The best gift cards in Minneapolis, honestly
A gift card is a small confession. It says I know you well enough to want to do something, and not quite well enough to know what. In Minneapolis that gap gets tested harder than most places, because the city spends five months indoors and the other seven making up for lost time. The best gift cards here are the ones that survive both seasons: the January when nobody leaves the apartment and the delivery driver is the only human you see before noon, and the July when the whole town is suddenly outside on a bike, circling a lake, pretending the cold was always somebody else’s problem.
So I stopped guessing and started spending. I loaded these cards and used them the way anyone here actually lives, through the skyway at lunch, at the door when it hit twenty below, at a bar counter watching the Wolves, on a slow gray Sunday when the only ambition was warmth. The ones that earned a spot on this list disappeared into a real Minneapolis life without any friction. The ones that did not, I have opinions about too.
What Minneapolis actually shows up for
Before the picks, here is where Minneapolis actually spends a good day right now. It is the shorthand for which gift cards fit real life here, from the skyways downtown to the lakes in Uptown.
- Mall of America® 4.6 (70k)
- Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse 4.8 (22k)
- Game Show Battle Rooms – Minneapolis (St. Louis Park) 5.0 (12k)
- Minneapolis Institute of Art 4.8 (10k)
- Minneapolis Sculpture Garden 4.7 (8k)
- Historic Stone Arch Bridge 4.8 (3k)
- Spoon and Stable 4.7 (3k)
- Mill Ruins Park 4.7 (3k)
- Mill City Museum 4.7 (3k)
- Bar La Grassa 4.7 (3k)
Local popularity and ratings via Google.
My week running gift card tests around Minneapolis
The week I did most of this it never got above ten degrees, which in Minneapolis is not a crisis, just a Tuesday. I started downtown in the skyway, that second-floor glass maze that lets office workers get from the parking ramp to a sandwich without ever touching air. I ate lunch up there, bought coffee, and never once put on my coat, which is the whole civic genius of the place. A gift card that works in the skyway is a gift card that works in the part of winter nobody photographs.
Midweek I gave up on going anywhere. When the windchill is a negative number with a wind advisory attached, the smart Minneapolis move is to admit defeat and order in. So I did, twice, and the delivery card carried the week. By Thursday I wanted out of my own apartment badly enough to drive to an indoor everything, the kind of climate-controlled cathedral this metro built specifically so its children would not lose their minds between November and April.
By the weekend the sun came out, which up here counts as an event, and Uptown filled with people walking the frozen lake like it owed them something. I ended the week the way a lot of them do, with a warm drink in a cold hand and a burger I did not need. None of it was fancy. All of it was the point. A good gift card in this town is not a treat you frame, it is a thing that quietly makes a hard month easier.
Quick Picks: Best Gift Cards in Minneapolis by scenario
The best gift cards in Minneapolis are GrubHub for the deep-freeze weeks when leaving is not an option, Best Buy because the company is a Twin Cities native and the long indoor winter runs on screens, Buffalo Wild Wings for Vikings and Wolves nights, Five Guys for an honest everyday burger, and Macy’s for the winter coat everyone eventually needs. Add Amtrak for the Empire Builder out of St. Paul and Bath & Body Works as the safe pick that never insults anyone.
These are the ten cards that held up across a full Minneapolis swing, from a twenty-below Wednesday to a bright weekend on the lakes. They are ranked for how easily each one folds into an actual life here, not for how good the logo looks in a bow.
GrubHub Gift Card
GrubHub Gift Card – Best for the deep-freeze weeks
Quick Look:
Food delivery from thousands of Twin Cities restaurants, redeemable in the app toward orders and fees.
Why it is best for Minneapolis:
When the windchill hits a negative number, a GrubHub card is the difference between dinner and cereal.
Overall Score:
4.80
Best Buy Gift Card
Best Buy Gift Card – Best hometown pick for a long indoor winter
Quick Look:
Electronics, appliances, and home tech from the big-box chain, redeemable in store and online.
Why it is best for Minneapolis:
Best Buy is a Twin Cities company and Minneapolis winters are long, dark, and screen-shaped.
Overall Score:
4.75
Buffalo Wild Wings Gift Card
Buffalo Wild Wings Gift Card – Best for Vikings and Wolves nights
Quick Look:
Wings, beer, and a wall of TVs, redeemable at locations across the Twin Cities.
Why it is best for Minneapolis:
Minneapolis lives and dies by its teams, and this is where a lot of the dying gets done together.
Overall Score:
4.70
Five Guys Gift Card
Five Guys Gift Card – Best honest everyday burger
Quick Look:
Made-to-order burgers, fries, and a free peanut bin, redeemable in store and online.
Why it is best for Minneapolis:
No frills, no theme, just a hot burger, which is what most Minneapolis nights actually call for.
Overall Score:
4.65
Macys Gift Card
Macys Gift Card – Best for the winter coat everyone needs
Quick Look:
Apparel, home goods, and cosmetics from the department store, redeemable in store and online.
Why it is best for Minneapolis:
Sooner or later a Minneapolis winter demands a serious coat, and this is where a lot of them come from.
Overall Score:
4.60
Peets Coffee & Tea Gift Card
Peets Coffee & Tea Gift Card – Best for cold dark mornings
Quick Look:
Dark-roast coffee, espresso, and tea from the cafe chain, redeemable in store and online.
Why it is best for Minneapolis:
A Minneapolis winter morning is long and black, and a strong coffee ritual is how you meet it.
Overall Score:
4.55
Dave & Busters Gift Card
Dave & Busters Gift Card – Best indoor escape from the cold
Quick Look:
Arcade games, food, and sports bar under one roof, redeemable in store on games and dining.
Why it is best for Minneapolis:
When it is unlivable outside, a giant warm room full of games is a genuine Minneapolis survival strategy.
Overall Score:
4.50
Bass Pro Shops Gift Card
Bass Pro Shops Gift Card – Best for the land of ten thousand lakes
Quick Look:
Fishing, hunting, and outdoor gear from the outfitter, redeemable in store and online.
Why it is best for Minneapolis:
Minnesota’s whole identity is water and woods, and this is the card that outfits it.
Overall Score:
4.45
Amtrak Gift Card
Amtrak Gift Card – Best for the Empire Builder out of St. Paul
Quick Look:
Rail travel across the country, redeemable toward tickets on Amtrak routes and online.
Why it is best for Minneapolis:
The Empire Builder rolls through the Twin Cities, and a train card turns a gray month into a getaway.
Overall Score:
4.40
Bath & Body Works Gift Card
Bath & Body Works Gift Card – Best safe pick that never misses
Quick Look:
Soaps, lotions, and candles from the mall staple, redeemable in store and online.
Why it is best for Minneapolis:
It is the reliable, universally welcome card for anyone whose taste you cannot quite pin down.
Overall Score:
4.35
How we tested the best gift cards in Minneapolis
BestGiftCards.org rankings are written and reviewed by specialists in gift card value, retail economics, consumer behavior, travel gifting, and digital marketplaces. We aim to make our recommendations repeatable, evidence based, and updated instead of based on pure opinion.
How we test gift cards for Minneapolis
- Redemption testing: We test at least one redemption path per card in Minneapolis scenarios (in person scan, online checkout, or in app load) and document friction points such as cart errors, delayed balance updates, or confusing flows.
- Terms and fees review: We check the brand public terms for expiration rules, service fees, and redemption limitations that commonly surprise buyers so you know where the fine print lives before you gift.
- Minnesota practicality: We verify Minneapolis and surrounding area availability using the brand official store locator or service coverage pages and link directly so readers can confirm by ZIP code or address.
- Real world what I bought proof: Each pick includes a concrete purchase example because practical outcomes in places like North Loop, Uptown, Northeast matter more than vague promises.
How we score each gift card
- Utility and practicality (40 percent): How reliably the card gets used up by real purchases in Minneapolis and nearby areas.
- Flexibility and options (25 percent): Breadth of what you can buy and how you can redeem, including digital and in store, pickup, and add ons.
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers (20 percent): How well the card fits local lifestyles and routines.
- Brand reputation (15 percent): Consumer trust signals, clarity of policies, and consistency of the redemption experience.
Update policy: We refresh key facts such as local availability references and redemption notes on a regular schedule and whenever major brand terms change. If you spot an issue, contact our editorial team and we will investigate and adjust.
Our picks for the best gift cards in Minneapolis in detail
GrubHub Gift Card – Best for the deep-freeze weeks
About a GrubHub Gift Card
In Minneapolis a GrubHub Gift Card is not a luxury, it is infrastructure. There is a stretch of every winter, usually somewhere in January, when the city issues a windchill advisory and the entire adult population privately agrees that leaving the building is optional. That is the GrubHub week. I have watched a twenty-below forecast turn a full fridge irrelevant because nobody wanted to walk the two blocks to use it. Delivery is the compromise between eating well and not losing a finger.
What makes it work here is range. A North Loop order looks nothing like a Northeast order, and both are covered, from a pho place that has kept somebody’s ancestors warm for decades to the burger spot three blocks away that you cannot be bothered to visit in person. The card just sits in the app and lowers the number at checkout, which during a long indoor month is a quieter kind of relief than it sounds.
Minneapolis availability
- How it works in Minneapolis: Redeemed in the GrubHub app against food, delivery, and fees from restaurants across the Twin Cities, including spots in the North Loop and beyond.
- Redeem in store: No, this is a delivery and pickup service, not a storefront card.
- Redeem online and app: Yes, apply the card balance to your account and it comes off automatically at checkout.
- Last verified: March 6, 2026
Delivery fees and service charges still apply, so a card covers the meal faster than it covers the whole tab.
Pros:
- Winterproof: It is the one card that gets better the worse the weather gets.
- Huge selection: Covers neighborhoods from Northeast to Uptown without you choosing a chain.
- No car needed: Ideal for the downtown and lakes crowd who would rather not de-ice anything.
Cons:
- Fees are real: Service and delivery charges eat into a balance faster than a dine-in bill would.
- App only: There is no physical store to walk into if you prefer that.
What I bought with my GrubHub Gift Card
I loaded one on a Wednesday the forecast had already ruined. It was minus eleven before the wind got a vote, and I had a perfectly good kitchen I was not going to use. I ordered from a Vietnamese place a mile off, watched the driver’s little icon crawl through the cold, and tipped extra because anyone out in that deserves it.
The card knocked the food total down to almost nothing and I covered the fees and tip myself without thinking about it. Twenty minutes later there was soup at my door and I had not touched my coat. That is the entire Minneapolis winter value proposition in one transaction, and the card made it slightly cheaper to survive.
Tester Score
- Utility and practicality: 5.0/5
- Flexibility and options: 4.8/5
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers: 4.8/5
- Brand reputation: 4.6/5
- Overall Score: 4.80
Best Buy Gift Card – Best hometown pick for a long indoor winter
About a Best Buy Gift Card
There is a hometown loyalty to a Best Buy Gift Card in Minneapolis that does not exist in most cities. The company grew up here, in Richfield just off the 494, and every Minnesotan over a certain age remembers when it was a single stereo store. Handing someone a Best Buy card in the Twin Cities has a faint civic pride to it, like buying local, if local happened to sell televisions the size of a garage door.
It also just fits the calendar. This is a place that spends nearly half the year indoors, and indoors runs on hardware, the new monitor for the home office, the sound bar so the Vikings game fills the room, the space heater you swore you would not need. A Best Buy card is a bet on the exact season Minneapolis is famous for, the one you spend looking at a screen because the window is a wall of white.
Minneapolis availability
- Popular Minneapolis store: The flagship-area store near the headquarters, Best Buy in Richfield, plus locations ringing the metro.
- Redeem in store: Yes, at any Best Buy register or customer service desk.
- Redeem online and app: Yes, enter the card at checkout on the site or in the app.
- Last verified: March 6, 2026
Balances apply to most products but not to some third-party marketplace sellers, so check before a big buy.
Pros:
- Local roots: A genuine Twin Cities company, which carries weight in this metro.
- Winter-shaped: Screens, sound, and heat are exactly what a long indoor season needs.
- Wide use: Works on everything from a cable to a refrigerator, in store or online.
Cons:
- Not everyday: You are not spending this on a Tuesday, it waits for a real purchase.
- Big-ticket temptation: The balance vanishes fast once you are standing in front of the TVs.
What I bought with my Best Buy Gift Card
I used mine at the Richfield store, which feels like visiting the source, and went in for a laptop charger because mine had frayed to the point of hazard. That is the trap of a Best Buy in January. You come for a five dollar cable and you leave having reconsidered your entire home setup.
I held the line, mostly. The charger, a screen cleaner, and a longer HDMI cable so the game console could reach the good chair. The card covered it with room to spare, and I walked back into the cold with a small bag and the smug feeling of having spent money at a company that started ten minutes from where I stood.
Tester Score
- Utility and practicality: 4.8/5
- Flexibility and options: 4.7/5
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers: 4.7/5
- Brand reputation: 4.8/5
- Overall Score: 4.75
Buffalo Wild Wings Gift Card – Best for Vikings and Wolves nights
About a Buffalo Wild Wings Gift Card
A Buffalo Wild Wings Gift Card in Minneapolis is a ticket to the communal suffering that is being a Minnesota sports fan. This is a town that has had its heart broken by the Vikings in every creative way the sport allows, and it keeps showing up anyway, usually somewhere with wings and thirty screens. The card buys a seat at that table, the one where strangers become temporary family for three quarters and then part ways in silence.
It earns its keep in winter specifically, when going out means committing to the cold and you want the destination to be worth it. A warm room, a game on every wall, food you eat with your hands. Timberwolves in the dead of February, Twins highlights when spring finally teases. It is not refined and it is not trying to be. It is a place to be loud indoors while it is brutal outside.
Minneapolis availability
- Popular Minneapolis area spot: Locations across the metro, including one you can find near downtown at Buffalo Wild Wings in Minneapolis.
- Redeem in store: Yes, hand it to your server at any location.
- Redeem online and app: Yes, usable for online orders and takeout through the app.
- Last verified: March 6, 2026
Card covers food and non-alcoholic tabs cleanly, alcohol rules vary, so keep the tip in cash.
Pros:
- Game-night native: Built for exactly how this city watches its teams.
- Group friendly: Easy to split a card across a table of people watching a loss together.
- Winter destination: A warm, loud reason to leave the apartment when it is grim out.
Cons:
- Loud by design: Not the pick for a quiet dinner, that is not what this is.
- Menu sameness: You know what you are getting, which is both the appeal and the limit.
What I bought with my Buffalo Wild Wings Gift Card
I took mine to a location on a Wolves night, sat at the bar, and ordered wings I would regret in the best way. The place was full of people in team colors who all clearly knew how this usually ends and had come anyway, which is the most Minnesota thing I can describe.
The game stayed close longer than anyone expected and the room got loud in the way only a home crowd that has been let down before can get. The card handled the food, I left cash on the bar, and I walked out into the cold slightly hoarse and weirdly happy, which is the whole point of the exercise.
Tester Score
- Utility and practicality: 4.7/5
- Flexibility and options: 4.6/5
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers: 4.8/5
- Brand reputation: 4.7/5
- Overall Score: 4.70
Five Guys Gift Card – Best honest everyday burger
About a Five Guys Gift Card
A Five Guys Gift Card in Minneapolis is a card with no agenda, which is exactly why it works. There is no gimmick, no seasonal menu, no attempt to be an experience. You order a burger, they cook it in front of you, they overfill the fries into the bag on purpose, and you eat too many free peanuts while you wait. In a city that overthinks a lot of things, the simplicity lands.
It slots neatly into the downtown rhythm, the skyway lunch that needs to be fast and filling before you go back to a screen, the drive-through dinner on a night when cooking feels like a bridge too far. It is not a special occasion. It is a reliable floor under a normal day, and a card that covers a reliable floor is a card that gets used.
Minneapolis availability
- Popular Minneapolis area location: Several around the metro, easy to find one like Five Guys in Minneapolis.
- Redeem in store: Yes, at the register in person.
- Redeem online and app: Yes, works for online and app orders for pickup.
- Last verified: March 6, 2026
Portions run big, so one card stretches across more meals than the prices suggest.
Pros:
- Genuinely simple: No theme, no upsell, just a good burger done fast.
- Portion value: The fries alone make a card go further than expected.
- Everywhere useful: Downtown, suburbs, or the drive home, it fits any of them.
Cons:
- Narrow menu: If you are not in a burger mood, there is not much else.
- Prices creep: A quality burger is not the cheap option it once was.
What I bought with my Five Guys Gift Card
I used mine on a downtown lunch break when the only requirement was speed and heat. Grabbed a cheeseburger and a small fry that was, as always, not small, ate half of it, and had the other half figured out for later. The peanuts held me over while it cooked.
The card covered it with change to spare, and the whole thing took less time than deciding where to go usually does. That is the Five Guys pitch in Minneapolis, no drama, no theme night, just a hot meal that shows up exactly as promised on a cold day.
Tester Score
- Utility and practicality: 4.7/5
- Flexibility and options: 4.6/5
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers: 4.7/5
- Brand reputation: 4.6/5
- Overall Score: 4.65
Macys Gift Card – Best for the winter coat everyone needs
About a Macys Gift Card
A Macy’s Gift Card in Minneapolis eventually becomes practical whether you meant it to or not. This is a place where a real winter coat is not a fashion decision, it is a safety one, and department store racks are where a lot of that gear gets bought. Give someone here a Macy’s card in October and by January they will have quietly turned it into the thing standing between them and the wind off the river.
It is not only survival gear, of course. It is the boots that handle slush, the gloves you keep losing, the sweater for a holiday you are dreading, the small home upgrade for a house you are stuck inside for months. The downtown store is gone now, part of a national retreat, but the metro still has its options at Southdale and the Mall of America, and the card spends the same either way.
Minneapolis availability
- Popular Twin Cities store: Anchor locations remain in the suburbs, including Macy’s at Southdale in Edina.
- Redeem in store: Yes, at any register in a Macy’s location.
- Redeem online and app: Yes, enter it at checkout on the Macy’s site or app.
- Last verified: March 6, 2026
The downtown Minneapolis store has closed, so plan on a suburban trip or ordering online.
Pros:
- Cold-weather ready: Coats, boots, and layers are exactly what this climate demands.
- Broad range: Clothing, home, and cosmetics all under one balance.
- Gift-safe: Hard to go wrong with for someone whose size you do not know.
Cons:
- No downtown store: You are heading to the suburbs or the app now, not Nicollet.
- Sale timing: Full price stings, and the good deals come in waves.
What I bought with my Macys Gift Card
I used mine at Southdale, which happens to be the oldest enclosed mall in the country, a fact Minnesotans mention with a straight face. I went in for gloves because I had lost my third pair of the season and left with gloves, a scarf, and a sweater that was on a markdown I could not talk myself out of.
The card covered most of it and I topped off the rest at the register without a second thought. Walking back to the car through the parking lot in the wind, newly gloved, I understood exactly why a department store card is a practical gift in this town and not a boring one.
Tester Score
- Utility and practicality: 4.6/5
- Flexibility and options: 4.6/5
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers: 4.5/5
- Brand reputation: 4.7/5
- Overall Score: 4.60
Peets Coffee & Tea Gift Card – Best for cold dark mornings
About a Peets Coffee & Tea Gift Card
A Peet’s Coffee & Tea Gift Card in Minneapolis is a small ritual you can gift, and rituals matter more here than in gentler climates. The sun does not properly show up until well into a winter morning, and the dark roast that Peet’s built its name on is the correct answer to a commute that starts in the dark and ends in it too. A strong cup is not indulgence in January, it is a coping mechanism with a nice smell.
It is more of a nationwide and travel-day pick than a corner institution here, since this is a metro loyal to its own homegrown coffee chains, but that is part of the appeal. You reach for it on the way through the airport, on a road trip south, or online for the beans that keep the home setup running. A coffee card is the rare gift someone uses gratefully within twenty-four hours and never wastes.
Minneapolis availability
- Where to use it locally: Look for cafe and grab-and-go spots around the region, or search Peet’s Coffee near Minneapolis.
- Redeem in store: Yes, at the counter of any Peet’s cafe.
- Redeem online and app: Yes, for beans and subscriptions on the Peet’s site.
- Last verified: March 6, 2026
Cafe locations are thinner here than on the coasts, so online bean orders are the sure bet.
Pros:
- Dark-roast strength: The bold profile suits a morning that starts in the dark.
- Used immediately: A coffee card gets spent gratefully, never forgotten in a drawer.
- Travel friendly: Handy for airport mornings and beans shipped to the door.
Cons:
- Fewer local cafes: Homegrown chains dominate here, so storefronts are not on every block.
- Coffee only: The use case is narrow by nature.
What I bought with my Peets Coffee & Tea Gift Card
I used mine on the way out of town, catching an early flight when the terminal was one of the few warm rooms awake before dawn. A large dark roast, black, the kind of thing that makes a six a.m. gate feel survivable. The card covered it and left a balance for later.
I spent the rest online, on a bag of beans to keep the home pour-over going through the worst of the season. That is the honest Minneapolis use of a Peet’s card, one cup at the airport and a steady supply for the mornings you refuse to leave the house at all.
Tester Score
- Utility and practicality: 4.6/5
- Flexibility and options: 4.5/5
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers: 4.6/5
- Brand reputation: 4.5/5
- Overall Score: 4.55
Dave & Busters Gift Card – Best indoor escape from the cold
About a Dave & Busters Gift Card
A Dave & Buster’s Gift Card in Minneapolis is a solution to a very specific local problem, which is what to do with restless people when the outdoors is trying to kill you. There is a version of every winter weekend where the kids are climbing the walls, the adults are climbing the walls, and the temperature has made the yard a no-go zone. A giant climate-controlled arcade is not a frivolity in that moment, it is a release valve.
The Twin Cities built exactly this kind of indoor everything on purpose, because a metro that goes subzero for months needs somewhere to burn energy that is not a driveway. The card buys game credits and food in one shot, which is the honest structure of the visit, feed everyone, hand out the power cards, and let the noise and lights do the work until it is time to face the parking lot again.
Minneapolis availability
- Twin Cities location: The metro spot is out in the suburbs at Dave & Buster’s in Maple Grove.
- Redeem in store: Yes, for game play and the full food and drink menu.
- Redeem online and app: Partially, game credit can often be added digitally, dining is in person.
- Last verified: March 6, 2026
Balances stretch further on food than on games, where credits disappear fast in eager hands.
Pros:
- Cabin-fever cure: A warm, loud outlet when the cold has everyone stir-crazy.
- All ages: Games plus a full menu keeps a mixed group occupied.
- Weatherproof plan: The forecast does not matter once you are inside.
Cons:
- Credits vanish: Game play burns a balance quicker than dinner does.
- Suburban trip: The metro location means a drive out of the city.
What I bought with my Dave & Busters Gift Card
I used mine on a weekend the windchill made the news, driving out to Maple Grove because the alternative was another day staring at my own four walls. The place was packed with people who had clearly made the same calculation, families and groups all escaping the exact same weather.
I put part of the card toward food and the rest onto a game card, then lost the money-can-buy amount of dignity at a basketball game against a nine-year-old. It was loud, it was warm, and for two hours nobody thought about the temperature. That is a fair trade in a Minneapolis February.
Tester Score
- Utility and practicality: 4.5/5
- Flexibility and options: 4.5/5
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers: 4.6/5
- Brand reputation: 4.4/5
- Overall Score: 4.50
Bass Pro Shops Gift Card – Best for the land of ten thousand lakes
About a Bass Pro Shops Gift Card
A Bass Pro Shops Gift Card in Minneapolis speaks to the part of the state’s identity that no amount of winter can freeze out. This is the land of ten thousand lakes, a place where ice fishing is a legitimate hobby and the boat gets talked about all winter and used all summer. The card outfits both seasons, the auger and the flasher for the frozen months, the rods and tackle for the open water everybody dreams about while the wind howls.
The honest catch is distance. The region’s big store sits down in Owatonna, an hour south of the city, so this is not a spur-of-the-moment card the way a downtown burger is. But for the right recipient, the cabin owner, the fishing obsessive, the person whose garage is more tackle than car, it is a bullseye, and the online store fills the gap for anyone who does not want to make the drive.
Minneapolis availability
- Nearest big store: The regional outfitter is south of the metro at Bass Pro Shops in Owatonna.
- Redeem in store: Yes, at any Bass Pro or affiliated Cabela’s location.
- Redeem online and app: Yes, the full catalog is available online with the card.
- Last verified: March 6, 2026
The nearest large store is an hour south, so online is the practical option for many in the city.
Pros:
- On-brand for Minnesota: Fishing and the outdoors are core to the local identity.
- Two-season gear: Covers ice fishing in winter and open water in summer.
- Deep catalog: From boots to boats, the range is enormous.
Cons:
- Long drive: The nearest big store is an hour out of the city.
- Niche recipient: Perfect for an outdoors person, less so for anyone else.
What I bought with my Bass Pro Shops Gift Card
I used mine online in the dead of winter, which is when Minnesotans actually plan the fishing they will not get to do for months. I bought a couple of ice-fishing basics and a pair of gloves rated for weather that would concern people in other states, then browsed boats I have no business owning.
The card covered the practical stuff and the shipping brought it to my door instead of asking me to drive to Owatonna in a storm. It is not a card for a random Tuesday, but for anyone here who measures the year by open-water season, it is close to perfect.
Tester Score
- Utility and practicality: 4.5/5
- Flexibility and options: 4.4/5
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers: 4.5/5
- Brand reputation: 4.5/5
- Overall Score: 4.45
Amtrak Gift Card – Best for the Empire Builder out of St. Paul
About an Amtrak Gift Card
An Amtrak Gift Card in Minneapolis is a card for people who look at a long winter and start plotting an exit. The Empire Builder, one of the great long-distance routes in the country, runs right through the Twin Cities, boarding at the restored Union Depot over in St. Paul, and it will carry you west toward the mountains or east toward Chicago while you watch the snow go by from a warm seat instead of a windshield.
It is not an everyday card, and it does not pretend to be. It is a card that sits in a drawer until cabin fever peaks and someone finally books the trip they have been threatening to take all season. For a certain kind of traveler, the one who would rather have a window and a dining car than a cramped flight, it is the most romantic gift on this list, and the least practical, which is sometimes the point.
Minneapolis availability
- Where to board locally: Twin Cities service runs through the restored Union Depot in St. Paul.
- Redeem in store: Yes, applied toward tickets at staffed stations and ticket counters.
- Redeem online and app: Yes, use the balance when booking on the Amtrak site or app.
- Last verified: March 6, 2026
Cards go toward fares, not always onboard dining or upgrades, so budget those separately.
Pros:
- Real escape: The Empire Builder turns a gray month into an actual trip.
- Scenic and roomy: More legroom and better views than any winter flight.
- Memorable gift: A journey is a rarer present than another object.
Cons:
- Not everyday: This sits unused until a trip is actually planned.
- Schedules bind: Long-distance rail runs on its own unhurried clock.
What I bought with my Amtrak Gift Card
I used mine toward a ticket on the Empire Builder, booking from St. Paul on a night when the forecast made staying feel like a punishment. There is something civilized about a train in winter, the boarding at a grand old depot, the seat that reclines like it means it, the country sliding past the glass.
The card covered a good chunk of the fare and the booking took a few minutes online. It is the one card on this list that does not make my week easier so much as it promises to end it somewhere else, which in the depth of a Minneapolis January is its own kind of essential.
Tester Score
- Utility and practicality: 4.4/5
- Flexibility and options: 4.4/5
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers: 4.4/5
- Brand reputation: 4.4/5
- Overall Score: 4.40
Bath & Body Works Gift Card – Best safe pick that never misses
About a Bath & Body Works Gift Card
A Bath & Body Works Gift Card in Minneapolis is the card you reach for when you have run out of clever ideas and just need something that will not miss. It is the office gift exchange, the teacher, the neighbor who shoveled your walk, the person you like fine but do not know well. The store runs on seasonal scents and constant sales, and almost everyone finds something in there they will actually use.
It earns a spot on a winter list for a quiet reason, which is that dry indoor heat wrecks skin for five months straight, and a lotion habit stops being optional somewhere around December. Add a candle for the long dark evenings and it is more practical than it looks. You find it at the Mall of America or a mall closer in, and the card spends easily either way.
Minneapolis availability
- Popular Twin Cities location: Mall locations across the metro, including at the Mall of America in Bloomington.
- Redeem in store: Yes, at any Bath & Body Works register.
- Redeem online and app: Yes, works at checkout on the brand’s website.
- Last verified: March 6, 2026
Frequent sales mean a card goes a long way if you wait for the right promotion.
Pros:
- Universally safe: Almost impossible to insult anyone with it.
- Winter-practical: Lotion earns its keep against months of dry indoor heat.
- Sales stretch it: Constant promotions make a balance go further.
Cons:
- Least distinctive: It is the safe pick, not the personal one.
- Scent is personal: Not everyone wants their whole apartment smelling like a season.
What I bought with my Bath & Body Works Gift Card
I used mine at the Mall of America, mostly as an errand, ducking in for a hand lotion because my knuckles had cracked in the way they do every winter here around the same time the furnace never turns off. The store was mid-sale, as it reliably is, so the card went further than the tag suggested.
I grabbed the lotion, a hand soap, and a candle for the long evenings when it is dark by five. Nothing memorable, nothing regrettable, just a handful of small comforts against a hard season. That is the entire honest case for this card, it is the one that never misses, even if it never quite surprises.
Tester Score
- Utility and practicality: 4.4/5
- Flexibility and options: 4.3/5
- Appeal to Minneapolis shoppers: 4.4/5
- Brand reputation: 4.3/5
- Overall Score: 4.35
The short version
If you only remember a few, make them GrubHub for the deep-freeze weeks when nobody leaves, Best Buy because it is a Twin Cities company and the winter runs on screens, and Buffalo Wild Wings for the shared misery of a Vikings or Wolves night. Macy’s covers the serious coat this climate eventually demands, Five Guys handles the honest everyday burger, and Bath & Body Works is the safe card that never insults anyone. The rest, from Amtrak’s Empire Builder to Bass Pro’s lake gear, are sharper picks for the right person.
Frequently asked questions about gift cards in Minneapolis
What is the safest all around gift card for someone in Minneapolis?
For most Minneapolis recipients, a GrubHub or Best Buy card is the safest all around choice, because both fit the long indoor stretch of the year, one for the deep-freeze weeks when delivery beats leaving, the other for the screens and gear that fill a winter spent inside.
Which gift card is best for the brutal winter here?
GrubHub is hard to beat once the windchill turns negative, since it turns a night you cannot leave the apartment into a hot meal at the door. Buffalo Wild Wings and Dave & Buster’s are the runners-up for anyone who would rather escape to a warm room full of games and screens.
Is there a good gift card for Minnesota’s outdoors culture?
Bass Pro Shops is the natural fit for the land of ten thousand lakes, covering ice-fishing gear in winter and open-water tackle in summer. The nearest large store is an hour south in Owatonna, so many people in the city redeem it online instead.
What is a good gift card for a sports fan in the Twin Cities?
Buffalo Wild Wings is the clearest pick for anyone who watches the Vikings, Twins, or Timberwolves, since a lot of the region’s game-day gathering happens over wings and a wall of TVs. It is easy to split across a table and works for takeout on the app too.
Are these gift cards usable in the downtown skyway system?
Several are practical for the skyway lunch crowd, especially Five Guys and Peet’s Coffee & Tea, which suit the fast, warm, no-coat-required rhythm of eating downtown in winter. Coverage depends on the specific skyway route, so it is worth checking the closest location first.
What we found testing gift cards in Minneapolis
Key takeaways from our hands-on testing and store-level research across the area:
- Delivery wins the winter. GrubHub topped the list because a Minneapolis deep freeze makes at-the-door food less a luxury than a strategy.
- Hometown pride is real. Best Buy grew up in the Twin Cities, and a card for a long indoor season of screens carries a local loyalty other cities do not have.
- Sports are a shared ritual. Buffalo Wild Wings ranked high on the strength of Vikings, Twins, and Timberwolves nights spent together indoors.
- Practicality beats flash. Macy’s and Bath & Body Works earned spots on coats, boots, and lotion, the unglamorous gear a five-month winter demands.
- The outdoors still counts. Bass Pro and Amtrak are niche but distinctive, one for the lakes and ice, the other for the Empire Builder out of St. Paul.
Cite this research: BestGiftCards.org, “Best Gift Cards in Minneapolis (2026),” based on hands-on testing and store-level data.
References
- Prepaid and gift cards: your consumer rights (U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
- How to avoid and report gift card scams (U.S. Federal Trade Commission)
- Minneapolis visitor guide (Meet Minneapolis)