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.

Zoom in: Rifakes points to Bullwinkle's as the source of a lot of the trouble at Seven Corners.

• Its closure has helped, Rifakes said, but problems with after-hours break-ins and harassment of patrons persist.

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 a more-limited, counter-served food menu.

Full story

President Trump spent his 2024 campaign promising Americans he'd lower grocery prices.

Yes, but: Virtually all major grocery categories are now more expensive than they were a year ago.

Driving the news: The cost of food-at-home rose 0.6% in August from July — the biggest month-over-month increase since August 2022 — according to new federal data released last week.

Zoom in: Minnesota has seen food prices grow at a similar pace.

• The most recent available data showed Twin Cities grocery prices were up 2.9% from July 2024 to July 2025.

The big picture

🗳️ It's special election day in parts of Brooklyn Park, Champlin and Coon Rapids as voters select a new state representative for the vacant seat last held by the late Rep. Melissa Hortman. (Background via Axios)

• Polls are open from 7am-8pm. Absentee ballots must be dropped off today. (Where to vote)

🏛️ A bipartisan working group of state lawmakers met yesterday to start sorting out which proposals to address gun violence after the deadly Annunciation school shooting have a chance of passing the divided Legislature. (Minnesota Reformer)

• Annunciation students are set to return to campus today, three weeks after the shooting that killed two students and injured more than a dozen people.

Minneapolis' grim string of gun violence continued yesterday with a chaotic shooting near the Lake Street/I-35W transit station that injured five people. (Fox 9)

• Mayor Jacob Frey ordered the area to be fenced off and asked for additional state resources to target violent crime amid a series of shootings in the Lake Street corridor.

🏈 Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy has an ankle sprain and running back Aaron Jones has a hamstring injury that will likely sideline both starters for next week's game against the Bengals. (ESPN)

🎡 Falcon Heights' new street parking charges aimed at State Fair-goers netted $49,000 in revenue — under half of what city officials had projected. (Star Tribune)

Strolling St. Anthony Main's cobblestone streets is like walking back into Minneapolis' infancy as a city.

Yes, but: As former journalist David Brauer noted on Bluesky, Main Street along the Mississippi River is falling into pretty rough shape.

• "We just have to admit to ourselves that the brick road on Main Street SE has outlived its kitschy charm and time to move on to actual pavement," he wrote.

The other side: The city designates Main Street as a historic street, which means that "when possible, historic brick pavers should be removed, cleaned, and reinstalled where feasible."

📢 Weigh in: Should Main Street become concrete or asphalt or should the city fix the bricks?

• Hit reply and share your take. Tell us your name and where you're writing from.

8,457: The number of goldfish hauled out of Edina's Lake Cornelia so far this year.

The intrigue: The invasive swimmers are the descendants of pets or carnival prizes dumped in the lake long ago and left to multiply.

The latest: Goldfish hauled from the lake were turned into fertilizer — but now city and local watershed district officials are trying something new: shipping them to the Minnesota Zoo as animal feed.

• The brown bears love 'em. Other residents are a little wary, the Star Tribune reported.