Ypsi-based real estate company Yarrow launched Around Ypsi. This community-focused interactive map of the Ypsilanti area highlights businesses, special-interest points and provides video content created by Yarrow.
Yarrow began in 2021 after brothers Dylan and Jake Cinti purchased their first property, now known as The Castle at 5650 Whittaker Road. Since their purchase, the two brothers have spent the past four years focusing on buying and restoring buildings that they believe represent the landscape of the Ypsilanti community.
While Yarrow has since purchased three additional properties at 717 N Congress, 308 Ballard, and their first commercial real estate acquisition in 2024 at Yours Truly Event Venue, at 114 W Michigan Ave, their latest project, Around Ypsi, aims to highlight the city’s abundance of small businesses.
Dylan Cinti described the interactive map as an overview of a handful of businesses designed to bring people from surrounding communities to Ypsilanti. The map offers a diversity of options, highlighting cafes, event spaces, festivals and service providers.
“It’s not a comprehensive map of businesses. There are 130 or so businesses, whereas we only have 12 entries on the map, but we are growing the map,” Cinti said. “What is best for small businesses is best for the community as a whole and everybody benefits.”
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The interactive map highlights businesses like Bridge Community Cafe and Encuentro Latino restaurant, both located in Downtown Ypsilanti. On the map, viewers can click individual properties to see a detailed summary of each location, with photos of their products and a video interview with business owners and frequent customers.
“The videos cost, on average, two to three thousand,” Cincinnati said. “If we are doing the videos quickly, it is around three weeks to complete, because we have to coordinate with the business owner. We have to film at the business, and it is the editing, where we try to piece together the story of not just this business, but how this business folds into the broader community of Ypsilanti.”
According to Cinti, he offers this service to business owners free of charge. Cinti said each listing has received around 5,000 views, on average. However, he said some videos have received up to 30,000 views.
“Our tagline was ‘a place you are proud to call home.’ It was intentionally not referring to our spaces. We want Ypsilanti to be a place that people are proud to call home,” Cinti said. “I don’t think the map will ever be complete. We don’t view this map as the definitive guide to Ypsi businesses. That is not how we positioned it. The map is a sample of what you get coming into Ypsi, but we are going to continue to create these video assets and play an ongoing role in supporting the businesses that we cover in the series.”
Regarding what business is next, Cinti said they plan to highlight the Book Love Bar, a local independent bookstore located at 110 W Michigan Ave, which neighbors his own building, the aforementioned “Yours Truly.” He notes the map is simply a sample of Ypsilanti, so not every building will receive this coverage.
“In the composition of the map, we are very intentional about highlighting. We want the map to be the appetizer, and invite everyone to Ypsi for the main course,” Cinti said. “We are trying to highlight Ypsi, and we are going to continue producing this content. We are grateful for everything that small businesses do in Ypsi, because I think running a successful small business is about as hard as it gets.”
For more information on Yarrow and the Around Ypsi interactive map, visit liveyarrow.com.
Antonio Cooper is a freelance journalist from Detroit, Michigan. His coverage of music festivals and interviews with local celebrities appeared in The E-Current Magazine, The Detroit Metro Times, XXL Magazine, RichMagDigital, The Ann Arbor Observer, and Pop Magazine.
