Demolition for a parking lot; Three business forced to relocate

Three business in Duluth are spending their last winter together in the building that they share. Chinese Dragon, Hucklebeary, and Old Town Antiques will all be relocating or closing as the building will be demolished.

Chinese Dragon will be the only business that will not be relocating as the owners will be retiring.

The plans for the building space start with the demolition of the building and then a parking lot would go where the building stands.

About a week ago today Hucklebeary owner Emily Ekstrom got the notice that her business would have to move out by the end of this winter. She says, “It is hard as a small business to figure out what the next step is."

Emily gave us insight into the owners decision saying, “From my opinion the owners of this building are deciding, ‘let’s tear it down we’re not making any money on it and figure out our next steps.’"

She had also known ahead of time that the space wouldn’t be available to her business forever. Ekstrom said, “The original plans for this building was to build a hotel on top of where it is. And I think with superior street construction and the pandemic, things had to pause for everybody. Things had to change.”

But she reinforced the plans for the parking lot. “They don’t have plans to build right away. So the plans that they announced to us is that it will just be a parking lot for a period of time”, she says.

A parking lot taking the space where the three businesses have grown like family. The three businesses have become very close over the years. Emily says, "It is really sad because I’ve grown so close to my neighbors. We are really a community.”

And after the group’s Instagram live that notified customers of the news Emily says she saw the support roll in. “The amount of people who reached out to let us know they support us and they will follow us where ever we go it’s just overwhelming. We feel really supported."