St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-01
RETAIL GROWTH,
A Passing Glance at the
Changing Conditions Of
st. Paul.
New Centers Of Activity De-
veloping in the Retail
Trade.
Review Of Some Recent I'M
provements and Their
Meaning.
Sixth, Seventh, Jackson and
Wabasha as Haunts Of
Shoppers.
Surprising Uplifting Of Big
Trade PalaceS--Tne Posi-
bic Future.

! A score OF years ago 1t was an easy
/ task TO cover, i'll short space, the retail
district of ST. Paul. The city itself had
taken OH few cosmopolitan features;
the wide possibilities of natural and
necessary growth were but dimly ana
! lyzed by the most progressive citizen.
! At best such an analysis could only
have been made OH guess work.
| Third street, from Bridge square to
jackson. might then have been called
the fashionable retail street.
Wabasha street. while it had many
retail stores. was dominated by saloons
and liquor itore-.
East seventh street was the Bowery
OF ST. Paul.
/ Jackson street was proud of the eStab
liShments of some old and hoifored resi-
/! dents; but there were located on that
street many places never alluded to in
polite society.
Minnesota and Robert streets were
| devoid OF stores other than a few small
groceries and numerous groggeries.
West Seventh street was noted prin-
cipally for stopping places where trav-
elers might quench their thirst and
water their horses.
J West st. Paul was supplied, so far as
buying on that side of the river went,
by dozen OF so grocery and provision
stores with saloon attachment, all To-
Gated on what was then Dakota avenue,
| mud hole part of the time; and good
imitation of the rocky road 10 Dublin
| the balance-sometimes enough Slush TO
cover the wagon hubs, sometimes
enough dust to choke Digger Indian.
Auspicious improvements.
Going to Dayton's bluff, or st. An
thony hill, or the Rice street district, in
those days the investigator would have
found very little to indicate that bust
ness houses, even of the most humble
kind, would spread so far out from the
central portion of the city.
Today there are several streets in
those sections largely given over to re-
tail business, in some portions almost
wholly so. Far out at Post Siding the
residents can secure very handily almost
anything III the line of household nee
! eSSarieS. There are all kinds of stores
/ some quite pretentious, lining Rice
street, from ROndo TO the very end of
the electric railway line. Dayton ave-
nue. boasts some very fine stores. Resi-
dence buildings on Carroll and ROnGO
streets are interSperSed with supply de-
pots of more or less capacity. Univer
Sity avenue dealers can deliver to Gus
toners delicacieS as we'll as staple
goods of general character.
AT nearly every street crossing these
thoroughfarps present several stores
that do a living business. In the more
recently built up sections of st. An
thOny hill, where the prosperous middle
classes are making their homes and Oc-
cupying modern buildings, there
are some especially complete retail
stores, up to the most eXacting demands
of their patrons winter and summer.
| Despite the fact of downtown competi-
ton, all these business houses present
| evidences of prosperity that seems deS-
tined to grow with the passing years.
The Retail Centers.
1t is fact patent to all observers that
several centers of thriving retail trade
have developed in st. Paul in a surpris-
ingly brief time. This Capitalization
has been accomplished i'm large measure
by the erection of new, commodious
buildings and radical remodeling of
old ones. jackson, Sixth and Seventh
streets furnish the best examples of
this commendable growth.
AT present Seventh street, from end
to end, cast and west. undoubtedly
wears the laurel as the great retail
artery of the city. Trailing its snake
like length from the southwest limit to
the eastern boundary of the city, it is
tireSome stretch of sidewalk for pedes-
TRAN to contemplate With the exception
Of the thinly settled part out towards
Fort Smelling. there are very few of its
scores of blocks that do not give room to
store building or two, while most of the
available miles OF front is given over en-
tirely TO business houses of every I'M
aginable character, from wooden leg
store Or a popcorn hut to the mos: ambi.
tious palaces of exclusive trade. In all
the long rows of mans symmetrical
handIwOrk there are few eligible rooms
vacant, while the old-time shanties and
| lOW-ceillnged rOOkerieS arc rapidly dis
appearing from sight.
Third street in one section, fro m
Cedar to Jackson. is for few hours OF
the day still retail trade center, but
after 5 p. IN. life departs from it with
depressing regularity: the merchants,
with few exceptions, allow thier stores
to remain dark, and the early glory of
| WIS lIISL UuSiflcSS OIL Tic frontier settle
ment has apparently faded, at least for
the present. There are those, however,
who cherish the hope that reaction
will set in which will put new life into
Third street and possibly inspire the
erection OF attractive buildings on the
Many Really Good sites
it offers from WabasEa street TO Seven
Corners. These sanguine ones hope,
too that there may come day when a
line of street railway will be run down