DULUTH SKYWALK

System Marks 40 Years

BY KEVIN OTT

Duluth can be a challenging place to navigate, especially during the winter. The hilly streets and extreme temperatures often make foot travel a freezing and slippery endeavor.

This is one of the reasons why the Holiday Center and Skywalk first opened in downtown Duluth in 1978, connecting the Normandy Inn to First National Bank. The goal of this skyway was to allow people to explore one of the main hubs of the city while avoiding the busy traffic of Superior Street below.

Duluth’s skywalk has been expanded several times since it was first constructed. A majority of it was built in 1979 for about $6 million. Today, it spans 3.5 miles across downtown and stretches above I-35 to the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. People can walk to many restaurants, bars and shops downtown while staying in climate-controlled comfort.

As one can likely imagine, the downtown area looked quite different 40 years ago. In the sprawling shopping district of the Holiday Center, many businesses have come and gone because of changing trends in retail. But one store has withstood the test of time, and that is Allison’s Hallmark Shop — a store that used to have the highest rent in the entire city, according to a University of Minnesota Duluth survey.

“I remember when the skywalk first opened and not being able to see the store across the hall because of all the people,” said Sandy Cloutier, manager of Allison’s Hallmark for the past 40 years. “Times have definitely changed since then.”

Cloutier cites the growing popularity of online shopping as one of the reasons why many stores around the skywalk have eventually closed. Other areas of Duluth, as well as the entire country, have experienced this trend as brick-and-mortar stores — such as Younkers, Sears and Kmart — have closed. Hallmark stores have had their share of troubles as well.

“People used to pick up a card for any occasion and send it. It was very personal,” Cloutier said. “Now, they usually send a text and call it good.”