Creating a vibrant and inclusive Downtown Minneapolis

Chameleon Shops is an initiative that helps connect local small businesses with retail space in the heart of downtown Minneapolis.

Street Eats Applications are open for Summer 2025!

Are you interested in operating a food cart on Nicollet Mall? MDC-DID and NEON have partnered on the Street Eats program since 2020. Starting this year, we are opening an application for any food vendors to apply! Find out more and pitch your business by April 30th at 5pm!

Love the way you shop with Chameleon!

Our Chameleon program fosters an inclusive and vital downtown by supporting BIPOC/women-owned entrepreneurs. Chameleon provides a downtown retail platform where inclusive communities are fostered, diverse entrepreneurs can thrive, and small businesses are celebrated.  

  • Networking and training 
  • Pop-ups and events 
  • Retail Cohort and Shops: Beginning in 2025, we are hosting an 8-week intensive cohort designed with NEON for entrepreneurs to refine their skills. Upon successful program completion, select participants will have the opportunity to open a shop downtown. 

Read more here: Minneapolis Downtown Council entrepreneur program gets reboot after stores close 

Shop Local & Support Small Business Owners

Since 2019, Chameleon has hosted 13 pop ups, 8 events, and launched 10 unique shops in downtown spaces including approximately 350 vendors and generating nearly $1 million in sales. Chameleon seeks to improve socioeconomic accessibility and equity from the bottom-up via support for entrepreneurs and the top-down via data collection and storytelling.  

Street Eats brings 1-2 vendors to Nicollet Mall each year. Through a strategic partnership with NEON, we are able to support a vibrant street food scene which offers a greater variety of food options and provides a steppingstone for food-based entrepreneurs. 

 

Find out more about future and past vendors here. 

 

Street Eats Applications are open for Summer 2025!

Are you interested in operating a food cart on Nicollet Mall? MDC-DID and NEON have partnered on the Street Eats program since 2020. Starting this year, we are opening an application for any food vendors to apply! Find out more and pitch your business by April 30th at 5pm!

 

Email Jessy Countney at jcountney@mplsdowntown.com to learn more.