After 31 years in St. Paul, Traditions Classic Home Furnishings is leaving Grand Avenue for the suburbs.
Store owners Mike and Suzanne Schumann plan to focus on expanding their store on Excelsior Boulevard in St. Louis Park, which they’ve operated since 2008. They also own a store in Naples, Fla.
The Grand Avenue location, which specialized in upscale home accessories, will close by Jan. 31, Mike Schumann said in a written announcement. The building has been sold to real estate investor Mark Vannelli’s Oxford Hill Development Group, which owns a property across the street that houses a CVS Pharmacy.
Vannelli, who is still fielding possible tenants, said he plans to update the interior and parking lot of the 1940s-era retail store while keeping intact its red brick exterior and distinctive wood trim. “We’re keeping that building,” he said. “We have no plans to tear it down.”
Traditions’ departure comes at a time of notable turnover on Grand Avenue, when restaurants and retailers such as Bonfire, Garden of Eden bath supplies and Sunrise Market have closed, changed hands or rebranded themselves. The Bibelot gift store will close in early 2019.
Schumann, a vocal critic of city policies in recent years, sued St. Paul in 2016 to appeal his street maintenance assessments, with limited result. He was also a vocal critic of protests in front of the Governor’s Residence following the 2016 fatal police shooting of St. Paul school cafeteria supervisor Philando Castile in Falcon Heights.
“St. Paul is our home and Summit Avenue is our neighborhood; we did not make the decision to leave lightly,” Schumann said. “For years we’ve expressed our concerns to the city of St. Paul over tax increases and the expansion of regulations that are leading to more and more small businesses closing on Grand Ave.”
“When we opened our first store at Selby and Dale 31 years ago, we had tremendous support from the city’s political leadership and staff,” he said. “Lately the attitude of the city has shifted from offering a helping hand, to trying to raise revenue by aggressive enforcement of parking and other regulations.”
Schumann, who lives in St. Paul, has also been a vocal critic of organized trash collection, which began Oct. 1 in the city. As the owner of two residential units, he objected to new city rules requiring landlords to provide voter registration information to new tenants.
St. Paul city officials had no immediate comment Friday evening.
Schumann, who has 13 employees across his properties, said no employees will be laid off as a result of the consolidation.
