Nestled among Granville’s shops and restaurants, the Kussmaul Gallery sits at 140 E. Broadway, its glass window marked by two large white “K” letters.
Inside is elegantly crafted glassware, candles, home décor, hand-blown glass pieces and a display of art in the building next door — a connected but separate business — by artist and business owner James Young and his wife, Jennifer Young, who manages day-to-day operations and sources vendors and artists. Together, the spaces draw in locals, visitors, Denison students and parents.
The gallery is listed for sale for $350,000 with its current inventory, while the artwork in the adjacent space will continue to be sold by artist James Young. No real estate is included in the sale. Young will retain ownership of the property, and the buyer of the business will become a tenant of the property.
“The owners are doing some life changes and decided it would be a good time for them to move on from the retail part, not from the art part,” said Park Shai, broker for this sale and the owner of Newark-based Shai Hess Commercial Real Estate. The Youngs reached out to Shai in November after an unsuccessful sale with the previous broker.
The Youngs were not available to comment prior to publication.
Shai said the Kussmaul Gallery has been a staple in the community for over 20 years and the intent is to keep it that way under a new owner.
“The family has been here for a long time, and [the owner] has history with that building,” Shai explained. “I believe it was his grandfather who had a printing press there years and years ago.”
Kussmaul’s home on Granville’s main street was not originally a boutique. It began as a meat and wool warehouse in 1828, and later became home to the Granville Times Printing Company, which published a local newspaper, according to Kussmaul’s website.
James Young took over the top floor of the Granville Times building in 1987, launching the Kussmaul Gallery as a “small consignment gallery and frame shop,” according to Kussmaul’s site.
In 1995, the Youngs moved into the ground floor space of the building, where it still resides today.
Donna Chang writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.