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Sober Reality: Market for NA Bottle Shops Dries Up
In 2023, the last time we checked in, the Twin Cities' NA bottle shop movement was thriving. After opening Marigold in Minneapolis's Lyndale neighborhood, owner Erin Flavin was planning an expansion to St. Paul's Milton Square. Another new NA shop, Zero Proof, had two locations, one in northeast Minneapolis and another on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, in the works.
Three long years later, things are not so hot, report Audrey Kennedy and Torey Van Oot for Axios Twin Cities. Of those bottle shops, only the original Marigold in south Minneapolis remains. (Lucille's Bottle Shop in downtown St. Paul, which opened in 2024, has also closed.) And Marigold owner Erin Flavin says that location is also struggling. Back in 2022, there were days when she'd hit $20,000 in sales; her ability to stay open these days is determined "week-by-week."
What's happening? Well, liquor stores caught up, for one; you can wander into any Total Wine and finds lots of NA options these days, and even indie stores like South Lyndale Liquors dedicate a considerable chunk of shelf space to NA wines and spirits. But maybe also, in times of economic uncertainty, one really easy thing to cut out your budget is the $30+ bottle of alcohol-free wine—even if it is really delightful, tasty, well-branded alcohol-free wine.
More Mess from Minneapolis Public Schools’ Finance Department
New documents and emails obtained by Melissa Whitler at Minnesota Reformer show that over the past four years Minneapolis Public Schools has paid $5.3 million in tax penalties. (Er, scratch that, assessed but not paid.) “That’s enough to pay about 40 teachers, given current district labor costs,” Whitler writes. At least $2.3 million of the number comes from late filing fees regarding payroll taxes, which then triggered the IRS to take a closer look and discover $2.9 million in finable calculation errors.
That's not the first major blunder Whitler unearthed by the MPS finance department this week. On Tuesday, she reported that around $3 million had been withheld from an employee health care trust account over the past couple of years, according to an external investigation from Greene Espel law firm.
So, where did that money go? Probably not toward those late fees, at least. District spokeswoman Donnie Belcher assured folks in a statement that “we do not have any information indicating that the money withheld from the trust was spent inappropriately or that it ever left district accounts.” But there's also no proof there wasn't inappropriate spending; Greene Espel notes in its findings that it couldn't determine where the funds went.
Work communications obtained by Becky Z. Dernbach for Sahan Journal show that the district is actually worried, too, and has been for awhile. “Most concerningly, the current whereabouts of the funds remains unclear,” Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams wrote in an email last fall.
Everyone Listen Up! Jackie Cherryhomes Has Something to Say!
There is no more annoying and unnecessary perspective than that of someone who used to do your job and thinks you're doing it wrong. That’s one way to react to Thursday’s Star Tribune opinion piece from six former Minneapolis City Council presidents decrying Elliott Payne’s current lack of leadership in that role.
Among the writers are recent officeholders Barb Johnson and Andrea Jenkins, who certainly have no ax to grind. The piece’s contributors also include Jackie Cherryhomes and Sharon Sayles Belton, the visionaries behind the idea of planting a doomed mall on Block E, who held power in an era no one considers a golden age of Minneapolis governance. Lou DeMars probably stopped serving in the role before the average Racket reader was born; John Cairns almost certainly did.
Of course, elder statespeople often do have something to say on an issue, and when they do we should listen. Well, we're listening, and all we hear is the word “leadership” repeated ad nauseum, with no real concrete critique of Payne’s actions advanced.
They’re just miffed that the council didn’t approve Frey-backed Public Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette. You can find Payne’s actual reasons for rejecting Barnette, which include the MPD going drastically over budget and the commissioner's inability to respond to valid council questions, here.
Aside from rubber-stamping the mayor’s nominees, tell me, Racket's Keith Harris, what exactly is it that Jacob Frey, his surrogates and allies, and miscellaneous critics want City Council to do that it is not doing? What is it that Frey wants to do that council is somehow preventing him from doing? If you don't have answers to these questions, please cease with the vibes-based critiques. Yes, lefties can be kind of annoying sometimes. Get over it.
Anyway, we await the Strib’s publication of an opinion piece from Betsy Hodges about Frey’s leadership skills.
Watch Rep. Omar on The Adam Friedland Show
Man, who woulda thought a podcast called Cum Town would have, er, spawned our current wave of lefty comedy stars? There's Stavros Halkias, who's selling out arenas and appearing in Yorgos Lanthimos films, and there's Adam Friedland, who was recently dubbed the "Millennial Jon Stewart" by GQ. (There's also the third Cum Towner, Nick Mullen, who seems to be doing fine.)
Friedland's throwback talk show continues to blow up on YouTube, having landed massive names like Sarah Jessica Parker, Mark Cuban, and Zohran Mamdani, plus tabloidy curiosities like Clavicular and Olivia Nuzzi. And this week the hilariously scatterbrained host sat down with U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who may well be your Democratic congresswoman.
I, Racket's Jay Boller, have only made it through the first 30 minutes, but the episode begins with Omar making Somali tea with Friedland as he attempts to riff on obscure gossip (tea, get it?) from Somalia. Things then get pretty emotional and real, as Omar describes her childhood in that war-torn country. Their rapport, I can report, is downright adorable. "I can tell this was one of Adam’s favorite interviews because he actually let her talk," reads the top-rated YouTube comment.
