School, Spirit

Latest from Maple Village: I had some business to conduct at the Secretary of State office (it’s Michigan’s equivalent to the Department of Motor Vehicles). And although I have a marvelous device with me at all times to help me survive a wait in such an office, I didn’t need to wait today.

Mi-TimeLine is awkwardly named, but worked a treat. I “checked in” after lunch, received a spot in the virtual line, with text updates estimating when to arrive. They adjusted their estimate about 45 minutes sooner over the afternoon. I arrived at the final estimated time and found my number at #1 on the “next” board. I was out with my new plate and tags five minutes after walking in. It was as close to joy as I have ever experienced in an SOS office. It’s a good thing they didn’t take my ID photo, I would have done the Calvin Smile.

There is nothing going on yet in this corner spot adjacent to T-Mobile:

Near the main driveway into Maple Village, this is the site along Maple Road that mall management is trying to get a restaurant for:

Still no sign of Ulta Beauty. I think Ulta will go into that empty spot near Dunham’s, if it doesn’t go into the empty spot near Kirkland’s.

Here’s the latest work on the enormous LA Fitness box going up on the south end of the site. Longtime visitors will remember a Hardee’s restaurant here where the building starts (old-school Hardee’s, before they merged with Carl’s Jr. and became their midwest twin down to the star logo), later replaced by Golden Chef, a Chinese restaurant that eventually burned down.

Rumor had a west-side Tim Horton’s going on the site, but those rumors never came to fruition. Hardee’s neighbor was Frank’s, a beloved nursery and craft supply store headquartered in Troy that wound down in the late ’00s (previously on A2RS).

Another Michigan chain that used to be in Maple Village is Church’s Lumber Yards, long ago a fixture in the back corner behind the Village Pharmacy (also gone). When I was young, Church’s was a fixture around the Detroit area — a lumber yard with a hardware selection. When big-box lumber and hardware chains Builder’s Square, HQ, Home Depot, and Lowe’s all rose to prominence, Church’s vanished. But unlike Frank’s, they didn’t die out. They achieved the “right-sizing” that so many chains try to nail when they close stores. Church’s is now two locations north of Detroit, focusing on projects and professionals.

After Church’s deconstructed the space became an Anytime Fitness franchise. That Anytime location recently moved to a renovated space on Jackson Road between the I-94 on-ramps, which opened this space up for… go ahead and guess. I mean it’s almost September, what are we missing now besides pumpkin spice?

Yup, seasonal Halloween pop up stores! They’re coming, y’all!

Spirit Halloween will be here in Maple Village. I didn’t want to take photos in the windows, because there are literally workers setting up displays right now, amidst some abandoned Anytime Fitness design accents.

Blogfriend Dan will be pleased to hear that Spirit is also coming to Briarwood, joining its sister chain Spencer’s on the JC Penney side of the mall.

This space most recently held a pop-up bounce house activity center, before its bisection, to open a nail salon with direct entry to the parking lot.

Dan also discovered on a recent excursion that Halloween City, the pop-up sister of Party City, is moving into the recently vacated Toys R Us store at Arborland and, post-Hallows, will remain longer as Christmas City. I am uncertain whether this is a holiday decorations concept or part of Party City’s excursion into pop-up toy stores to fill the void left by TRU.

People have occasionally asked me what was going on with that corner by Michigan Stadium. Well, now you all know it’s a tanning salon with a membership model. (Maybe they all have membership models, I wouldn’t know, because I don’t tan — at least, not with intent.)

Deep in the comments, someone mentions in the Ann Arbor Townie Group that the MDen owns that corner, but only really needs it to locate a pop-up store for home football games, to add to their permanent stores within Michigan Stadium and Crisler Center — so it wouldn’t make sense to open a permanent location there. (Is it hearsay if it’s attributed to an actual person?) It is much smaller than any of their other locations I have visited, and the large windows mean they can’t hang clothes on that wall (unless they put racks in front of the window, making the space even smaller and filling the window with the back of clothes racks). I also anticipate the stock space is probably very roomy for a mobile phone retailer, but would quickly become cozy with garments.

Here’s what MDen feels they need — a new storefront at Briarwood filled with upscale Michigan gear from the likes of Brooks Brothers and Vineyard Vines. I don’t have any photos but hit up that MLive link, there are all the photos your rheumy eyes can stand. This is connected to their longtime Briarwood store next door, much like their State Street location.

Aunt Agatha’s closed a few days back. They had sales on their remaining stock the last few weeks, then offered for free what was left over on the last day. Soon after that, a photo of a rollaway full of books made the townie-book rounds. It’s really hard to get rid of old books that nobody wants. It’s difficult to recycle them due to fabric book covers, old glue in the binding, etc. I don’t think Aunt Agatha’s had a lot of choices.

Finally, from South Industrial, two exciting pieces of news:

• Pileated Brewing is expanding its hours. Pileated has made major strides since its opening toward the back of the small office and retail space most famous for hosting the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop. Both businesses support the schools at least indirectly – Pileated is co-owned by two AAPS teachers. Traditionally they had a limited schedule where they were closed on school nights, but they recently hired help to work the taps, so they’ll be open Tuesday through Saturday this school year. They also installed some softer lighting in the seating area and stopped using the industrial-ish fluorescent tubes.
• Ann Arbor T-Shirt Company, the print-on-demand apparel operation, is moving from across the street to ?, if the for-lease sign can be believed:

  

• Ricewood’s season ends Saturday with tacos. Here’s the Thursday lunch crowd avoiding the last-day lines::

  

  The line moved pretty fast, they had three men in the truck, and I managed to get brisket, so, you know, yay me. I think the plan is still to move them inside Morgan & York, who now serve beer and wine by the glass, and put a taco truck here. Frank, Ricewood’s owner, just opened Poçai a few blocks up Packard, and is starting over with a new crew at Ma Lou’s, his waffle place chicken joint in Ypsi.

Happy end of summer!