Four spray-painted words cover a “HomeGoods Coming Soon” sign: “We Want Value World.” The small red-and-white sign deplored, but surely will not stop, the many changes taking place at the Maple Village Shopping Center. As previously reported (Marketplace Changes, July) HomeGoods, Sierra Trading Post, and Stein Mart are moving into the former Kmart building, while at the north end of the center resale superstore Value World was shown the door at the end of its lease.
Soon there will be a vacancy at the south end, too: English Gardens also is moving out.
The mall’s owners, Brixmor Property Group, “haven’t given us a reason for the nonrenewal,” says English Gardens president John Darin. “We knew that the Kmart store was doing less and less business every year, but [Brixmor] had made it very clear–even at some of our last meetings -that they wanted to renovate our store. We had conceptual drawings made, and those seemed to go over very well.” Instead, English Gardens was told last spring that its lease won’t be renewed when it ends on January 31, 2017.
The first English Gardens opened in Dearborn Heights in 1954. It has since grown into a six-store chain, with almost a dozen second-generation Darin family members involved in daily operations. They took over the long-vacant former Frank’s Nursery & Crafts store in Maple Village in 2005. The stores carry cut flowers, decorations, landscaping supplies, and seedlings in season.
Darin says that Brixmor seems “to be going in a national brand direction as opposed to a local brand direction.” However, he says, “we are looking very hard for a new location in the Ann Arbor market.” He stresses that all full-time employees would be offered jobs in other stores if a new location in the area is not found in time.
English Gardens, 155 N. Maple Road (Maple Village). 332-7900. Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
