Long-time restaurant closing doors

A dining institution in the region is closing after 44 years.

The Great Lakes Shipping Co. in Kalamazoo will serve its last meal and close its doors on June 30.

Owner Peter Cotter told the Kalamazoo Gazette that business has begun to dwindle in a changing market. He said, "You have to draw the line somewhere."

The property, at 425 W. KL Ave., is being sold, but the new owners don't plan a restaurant.

Cotter will turn 65 in July. He was a student working as a waiter when the restaurant opened in 1974. He moved to Ann Arbor to be an assistant manager at a new location in 1976 and was named general manager of an expansion in Traverse City in 1979.

He returned to manage the Kalamazoo site in 1981 and bought the restaurant in 1988.