Neighbors in central Lorain packed a Board of Zoning Appeals hearing to reject a plan that would turn the shuttered Apples Market on Meister Road into more self-storage space, arguing the plaza needs groceries, not more storage units. The store, once within walking distance for many nearby residents, closed permanently in October 2025, and neighbors say they were blindsided by the loss.
Resident Chris Barlow told News 5 Cleveland WEWS that everybody was shocked when the grocery store closed and that she now has to drive farther to shop. On a recent Wednesday, the drive from Meister Road to the nearest Walmart took just seven minutes, and that store has become her new go-to. Barlow said the Meister Road building should be turned back into a grocery store rather than filled with more storage units.
Neighbors Say the Nearest Full-Service Grocer Is Now Miles Away
Jim Brown, another longtime neighbor, said the old store had been within walking distance for everyone in the area and that the grocery options that remain cost more. Brown, who is 78, said he may have to stop driving before long, and some of his neighbors already lack reliable transportation to reach a supermarket. The nearest full-service grocery stores now sit nearly two miles from the shuttered Apples Market, and residents describe the surrounding central Lorain neighborhood as a food desert. The closest remaining full-service independent grocer, Fligner's Market on Broadway, is about 1.7 miles from the site, according to the Chronicle-Telegram.
Kossman's Storage Expansion Hits a Zoning Wall
The building's owner, Kossman Development Co., wants to expand its existing self-storage operation into the vacant grocery space and has requested a zoning change from general business to light industrial to accommodate a climate-controlled mini storage facility. The company told the zoning board that changing market conditions have made retail use of the property economically infeasible. Lorain's city legal team is now reviewing the zoning code language at issue in the case.
Kossman also argued the storage expansion would have no detrimental effect on neighbors, would generate less traffic than a retail or commercial use, and would not alter the character of the surrounding properties. Resident Chuck Jubick pushed back on that framing, saying he doesn't think the neighborhood needs a storage facility, it needs food.
A Rezoning Request Was Already Rejected Once
This isn't the first time the city has weighed in. In February 2026, the Lorain Planning Commission voted to deny a related request from Kossman to rezone the Meister Road parcel from business to light industrial, according to the Chronicle-Telegram. Mayor Jack Bradley abstained from that vote because his wife has a financial interest in another local storage business, the paper reported. Lorain updated its zoning code in 2021 to confine self-storage facilities to light-industrial zones, which is why Defender Self-Storage, which opened on the site in June 2020 under the old rules, needs approval to expand into the adjacent former grocery building.
Before the store closed, employees told the Lorain Daily that rising lease costs and unresolved maintenance issues at the facility contributed to the owners' decision to let their lease expire.
Landlord Says No Other Retailer Would Take the Space
Kossman has owned the Meister Road shopping plaza since the early 1960s, and the property has weathered long vacancies before, with CVS leaving in 2009 and A.J. Wright/Marshalls departing in 2013. Before pursuing the storage expansion, the company said it tried recruiting other tenants for the 50,000-square-foot space, including Marc's, Discount Drug Mart, Savers and gym franchises, but the Chronicle-Telegram reports all of them declined after internal feasibility and demographic studies. Lorain's Building, Housing, and Planning Director has said Apples Market itself saw steady sales declines after Walmart and Meijer opened nearby big-box stores.
Residents Push Back on Lorain's Storage Facility Boom
Council member Mary Springowski, whose family used to shop at the Meister Road Apples Market, asked what it would take to bring a grocery store back to the neighborhood. She disagreed with Kossman's claim that retail use of the property is no longer feasible and said the storage-facility plan amounts to passive income and an easy way out for the landlord that could worsen the city's food insecurity. Springowski added that storage facilities have become increasingly common in Lorain, often filling spaces vacated by other businesses without providing essential services, adding lasting value or creating lasting jobs.
Resident Pamela Carter called for a moratorium on new storage facilities in the city, arguing that an overabundance of them threatens neighborhood vitality and limits meaningful economic growth. Carter and other neighbors said they would rather see the Meister Road building rehabilitated as a grocery store than converted into another storage complex.
City Already Paying a Consultant to Recruit New Grocers
Mayor Bradley said in late 2024 that the city was examining ways to retain grocery stores and other resources in the neighborhood. That December, Lorain's Board of Control approved a $22,500 contract with Alabama-based Retail Strategies LLC to recruit grocery stores and pharmacies to underserved parts of central and south Lorain, the Chronicle-Telegram reported. Portions of Lorain's 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th wards are classified by the USDA as low-income, low-access food deserts, where residents live more than a half-mile from a full-service supermarket.
Ohio's Grocery Gap Extends Well Beyond Lorain
The struggle to keep a grocery store in central Lorain reflects a wider statewide pattern. A 2025 report from the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies found that 60 of Ohio's 88 counties contain both food and pharmacy deserts, a trend driven in part by a 16% decline in retail pharmacies statewide over the preceding decade, according to the Statehouse News Bureau.
For now, the Meister Road building sits empty, caught between a landlord who says traditional retail won't work and neighbors who say they simply need somewhere nearby to buy food. The Board of Zoning Appeals has yet to issue a final ruling on Kossman's variance request, leaving the future of the shuttered grocery site unresolved.
