One could forgive Hillsdale Market House owner Brett Boyd for mourning. Last month, he made what he called the “purely financial decision” to close the supermarket his great-grandfather founded 85 years ago.

But sitting in the Biggby Coffee he owns next to the shuttered Market House with near-empty shelves, Boyd is almost jubilant.

“First and foremost, I’m just utterly grateful,” Boyd told The Collegian in an interview this week. “It would be easy to be sour, but I’m not. I’m very, very grateful.”

Market House, which closed for good on March 29, was “pretty much a dinosaur,” Boyd said. He was its fourth-generation owner. Elmer Pearson, his great-grandfather and a meat-cutter by trade, opened the store downtown on North Howell Street in 1941. The supermarket did so well that it moved to its most recent location at 210 W. Carleton in 1973. Boyd took over the business from his father in 2003 and ran Market House as its owner for the last 23 years.

But the opening of two new grocery stores — Meijer and Aldi — drew shoppers away from the local grocer. 

The Biggby Coffee and Anytime Fitness franchises — which Boyd also owns — will remain open in the complex. So will the family’s grocery store in Hudson, about 17 miles east of Hillsdale.

“We’re fully committed to continuing our tradition there,” Boyd said. “But this one, this one hurt.”

The one-two punch

At a city council meeting in November 2017, Boyd spoke “through tears and in a voice cracked with passion,” as a Collegian reporter wrote. The council was considering what’s called a 425 agreement — a rezoning arrangement that would pave the way for bringing Meijer, the regional supercenter chain, to the Hillsdale area.

“What makes Hillsdale County unique is the family-owned businesses that we are so blessed to have in our midst,” Boyd said at the 2017 meeting. “My main concern is not just about Market House and the grocery business that could be impacted, but it’s the downtown. It’s the heart of Hillsdale, the heart of Jonesville. If you look at these folks who have a long history of giving back to the community, they’re at risk. They will be threatened. They will be threatened.”

Boyd spoke alongside a handful of other local business owners, including Rich Galloway of Performance Automotive, Terry Rummel of Current Office Supply, and Kevin Conant of Here’s to You Pub & Grub restaurant, according to the meeting minutes.

“I did speak out against the Meijer,” Boyd said this week. “I was vocal about it. I’d seen all these other family-owned supermarkets that ended up in the same spot we were in, and I’m like, ‘Listen, guys, we have a Walmart. We have a Kroger. Do we really need a Meijer?’”

The council voted down the measure that night but approved it at the next meeting. 

That was the one-two punch that took the business down, Boyd said. Meijer opened in May 2024 and Aldi in March 2025, both just north of the city on M-99.

A “slow bleed” of shoppers began, he said.

“We lost — with the addition of Meijer and Aldi — in the ballpark of about 100 grand a week in sales,” Boyd said. “And you just can’t — you can’t.”

Larger chain stores can get better deals from suppliers, Boyd said, pushing smaller, family-owned stores out of the market.

In September 2024 and April 2025, The Collegian conducted price comparisons of common products — such as cereal, chips, granola bars, beer, and energy drinks — between the grocery stores in and near Hillsdale. Aldi almost swept the September review, and Walmart had the lowest prices for nearly all of the April products. Market House never had the lowest price in any review.

Does Boyd think that, without Meijer and Aldi in the same market, his store might have remained open?

“For sure, for sure,” Boyd replied. “They’re good at what they do. They’re here for a reason. Kroger’s always been a strong competitor. But when you add two box stores with the kind of power they have, we’re not the first family-owned supermarket to succumb to them. We knew they were coming.”

But Boyd said he isn’t “bitter” about the new stores.

“Competition is king, and it’s what makes America great,” Boyd said.

‘We did everything we could’ 

As early as the 1980s, Boyd said he and his dad knew that if they didn’t differentiate their offerings from other stores, they wouldn’t survive. Over the years, Market House sported a pharmacy, a full-service post office, a Domino’s, and even a JCPenney catalog store. 

“Our post office and UPS store, it’s going to be missed,” Boyd said. “Because we had hundreds of people a day that shipped their packages out of here, hundreds.”

In the 2000s, the store opened a Blimpie Subs and Krispy Krunchy Chicken.

“We just recognized many, many years ago that if we’re just a grocery store, we’re in trouble, and we’ve always tried to identify needs within the community,” Boyd said.

After Meijer and Aldi entered the market, Market House opened Underdogs: Sliders, Spirits & Sports.

“We did everything we could to shelter us and propel us,” Boyd said. “I mean, who puts a sports bar in the center of a grocery store? We made every effort. We did a lot of things out of the box.

“Unfortunately, in the end, we lost the battle.”

‘Take care, partner’

Pearson, Boyd’s great-grandfather, helped build the Free Methodist church in Hillsdale.

“One of his claims to fame was he flew around the country to convince people to invest in Hillsdale,” Boyd said.

One of the people he met with was Bob Evans, the founder of the restaurant and food chain. Boyd’s great-grandfather made a pitch. 

“He said, ‘Hey, I want you to build a factory in Hillsdale,” Boyd said. “And it’s still here to this day.”

Evans traveled to Hillsdale, surveyed the property, and visited Market House.

“My mom remembers working in the store as a very, very young girl, and the real Bob Evans, with his bow tie, walks through the store,” Boyd said.

Boyd and Market House have tried to carry on his support for the community. The store would discount hot dogs for fundraisers or provide donuts for a school pep rally.

“Even in our toughest times, we rarely said no to a donation,” Boyd said. 

When the American Legion announced that it could no longer fund a firework show for the Fourth of July, Boyd said, a Market House employee came to him and said, “You’ve got to do something.”

“I agreed,” Boyd said. “We had had the fireworks for 80-some consecutive years. Market House and I spearheaded that event for 16 years, and then we passed the baton back to the Legion.”

Boyd said he hopes to see a revitalization of downtown, perhaps through the Hillsdale Renaissance project, which has bought real estate downtown, restored historic buildings, and aided local businesses. 

“I remember the days when downtown was vibrant. I mean, listen, at the end of the day — take care, partner,” Boyd said to a patron leaving the coffee shop, “at the end of the day, I want to see Hillsdale flourish. I want to see Hillsdale continue to get bigger and stronger.”