diff --git a/earthaccess/api.py b/earthaccess/api.py
index 19391264..a10ee0e2 100644
--- a/earthaccess/api.py
+++ b/earthaccess/api.py
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@
 from fsspec import AbstractFileSystem
 
 from .auth import Auth
+from .results import DataGranule
 from .search import CollectionQuery, DataCollections, DataGranules, GranuleQuery
 from .store import Store
 from .utils import _validation as validate
-from .results import DataGranule
 
 
 def search_datasets(
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ def login(strategy: str = "all", persist: bool = False) -> Auth:
 
 def download(
     granules: Union[DataGranule, List[DataGranule], List[str]],
-    local_path: Optional[str],
+    local_path: Union[str, None],
     provider: Optional[str] = None,
     threads: int = 8,
 ) -> List[str]:
diff --git a/earthaccess/store.py b/earthaccess/store.py
index d4e7f181..cfe7bc79 100644
--- a/earthaccess/store.py
+++ b/earthaccess/store.py
@@ -453,6 +453,12 @@ def get(
         Returns:
             List of downloaded files
         """
+        if local_path is None:
+            local_path = os.path.join(
+                ".",
+                "data",
+                f"{datetime.datetime.today().strftime('%Y-%m-%d')}-{uuid4().hex[:6]}",
+            )
         if len(granules):
             files = self._get(granules, local_path, provider, threads)
             return files
@@ -464,7 +470,7 @@ def get(
     def _get(
         self,
         granules: Union[List[DataGranule], List[str]],
-        local_path: Optional[str] = None,
+        local_path: str,
         provider: Optional[str] = None,
         threads: int = 8,
     ) -> Union[None, List[str]]:
@@ -492,7 +498,7 @@ def _get(
     def _get_urls(
         self,
         granules: List[str],
-        local_path: Optional[str] = None,
+        local_path: str,
         provider: Optional[str] = None,
         threads: int = 8,
     ) -> Union[None, List[str]]:
@@ -523,7 +529,7 @@ def _get_urls(
     def _get_granules(
         self,
         granules: List[DataGranule],
-        local_path: Optional[str] = None,
+        local_path: str,
         provider: Optional[str] = None,
         threads: int = 8,
     ) -> Union[None, List[str]]:
@@ -599,7 +605,7 @@ def _download_file(self, url: str, directory: str) -> str:
         return local_path
 
     def _download_onprem_granules(
-        self, urls: List[str], directory: Optional[str] = None, threads: int = 8
+        self, urls: List[str], directory: str, threads: int = 8
     ) -> List[Any]:
         """
         downloads a list of URLS into the data directory.
@@ -616,14 +622,10 @@ def _download_onprem_granules(
                 "We need to be logged into NASA EDL in order to download data granules"
             )
             return []
-        if directory is None:
-            directory_prefix = f"./data/{datetime.datetime.today().strftime('%Y-%m-%d')}-{uuid4().hex[:6]}"
-        else:
-            directory_prefix = directory
-        if not os.path.exists(directory_prefix):
-            os.makedirs(directory_prefix)
+        if not os.path.exists(directory):
+            os.makedirs(directory)
 
-        arguments = [(url, directory_prefix) for url in urls]
+        arguments = [(url, directory) for url in urls]
         results = pqdm(
             arguments,
             self._download_file,
diff --git a/tests/integration/test_api.py b/tests/integration/test_api.py
index 5736fa50..71745ff5 100644
--- a/tests/integration/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/integration/test_api.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # package imports
 import logging
 import os
-import shutil
 import unittest
 
 import earthaccess