Marketplace

Long live the video store!When Chelsea’s Blockbuster closed in March–one of hundreds of locations to close nationwide–no one could have predicted another video store would take its place. “There are so...

Gardening meets artWith the help of his Buddhist community, artist Traven Pelletier has bought the historic barn on Baker Road that was formerly Dexter Gardens (before that, Bella Gardens, and still farther back, Sloan Nursery)....

The former Pier 1 building is now divided between a Potbelly’s sub shop and the new Tony Sacco’s Coal Oven Pizza. “We’re going for the Whole Foods demographic,” explains Tony Sacco’s general...

Two national pizza chains also opened new stores in April–Papa John’s on Plymouth Rd. and Hungry Howie’s on Washtenaw. It’s been almost a year since the Hungry Howie’s on W. Stadium Blvd. closed....

The Ann Arbor Thrift Shop’s windows look like its neighbors’ on Washtenaw–but the prices for its gently used clothing for women, men, and children are wildly different.How about $3 for a pair of shoes? They...

Nordstrom’s off-price retail spinoff, Nordstrom Rack, opened in April in the former Circuit City at Arborland, offering 50-60 percent off original prices on clothing, shoes, beauty products, and home accents. Nordstrom...

Sherwin-Williams has set up shop across the street from Arborland, in the former Fastsigns. Manager Matt Smith says that although a good portion of his business is from contractors and painters, the store offers a complete line...

Since April, Briarwood Mall has welcomed a spate of new stores, including four national retailers: Lush, the U.K.-based cosmetics company known for its handmade all-natural products; Michael Kors, featuring the designer’s...

Pier 1 Imports returned to Cranbrook Village in April after a five-year absence. The home decor, furniture, and gift retailer, which previously occupied a freestanding building on Eisenhower, replaced Old Country Buffet in the...

Last fall, when a manager at the now-defunct L.A. Pub inside the Ann Arbor Country Club asked new prep cook Aaron Peggs what he’d do if the failing restaurant were his, Peggs didn’t mince words. “I told him...

When Binod Dhakal, owner of Cardamom Indian restaurant, glanced out the window at the long line of people waiting to get a table during his opening weekend, “I was just so happy to see the response,” he says. Dhakal,...

Plymouth Road Plaza, a small, two-story mini-mall, recently opened in what used to be the front parking lot of the Plymouth Road Mall. Embedded in its architecture are some small clues about contemporary fashions in urban...

Noodles & Company will open its third Ann Arbor location in the former KFC location on W. Stadium Blvd. in mid-July. The company previously had considered building nearby on the site of the former Sze-Chuan West restaurant....

Sanjay Panjwani likes to jump on coffee tables and throw chairs. And he asks customers at his new All About Furniture store, which took over the foreclosed House of Sofas space on Jackson Road (“we have no connection to...

With the No Thai! empire going strong–three locations at last count–Eric Joh, a friend of the founders, kicked around an idea: How about a restaurant inspired by the banh mi sandwich craze? And that’s how Belly...

We received only ninety-four entries correctly identifying last month’s Fake Ad for Schoolboys Records and the Downers’ new album, Everything Sucks. That paltry total may have been caused by the ad’s placement,...

Gus Ashkar says he thinks the smoking ban in Michigan restaurants and bars makes perfect sense. “It’s a good law,” he says, sitting behind the counter of his recently opened Puff Puff Smoke Shop in the Oaks...