Month: November 2017

Counting down the days to the November 27 closing of the Circle K store at the southwest corner of Packard and Stadium. Here it is when fuel was a dollar a gallon. The Eighties?

This station and the Citgo across the street are the last two survivors of an era when Packard was positively lousy with fuel stops, particularly in Larrytown, where a Marathon, an Amoco, and a Stop-N-Go all offered fill ups.

I’m a little confused about the above photo. It is identified as the Stop-N-Go service station, but the pumps are clearly located in front of the building next door, which is now Packard Auto Repair. Here are both buildings today, and by today, I mean summer 2016:

There was an Amoco here too, also with a garage!

Most of the fuel stations buildings have been subsumed by the eclectic mix of eateries, music merchants, and auto repair, but the Stop-N-Go was later a video rental, a fish tank supply shop, and is now a dispensary as seen above. (I’m nearly positive I forgot an interim tenant. A pizza place?)

The Circle K site is getting a dramatic redevelopment while slated to remain a fuel station/convenience store. It is anticipated to reopen April 1, with more fuel islands and a new store building with closer parking. It is not expected to keep the significant buffer between the store building and the backyards of the Iroquois Avenue residents — the new site plan calls for a number of new trees, so hopefully they help insulate Iroquois from the sound and light you expect to emanate from a 24-hour convenience store.

For a while, the building had this cool window with rounded corners. I think this faces west toward Stadium Boulevard.

I assume Circle K chose 11/27 as the last day because it keeps them open through the end of the Wolverines’ football season season, and most specifically The Game. This is the closest gas station to the stadium, and like most area gas stations, they recently added beer to their offerings (but not, like, great beer).

Personally I’m crossing my fingers that the new station’s soda fountain has either Coke Zero or Cherry Limeade.

Something new happening at Maple Village — the outlot building facing Maple Road is being heavily revamped.

This building was once the auto and tire center for Kmart, a longtime Maple Village resident until its closure three years ago. After that, it was the last Radio Shack store in Ann Arbor until that chain’s bankruptcy and contraction.

Are they doing something new and dramatic, or did Radio Shack’s closure just give the management an opportunity to update the facade of the building? When I know, I will write something here, but don’t hold your breath waiting for me to ask someone.

P.S. I went to Sierra Trading Post recently. It was fine. Looked like there were some good deals there, but I was looking for a specific thing and they didn’t have any.

Tonight I noticed that the big shutters are up on the windows at the Dairy Queen on Packard, just south of Stadium, signifying closure for the winter season — a particularly early closure by their standards.

This particular location is famous for staying open late into the fall, weeks or months after the Stadium location calls it a year. (I talked it up earlier this year, which seems like a mistake in retrospect.) I typically try to make it there on or near the last day of the season, for the novelty of it. On November 22, 2015, I was the stand’s final customer – a cold, dreary Sunday night when I brought frozen treats home to my family.

I don’t know how long the Dexter location stays open. It’s an outdoor stand like the Packard and Stadium locations, and I would imagine it weatherproofed itself a few weeks back. But I can tell you where you can go right now for a Dilly Bar.

The Ypsilanti location near EMU has plenty of seating, a full menu, and is open nearly year-round. (They usually close from around Christmas until February.)

If the Ypsi store’s too far, or if you’re reading this on New Year’s Day or something and need to get your Peanut Buster on, then you have but one choice: the Saline Dairy Queen on Michigan Avenue. It has an indoor counter, albeit minimal seating, and is open even on nights it probably shouldn’t be open.