Top business stories of 2019 | Business – Traverse City Record Eagle

TRAVERSE CITY Churn is a theme that ran like a long unbroken thread through the tapestry of local business news in 2019.

Other major business stories of 2019 included the continuing shortage of workers in general and in the building trades in particular; a construction boom in and an around downtown Traverse City; the addition of more summer-season flights (several non-stop) into and out of Cherry Capital Airport; and efforts at Discovery Pier to attract more cruise ship traffic.

A cherry industry effort to tax unfairly priced imports of dried cherries from Turkey led by northwest Lower Michigan cherry processors marched through the halls of Washington D.C. all year. The effort is supported by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Michigan), who testified before the U.S. International Trade Commission on Dec. 3. The ITC is expected to issue a final determination on the request for import duties on or about Jan. 21.

Financial institutions made their mark on downtown Traverse City in 2019:

Sanctuary Handcrafted Goods owner Christie Minervini in August was named one of the Top 10 Retailers to Watch at the inaugural Retail Renaissance awards, part of NY NOW.

Readers of http://www.Record-Eagle.com were most engaged in 2019 by our September story announcing the closing of the Ruby Tuesday restaurant in East Bay Township. The bigger story, though, is that 2019 was an active year for both openings and closings across a wide swath of the retail and service industries. Churn the regular process of business turnover seemed particularly rapid this year.

The No. 3 most-read business story of the year dealt with the October closing of a Wendys franchise in East Bay Township (the franchisee plans to build a replacement elsewhere in town). Coming in at No. 7 was the closing of the La Senorita restaurant on Garfield Avenue (the La Senorita at 2455 U.S. 31 south of town remains open).

Locally owned restaurants in Traverse City also closed in 2019:

Those closures were balanced by the openings or expansions of new restaurants to serve area diners, including:

Churn also was visible across Traverse Citys retail scene:

West Side Beverage, 912 W. Front St., broke ground in November on a $1.1 million expansion project that will double retail space and add a pair of second-floor two-bedroom condominium units.

The Keith J. Charters Traverse City State Park isnt exactly a business, but it made the list of most-viewed business 2019 stories on http://www.Record-Eagle.com.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources closed the campground in September for an enhancement project that includes electrical service upgrades and a new restroom building. The 348-site campground (plus group camping area and two rental cabins) is set to reopen May 15.

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Top business stories of 2019 | Business - Traverse City Record Eagle