Employees of Cannavista Wellness, a marijuana shop and dispensary in downtown Buchanan, help customers recently. Staff photo by Robert Franklin
Even with some ambitious redevelopment efforts over the years, large sections of southwest Michigan remained in decline, dotted with empty warehouses and storefronts.
Clark Equipment once offered thousands of jobs in Buchanan. So did National Standard, Tyler Refrigeration, Simplicity Pattern and other companies in and around Niles.
But as those businesses started moving, closing or scaling back, the cities were left with abandoned and decaying buildings.
And eventually stores in once-busy downtowns started closing too — thanks to evolving shopping preferences and the loss of residents who had to drive or move elsewhere for jobs.
Then the state moved to legalize marijuana.
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