Exiles off Main Street: How former downtown Ann Arbor businesses are thriving in new locations

Elmo Morales at his shop on East LibertyElmo Morales loves Ann Arbor's Main Street, but after 28 years he had to leave it. Last year, rising rents compelled the owner of Elmo's Main Street T-Shirts to relocate to a smaller space at 404 E. Liberty.

He's not alone, either. Lately, it seems as though every other week brings news of another downtown mainstay selling off or shuttering its doors. And over the course of nearly three decades on the city's main thoroughfare, Morales has watched as the tides of change reshaped downtown.

"Because housing is expensive, people are moving away or to the edge of town, so downtown isn't the place to come and see friends anymore," Morales says. "The camaraderie isn't there anymore."

With the announcement just a few days before Christmas that the Blind Pig is up for sale, many Ann Arborites have worried that the town's reputation as a cultural hub may be in for a change as well. However, a look to the outer edges of the city limits offers hope that independent businesses can still survive and thrive in Ann Arbor outside downtown proper. Like Morales, many beloved businesses have swapped prime downtown real estate for more remote spots – but so far they're counting more pros than cons.

"A thousand percent for the better"

Dana Forrester and James Trunko at Lucky Monkey Tattoo ParlorWhen Dana Forrester opened Lucky Monkey Tattoo Parlor in February 2002, she says her block of Ashley between Liberty and William was "sort of the unofficial red light district" of downtown. Back then, the block was owned by Al Nalli (the original Lucky Monkey shop was located in the former Al Nalli's music shop), and over the course of the next few years the block became something of a destination.

Unfortunately, in Forrester's opinion, it was precisely that success that seemed to catch the attention of ophthalmologist Dr. Reza Rahmani, who bought the entire block in 2015. Though Nalli assured Forrester that nothing would change, it wasn't long before Forrester was priced out of the building where she had built her reputation.

"Basically, rents were doubled," Forrester says.

Realizing they were locked into their lease until October 2016, Forrester and her husband spent the next nine months scrimping, saving, and getting pre-approved for mortgages. Fortunately, the hard work paid off, and the couple were able to purchase their own building at 3024 Packard Rd. (in the same strip mall that now houses the popular Pointless Brewery and Theatre, at the intersection of Packard and Platt).

Despite her initial dismay at having to relocate, however, Forrester projects positivity when asked how the move has impacted her business.

"I'd say the move is a thousand percent for the better," she says. "We own our building. It's very affordable. There's free parking and our clients are loving it."

The cost of doing business downtown

Not surprisingly, parking is a factor that comes up time and again when former downtown business owners air their grievances. The exasperation in Forrester's voice is palpable when she recalls clients dashing out of their chairs, mid-tattoo, to feed a meter for fear of getting ticketed.

Furrokh Khan at Once Upon a GrillThe same strip mall Lucky Monkey relocated to also beckoned to Forrester's downtown neighbor Furrokh Khan. The former manager of downtown's Eastern Flame eatery is now the owner of the Once Upon a Grill restaurant at 3148 Packard Rd., just a few doors down from Lucky Monkey. Both seem happy to be neighbors again, and while Khan's motivations for moving were a bit more complicated, his wide smile while discussing the matter says nearly everything there is to say regarding his decision to leave downtown.

"The cost of doing business downtown is very high," Khan says. "Your profit is not there. Sometimes you don't even make money. That's the nature of downtown."

Over at Eastern Flame, Khan didn't sleep for days at a time while operating during regular business hours and also catering to the after-bar crowd. That "cost of doing business" was almost more than monetary when Khan suffered four heart attacks in one month. Though that and a family illness prompted him to take two years off, Khan is thriving at his new location and relishing the opportunity to share his savory creations with a curious new crowd.

No more racing take-out orders to customers who can't find parking, or dealing with the ravenous drunks who would stir up trouble.

"There would be fights," Khan sighs. "I've seen zero of that out here so far."

Recapturing community

Jeff Jackson at SevaDrunken mischief was hardly an issue at Seva, one of Ann Arbor's most popular vegetarian restaurants since 1973, but its downtown location is now just another fond memory. Jeff and Maren Jackson purchased the restaurant in 1997, inheriting a lease on the repurposed VFW hall Seva occupied on Liberty Street. Over the years, the Jacksons watched as Liberty transformed from a "pass-through corridor," in Jeff Jackson's words, to a destination unto itself. They also watched in dismay as what Jeff Jackson describes as "funky, groovy" mom-and-pop businesses were steadily priced out of the city.

In 2014, the Jacksons realized that racing to keep up with rising rents was a losing battle, and decided to move Seva to a new location at Westgate Shopping Center. Jeff Jackson describes the move as "extremely positive," allowing the restaurant to expand a bit after having "maxed out" the potential of its downtown space. And at least a bit of that "funky, groovy" spirit moves with Seva to Ann Arbor's growing "New West Side" – not far from yet another soon-to-be downtown expat, the Kiwanis Thrift Sale. The Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor, well known for its Saturday morning sale at its East First Street location downtown, is currently preparing to consolidate operations to its larger space at 102 N. Staebler Rd., just off Jackson Road.

Kiwanis spokesman Dan Dever at his downtown Ann Arbor law officeKiwanis spokesman Dan Dever describes the move as a positive one for Kiwanis, and says the local business migration out of downtown is part of a slow cultural change that he traces all the way back to the openings of Briarwood Mall and Arborland Center.

"It's not like the fall of downtown," Dever says. "It's just a continuation of the trend."

And as that trend continues, businesses are rediscovering and recreating downtown's community spirit in their new spaces. Forrester suggests that as downtown loses its "eclecticism," people will begin to turn towards the outlying communities their favorite businesses have flocked to. She says she's already found an extremely welcoming community among her new neighbor businesses along Packard, and she hopes Lucky Monkey will help to make the strip even "stronger and more vibrant and more desirable."

"Everybody's happy to be there and maybe that's because it's a little more affordable," she says. "I don't know. There's just less pressure and more joy."