This week marks five years since Lake Street - and other areas of the Twin Cities - suffered widespread damage after George Floyd's murder by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin.
Civil unrest, and at points, riots, following the Floyd murder ended up causing more than $250 million worth of damage to more than 500 businesses along the Lake Street corridor in south Minneapolis, just blocks from where he was arrested at Cup Foods and eventually died.
Lake Street Council business advisor Yusra Mohamud says those businesses were primarily owned by immigrants, and people who come from minority, indigenous, or people of color backgrounds
"Lake Street is home to them so it's not just easy to pack up and leave and start somewhere else you," Mohamud says. "You have to start all over."
Five years late Mohamud says most of those businesses have rebuilt and returned to their Lake Street roots. That even comes with several "new" businesses filling the void left by the unrest.
"To see the unity, to see people coming together, to see all the activations, it's been so strong and beautiful," she says. "So I always encourage people to come out and support the local businesses because without the support, you know, we wouldn't be here, where we are today."
That resurgence of business is crucial for the people that still call that area their home.
"That damage, especially those small businesses that have come back to Lake Street, and we are starting to see a lot of improvement," says Mohamud. "We're starting to see people shopping back on Lake Street, new businesses, as well as a lot of the displaced businesses that were on the corridor call this place home."
She adds that most of the originally damaged businesses are back.
"You know there was over 500 businesses that were damaged and I'm really happy to say that most of those businesses have reopened. Those who weren't able to reopen were then, you know, replaced by another new business that chose to fill those vacancies that now call straight home."
The Lake Street Council raised $12 million for rebuilding along the corridor, and awarded it to hundreds of businesses following the unrest.