Rochester, Michigan's Paint Creek Cider Mill Closing In December

For 9 years the Paint Creek Cider Mill at 4480 Orion Rd in Rochester, Michigan has been running strong and serving the community, not just cider & donuts, but have given customers their heart and soul in their family-owned business. Now, that family is devastated, as apparently The Oakland Township Board of Trustees voted to not renew their lease. Paint Creek has said they've never had an issue paying rent or being on time with it. As unfortunate as it is, when you don't own the property these things can happen.

This is where things start to get a little tricky though, as the owners Kristin & Ed Granchi broke the news, they sited that they believe there may be some back-pocket work at play. On voting day the Paint Creek Cider Mill's Facebook urged voters to "Use your vote wisely" as 4 of the board members had allegedly already chose to have an agenda to remove the family and employees from Paint Creek Cider Mill.They also claimed it would cost residents $10,000.00 to have the new operator there since they accepted a bid way lower than what PCCM had apparently been paying.

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Announcing The Closure

Sadly, the vote did not favor the Paint Creek Cider Mill and they'll be force to leave and close for good, which will make room for another business. But the announcement came with it's own controversy that has members of the community livid, as the family announced the closure:

The other Trustees would rather see the space leased to a person who runs an ice cream business in Lake Orion, and would like to have the same type of business now in Oakland Township. She will be leasing the space for $10,000 less a year, which means the citizens of Oakland Township will have to subsidize her rent and help pay for her use of that building. She plans on bringing in sandwiches from some outsourced place, and offer some sort of muffins and light foods to be available. She wants to film You Tube channels, and allow other small businesses to use this space to work out of, and she will also be open 6 days a week.

The reason people are so up in arms is that the new tenant of the building is apparently Alaina Campbell, who is also President at the Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce. Many people have voiced their anger, including a broken family who have been in business since 2021:

If you find this whole thing as crazy as we do, please contact the Oakland Township Board. Obvious politics have come into play here, at the expense of a hard working family. Please share this announcement with others, so they can come visit us before we must shut our doors.

The author of this article was raised in Rochester Hills, MI