Noticed tonight that 800 West Eisenhower, the easternmost building at Cranbrook, has something going on in there:
This building originally opened as a “Kids ‘Я’ Us” store. Kids ‘Я’ Us sought to bring the excitement of Toys ‘Я’ Us to children’s apparel, but just ended up being the disappointing, toyless cousin of Toys ‘Я’ Us. Eventually the separate locations were closed, and when Arborland was converted to its current outdoor shopping center format, the Toys ‘Я’ Us store actually had a Kids ‘Я’ Us section inside it. This was short lived, as you know if you have visited there since. (Babies ‘Я’ Us is still a thing, though.)
After the closure of Kids ‘Я’ Us, the building had a successful run as an Office Depot. In 2013, Office Depot merged with OfficeMax, and the combined chain now had two large stores very close by, and this one was wound down. (OfficeMax’s west-side location is in Oak Valley Center, between Target and Chuck E Cheese.)
In the ensuing years, this location has primarily served as the seasonal home of a Halloween costume store. But that might be about to change. What’s coming to this space? I haven’t the slightest idea, but I feel like the sudden collapse of Old Country Buffet left a buffet vacuum, so I’m going with MCL Cafeteria. You heard it here first. And last.
You know, I had to copy all the Backwards RS out of another page and paste them in.