6 Towns In The Great Lakes With Thriving Local Businesses
You know the kind of town where the coffee is roasted in the back and the butcher knows your order by heart. These six Great Lakes towns still have it. Uncommon Coffee Roasters roasts its beans right downtown in Saugatuck. Port Washington bakes its bread by hand and cuts its meat at a real counter. Bayfield has no big-box store. Women own most of its shops. Lexington pours drinks in a tavern from 1860 and brines pickles five generations deep. Vermilion hangs art straight from its own makers. A few of these towns nap through winter. The rest never slow down.
Saugatuck, Michigan
Uncommon Coffee Roasters roasts its beans downtown in Saugatuck, where the whole block smells like it. J. Petter Galleries and the Saugatuck Center for the Arts hang regional art. The Butler Pantry has bottled its own jams and sauces on Butler Street since 1977.
Out in Fennville, Summerhouse Lavender Farm grows about 1,200 plants and turns them into its own soaps and lotions. The Ox-Bow School of Art teaches summer art classes nearby.
Lexington, Michigan
The Cadillac House opened in 1860 and came back as an inn and tavern in 2018, serving lunch and dinner. Gatherings packs an old storefront with antiques and vintage finds. 3 North pours its own beer and wine under one roof. Down the block, the Lexington General Store scoops penny candy by the piece over creaky wood floors.
Foley's Market has stocked groceries and fresh meat on Huron Avenue for over a century, where the street ends at Lake Huron. Inland in Croswell, the 3 North Vines vineyard grows the grapes that fill that taproom. On the edge of town, Gielow Pickles has brined cucumbers for five generations.
Bayfield, Wisconsin
Apostle Islands Booksellers shelves a whole section called Lake Superior Reads. Honest Dog Books hides a courtyard out back. Wonderstate Coffee pulls espresso through the winter. Eckels Pottery sells mugs and bowls thrown by local potters. On Wilson Avenue, Bodin Fisheries sells fresh and smoked fish from the day's catch.
Up the hill above Lake Superior, Hauser's Superior View Farm has grown apples for five generations. These days it presses its own hard cider too, sold right at the farm.
Port Washington, Wisconsin
The Daily Baking Company rolls out its pastries by hand every morning. A few doors down, Bernie's Fine Meats has worked the same butcher counter for decades. Banjo's Brews pours coffee inside Lakeside Music and Naturals, a coffee bar parked inside a music store.
Locally Inspired stocks nothing but Wisconsin-made goods. Pear & Simple fills its shelves with gifts and books. The whole strip is a block off Lake Michigan, so the shops fill the minute the boats come in.
Vermilion, Ohio
The Arts Guild of Vermilion lines its walls with local painters and photographers. Burning River Boutique sells art and prints from area makers. The Olive Scene hands out free tastes of its olive oils and balsamic vinegars.
Chez Francois has done the fancy French dinners on the riverfront since the 1980s. The Pavilion Grill takes the casual end. In summer, the Mystic Belle paddlewheeler putters up the Vermilion River into Lake Erie.
Chagrin Falls, Ohio
The Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop has scooped candy and popcorn beside the waterfall since 1875, back when it opened as the storefront for a flour mill the river powered. Fireside Book Shop has stacked three floors of books on Franklin Street since 1963. Yours Truly serves breakfast all day. Flour does Italian. Batuqui does Brazilian.
Geiger's has outfitted the village in clothing and ski gear since 1932. On summer Sundays, the North Union Farmers Market brings in Northeast Ohio growers. The shops here are open all winter, a short drive from Lake Erie.
The Storefronts Tell The Story
These Great Lakes towns never bothered with drive-thrus. They have a popcorn shop older than the light bulb, a coffee bar inside a music store, and a lavender farm that bottles its own soap. The owners know your name because they ring you up themselves. Some of these shops close when the snow flies. The rest pour coffee in January with the lights on. Either way, your money lands with a neighbor.
