No Roads Lead to Dream Creamery
If there are only two seasons in Minnesota—winter and road construction—then summer-focused businesses have a great big existential fear. It’s been realized for ice cream and burger shop Dream Creamery in Northeast Minneapolis, as Lowry Avenue has been reduced to a sea of dirt and closed to traffic since April.
Dream is a business that relies on impulse stops, but it can only be seen from Lowry, the street it fronts. Regulars must now access it by parking at a nearby church or find other spots throughout the neighborhood, while walkers must come up an adjacent alley.
In late May, business metrics were already down significantly, including a 60% reduction in sales compared to 2023. Although sales are higher than in the depths of winter, Dream is in survival mode, says co-owner James Winberg. (The ice cream shop is owned by the partners who run Travail restaurant in Robbinsdale.) “The unfortunate thing is that we’re not going to get this summer back, and it’s not going to be [only] this summer,” he says. “We’re just going to lose however many summers due to this upgrade until it’s done, and then hopefully we go back to normal.”
The Lowry Avenue reconstruction is a county project in its first phase; Dream’s section of Lowry will remain closed to traffic until mid-October. Next year, the corridor will close from just east of Central Avenue to just east of Johnson Street. Phase two will take reconstruction to the river, and there’s phase three in the works, pending funding. Project officials estimate it’ll take until 2027 for the reconstruction to be complete between Marshall Street and Johnson Street.
“The unfortunate thing is we’re not going to get this summer back.”
—James Winberg, co-owner, Dream Creamery
Dream is a small operation with relatively low overhead because it owns the land it sits on and operates with very few employees. The shop received a settlement from Hennepin County to mitigate the financial loss, but the amount offered was low compared to the projected impact of the Lowry Avenue closure, Winberg says. He wishes more could be done for affected businesses.
“Can I file an insurance claim for loss of business? I can’t because [the reconstruction is] essentially a public service,” he says. “I feel like I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
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But the partnership doesn’t regret buying the land and building six years ago, then opening Dream in 2022. For now, the owners are focused on achievable goals, like growing Dream’s wholesale business. Customers can buy Dream ice cream at Pizza Luce, The Last Drop Cafe + Wine Bar at Graze food hall in the North Loop, and Nouvelle Kitchen & Brewery.
Winberg says the partnership doesn’t have extravagant expectations of the business. “The goal is to break even for as long as we can,” Winberg says. “And we’ll be able to do that because of our overhead costs. But honestly, I can’t be mad at a [road] project that’s benefiting the community.”
