The State-Liberty shopping district has got its groove back. A few years ago, Abraham Hejazi memorably complained that even the panhandlers were leaving as he closed his E. Liberty women’s clothing store, Allure, across from the shuttered Borders flagship store. Now the area has resurged. Three more new businesses opened at the end of the summer break.

The Victors Collection, occupying most of the former All About Blue, is of course a reference to the U-M fight song, but it also suggests that the State St. indicia wars finally have a victor: M Den has vanquished All About Blue. All About Blue was one of several successive and related attempts to capture the lower end of the student-branded sportswear dollar, starting with Steve and Barry’s. (The venerable Moe’s Sports Shop around the corner still stands.)

Co-owner Scott Hirth says having M Den and the Victors Collection side by side is not the optimum arrangement. “If we could have knocked a hole in the wall, we would have,” but he needed to expand–“we’ve seen all this great product through the years”–and decided that if he could get All About Blue’s space, he’d make it work.

Compared to the M Den, he says, the Victors Collection is “a little bit more for alumni, staff, and faculty than students, and a little bit more vintage.” The store carries some of the same sweat pants and T-shirts found next door, but this is where you find out what serious money can buy in the name of team spirit: crystal stemware, luggage, business casual wear, “and yes, there is that $20,000 watch,” Hirth chuckles.

The M Den is the official partner of the University of Michigan. “We have a unique relationship,” explains Hirth, above and beyond the licensing of the block M. “No matter where you buy your U-M stuff, it’s all licensed. We get to call ourselves ‘official partner’ because we’re inside the stadium, and we’re linked to their website. Everybody has to pay the license fee, but we pay an additional fee on top of that.”

Manager Brian Hilger shows off the $20,000 diamond-studded one-of-a-kind timepiece designed by U-M’s own MBA grad Shashi Mara, who founded MaraWatch & Company. At press time it was still there, but Hilger says he recently sold a $7,900 version without the diamonds.

Hilger also points out that the name of the store is actually The Victors Collection by The M Den, though he seems resigned to the fact that no one will ever call it by its full name.

The Victors Collection by the M Den, 307 S. State, 686-3002. Mon-Sat. 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.-8 p.m. (game week hours: Fri. 9 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.-10 p.m.) mden.com

Verbena, the other half of the former All About Blue, is so not all about blue or maize. Its owner, Kate Duerksen, is the daughter of All About Blue’s owners Bob and Mary Duerksen. She’s not exactly anti-sports: “I watch games. I grew up in the store. I worked for Campus Street Sportswear” in East Lansing, where she recently graduated from MSU with a degree in interior design. But when M Den came to All About Blue last winter with a proposition to take over the lease, Kate wanted her own store, and she and her parents negotiated to keep 1,500 square feet for her women’s wear boutique. She describes it as “fresh and urban. I’ve used the term ‘earthy urban’ before. We have grunge, we have floral prints.”

Running a clothing business comes naturally to her, but it’s a new way of buying. The licensed sports apparel world she knows is “more rep friendly–they come to you.” She goes to trade shows and orders merchandise one full season ahead. “That’s where my dad comes in. He’s all about the numbers” and how to budget for merchandise you won’t be selling for six months.

She’s priced for students. “Our most expensive dress is $42, but I think we have a lot broader style here than most student stores. Women of all ages come in.” Her greatest coup was attracting Sava Lelcaj, owner of Sava’s across the street, as a customer. “She bought quite a few things. We were really excited. She flew around, picked things off the rack, and she was out of here.”

In addition to clothing and accessories, she’s selling succulents. “Girls buy them for their apartments or dorms. They’re very easy to keep alive. A cactus is the easiest thing you can put in your room to make it green.”

Verbena, 309 S. State, 368-9233. Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.-8 p.m. verbenaannarbor.com

The third business that opened, aMa Bistro, is an unusual experiment in food. Owner Nina Miftiu has taken the former Coney Island a little more upmarket, but, counterintuitively, she intends to be open 24/7. “When we were working on the interior over the summer, I would see that there are people out there walking around in the middle of the night,” she says. “And that was before the students were back. Now it’s multiplied.”

At press time she wasn’t open 24/7, not for lack of customers but because she couldn’t find the staff. “Especially in the kitchen, it’s hard to find employees who’ll work the night shift.”

The menu is coney-ish with gyros, eggs, and patty melts, but it’s shorter and classier, featuring smoked salmon omelets, eggs Benedict, and a few of her native Albanian dishes. She’s an experienced restaurateur and has run various restaurants in Dearborn over the last twenty years. “It’s the same food basically, but here it’s healthier and better quality. My kids will be eating here.” She has three, ranging from eight to thirteen.

The name is pronounced “AH-mah” and the large capital M flanked by two small a’s is, among other things, an homage to the initials of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

aMa Bistro, 215 S. State, 780-7202. Daily 8 a.m.-10 p.m. amabistro.com

This article has been edited since it appeared in the October 2014 Ann Arbor Observer. The spelling of Scott Hirth’s name has been corrected.