Category: Uncategorized

FIRST OF ALL: Please revisit last week’s post about the State Theater and Urban Outfitters. I have updated it to include Russ Collins’ assertion that UO is negotiating a new lease and not necessarily leaving.

READERS WRITE: Jeremy recently asked what I know about the history of the current Pretzel Bell, on Liberty and Main. You may have realized by now that I pretty much only do research for this thing to find old photos, so hopefully you won’t be too disappointed if I just recall this for a moment.

Prior to the current, less-divey Pretzel Bell, this space was Lena and Habana, a Cuban restaurant upstairs and a bar downstairs. Cafe Habana was originally on Washington Street below the Blue Tractor and proved so popular it was spun out into its own space. I never dined at Lena, but Habana had good chips and salsa and a couple of their own-label beers that were drinkable and I suppose I’m sorry to see them gone.

Before it was Lena and Habana, it was the Parthenon, a Greek restaurant. I took a little ribbing last week for saying UO was open for “zillions” of years on State Street, so I’m going to be more conservative this time and note that Parthenon was open for at least five but not more than one hundred years.

Before that it was a Cunningham Drugs, a Detroit-based chain which, long after this location became the Parthenon, would eventually become part of another Detroit chain, Arbor Drugs. Arbor Drugs would eventually be acquired by CVS Health.

I’m Of A Certain Age and, though I’m largely used to it now, I still can’t quite describe the je-ne-sais-quoi of CVS as a legit drugstore. CVS was originally introduced to the Detroit area as a drugstore substitute in all the local malls. They had the general-merchandise, health-and-beauty, and snack stuff you find in a CVS of today, though they did not have a pharmacy. They are open later than the mall now, and actually fill prescriptions! You kids don’t even know how “okay, I guess” you have it!

Here’s the first Amazon Locker I have observed in Ann Arbor. It’s outside the Speedway fuel station/convenience store at North Maple Road and Miller Avenue, near Skyline High.

You can specify this Locker, one of many throughout the world, as your ship-to location instead of your home or office; when your order is delivered you receive a code via text that lets you open a door and retrieve the shipment at your convenience.

If this sounds familiar to you as an Ann Arbor resident, it’s because you are a patron of the Pittsfield or Malletts Creek branches of AADL, who have offered this service for hold requests for years.

This is Speedway’s latest foray into self-service colocation at one of their always-open stores;; in the twilight of Blockbuster Video a few years back, they placed a Blockbuster Express — essentially a Redbox, but blue — just inside their State and Ellsworth location, near the front door and the ATM. Unlike that kiosk, this Amazon Locker is located outside the building. Its touch screen was not yet operational today, but the protective plastic bubble over its security camera has already been shattered.

UPDATE: Russ Collins, Executive Director and CEO of the Michigan Theater Foundation, believes reports of UO’s departure are exaggerated. His post below:

https://www.facebook.com/russ.collins.507/posts/10214605192382339?pnref=story

MTF owns the State Theater upstairs, so Russ has particular insight. He can’t be talking about me, of course — nothing about this site should be construed as journalism — but I stand by the historical portions of my post. Please continue to treat the world-burrito-shops part as speculation. Thank you for reading, A2R.S

Wednesday night, news that Urban Outfitters is leaving State Street after about a zillion years hit the streets, from, of all places, Ypresario Mark Maynard.

I consider this a seismic shift for State Street retail. UO’s space was originally the main floor of the State Theater, a single-giant-screen movie palace built in the early forties, then converted to four screens in the late seventies. (If inside the store, I believe, the giant “URBAN” logo on the back wall is where the big screen used to be.)

Although the ground floor was completely renovated for Urban Outfitters’ opening in the early 90s, the two upstairs theaters were left as-was, and were reopened by Aloha Entertainment as a second-run bargain theater in the 90s.

A few years later they pivoted to more Michigan-Theateresque indie and arthouse fare. I caught “Clerks,” “Kids,” and “The Blair Witch Project” here during their original releases. Those are the first three that come to mind. Finally, they joined the Michigan Theater Foundation and became part of their programming schedule, with additional classic midnight-movie selections.

The State is presently closed for renovation to make it ability-friendly and to restore its original 40s look. I kind of hope they fix it so you don’t have to look slightly to the left at the screen all the time.

Urban Outfitters’ space might be the first in a while big enough to open one of those too-small mini Target stores with no selection, but I can’t imagine how they will manage the deliveries. Apple could make it work, but Briarwood will never let them leave. I predict that it will be divided into at least two storefronts, and each space will be a different regional-cuisine take on the burrito or wrap sandwich. State Street doesn’t have enough sandwich places.

There’s always the possibility these days that U-M or a dot-com will take it for office space too. But I’m still betting on the sandwich places.

It is well worth your time to click through to Mark Maynard’s post, he and his commenters ask some great questions about what’s going to happen to local retail. In general, I predict a continuing shift to services and experiences, the kind of things you can’t get in a box that comes tomorrow from Amazon — though I still think a little Target store will come here eventually, for students who enjoy the shopping experience as well as the unprepared who can’t wait for Prime.

Big changes in a small world, Liberty between downtown and Scio Township: a sudden closing and an omen of things to come.

A reader reports that Pizza Pino is now closed on Liberty at First Street. Despite the name, Pizza Pino was one of those shops that had pretty much everything on the menu, including sandwiches and seafood. They were open until ridiculously late, which made them an ideal after-party destination for nearby bars and clubs.

Their single-slice sales were usually cold pizza under glass, which they would put back in the oven and warm up — not my favorite way to eat pizza, though for some reason I’m usually okay with it when NYPD does it. Still, I will miss this place’s garlic knots at 2am after a good show at the Blind Pig (just like, someday soon, I’m sure I will miss the Blind Pig).

“But their site is still up, B-Dub,” you’re saying. This seems to be a common malady among independently owned takeout shops. Bell’s Pizza has been gone for a year, and yet if you google, there are still sites that will gladly take your money to order from them. The end, no moral.

 

Pino’s location was apparently a house once upon a time, later a gas station. Eventually it became a paint store, which outlasted its beloved but bygone neighbor Schlenker Hardware on the block, but finally moved to South Industrial. This opened the space for Pizza Pino about ten years back, a harbinger of Downtown’s shift from service businesses to dining and retail.

Further west on Liberty, Buster’s convenience store is becoming Buscemi’s, a legendary Detroit area chain:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=469960383396916&id=397056667353955

Depending on how you look at it, Buscemi’s are either party stores with exceptionally good pizza, or very well-stocked pizza and sub shops. There’s been a convenience store here for years. When we were younger, it was called Liberty Market, but was eventually rebranded Buster’s after the owners closed the original Buster’s Market closed at Packard and Platt. (The site is now a Rite Aid.)

I would provide further details, but I have a problem. Every time I turn into this shopping center, I have to go to Chela’s. Sorry.

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.

https://twitter.com/OnlyAnnArbor/status/897290731022364672

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]

I wrote last week’s update about Craft Brewwwww City on the way out of town. I shot the photo of their coming soon banner literally out of the AirRide bus window (only TWELVE DOLLARS!).

I was headed to a work conference in the mountains west of Denver, about eight thousand feet up. I was fortunate to attend this conference last year too. The area is best known for its ski resorts (Keystone, A-Basin, Breckenridge) but in the summer it’s a quiet and lovely place to relax and learn about the latest innovations in instructional technology.

Last year when I attended this conference I misjudged the dress standard and packed slacks. I quickly realized that it was less business and more casual and regretted not bringing some shorts. On the way in, I had noticed a Sports Authority on Route 6.

That’s it above, in the boom times of 2008. Unlike Ann Arbor, Google doesn’t send Street View trucks into the mountains every couple of years.

By the time I arrived for my conference, the Sports Authority chain was well into its bankruptcy sale, but there were still some decent men’s shorts to be had for a pretty good price. I think I paid $16 for two pairs. Still wear them all the time.

I drove the same route this year and was happy to discover that this big box was quickly renovated into an REI store, the first in the area (the next closest location is 67 miles away in Denver – read the linked article for some of that local sporting goods retail drama you crave).

Another fun thing about this area is that everything looks like a ski lodge. I assume there is municipal guidance to ensure this. (There is! Kudos to A2 Commr. Weatherbee for pointing me to Dillon’s documentation. Checking it out is worth the 56k-esque download time.)

Here’s City Market, next door to REI:

City Market is a division of Kroger and once you get inside this store it looks like every other Kroger you’ve ever seen. Same layout, Kroger brand products. I even swapped my Kroger Plus keytag for a City Market one, with a big red strawberry. It is the most mundane souvenir I have ever taken from a trip, but I think of the mountains every time I go to Kroger now. (PROTIP: If you just hand your keys to the clerk at your local Kroger, they won’t necessarily recognize a City Market keytag as, but it scans just fine. It appears in my Kroger account as a “Sooper Card,” derived from another Western Kroger division, King Soopers, but again, it is totally valid in Ann Arbor.)

Here’s a Target for good measure.

As I always say, I sure wish Ann Arbor had a few mountains in the distance, but we do okay in terms of rivers and lakes.

Looks like they’re cramming in one more building off of the State and Ellsworth roundabout, behind the recently opened Jimmy John’s and Belle Tire.

This looks a little too wide and narrow to be one thing, and there doesn’t appear to be a drive-up window. Given the proximity to new hotel development and current business presence, I’m going to guess it’s a small strip mall, and it’s going to have a Quizno’s, a hair salon, and a vape shop. FreezingColdTakes, come at me in a few months.

North of I-94, the Hyatt Place is just about complete. Its outbuilding, less so. Still not sure what this building is gonna be:

Squarish. Slightly higher ceiling in back. Drive Thru signboard facing State Street. Probably a fast food restaurant.

No logos or design elements that I recognize. Maybe it will be a new concept to the area, but it seems more likely that a familiar name is getting a new location nearby.

The Wendy’s on Boardwalk Drive exists within this block, albeit not necessarily connected by a driveway.

It’s existed largely unchanged for decades, albeit with minor branding updates. It has a huge queue area for the counter, though I imagine it’s full most weekday lunch times.

The Burger King on Victors Way is not far away, around the corner. It’s a very unique building, especially for a fast food restaurant.

Ringed with conifers, exposed rafters, porthole windows, and an atrium help distract you from the usual fast-food-restaurant molded plastic furniture. At one point the BK regional headquarters was attached to the back, though it’s offices for an insurance firm now.

Am I really telling you to go eat a Whopper just for the building? If we’re being honest, I would have told you to go eat one anyway, because I give terrible advice. But this location is still worth checking out before they inevitably conform it to current brand guidelines.