One of the quiet advantages of this part of Minneapolis is that it has never felt like a shopping destination — not in the strip-mall, big-box sense. What it has instead is a collection of independently owned shops, most of them run by the same people who started them, shaped by the neighborhoods they’re in.
This is a curated guide to the ones worth knowing.
Walking Distance
Combine
Combine opened in 2018 at 1609 West Lake Street, steps from the eastern shore of Bde Maka Ska, and it has been the area’s standout shop ever since. Michael Pickart ran the celebrated Italian boutique Intoto for nearly thirty years before simplifying into this: Japanese selvedge denim, Italian cashmere from Aequamente and Hannoh Wessel, Clare V. bags, rugs and textiles sourced from France, Ireland, and the US. There is no noise in the store. Every piece earned its place.
50th & France
The 50th & France corridor in Edina has a village quality to it — walkable blocks, a human scale, most of the interesting shops clustered toward the center. A fifteen-minute drive south of Waterbury House.
Grethen House
Grethen House has been at 50th & France since 1953, founded by Greta and Henry Siebens — the name a contraction of theirs. What they carry now would have been unimaginable when it opened: Comme des Garcons, Rick Owens, Maison Margiela, Zero + Maria Cornejo. A family-run boutique with avant-garde designer women’s clothing and the kind of personal service that knows your name. Nothing else like it in the Twin Cities.
Equation
Susan Sun and Jamie Carl opened Equation in 2015, and the shop reflects Sun’s years working in fashion retail: Ulla Johnson, Anine Bing, Jenny Bird jewelry, and a thoughtful selection of home goods that Carl brought to the partnership. The interior has the feel of a well-edited apartment — clean shelving, natural light, nothing extraneous.
SENTi
Tucked into the Nolan Mains passage, SENTi was founded by Jen Knoch around her fragrance line From Grasse with Love — named for the village in the south of France that has been the center of the perfume world for centuries. The shop carries luxury fragrances, candles, and skincare sourced from Grasse, and it rewards slowing down. Senti is the French imperative “to feel.” The name is intentional.
Linden Hills
Southwest of Bde Maka Ska, the Linden Hills neighborhood clusters around 43rd and Upton — a short drive, or a pleasant ride along the lake trail.
France 44 Wines & Spirits
France 44 has been family-owned for more than sixty years. What distinguishes it from a wine shop with a strong selection is everything around the wine: a cut-to-order cheese counter next door, a whole-animal butcher, a scratch deli, curated grocery items, culinary classes. One of the better bottle shops in the state, made more useful by everything it’s become.
Hunt & Gather
Two floors, fifteen dealers, antiques and oddities of genuine range — vintage school posters, retro furniture, bark cloth, records, watch faces, cacti. Hunt & Gather does not take any of it too seriously, which is the right approach. Useful for personalizing a new space with something that has a story.
New Gild Jewelers
Custom work only: engagement rings, wedding bands, heirloom restoration, with GIA Graduate Gemologists using techniques the team has developed over years of practice. Not the kind of shop you visit on a whim; the kind you visit when something matters.
Goodnight Moon
At 4388 France Avenue South, on the Minneapolis side of the Edina border, Goodnight Moon has been thoughtfully edited since 1999 — children’s clothing, carefully chosen toys, and books, curated with the same care as the better shops nearby. Worth knowing if children are in the picture.
North Loop
The North Loop warehouse district, about twenty minutes north, has produced a cluster of design-forward shops worth the drive. Three of them, within a block of one another, are each doing something genuinely distinct.
Madge Home + Market
Eight hundred square feet on 1st Avenue North, curated with the care of a well-staged room: candles, ceramics, art, coffee table books, specialty food, vintage finds. The selection turns over. The taste stays consistent.
The Foundry Home Goods
Anna Hillegass opened The Foundry at 905 North 5th Street in 2012, sourcing handcrafted homewares — handblown glassware, ceramics, handmade brooms — directly from makers she knows personally. The operating philosophy is simple: things built to last, from people who care how they’re made. The shop has a clear sense of what it believes in, and communicates that without announcement.
Umei
Next door to The Foundry, Umei is a Japanese-inspired home goods and stationery shop founded by Susan Brouillette, who spent five years living in Japan before returning to Minneapolis to open it. Ceramics, wooden objects, textiles, and paper goods — primarily from Japan, with contributions from makers in France, Italy, and Minneapolis. The shop is small and the hours are limited, but worth planning around.
What This Area Has
Independent retail signals neighborhood character in a way that cannot be installed or manufactured. Most of what’s in this guide has been here for years. The owners know their customers.
There is continuity — the kind that develops only in places where the conditions support it: good foot traffic, residents who value what’s local, a built environment at a human scale. Living near Bde Maka Ska has always meant something specific. This is part of what.
A Few Practical Notes
Most shops here are closed on Mondays. France 44 validates parking for the Linden Hills lot. Umei runs Thursday through Sunday only — plan accordingly.
The 50th & France corridor is a fifteen-minute drive south; Linden Hills is about the same, or a twenty-minute ride along the Bde Maka Ska trail. The North Loop is twenty minutes north. Combine, on West Lake Street, is the one you can walk to on an ordinary morning.
If you’d like to see what else living here puts you close to, schedule a tour and we’ll show you the building and the neighborhood together.
