Juut Salonspa’s owner says uptown location closing due to ‘continued escalation of crime and violence’

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    MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The owner of Juut Salonspa says the Uptown Minneapolis location will close due to “continued escalation of crime and violence in our neighborhood.”

“I would be heartbroken if any of our team or clients got hurt,” David Wagner wrote on Facebook.

The salon has been at Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street in various incarnations since 1986, according to Wagner. It officially became Juut Salonspa in 1999.

“We loved being part of the daily dynamic that an urban location provides, however, it has become more and more evident that Uptown continues to struggle with store closings, social unrest, crime, and street closures,” Wagner said.

Most recently, Uptown was the site of multiple nights of protests after Hennepin and Ramsey County deputies working undercover for a federal task force shot and killed 32-year-old Winston Boogie Smith Jr. atop a parking ramp nearby Juut.

Officials said Smith, who was wanted for a felony firearms violation, wouldn’t surrender and pulled out a gun.

In March, WCCO spoke with residents and business owners who were calling for an end to violence in Uptown. Jamie Liestman, manager at the John Fluevog shoe store at Hennepin and Lagoon avenues, said she still feels hopeful and plans to continue to invest in the neighborhood.

“It is not going to be an easy journey back,” she said. “I always hope that I want to be here for a renaissance of Uptown.”

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