Monahan's Has Been Selling Fish in Kerrytown for 46 Years. Mike Monahan Is Still Behind the Counter.
The co-founder of Ann Arbor's most enduring seafood market hasn't missed many days since 1979.
Monahan's Seafood Market has sold whole fish, fillets, and shellfish from the same counter inside the Kerrytown Market building for 46 years. Mike Monahan, who co-founded the business, still works the counter most days. His brother works there. All three of his children have worked there at one point or another.
In a city where restaurants and food businesses cycle through new names and new owners every few years, that kind of run demands a pause. Forty-six years in the same building, selling the same product, the founder still on the floor. 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 nearly five 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 46 Years Means
Saveur Magazine recognized Monahan's as one of the country's notable seafood markets 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-six 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.