Minneapolis (Dec. 21, 2015) – Meet Minneapolis, Convention and Visitor Association, announces the iconic Mary Tyler Moore statue has moved to the city’s brand new Minneapolis Visitor Information on Nicollet center, where fans, visitors and locals now can stop for photos inside during daily store hours. The popular statue, placed in Minneapolis by TV Land in 2001, was formerly located on the street corner at 7th Street and Nicollet near where Mary appeared in the opening credits of her award-winning TV show in the 1970s.

“There was a lot of interest and concern about where ‘Mary’ had gone. It became clear to all of us how important the statue is to the visitors and residents of Minneapolis,” said Melvin Tennant, president and CEO, Meet Minneapolis. “We worked with the owners at TV Land to loan the statue to Minneapolis Visitor Information so the public will be able to visit and take photos with it again until Nicollet Mall reconstruction is completed. We couldn’t be more pleased to share this with the community in our new visitor center on the most important street in the city.”

The statue was removed from Nicollet, Minneapolis’ main retail corridor, with the other public art during the reconstruction of the street, which is expected to be completed in 2017. Plans are to move the statue back to the street at a later date. Until then, tourists and fans can visit Minneapolis Visitor Information Monday – Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Selfies and photos with the statue are encouraged, as is using the hashtag #MaryInMpls. The statue also is visible via large windows from both Nicollet and 5th Street at all times.

“We are thrilled that the city can enjoy the Mary Tyler Moore statue while Nicollet Mall is under construction thanks to Meet Minneapolis,” said Karen Cummins, senior vice president, Marketing, TV Land.

The new visitor center and store at 505 Nicollet includes three distinct services: Shop: Minneapolis artistic retail, Move: resources for transit, commuting and getting around the city and Find: help with questions about what to do, where to go and how to get the most out of a visit to Minneapolis, City by Nature.

Located directly across 5th Street from the Nicollet METRO light-rail train stop, where many visitors and commuters come into downtown Minneapolis, Meet Minneapolis partnered with CenterPoint Energy to occupy a 5,000 square-foot corner on the street level of the CenterPoint Energy building.

MINNEAPOLIS VISITOR INFORMATION ON NICOLLET: SHOP. MOVE. FIND.

Minneapolis Visitor Information includes three services in one convenient location:

• Shop: Partnering with St. Croix Promotions & Retail, the new facility offers Minneapolis artistic retail products, as well as area sports team logo merchandise and Minneapolis, City by Nature-branded items. Current items include pint glasses, prints, jewelry, ceramics, glassware, clothing and much more by talented Minnesota artists. Many of the local artist’s products were created for Shop Minneapolis and cannot be found elsewhere.
• Move: Move Minneapolis (formerly the Commuter Connection) provides services to commuters, carpool information, transit passes, schedules and maps, MnPass and bicycling commuting information and accessories. Visitors seeking help with transit options should make this their first stop downtown.
• Find: Meet Minneapolis staff is available to answer questions, share visitor maps and provide suggestions about things to do in Minneapolis and the surrounding area. A social media command center located on-site will be activated during busy event and convention times, and to provide Minneapolis partner businesses a place to connect with visitors. In the near future, plans include offering a starting point for tours of the city. The Visitor Information Center in the Minneapolis Convention Center also will remain open and available to provide similar information to visitors and convention attendees.

ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS

Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member-based association. It actively promotes and sells the Minneapolis area as a destination for conventions and meetings, works to maximize the visitor experience and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to maximize the economic benefit of the greater Minneapolis area.

Meet Minneapolis is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of the Destination Marketing Association International.

Find out more:

• Online: www.minneapolis.org and http://go.minneapolis.org
• On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meetminneapolis?ref=ts
• On Twitter: http://twitter.com/meetminneapolis
• On Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/meetminneapolis/
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meetminneapolis/

MEDIA CONTACT
Kristen Montag, communication and public relations manager, 612.767.8038, kristenm@minneapolis.org, Minneapolis_PR on Twitter.

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