After three years of three different shawarma joints, the takeout spot at the back of the Main and William BP gas station is headed in a new direction: American comfort food. Aaron Carmichael and Christina Fensom quietly opened The Little Store Too in April.
Though they’re tucked in a small kitchen in a corner of the station’s convenience store, Carmichael and Fensom have created a visual “storefront” on the side of the building, as well as an outdoor patio. “Main St. and William, you couldn’t ask for a better location,” says Carmichael. “It’s deceiving that we’re inside the gas station, but if you give us a chance …”
The couple opened the original Little Store in 2013 on the shore of White Lake in Highland. “That’s been a fun store,” says Carmichael. “Boats just come pulling in [to the dock beside the store].” (It’s open only in summer.) Their specialty is “small-batch comfort food,” and the menu offers everything from thick-crusted Detroit-style pizza to “cheeseburger turnovers” baked in a bread-dough wrap and the intriguing “meatloaf cupcake” (with an “icing” of cheesy potatoes).
Alongside catering and takeout, the Little Store Too offers delivery via Grubhub, and Carmichael says that has really helped to spread the word. “The Grubhub reviews are awesome!” he says. (It may help that their Grubhub listing doesn’t note the gas-station setting.)
The biggest advantage of the location, says Christina, is that “we’re not really Ann Arbor pricing. I think that you can make people good food and not have to rake them over the coals.” That meatloaf cupcake is $3.50, the cheeseburger turnover $5.50.
The Little Store Too, 402 S. Main, 417- 8788. Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Fri.- Sat. 11 a.m.-midnight. Closed Sun.
