Gibraltar Trade Center to close in Mt. Clemens

The Gibraltar Trade Center in Mount Clemens, the 600,000-square-foot home to bargain hunters, on Sunday announced it was closing, hurt by online sales.

The announcement about the iconic weekend shopping destination was made on Gibraltar Trade Center’s website. The announcement said the property had been sold and would close Aug. 27.

“Market factors played the most significant role in this decision,” said President and CEO Bob Koester. “The impact of online sales on small brick and mortar businesses is substantial. Declining revenue and sales are forecast to continue to accelerate in the years to come.”

Gibraltar Gun and Knife Shows and Gibraltar Rug & Furniture Outlet in Warren will continue to operate, the company said, with three more rug and furniture outlets planned throughout Metro Detroit.

“We would also like to say thank you for 37 wonderful years,” the company said.

The Mount Clemens site closure follows the shuttering of its Taylor location in November 2014 after 20 years. The family owners said the Taylor site closed to make way for Menards, the Wisconsin-based home improvement chain. When that Downriver location closed, some of the vendors said they were moving to the trade center building off of Interstate 94 in Mount Clemens.

The Gibraltar Trade Center has been owned and operated by the Koester family since its inception in 1980. Jim Koester was in the auction liquidation business; in 1980, he bought a 60,000-square-foot building in Gibraltar as a place to hold closeout auctions. Soon, the family started a weekend market.

By 1982, they had purchased the iconic 320,000-square-foot facility off Interstate 75 in Taylor and put in a much bigger weekend market. The bazaar-like venue became home to hundreds of vendors. It soon became a shopping destination.

“It was my dad’s vision: We started the market (in Gibraltar) and it was doing quite well,” said company president Bob Koester in 2014. “Then when my dad bought this in ‘82 and we moved out here, it just exploded.”

By 2014, it was time to merge the two markets when Menards bought the 80-plus parcel.

The center recently was in the news when Amor Ftouhi was charged in the stabbing of Flint airport police Lt. Jeff Neville on June 22. Investigators said he attempted to buy a gun in the United States. The FBI would not say if the attempt was made in Macomb County, but the trade center issued a statement June 22.

“This is an active investigation by the FBI and Gibraltar Trade Center is cooperating completely,” according to the statement. “Any statements or details must come from the proper law enforcement officials.”