This year’s business and work stories focused on the fight for better wages and the growing success of immigrant led businesses.
Here’s my top five business and work stories of 2023:
1. Rideshare drivers say alternate companies could step in if Uber, Lyft leave due to proposed Minneapolis ordinances.
I started working at Sahan Journal in January. My first story was about rideshare drivers meeting with Uber representatives. Through the year, we’ve continued our coverage of that issue, reporting on a rideshare bill making its way through the Legislature before it was vetoed by Governor Tim Walz.
Months later, I covered the news of the first rideshare ordinance out of the Minneapolis City Council, which also ended in a veto, this time by Mayor Jacob Frey.
Updates in our coverage drew in readers after Uber and Lyft threatened to reduce or cease operations.
Infighting among driver groups also made headlines. In the end, policy makers decided to push the issue into the new year. We’ll continue reporting on this issue in early 2024.
2. Former Sears building’s new owner breaks silence on its potential future.
When the former Sears building in St. Paul was sold two times in less than a month’s span, we didn’t report on it.
Instead, we decided to wait. The 17-acre property was bought by Asian Media Access for $8.2 million in early June, but nothing was said about its future.
In late August, Asian Media Access gave us an exclusive invite to a meeting where ideas were discussed on how to use the building.
It’s a two-story building with a parking lot with more than 1,000 stalls. The first floor holds 114,000 square feet, the second floor more than 72,000 square feet.
Ange Hwang, Asian Media Access president, said in August that the project had a two-year timeline. We’ll continue reporting on the building’s progress.
3. Afro Deli owner named National Small Business Person of the Year.
A month before the Minnesota State Fair, I called Afro Deli founder and CEO Abdirahman Kahin. It was at least the third time we had spoken, and he joked with me that this was his year.
After Abdirahman was named Minnesota Small Business Person of the Year, he was named National Small Business Person of the Year. Then he was accepted for the first time as a food vendor at the Minnesota State Fair.
Abdirahman’s small-restaurant empire was inspired by his desire to fill a gap in the Twin Cities food scene.
4. ‘Why are they closing Walmart?’: Community members are upset over announced closure of store in Brooklyn Center.
In March, a sign at the front door of the Walmart at 1200 Shingle Creek Crossing announced that the store would close April 21. It gave no further explanation.
A Walmart spokesperson said the Brooklyn Center store hadn’t performed “as well as we hoped.”
An Aldi store had recently closed in north Minneapolis, followed by a nearby Walgreens. Walmart’s decision to leave was another blow to a neighborhood with a large Black population.
The people I talked to at Walmart and Aldi said they felt frustrated at being left without an affordable grocery store.
5. Pineda Tacos’ ‘millennial gray’ restroom drives Internet wild in viral TikTok video.
Not everything I covered in 2023 was sad or frustrating. Sometimes stories were just—different.
The power of TikTok came through for a Mexican restaurant on Lake Street in Minneapolis when a regular customer filmed a video with a self-produced song as a homage to the shop’s bathroom.
Turns out the “millennial gray” restroom was the idea of the owner’s wife, who just wanted a place to decorate and design as she pleased.
I felt a little weird grabbing the key to the women’s restroom and heading there with a camera. Employees nodded in approval, having seen so many others do the same.
