Turtle Bread in downtown Minneapolis closing Friday

Turtle Bread is toast downtown

Turtle Bread owner Harvey McLain confirmed a report from Stephanie March at Minneapolis/St. Paul magazine that the store is not renewing its 10-year lease. Here's why:

McLain says that turnover and turmoil in the management of the building at One Financial Plaza played a major role in the decision not to renew. The building had only recently been sold to new owners after at least a year and half of foreclosure and bank ownership. Because of the turmoil, "we'd already made up our mind" to leave, McLain says.

The store also "wasn't as profitable as I had hoped," McLain says. The business suffered from a deserted downtown on weekends, normally days when his bakeries do big business from shoppers looking for their breads and pastries.

McLain says he is open to exploring a new site, but for now he will concentrate on Turtle Bread's remaining three stores in south Minneapolis, Linden Hills, and the newest branch in the Longfellow neighborhood.