Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Coming Soon to Target: Smiles, Human Interaction, and Other Things You're Not Looking for From Target
Target is going through a real rough patch. Sales are down, public perception is bad, and morale isn’t great for the employees who haven’t been fired. So how is the big box shop going to turn things around? By telling staff to smile, dammit!
Think of it as a social bomb: The corporation’s latest mandate, referred to as the “10-4” program, requires employees on the sales floor to wave, make eye contact, and say “hi” when a shopper comes within a 10-foot radius of them. If someone enters the four-foot zone? Well, now that employee’s gotta do some mandated small talk like asking them about their day. “Heading into the holiday, we’re making adjustments and implementing new ways to increase connection during the most important time of the year,” a rep tells Bloomberg News.
As anyone who has ever worked in retail knows, this is hardly groundbreaking stuff; startling distracted shoppers messing up your T-shirt display by asking if they need help is just part of the job. But for shareholders, the type of folks who probably don’t actually shop at Target themselves, this “human interaction” thing may sound like a real innovation.
Uh Oh! Pimento Jamaican Kitchen Late on Liquor
Each month, the Minnesota Department of Revenue releases a list of restaurants, bars, stores, and other businesses that have liquor, wine, and beer sales tax delinquencies. Sometimes referred to as the “restaurant death watch,” postings can often serve as a public warning of which local spaces might not be long for this world.
So it was a super bummer to see that both Eat Street mainstay Pimento Jamaican Kitchen and Bde Maka Ska’s Pimento on the Lake have made the list. Things can turn around quickly; we’ve seen places spend months on the list before getting (and staying off), but it’s not looking good for Pimento, which also frequently hosts dance night and concerts. Last week, Minneapolis City Council voted to revoke both locations’ licenses to sell liquor, wine, and beer.
A Beginner Tags Along for MN's Deer Opener
Super-cute stuff from Zoë Jackson at the Strib (gift link), a hunting novice, who joined a group of experienced hunters on Saturday for the state's firearm deer hunting season opener. I mean, you might not think it's cute if you're against hunting, morally or otherwise. But we tend to agree with Jackson, who writes: "Truthfully, the idea of hunting for anything has never crossed my mind. Abstractly, I’ve long thought that if I’m OK with eating meat (though I limit the amount), I should be willing to hunt for it."
So, online firearm safety course completed and blaze orange vest from Amazon acquired, she takes shooting lessons from fellow Stribber Dave Orrick; meets up with John Weyrauch, a friend of another Strib staffer, to get hunting permits from Fleet Farm; and heads off into the woods near Stillwater in the early morning darkness to climb up into a deer stand and try to bag a buck. Will they have any success? You'll just have to read Jackson's account to find out.
Nur-D Needs You
For fledgling musicians—or any musicians without money to burn, for that matter—Fair Play Entertainment in St. Paul is an invaluable resource. The St. Paul recording studio, founded by local rapper Nur-D and his collaborator DJ Hayes, charges incredibly reasonable rates: $20 an hour for self-recording sessions and $40 an hour with an engineer. But as the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder reports, the studio is facing financial difficulties, and Nur-D says he needs to collect $8,000 by the end of the year to keep the studio open. “While this year has been amazing, that doesn’t always translate to the bank account,” he tells the Spokesman-Recorder. “Either I can pay my rent, or we can keep the doors open.” Anyone looking to help, can join Nur-D’s Patreon for $2 per month, book time at Fair Play, shop for merch, or donate directly via the studio’s social media pages.
