ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Two longtime downtown Ann Arbor businesses have announced plans to close at the end of the year, citing rising costs of goods, increasing rent, and a decline in foot traffic in the area.
Downtown Home and Garden is closing after 30 years in business. It’s the latest of several downtown businesses to announce its closure this year, joining stores such as Ten Thousand Villages and 16 Hands.
The store’s last day open will be Christmas Eve.
Owner Kelly Vore says the lack of pedestrian traffic and the city’s efforts to reduce vehicle traffic, which her business relies on for customers to drive up to the storefront to pick up products, have led to the decision to close.
“No one is going to ride their bike for a 50-pound bag of bird seed, no matter how you look at it,” Vore said. “Diminishing vehicle traffic and that being a mission definitely affects our approachability.”
Vore said the rising cost of rent also played a factor. Even after cutting her staff from 18 people down to 10, it wasn’t enough to make ends meet.
“I did apply to extend my lease for five years with optimism of trying to kind of turn things around,” Vore said. “When I did that, I was given just a one-year option with an announcement of a pretty significant rent increase.”
After 15 years with the business, Vore says she currently has no plans to relocate or reopen the store.
“It’s a heartbreak. There is no doubt about it,” Vore said. “I don’t know if this is the end of this kind of business in downtown Ann Arbor. If we aren’t able to have a robust return on it, it would be hard for anybody else to do it.”
Just a block away, Kilwins Ann Arbor is planning to close its doors on Dec. 31.
Co-owner Chera Tramontin says that, due to the lack of foot traffic, her store has relied on extra business during game days and holidays, but it hasn’t been enough.
“It’s the in-betweens, the everyday, it’s your lunch hour which is gone,” Tramontin said. “There’s no lunch hour down here anymore, no ‘lunch rush’ so to speak.”
Tramontin also noted that the cost of goods like cocoa has skyrocketed in recent years, with tariffs expected to further increase the price.
“When we opened the store, we were at $8.99 a pound for chocolate, and now we’re at $42.99 and going up,” Tramontin said. “In the end, the numbers don’t add up.”
Her mother opened the store more than 40 years ago in 1983, and it was the first Kilwins franchise store. Now, it’s an emotional experience saying goodbye to our beloved customers and staff.
“Having that little uniqueness that we were able to create at that time, now is not what Ann Arbor is looking for anymore,” Tramontin said.