Town Square Complex — Local services in Saint Paul

My family had moved to Saint Paul in 1984 and Town Square was being heavily advertised and was the “new thing” to rejuvenate downtown Saint Paul. (Does something need to be “juvenated” first, before it can be RE-juvenated?)

Now when I do visit Town Square, it feels like a ghost of what it wanted to be with very little traffic and an equally small selection of places to visit. I try to frequent the Caribou on the skyway level just up the escalators next to the DMV once a month to catch up with a friend. It’s the most convenient intersection of where she is going and where I am going.

It does appear that traffic is very slowly increasing and it also looks like there is some effort into opening new places or giving existing places a face lift, which causes me to remain somewhat hopeful that Town Square comes closer to what it aspired to be...

Sad, sad, sad. So much empty space. I was so disappointed to see this end by Wells Fargo Bank. It's like they "don't play well with others." Just moved to St. Paul a few months ago & people in my building have been telling me what used to be in this end of the building. I was excited to move here because of Town Square Complex and the great indoor walkway system that makes winter a lot easier to navigate for me. I hope to see stores reappear. It would be great to have a Chuck & Don's, a Greeting Card/Party store, family owned restaurants, game arcade for kids and families, an Irish Heritage store, I don't know what was here before but we desperately need to revitalize Town Square Complex before starting new...

My only complaint is that when looking for the DMV for the first time, I didn't realize that businesses inside the mall each had their own address, that wasn't posted outside. also no signage to indicate it was inside. Otherwise, all was good. I loved the leather goods store, with many unique and hand crafted items, from scarves and mittens (which I had been looking everywhere for!) to turquoise jewelry, antique Native American Jewelry, coats, boots, slippers, and unique tchotchkes, etc. I had a great time chatting with the employee, and will definitely go...