What's New on St. Joseph Street? A Fall Stroll Through Suttons Bay's Changing Downtown

The suite at 321 North St. Joseph Street used to be HomeTown Pharmacy. Since June it has been a whiskey tasting room. Down the street at 420, the building that held North Country Grill and Pub for years and then North Country Kitchen and Bar now serves margaritas under a third name. The Bahle's Annex space on M-22 sells small-batch jam. On West Fourth Street, the Traverse City shop that bought Forget Me Not Florist has set up in a building that had been sitting empty.

Downtown Suttons Bay changed more in the last eighteen months than a quick drive down M-22 would show. It changed through the front doors people already knew. No buildings came down to make room for the new names. The newcomers moved into existing rooms, and at least one of them said plainly that it chose Suttons Bay for the people who live here.

Same doors, new names

Here is the past year and a half of change, organized by building:

Every new arrival in the table moved into an existing commercial building. A small village downtown with a fixed stock of storefronts tends to change this way. The building outlasts the tenant, and each tenant fits its business to rooms that were laid out for something else. A pharmacy suite has a counter, shelving walls, and a storefront meant for quick in-and-out visits. A gallery has open floor and wall space for display. Both layouts carried over into their new uses with less trouble than the change in signage suggests.

A restaurant that kept its owner and changed its menu

The building at 420 North St. Joseph Street shows the continuity most clearly. The Leelanau Ticker traced its history. Barry Boone, the restaurateur behind Boone's Prime Time Pub, Boone's Long Lake Inn, and Boonedocks, opened North Country Grill and Pub there in 2008. His wife Karen ran it until early 2023, when she sold it to Matthew Branton. Branton renovated the kitchen and dining room, reopened in June 2023 as North Country Kitchen and Bar with a Lowcountry southern menu, and in June 2026 switched to a new concept, Cantina TwentyTwo.

He calls it a "Mexican-inspired restaurant with a patio driven experience featuring waterfront views." Branton's announcement highlighted locally sourced ingredients, fresh seafood, and house-smoked meats, plus a bar program of margaritas, tequilas, bourbons, and mezcals. When it opened, the restaurant posted hours of 11am to 9pm Sunday through Thursday and 11am to 10pm Friday and Saturday. Happy hour ran 2 to 5pm and again from 8pm to close, with $2 beers, shots, and tacos. Those were the summer hours. A call ahead in the off-season is the safer plan.

So the corner has had one owner and three identities in three years. The room has stayed in the same hands and kept being reinvented.

The tasting room that arrived by accident

Grand Traverse Distillery never planned to come to Suttons Bay. According to The Ticker's June 17 story, the company lost its stall at 110 North Lake Street in Leland when the lease ended last fall. It went looking for another spot in Leelanau County. Its Leelanau staff found the former HomeTown Pharmacy suite at 321 North St. Joseph Street, and the distillery signed a lease in early August.

"Then, literally two weeks later, we found out we were able to get a spot back in Leland," Chief Financial Officer Joe Kolar told The Ticker. The company now has two Leelanau tasting rooms.

Marketing Director Claire Moen explained why the second shop still made sense, and her explanation supports this post's main point. "Leland, just being much smaller and having so many tourists in the summertime, has a different feel. We find that Suttons Bay has a little bit more of a local presence," she said. The plan was to offer tastings and bottle sales over the summer and then add cocktails in the fall. "We want that to be a place where locals can come in after work and have a drink before going to dinner or heading home."

As of early October we could not confirm whether those fall cocktails have started. The distillery's tasting room page lists Suttons Bay hours of 11am to 5pm Sunday through Thursday and 11am to 6pm Friday and Saturday. Its cocktail section names only the Traverse City and Frankenmuth locations. The tasting room can confirm what it is pouring.

The Suttons Bay room is also tied to a local nonprofit. Under the distillery's single-barrel program, each tasting room partners with a nonprofit that picks its own barrel, and part of that barrel's sales goes back to the group. Inland Seas Education Association is the Suttons Bay partner. It chose a 4.5-year bourbon made from an unusual blue and white corn mash. Kolar said the partners rotate each year.

Up the street, a reopening and a coffee bar

Northern Latitudes Distillery is a few doors away at 310 North St. Joseph Street. It closed its Suttons Bay tasting room on March 29 and reopened on July 10, three months later. At the time, The Ticker reported that the coffee bar was not running yet but would be "returning soon."

The Northern Latitudes Suttons Bay page now lists a full Higher Grounds coffee bar along with spirits and cocktails. Posted hours are 11am to 6pm Monday and Thursday through Saturday and 11am to 4pm Sunday. It is closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

With 310 and 321 both open, one stretch of St. Joseph Street now has two distillery tasting rooms. One of them serves coffee in the morning hours.

Jam in the Annex, flowers on Fourth

The Bahle's Annex closing was the change most likely to feel personal, since the store had been there for 40 years. The space went to American Spoon, the Petoskey-based maker of small-batch jams and preserves. The company signed the lease in late February and opened in mid-June, according to the Leelanau Enterprise.

Store manager Christy Androsky, who lives in Suttons Bay, told the Enterprise the company had been looking along the Leelanau shore for several years. "Suttons Bay has been a little bit of a dream of ours for a while," she said. She also pointed out how close the store is to where the fruit comes from. Bardenhagen was the first farm to supply American Spoon's first product, an early glow strawberry jam the company still makes. "So much of our produce comes from the farmers that are just down the road," Androsky said.

Just off the main street, The Flower Station opened its Suttons Bay shop at 73 W. Fourth St. The Traverse City florist's owners, Dan Rohe and Meghan Wells, bought Forget Me Not Florist in April. They first planned to open in Forget Me Not's space behind Poppy Things downtown, then chose a vacant building on Fourth Street in the plaza in front of Hansen's. They moved in early June, held a soft opening in late June, and cut the ribbon on Wednesday, August 26. The Enterprise listed hours of 10am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.

The new building gives the shop room to work. "The space is really wide open and there's a lot of room for things that we don't have room for in Traverse City including classes and special events," Wells told the Enterprise, adding that much of the shop's wedding prep has moved to Suttons Bay.

Walking it this fall

The fall calendar offers several good reasons to walk downtown and see these spaces in person. Dates come from the Suttons Bay Chamber of Commerce calendar and The Ticker's autumn guide.

• Through October 12: VI Grill's Oktoberfest, with beer specials, Bavarian pretzels, and traditional German dishes.
• Friday, October 16, 5 to 8pm: The Chamber's Fall Artisan & Wine Walk, a store-to-store stroll with local artists, wine, beer, or cider samples, live music, and prizes.
• October 22: The Bay Theatre's Made in Michigan film series hosts a special screening of Grounded, a feature-length documentary about regenerative farming made by Interlochen Arts Academy students.
• October 26 to 31: Book-or-Treat at Suttons Bay Bingham District Library, where kids up to age 12 can pick out a new book to keep.
• Saturday, October 31, 4:30 to 5:30pm: Village Trick or Treat, with participating businesses handing out treats, followed by a trunk or treat at the Suttons Bay Fire Station.
• Saturday, November 21: Friends & Family / Pack the Pantry, with storewide discounts at participating businesses and a collection of non-perishable food and hygiene items for Leelanau Christian Neighbors. The Chamber's page also mentions November 22 in one spot, so check the date before you go.
• Saturday, November 28: Holiday in the Village & Santa at the Bay, with a 2pm family movie and Santa arriving at 5pm for the tree lighting. The Chamber says more details are coming.

The Wine Walk is the easiest evening to see the new spaces in one loop. Start at 305 for M22, cross to 310 and 321 for the two tasting rooms, and continue to 420 for Cantina TwentyTwo. That covers four of the past year's changes in a few blocks.

What's next on the list

The next change to the village's public spaces is at the water. The Village of Suttons Bay projects page lists a marina public comfort station for spring 2027. The page does not give a construction schedule.

On the Leelanau Trail, TART Trails said culvert work at Leo Creek was expected to begin September 14, 2026, with a temporary detour. TART has not posted a completion date. If you ride or walk the 17-mile route toward Traverse City this fall, check TART's page for the current detour status first. TART is also planning a Birch Point trailhead with parking, restrooms, seating, and public art. That project is in Elmwood Township, outside the village.

Our work at Tandem Real Estate includes a lot of what this year's newcomers did on St. Joseph Street: taking a building designed for one use and making it work for another. If you own an older Leelanau building and have a new use in mind, whether a storefront, a carriage house, or an ADU over the garage, we'd be glad to walk through it with you and talk about what the structure can handle. Contact Us.