Lobby Shops to bring local retailers inside downtown Ann Arbor library

CBS News

21-07-2025

Long gone are the days when you could only rent books from the library. Now you can borrow tools, plant seeds, and even a space to grow your business.
The library in downtown Ann Arbor says you can expect three new retail stores to open on its first floor. After you check out your book at the AADL, soon you'll be able to stay and shop at a couple of local businesses without having to leave.
"Friends of the Library moved out last year, freeing up this small space in the downtown lobby. There wasn't really much we could do with it," said Ann Arbor District Library Director Eli Neiburger.
Neiburger says they wanted to see if any entrepreneurs could make better use of the rooms. He says that led to using these spaces to pilot business incubators, which in turn led to more than 50 applications.
"It's an opportunity for small local businesses to get some retail space that would otherwise never be available to them," he said.
Instead of paying full price for commercial rent in downtown Ann Arbor, these businesses will only pay between $100 and $250 a month for a six-month term, according to Neiburger.
That includes the owners of Silky Grooves, who say $200 is what they might spend for a vendor slot at just one show. Now, that's roughly the cost to have their storefront for a whole month.
"You can't get real estate at that price in Washtenaw County, let alone downtown Ann Arbor. So it's a really great opportunity for someone to incubate a small business and for the library to support that work," Neiburger said.
He says these lobby shops will also pilot how first-floor retail spaces could perform if an August 5 vote on expanding the library's footprint with a mixed-use development next door is approved.
"One of the great uses of that space would be for the retail incubators to be over there, because then they could have their own entrances and still be managed by the library," he said.
Those six-month leases can extend an additional six months if both the businesses and the library are seeing success at the lobby shops. At the end of the term, Neiburger says they'll reopen applications to give a new business a chance to occupy that space and test the market.