Business Survivability in Downtown, Minneapolis
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Downtown is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~81% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.
Quick Summary
- Survivability Score: the projected chance a business type lasts two or more years at a specific address
- Best business: a Veterinary Clinic in Downtown (~81% average survival rate, ~85% at best locations)
- Neighborhood rank: #5 across all neighborhoods in and around Minneapolis
- Neighborhood average: ~77% two-year survival across all business types
- Coverage: This ranking carries one row per business type and neighborhood. Its score is the projected chance of lasting two or more years, averaged across the price points StreetSpring scores separately in the tool (most types have 5). The 10 business types here are base types; the tool offers 500+ business types, counting each type at each of its price points.
- Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data
- Detailed methodology
Last reviewed: September 2026 by Robert Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring
In this article:
- Summary
- Is Downtown a good place to start a business?
- How to find the best location
- Best businesses to open
- How much money could a business make?
- What businesses should open next?
- Frequently Asked Questions
Summary
StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Downtown is a Veterinary Clinic with a ~81% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~85% chance; next is a Pizza Restaurant with a 77.97% chance, followed by a Russian Restaurant with a 77.93% chance.
Is Downtown a good place to start a business?
StreetSpring's analysis places Downtown at #5 in Minneapolis for new business survival odds, with a neighborhood-wide average of ~77%.
- The highest-scoring business types in Downtown — at their optimal addresses — outperform the neighborhood average by ~11%.
- But at poorly chosen addresses within Downtown, even the top-ranked business types can fall well below the neighborhood average. Location selection remains critical — a promising concept at the wrong spot still carries significant risk.
- Commercial vacancy in Downtown sits at 10.8%, a figure that factors into survivability scores for every business type in this neighborhood.
Employment and vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
How can you find the best location to open a business in Downtown?
StreetSpring's model evaluates every available address in Downtown for your business type, ranking them by survivability so the best storefront is always identifiable. According to StreetSpring's 2026 data, this is the optimal address for a Veterinary Clinic in Downtown:
This map shows the optimal location for a Veterinary Clinic in Downtown based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis. StreetSpring's survivability scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool. The prediction model incorporates hundreds of location-specific factors, including competitive density, forecasted consumer spending, mobility patterns, and Revenue Capture Score.
Check if this location is still available →
What are the best businesses to open in Downtown?
| # | Business type | Chance of lasting two or more years |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Veterinary Clinic | 80.96% |
| 2 | Pizza Restaurant | 77.97% |
| 3 | Russian Restaurant | 77.93% |
| 4 | Dance Club | 77.71% |
| 5 | Vietnamese Restaurant | 77.63% |
| 6 | Grocery Store | 77.50% |
| 7 | Gym | 75.21% |
| 8 | Coffee Shop | 74.24% |
| 9 | Smoke Shop | 74.19% |
| 10 | Hair Salon | 73.87% |
#1-5: Highest Survivability in Downtown
- Opening a Veterinary Clinic in Downtown shows 80.96% average survivability. Top locations reach ~85%; lower-end sites show ~72%.
- Pizza Restaurant (Ranked #2): 77.97% average in Downtown. Best-case storefronts: ~83%. Challenging locations: ~72%.
- Russian Restaurant is ranked #3 for top businesses to open in Downtown: 77.93% chance on average, best at ~83%, challenging at ~72%.
- Dance Club — ~71%–~82% survivability range, with an average of 77.71% across Downtown.
- Opening a Vietnamese Restaurant in Downtown shows 77.63% average survivability. Top locations reach ~83%; lower-end sites show ~72%.
#6-10: Strong Performers in Downtown
- Grocery Store (Ranked #6): 77.50% average in Downtown. Best-case storefronts: ~82%. Challenging locations: ~70%.
- Gym is ranked #7 for top businesses to open in Downtown: 75.21% chance on average, best at ~80%, challenging at ~70%.
- Coffee Shop — ~66%–~80% survivability range, with an average of 74.24% across Downtown.
- Opening a Smoke Shop in Downtown shows 74.19% average survivability. Top locations reach ~80%; lower-end sites show ~63%.
- Hair Salon (Ranked #10): 73.87% average in Downtown. Best-case storefronts: ~80%. Challenging locations: ~68%.
Top 3 Compared Nationally
- Veterinary Clinic — See how this compares to other cities →
- Pizza Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →
- Russian Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →
How much money could a business in Downtown make?
Best location vs. average location
Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations for your business in Downtown could lead to you making ~11% more than if you selected an average location, and ~62% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.
How StreetSpring calculates location value
- The right address for one business type may be the wrong one for another — always evaluate fit for your specific concept.
- Location shapes survivability more than branding, pricing, or operational quality — the data is unambiguous on this point.
- Survivability Score is not just a survival metric — it's a revenue predictor, and the higher the score, the stronger the long-term financial outlook.
- StreetSpring gives you a precise survivability probability for any specific address and business type combination, not a generalized estimate.
What businesses should open next in Downtown?
The top businesses to open next in Downtown:
- Veterinary Clinics — 80.96% average survival rate, ~85% at the best address
- Pizza Restaurants — 77.97% average survival rate
- Russian Restaurants — 77.93% average survival rate
StreetSpring's survivability scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool. Our models are built using machine learning trained on millions of commercial real estate data points. StreetSpring scores 500+ business types: 153 base business types, most of them at 5 price points, which is 569 type-and-price combinations you can choose in the tool. Downtown's employment rate (93.1%) and vacancy rate (10.8%) together define the economic context that StreetSpring's model uses to score survivability for each business type at each address. New competitors open and close every week, changing the survivability landscape for every address in Downtown. StreetSpring's weekly updates mean you can always see the current score for any available storefront.
See the Survivability Score for your new business
Related Articles:
- See the Minneapolis Business Survivability Rankings
- See the Minneapolis Neighborhood Survivability Rankings
- Explore Veterinary Clinic survivability across Minneapolis neighborhoods
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Downtown.
What type of business should you rent your Downtown storefront to?
For landlords in Downtown, StreetSpring's 2026 analysis identifies Veterinary Clinics, Pizza Restaurants, and Russian Restaurants as the business types most likely to produce stable, long-term tenancy.
- Location shapes survivability more than branding, pricing, or operational quality — the data is unambiguous on this point.
- StreetSpring gives you a precise survivability probability for any specific address and business type combination, not a generalized estimate. StreetSpring can show you which specific address in your portfolio scores highest for each tenant type.
Related: See How Landlord Representatives in Minneapolis Can Reduce Vacancy & Increase Tenant Longevity
Should you rent your Downtown storefront to a Veterinary Clinic?
According to our 2026 survivability model, a Veterinary Clinic leads all business categories for Downtown landlords — ~85% at the best addresses and ~72% at the most challenging ones in this neighborhood.
- StreetSpring gives you a precise survivability probability for any specific address and business type combination, not a generalized estimate.
What should I consider when opening a business in Downtown?
StreetSpring's Survivability Score for your Downtown address is the clearest forward-looking indicator of whether your business will be operating two years from now — make it the first number you check.
- Revenue Capture Score matters more than any other single metric when predicting business outcomes.
- StreetSpring's custom-built forecasting infrastructure powers every survivability score, combining data science with commercial real estate intelligence.
- StreetSpring's address-level survivability data is available free of charge — start with your top candidate locations in Downtown.
See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.
StreetSpring's models are built from millions of real business outcomes, making predictions grounded in what actually happened. Aggregated survivability rankings for Minneapolis are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.
Full dataset for Minneapolis: /resources/data/minneapolis-survivability-scores-2026.csv — includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.