Abandoned WalMarts over Apache Plaza

Check out that sweet label scar! 

WalMart closed their St. Anthony store on April 8, 2014.

Hours later, the new WalMart Superstore in Roseville, less than three miles to the southeast, held their grand opening.

WalMart decided they could get a much better deal from the City of Roseville. Less than a decade after opening the St. Anthony location, WalMart left a big empty building for the city to deal with. Breaking a 20 year lease in the process. For what it's worth, this is one of the nicer looking abandoned WalMarts I've seen in person.

Originally signed on to anchor the south end of the new Silver Lake Village shopping complex. Which was to be built on the land previously occupied by the Apache Plaza shopping mall (1961-2004). This store opened in 2005, and did good numbers during it's life. Providing easily accessed wares to all the nearby residential neighborhoods, both old and new. 

But it's location was also it's undoing...

Silver Lake Village is anchored on the north end, by Cub Foods, which opened in 1995. The north end of Apache Plaza, including the former JC Penney store and the Apache Athletic Club building, was demolished in 1994, to accommodate Cub's arrival.  

With their 10 year head start on conducting business, they were allowed to dictate some terms to WalMart before they were allowed to join the site. Most importantly, WalMart's grocery section would be limited to no more than 10,000 square feet, so they wouldn't take away Cub's business. This was okay for WalMart for awhile, until they got greedy. 

But we'll get to that later...

Apache Plaza finally closed in February, 2004, and demolished two months later. In it's place, Silver Lake Village was developed. A series of retail cluster stores, set up as a startup downtown, with new apartments behind them. Cub Foods on the north end, WalMart on the south. It's practical, and makes better use of the land, but it's devoid of any character at all. And a lot of great 1960's architecture was destroyed in order to make this.

At least it's better than Riverdale...

More of the main part of Silver Lake Village can be seen behind this Holiday station, which was also built in the mid 1990's.

Back then, it was a Conoco station, marketed as Freedom.

As it was on On December 29, 1999, when this picture was taken.

I really wish I'd taken a better picture of that great Apache Plaza sign...

On that day, my friend Crazy Carl and I drove to three Twin Cities area endangered shopping centers; Apache Plaza, Eden Prairie Center and the Family Center Mall, in Coon Rapids. The purpose of that mission was to take pictures for a story I wanted to write about some of the dying malls in the metro area.

Eden Prairie Center was a disappointment, as it was surprisingly un-vacant. 

Besides taking a picture of Crazy Carl sitting on the escalator, there was nothing Mallrats about Eden Prairie Center anymore...

Mallrats! A movie I saw on opening night, at the Apache Plaza movie theater!

Family Center Mall was pretty much what I expected. Even if it was too late in the day to take a decent photo of the sign. I've been watching Family Center Mall die a slow painful death for most of my life, from pretty decent seats. 

But the real star of the day was Apache Plaza.

Which I fully expected. 

The story of these three dying shopping malls was a feature in Wasted Quarter #48: Burn Your Candle Apple Pants. Which ranks high on the list of my favorite issues of Wasted Quarter I ever wrote. That story was a definite precursor to what I'm doing here today. 

But back then, I was taking pictures on an old and blurry 35mm camera. As digital camera technology wasn't near what it would be even five years later. Unfortunately, this cut down on the number of photos I could realistically take. And I'd have no idea how well they'd turn out until later on, after I'd left, when they were developed.

At some point, I'm going to re-write that old Wasted Quarter Apache Plaza story for this site. The pictures I have deserve better than poorly printed, drastically resized black and white copies. 

Just not today...

The new Cub Foods was supposed to revitalize Apache Plaza, but barely registered on the radar. By 1995, there were less than 20 stores still operating inside the mall, which was still pretty busy through the 1980's. By the end of 1999, when this picture was taken, I doubt there were 10 stores left. It was down to four when the doors finally closed in February 2004. Herbergers Department Store, Anderson Furniture, a laundromat and Coach's Corner sports cards. 

The fact they stayed around until the end, was the main reason Apache Plaza remained important to me. 

Long after everyone else forgot about the place.

The south end of Apache Plaza was once anchored by a Montgomery Wards. They moved to Roseville in the early 1980's, with this part of the mall then sectioned off into smaller stores. After the former Wards store was demolished, a good portion of the new WalMart was built where it once stood. Until WalMart moved to Roseville as well.

In the south corner of the former WalMart parking lot, as of 2015, sat a recently closed Wendy's. Years ago, there was a different building here, that was home to Zantigo's, and later, Taco Bell. It was demolished not long before Apache Plaza met the wrecking ball. Which I don't think are even used anymore...

Shortly after I wrote a story about that abandoned Wendy's, Starbucks converted the building into a coffee maker. Each time I've seen it as a Starbucks, it's been really busy. So I guess that's good?

Just south of Wendy's Starbucks, are railroad tracks that serve as a hard barrier to further southern expansion of retail at the site. Not that there's a great deal of demand for retail expansion here...

Railroad tracks, looking East.

Railroad tracks, looking West.

I'm not a big fan of WalMart for multiple reasons. The cheap merchandise shipped in from China to the discriminatory and predatory business practices, all the way down to the shittyness of the Walton heirs as human beings. There's many reasons to dislike WalMart, and what it's done to the retail landscape.

Which is not to mention the overwhelming ick of just shopping there.

After all, there aren't too many chains that have web sites dedicated to how creepy and gross the customers are...

But in all seriousness, who doesn't want to moon cheese and cold cuts?

September 18, 2015; On the same day that I took the photos of Wendy's, I took my first shots of this abandoned WalMart. I like the open covered area next to the garden department. That's not something you see too often in a Walmart.

This extends all the way up to the main entrance doors. Never having seen this place open, I can only assume what would have been down with this space?

Cart storage? Outdoor appliances? Lawn tractors? Petting zoo? Shrine to Sam Walton?

Subway even left a nice label scar behind!

Too bad, the doors are all papered up so I cant peek inside the front entrance.

Oooooh! A crack in the defenses!

Look! It's the doors on the other side!

That's pretty boring...

I had to reach up to take this picture of the "We're not here!" sign. It's kinda crappy, but I like it.

Taking a picture of the north entrance, while standing at the mailbox. Wish I would have stepped back a few feet to include that mailbox in the picture...

I was living in Denver, Colorado, when WalMart abruptly said goodbye to Silver Lake Village. I remember my mom calling and telling me, after reading it in the Star Tribune. She said she'd save the article for me. I'm glad she did, as it served as a good starting point to a story I had no idea I was going to write, at the time.

The Star Tribune's story doesn't cover much of the "What happens to Silver Lake Village?" angle of the story. Instead, focusing on the where and the why of what WalMart did. And that's the problem with a giant faceless corporate entity being allowed to break a 20 year lease with little to no consequence. In the end, they were gone. The city of St. Anthony was stuck with a giant empty building, wasting space for over six years, while WalMart got to enjoy their expanded grocery section.

Much love and respect to those stranded in New Brighton while I'm writing this...

That water tower is a long recognized landmark, on Silver Lake Road, just south of highway 694. Silver Lake Road being the easiest access to the Village of St. Anthony from the north, and all of the noted landmarks I'm writing about today. 

Culvers sits just north of Silver Lake Village, but was a new arrival, alongside the new shopping complex.

Back when Apache Plaza was still a thing, this land was occupied by Hardees. And just like the stores inside Apache Plaza, it closed and left a business space that sat vacant for several years, before it was demolished in favor of something viable. This Hardees closed in the mid 1990's, and had been closed for a few years by December 29, 1999, when I took this picture.

US Bank still operates from this round building, that dates back to the early 1960's. Multiple renovations have been done over the years, so it doesn't look anything like it did in the early 1980's, other than still being round. A lot of that can be blamed on the 1984 tornado that struck the mall. The round bank had been floor to ceiling windows, all the way around. Blinds in some sections of it were usually closed. Occasionally most of them would be open and you could see right through the building.

The tornado didn't destroy the bank, but it blew out all of the windows. When the bank was rebuilt, opaque walls covered most of the structure, with the windows regulated to just above normal human height. At least they didn't tear it down and put up a cement rectangle in it's place.

My last visit to Silver Lake Village had been in September of 2015, before I moved back to Minnesota in June of 2018. A few weeks after returning, one of my first planned photo tours was to do an update on the vacant St. Anthony WalMart. On this day, I approached from the west, instead of the north. Leading me to find this empty gas station!

But it was more than just a gas station...

It was a whole vacant set of in-line retail!

No idea when it was built, what stores were here, or when they all closed. Also regret not stopping for more detailed pictures. After all, those windows are uncovered! Also, untagged... Meaning there's also decent security in the area. Contributing factor to why I didn't stop.

Still looks the same on February 27, 2021, as the place did on June 30, 2018.

Only with snow on it.

Hard to believe with the demand for land in this area, that this lot hasn't changed a bit i years.

But let's get back to June 30, 2018, and look at WalMart some more...

Looks pretty much the same. Although, the facade over the doors has been painted a matching brown, to cover up the WalMart label scar. Good idea, since it was so legible, it almost looked open.

Storm clouds were rolling in, which make for my favorite abandoned building backdrop.

While taking various parking lot shots, these people took FOREVER in making their slow meandering walk, over to Starbucks. I finally got tired of waiting and just took the picture. If you're going to take this long, I may as well document that too...

Are they really?

Look! There's an airplane up in the sky!

And a dumpster adjacent to the handicapped parking spaces!

No dead bodies...

That cover-up paint kind of matches the bricks...

Hey, the paper is ripped off the entrance door...

Yup... That looks like an empty WalMart inside...

Not even a single unit of shelving or store fixture left behind.

Except the cart corral?

They also left the stone ashtray out front. I really wish I had this for the house.

Wonder if I could have lifted it into the trunk of my car without getting caught?

The south entrance doors were still covered.

And that sign reads really awkward...

But this large empty building still looked nice and kept up, even in it's emptiness.

You'd hope to see growing weeds poking up through the cracked pavement. But the property has been well maintained for years after WalMart left.

Hey! There's that mailbox that outlived the WalMart!

ENHANCE!

Take note of the mailbox's close proximity to the building. It comes up later...

I saw it intact a few more times during drive-bys, after taking this last picture, but I never took another one of the building.

Goodbye St. Anthony WalMart. 

On my way home from taking pictures from St. Anthony, on February 27, 2021, I had to make a stop to pick up someone's prescriptions at the Walgreens.

For the first time in several months, I found a new stash of Fairfield Re-Packs on sale! This is now news because for the last year, baseball cards have been nearly impossible to find at the retail level. That had been the case mostly with new products at the local Targets and WalMarts, but over the last few months had even spread to Fairfield Re-Packs at the Walgreens.

Because of terrible people like this guy right here:

I can understand the low-life's that raid all of the Targets and WalMarts, to buy up everything as soon as it hits the shelves. To then resell online for double (or triple) the price. Facebook Marketplace is filled with ads from these people. That is where we are in the hobby today. But for these flippers to move onto Fairfield Re-Packs, is a new low. Jacking the price on what is typically 85% Junk Wax commons, with a 1 in 4 chance of pulling an autographed Bowman card, of a prospect that flamed out in AA, way back in 2013, is just plain disgusting.

You people are the scourge of the hobby!

Hmmmm... These must be the new 2021 Fairfield Re-Packs, as the odds have changed significantly over the 2020 versions. 1 in 4 for a hit is now 1 in 8. Perhaps that is why that jackass is asking $10 for $5 worth of previously searched Junk Wax commons.

Too bad for the flippers, but I scored three autographed cards, from my five in person Walgreens Fairfield Re-Packs. None of whom could finance my retirement.

The five unopened wax packs were all 1990 Score.

Which I guess is much better than 1990 Donruss... 

Some Twins, one Expo, a few Hall of Famers and stars, a couple decent rookies and five of those lenticular MVP cards that no one wants.

Fairfield gave me a decent amount of Junk Wax Montreal Expos. I thought the 1993 O Pee Chee Chris Nabholz was one I needed. But I have three already.

Fairfield did me better on Colorado Rockies, including one of the three autographs. At least Kyle Parker played in the Major Leagues. Albeit briefly. Not nearly long enough to sell this card for thousands.

Of the five boxes, this is what I kept. That Hall of Fame card is pretty awesome. Christian Friedrich should have been included with the Rockies (but the card said Cleveland, so I was momentarily confused), the Kenny Lofton is a fairly rare insert from 1996, Doug Harvey is a legendary umpire, and I'm very disappointed if I don't get at least one Jeff Innis card out of a Fairfield Re-Pack. Even from a set that I'm incredibly sick of seeing, like 1993 Topps.

As far as the Fairfield supplied Twins go, I needed that 2006 Topps Carlos Silva! And just like I'm always getting a Jeff Innis card from the fine folks at Fairfield, it's not a true Fairfield Re-Pack if I don't get a 1992 Upper Deck David McCarty Top Prospect card inside the box. 

And here's David McCarty in front of Herbergers, at Apache Plaza, on January 17, 1993!

(Just to bring things full circle...)

Nearly two and a half years before Apache Plaza would go Pog Wild!

I never understood Pogs...

Back in 1995, you could still see a movie a few blocks west of Apache Plaza. I did. I already proved it with my Mallrats ticket stub. The theater closed on September 1, 2003, but it wasn't demolished until the Spring of 2007. This photo was taken in September of 2006, the windows were all tightly boarded up, so there was nothing to see beyond the building itself. 

I also saw UHF here, back in 1989.

It changed my life...

Next door to the theater was a thrift store. I think it may have been a Savers, but I'm not sure. I did remember going inside this thrift store once, maybe 15-20 years ago? Either way, today it's just another aging abandoned building in this area. 

One that will likely find itself removed in favor of more apartment buildings in the near future.

It's kind of clean inside...

But when it was open, here's when it was open!

Okay, I guess it's not very clean inside...

Let's get back to WalMart, since that's the whole point of this whole story. 

Robert Greenwald's excellent 2005 documentary WalMart: The High Cost Of Low Price, featured a segment that talked about WalMart's habit of building a newer and larger store, nearby to an exiting store, then closing the previous store. Usually WalMart does this for a more favorable deal to move across city lines. Often sticking the city with the problems of maintaining a large empty structure, while they're off milking another community dry.

Or, precisely what happened here!

Couple of years after closing the St. Anthony store in favor of bigger and newer in Roseville, WalMart closed a smaller store in Blaine, MN. After opening a much larger store, less than two miles away. Also, still in Blaine. Coincidentally, there was a conflict with Cub Foods at that location as well. The old Blaine WalMart building found a new tenant in At Home. A furniture store that (according to pictures on the Googles) appears to have made good use of that ample retail space.

The St. Anthony store just wasn't lucky enough to find a new tenant.

Even though it closed in 2014, the WalMart sign is still standing today. Despite their efforts to cover and hide it, the WalMart logo is still highly legible. That would be their old logo. The one with the star, instead of the sphincter.

And that sign outlived the building!

Very early in the morning of February 27, 2021, I was out on a late night mind clearing drive around town, that eventually took me to St. Anthony. It was almost 2am, so taking pictures obviously wasn't happening that night. But I made the discovery that the old St. Anthony WalMart had recently been demolished. And that meant I had to come back again, once it was daylight. 

There's that mailbox!

Sitting pretty close to the demolition fence, and the corner of the old WalMart building.

Even though it's covered by snow, you can tell by the uneven ground that WalMart had been removed not all that long ago. Although some weeds were poking through where the entrance had previously been.

Now I need less snow, so I can see more stuff...

Okay, that's better!

I returned for more photographs on March 7, 2021.

Not that there was a whole lot more to see then, but it was more than the blinding whiteness of a week earlier.

My guess would be those large piles in the middle of women's clothing, are the recycled cement and brick that once held everything together. The trend in demolition has been to recycle as much of the structure as possible on site. For either a later haul away or stationary re-use as fill. In whatever project comes next.

Here's a close up of that lonely mailbox. Once kept company by entering and exiting shoppers, just a few feet to it's right. Now left behind, to be tagged by some guy named "FA". 

Guess there's no need for a parking lot this large for a building that's no longer there. 

At least the glaciers are finally retreating on the east end of the parking lot. 

Since the city of St. Anthony was unable to find a tenant willing to commit to the large empty super store, you have to wonder what comes next for this chunk of land? If I was a betting man, I'd place a significant amount of money on those large apartment buildings on the horizon, spreading east into the former WalMart property. With today's drastically changing retail climate, there likely isn't a need for more storefronts than are already housed in St. Anthony Village. However, the demand for housing never seems to decrease. 

You know, I've given all of this coverage to a WalMart that deserted it's community, and I've never given a thought to the new store that took them away. 

So let's go to Roseville!

Along the way, we'll drive by the New Brighton Perkins. Which is shockingly still open. Unlike the Brooklyn Center, Anoka and Coon Rapids Perkins, that I have far more history with. They all closed up shop far too early in my mind. Except Brooklyn Center. That Perkins can rot in hell.

Now I understand why WalMart moved to Roseville... They got a much bigger sign out of it!

Unlike their previously leased St. Anthony store, WalMart would fully own the new 152,000 square foot store in Roseville. In addition to the larger square footage and full grocery department, the new store would have better access to Interstate freeway 35W. Before Walmart invaded, this parcel of land included several large warehouses and industrial buildings, plus an old Amoco service center, located roughly where the extra large WalMart sign now stands. The land has been somewhat banked up from the level it was about 20 years back, when I remember seeing those warehouses and industrial buildings and Amoco and stuff.

Maybe as part of their sweetheart deal to move, WalMart was granted a perch to look down on the citizens of Roseville? 

Well, I walked around the inside of this store until I could no longer handle it, and was sent fleeing to the calmness of my car in the parking lot, on the verge of a panic attack. No WalMart is tolerable at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon. And despite it's shiny semi-newness, you're not fooling anyone WalMart... There were plenty of cheese mooners inside your store.

But since I'm in the area...

At the corner of Cleveland Avenue (that crosses in front of WalMart) and County Road C, sits the Roseville Burger King. Between C and a pair of seldomly used railroad tracks. I've eaten at this Burger King quite a few times over the years (but none in the last 25), during visits to the Roseville/Apache Plaza area. Back then, the building still looked like a Burger King from the 1980's. Today it's a completely different structure, taking on the "pile of geometric shapes" style of architecture that I loath so much.

A few blocks south of Burger King, still on Cleveland Avenue, sits Joe Senser's Bar & Grill. Opened in 1988 by former Minnesota Viking's Tight End, Joe Senser. Which is a lucky coincidence! His bar was featured in many live on location WCCO radio sports shows over the years, so just about everyone has heard of the place. Senser's closed on March 16, 2020, due to concerns over the Coronavirus. In a statement on their Facebook page announcing the closure, they left the possibility of reopening after the virus passes. By October 2020 however, it was announced this location would not reopen, and all fixtures were sold via auction. When I walked around the building, Joe Senser signs and menus were still attached to frames outside the front doors, but the entire place was empty inside. 

I was going to show some more of the photos I took of Senser's, but I think that is a bigger story for later.

Besides, I have to find some Joe Senser football cards first...

So now I'd seen both the demolished WalMart and the new WalMart. Some other buildings, both abandoned and open. I did my token baseball card mention, and even tied it into the subject. And I picked up some cheap t-shirts and prescriptions along the way! It's been a full day, so it's time to head back to Crapids...

Let's take University!

Wow! Holly Center (at University and Mississippi, in Fridley) has been demolished! All gone now, and I just saw it intact a few weeks earlier... And it looks like the foundation is being formed for what will be a giant cluster of apartment buildings! 

Oh goodie! Can't have enough of those!

Here's Holly, on November 3, 2017. Taken from the same left turn lane.

Since I moved back to Minnesota, I'd been meaning to stop for pictures of Holly Center. It was an aging set of in-line retail, that was appearing to have problems in keeping tenants. Back in the 1980's, there was a Snyder Drugs on the northeast end. I remember it for the half-sized Pac Man machine inside the store. To me, Holly Center was also known as the place where I first encountered an Old Country Buffet. Around 1985, I remember this place being insanely busy on weekends, when my family would go.

At some point after Coon Rapids got it's own OCB in the late 80's, and the mid 2010's, I noticed it had been re-branded as "Holy Buffet". I have no idea if that meant it to be a Jesus-themed buffet (consisting only of loaves of bread, fish and wine), or an exclamation of joy, at being a big unhealthy buffet. Perhaps an exclamation mark would have been a clue? But they couldn't even afford to change the entire sign after converting it from an Old Country Buffet. 

HOLY BUFFET!!! 

Those fonts just do not match...

Alas, Holy Buffet wasn't available for questioning, as they had closed off the line well before I moved back to Minnesota. I knew Holy Buffet was abandoned, and would likely make for some excellent pictures due to the windows being uncovered. But I never got around to taking any.

Missed that opportunity...

So that about wraps this scattered random story up. I'll give the final thoughts to my favorite picture from the December 29, 1999, Apache Plaza photo shoot. Taken inside the men's room, outside what once was an entrance to JC Penney:

It's hard to read, but someone etched into the stall: "Apache... I will remember you..."

It was dated 8.17.97.

Aren't you glad you stayed until the end?