For me, it definitely isn't the same and for reasons that have nothing to do with the summer of 2020 looters/vandals. It's that there is hardly any shopping left in downtown Minneapolis.
I lived there 'way back' in the 2000s, bought most of my household goods and clothes downtown. Black Friday shopping was all done within a walk of my apartment. In the summer especially, I loved to spend a few hours up and down, browsing department stores and boutiques. In December, the parade that would go down the mall several times a week would happen in good weather and in heavy snow!

But when I visited in 2019, there was so little of that left. More condos, more overly priced places to eat, more special 'downtown' taxes, but less shopping, less day-to-day livability. I'm sure the reduced use of downtown offices for pandemic reasons have only made things even deader.

I've had little desire to visit since that last trip in 2019, and the few times I've been in the cities since I've just stayed in St. Paul or Bloomington.