Across Minnesota, neighborhoods that are usually alive with conversation and connection feel quieter, more cautious. Behind storefront windows and kitchen counters, small business owners are making difficult decisions about how to keep going in the face of fear and uncertainty.
And yet, we have also shown what it looks like to show up for one another. We have seen neighbors rally, volunteers mobilize, and communities refuse to let one another stand alone. This moment asks more of us. It asks us not only to respond, but to build a future where our local economies reflect our shared values and where opportunity is rooted in community.
That work can begin with something simple: choosing to shop locally, making a donation, spreading the word.
Small businesses are the backbone of our neighborhoods. They create gathering spaces, first jobs, cultural anchors, and generational livelihoods. They will help carry us into a future where we all thrive. Right now, they need our support.
Order take out, dine in, tip with cash
Many small businesses in Minneapolis have reopened cautiously because staying closed simply isn’t an option. Others are continuing to serve their communities in creative ways, even while navigating uncertainty.
Oro by Nixta, a neighborhood restaurant known for its vibrant Mexican cuisine, is offering weekly meal kits for online order and pickup. Sammy’s Avenue Eatery, a Black-owned restaurant and longtime community hub, has provided free soup and a welcoming space for neighbors to gather. ZaRah, a woman-owned wellness hub, continues to offer services that support both individual and collective care.
Donate
Modern Times has shifted to a donation-based and pay-it-forward model to ensure anyone who needs a meal can receive one. Restaurants like Tender Lovin Chix and Hola Arepa have launched fundraisers to support their staff and stabilize operations during this time. The Dream Shop, a woman-owned creative space committed to youth employment and community empowerment, is raising funds to sustain its social programming.
Purchase gift cards
Gift cards provide immediate cash flow, helping businesses cover payroll, rent, and daily expenses now. From coffee at Honour Coffee to blooms from Uptown Flower Bar, many local businesses offer online gift card purchases. Birchbark Books, a Native-owned independent bookstore, sells books, games, and gift cards both online and in person.
Shaping new systems
Small, daily actions can shape the kind of world we want to live in. When we choose to shop local, donate, share, and show up, we are strengthening the very businesses that hold our neighborhoods together.
This is how new systems take root — community-oriented, sustainable, and grounded in equity. Not through grand gestures alone, but through steady commitment to one another.
Now is the time to lean in. To support the places that have fed us, gathered us, and cared for us. Minnesota has already shown what collective action can look like. Let’s continue building an economy that reflects who we are and who we want to become.
