, Rifakes said, but problems with after-hours break-ins and harassment of patrons persist.
- He still gets decent crowds for lunch, happy hour and dinner, and during U.S. Bank Stadium events, but his heydays of staying open until 1am or 2am are long gone.
- "There's no late-night business. People do not want to be down here."
The bottom line: Town Hall Brewery produces beer for the rest of the Town Hall pubs, and in recent years Rifakes invested $1 million into upgrading his brewhouse. That investment is keeping him going — for now.
- But he is considering closing or changing his business model to become more of a production brewery with a taproom and limited food options from a counter.
- "We have long-term employees that I feel at least some type of obligation to."