Benjamin Twiggs opens new downtown Traverse City store on Front Street

Benjamin Twiggs opened its new downtown Traverse City store at 305 W. Front Street Suite D, next to Mundos Coffee, with a ribbon cutting Thursday afternoon and free parking out front. The move gives the longtime cherry business roughly twice the production space it had before, and downtown now gets another locally rooted shop built to pull people deeper into Front Street.

The bigger question is what the store adds that shoppers could not get at the old location. Leisa Eckerle Hankins said the new space is meant to become the flagship of the west end, with room for in-house product development, wine and chocolate tastings, chef demonstrations, educational classes focused on cherries and a cafe area where slices of pie can be served. Venture North also described plans for a future grab-and-go section and sweets cafe, turning the shop into more of an experience than a simple retail stop.

That strategy leans hard into Benjamin Twiggs’ history. The brand calls itself a “Cherry Tradition Since 1966,” and Eckerle Hankins bought the business in 2019 and took ownership in January 2020. She is a fifth-generation fruit farmer from Leelanau County, and the family’s farm base stretches across more than 257 acres in Suttons Bay and six additional farms in Leelanau County, with more than 20,000 cherry, peach and apple trees. Wood trim from the farm inside the new store is meant to bring that orchard identity into a downtown setting.

The timing also fits Traverse City’s biggest seasonal draw. The 100th National Cherry Festival runs July 4-11, 2026, and official festival materials say the event began in 1925 and now draws more than 500,000 people each year. Eckerle Hankins has said she wants the new location to help celebrate both the festival centennial and America 250, tying the shop to the city’s marquee summer crowds rather than treating it as a stand-alone store.

The grand opening weekend stretched from June 4 through June 7, with complimentary drinks and cherry samples, Friday participation in the Downtown Traverse City Art Walk with Jennifer Way and wine pourings from Black Star Farms, a Saturday tasting with Olivia Cote of Up North Charcuterie and a Sunday Family Day. That kind of programming shows confidence in downtown foot traffic, but it is also a test of whether shoppers will keep backing businesses with deep regional roots after the festival crowds thin.

For Benjamin Twiggs, the move is more than a new address. It is a bet that Front Street can still reward authentic local brands, and that the cherry business can capture more value by bringing the farm story closer to the customer.