Month: August 2017

On the west side, this week’s big announcement: City Council approved LA Fitness joining the discount department stores, and Plum Market, at Maple Village. Their 35,000ish square foot facility will be a new build, on the site of the current English Gardens.

Longtime Detroit area residents know English Gardens is a higher-end garden shop, and Frank’s Nursery was a multi-state discount garden and craft supply chain. Frank’s folded in the late 2000s, and English Gardens assumed its space in Maple Village not too long after. With a covered but open-air area, another garden shop was a logical choice.

English Gardens, according to the Ann Arbor News, is doing great business at Maple Village, but MV’s new owner Brixmor is aggressively making it over. It’s been reported that Radio Shack’s Maple Village store was forced to close – perhaps just hastening an inevitable demise. Sofia’s Tailoring recently told the AA Observer interesting stories of dealing with the management there, as well.

English Gardens hopes to relocate in the Ann Arbor area. They have other locations throughout the Detroit area (West Bloomfield above) and I am confident they will continue their seasonal sales at Briarwood.

The impending destruction of the former Frank’s store at Maple Village signals the end of its retail footprint in Ann Arbor, after Dollar Tree moved into Frank’s old Washtenaw location across from Arborland. Below, see the store before the shopping center was reenvisioned, and its open-air section was flattened to make room on the end for DXL Big & Tall and Olga’s Kitchen.

I’m not exactly sure where the next-closest Frank’s was, or what it is now, but I recently drove past the Frank’s on Haggerty Road in West Bloomfield, and it is still occupied only by temporary stores like fireworks merchants and halloween outfitters. Three moves later, we still use many of the tools we picked up for cheap near the end of that location’s liquidation sale. The below Street View is worth clicking through if you like annoyed geese, as well as a Street View Car selfie courtesy of the store windows.

Joe's Crab Shack has now closed down. pic.twitter.com/Z8fW4KWphE

— Only #AnnArbor (@OnlyAnnArbor) August 15, 2017

This is what our good friends in the United Association for Plumbers, Pipefitters, HVAC, etc. are seeing when they descend on State Street this month after their annual training events.

Game vendor Get Your Game On has expanded into phone repair, a niche that is likely underserved by downtown’s existing wireless carrier stores on Liberty, Main, and Fourth-Washington. (Carrier stores mostly want to get you to extend your contract and are less likely to repair existing equipment when they could offer you a new phone with a re-up.) The last phone repair store downtown was on Liberty between Maynard and Division and closed, I think, last year. You may remember its creepy rocking-mannequin porch decoration.

Joining it next door is Roasting Plant coffee, ready to try to crack the State Street block. They have an uphill battle being located between Espresso Royale, Starbucks, and the newly relaunched Michigan Creamery (formerly Stucchi’s), which incorporated Bearclaw Coffee into its new menu.

Sandwiched between them is FICO, also known as Fair Isaac. Fair Isaac is not actually Poor Richard’s fairer brother, but is in fact one of the US’ big three credit reporting agencies. I cannot vouch for the quality of their coffee, and never will.

Restoration and updates continue on the State Theater. The marquee looks shiny and new and some kind of construction is also happening:

Meanwhile, further south near 94, construction continues unabated on Whatever’s Going In Front of The New Hyatt.

I originally thought this was gonna be a restaurant, but the drive-thru lane appears to host a big concrete block with a door behind it instead of a signboard and a window, so I have this pegged as some kind of banking institution now. Most area banks have a location within a block or two of Briarwood already. A number of them are within Briarwood Circle, in fact. But I suppose one could choose a more visible location, or more convenient to the highway, for quicker getaway after a robbery. Banks are about convenience more than ever these days.

Bagger Dave's has departed the Colonnade center on Eisenhower Parkway. Ann Arbor was the second location for the chain, originally founded in Berkley (near Royal Oak). Bagger Dave's was created by a Buffalo Wild Wings franchisee interested in creating their own restaurant concept. They originally opened as "Bagger Dave's Legendary Burgers and Fries," which was a little bit Will Smith and a little bit Barney from HIMYM. They had good beers, good burgers with interesting toppings like basil, and perhaps most importantly, an enchanting electric train that continuously ambled around the perimeter of the restaurant, high above our heads. We got them for takeout fairly regularly when we lived nearby, too.

Shocked to learn that Bagger Dave's in Brighton has closed. That was my first job out of high school.

— Jacob W. Schenk (@JacobWSchenk) August 4, 2017

In recent years, they changed their burger recipe to a single, larger patty instead of double-stacking smaller ones, and ditched Coke to offer their own "craft-brewed" sodas alongside the craft beer. They made a bad mistake on my wife's burger last time we went, and the listless service on top of that was bad enough to skip it from then on.

They are survived locally by their neighbors Moe's, whose customers will miss borrowing their wifi, and Applebee's, who continue to do the beer and burger thing next door to the Colonnade.

I like Five Guys, but I like Bagger Dave's better; unfortunately ours, if not the chain, went out of business. https://t.co/tKIEQdHyM9

— Dadger @ IFC (@ItsBrimstone) August 4, 2017

The whole chain hasn't closed at this point. They're still numerous north of Detroit, and there are a few outliers in southern Ohio and Indiana.

[Closeup of Bagger Dave's closing announcement from store window. (C)A2R.S]