“My sense is that the market is starting to turn,” says Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Bob Pierce about the newest business ventures in town. “Major investments can come to fruition now that two years ago might not have happened.”
Grass Lake resident Chris Martinson’s dream of opening a brewery in Chelsea is certainly closer to reality: in March, he signed a lease in the factory building of the Clocktower complex and plans to open the Chelsea Alehouse Brewery there this fall. Martinson is the former quality control manager for a biotech firm and has been an avid home brewer for about ten years. His wife, Aubrey, the former director of the Chelsea Center for the Arts, now stays home full-time with their children.
“It all made sense,” Martinson says. “Chelsea needed a brewery and we knew the community.” He will brew beer on site—eight different beers, to start—that he’ll serve with sandwiches, meat and cheese plates, and pub pretzels, most made using local suppliers. Seating is planned for about seventy indoors with a space for live music; a beer garden will add “the largest outdoor seating in Chelsea.”
The historic Main Street storefront that housed Winans Jewelry for more than a century until it closed at the end of 2010 will become The Potting Shed on Main. “It was meant to be,” says Bonnie Cook, who with her husband, Scott, runs the original Potting Shed on Middle St., an eclectic shop that sells contemporary and vintage-themed gifts, plants, and garden accessories and also offers a second-floor baby boutique. The Cooks plan to open the second location in mid-June featuring jewelry, scarves, purses, and accessories, as well as lake-themed items with vintage flair.
Family Farm and Home plans to open in August in the former Pamida location—vacant since the end of 2010—on Chelsea’s south side. The Michigan-based company has twenty stores selling hardware, automotive, pet supplies, work and casual clothing, lawn and garden, and farm supplies.
Chelsea native Matt Swope purchased downtown’s Pierce’s Pastries Plus from owner Margo Tolliver in April and plans to open the Firehouse Eatery & Market in the location later this year. Pierce’s—which was owned by four different families through the years—was started by Bob Pierce, who says the business had “a great sixteen-year run.” Tolliver, who ran the bakery for just over a year, says she was forced to sell it because of illness. “It makes me so sad because I enjoyed it so much,” she says.
Margo Tolliver’s son, Phil Tolliver, and his wife, Jennifer, sold True North Jerky Co., their business on Old US-12 in Oak Tree Plaza, to brothers Joe and Al Wesolowski. The couple will instead focus on a new business planned for the downtown area that they were not ready to announce at press time. They will continue to run their Bearclaw Coffee Company franchise next door to True North Jerky.
The Potting Shed on Main (opening mid-June), 108 S. Main, 475–8086. Mon.– Sat. 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.–4 p.m
True North Jerky Co., 12855 E. Old US Hwy. 12 (Oak Tree Plaza), 475–1300. Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Sun. noon–5 p.m.
