Monahan's Has Been Selling Fish in Kerrytown for 45 Years. Mike Monahan Is Still Behind the Counter.

Walk into the Kerrytown Market building on a Saturday morning and follow the crowd past the produce vendors and the flower stalls. At the far end, behind a glass case packed with whole fish, fillets, and shellfish on crushed ice, you will almost certainly find Mike Monahan. He has been standing behind that counter since December 1979, and he does not appear to be slowing down.

Monahan's Seafood Market is 45 years old. In a city where restaurants and food businesses cycle through identities every few years, that number demands a pause. Forty-five years in the same building, selling fish, with the founder still working the counter most days. His brother works there. All three of his children have worked there at one point or another. It is a family business in the most literal, unglamorous sense.

The Origin Story

The founding of Monahan's connects to a consequential moment in Ann Arbor food history. Mike Monahan co-founded the market with Paul Saginaw, who would go on, just over two years later, to co-found Zingerman's Delicatessen with Ari Weinzweig. That 1982 opening turned into a multimillion-dollar food empire. Saginaw moved on. Monahan stayed with the fish.

There is no bitterness in that story, just diverging paths. Saginaw built Zingerman's into a national brand. Monahan built a seafood counter that has outlasted nearly every other food business in the city. Both outcomes are impressive. Only one of them required staying in the same room for four and a half decades.

The Lunch Counter

If you know Monahan's only as a fish market, you are missing one of the best midday meals in Ann Arbor. The lunch counter operates Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the premise is simple: anything in the case, they will cook for you.

Point at a piece of salmon. They will grill it, put it on a plate with rice and vegetables, and hand it to you for a price that makes downtown lunch menus look predatory. Atlantic Salmon Burgers, $9.95. Salmon Teriyaki, $16.95. Fried Calamari, $11.95. Cajun Shrimp, $10.95. These are not numbers we see often from a Kerrytown business.

On Sundays, the counter shifts to bagels with lox and chowder from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., which is a quieter, more contemplative version of the weekday operation.

What 45 Years Means

Saveur Magazine named Monahan's one of the top seafood markets in the country back in 2004. That recognition came when the business was already 25 years old. It has now been operating for two decades since.

Kerrytown itself has changed around Monahan's. Vendors have come and gone. The neighborhood has gotten wealthier and more self-conscious. Spencer opened a wine shop and restaurant a few blocks south on Liberty Street. The Farmers Market keeps growing. Through all of it, Monahan's has stayed the same size, sold the same product, and kept the same person behind the counter.

There is a version of this story that frames longevity as resistance to change. That misses the point. Monahan's has lasted because the model works. Fresh seafood, sold honestly, at fair prices, by people who know what they are talking about. Forty-five years of evidence suggests there is nothing wrong with that approach.

Monahan's Seafood Market is at 407 N 5th Ave, Ann Arbor, inside the Kerrytown Market building. Retail hours: Mon-Fri 8 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Lunch counter: Mon-Sat 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday: bagels with lox and chowder, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.