“It’s just like time. It’s time to make the move to go… been around here long enough.”
Bill Bennett has been running Elliott’s News in downtown Grand Rapids since 1973; that’s when Bennet’s father bought the business from original owner Don Elliott. Although the newsstand has had a presence in various locations around downtown over its 100-year history, its final home was in McKay Tower. Bennett says that while retirement is the main reason for the newsstand’s closure, there were other factors.
“All the things that happened downtown. It’s tough for business downtown. It is. No one expected COVID, and people moving out of downtown. The old lunch hours aren’t like they used to be. COVID took away a lot of people with work at home.”
Bennett mentions things like higher parking fees, public safety concerns, and the rise of the internet as additional reasons for a downturn in his business.
“The print papers, print magazines, yeah, they’re all going downhill. Internet taking over a lot of stuff, certainly. Mom and pop shops, I’m sure they’re all struggling with stuff like that. I think mom and pop shops are going to disappear.”
But through it all, Bennett says it’s been a great ride and he has few regrets. Most of all, he says he’ll miss the customers.
“They’re a memory, and you’re going to keep that memory. Even all the ones that you’ve known and have passed away. Yeah, you will always have that memory.”