Marketplace

HEMMP

“Just remember, HEMMP with two m’s,” says Amanda, helpfully–a useful aid because a correctly spelled Google search is about your only hope of locating this new and sparsely funded nonprofit unless you...

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La Marsa Moves In

Ann Arbor may be sixth in line to get a La Marsa Mediterranean Cuisine, but manager Aziz Muflahi says the company’s founders have long had the city in mind. He says its new spot in the heart of U-M’s campus–in...

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Shabby Chic, Chelsea Treehouse

When Kris Vermilye’s favorite consignment shop, the Resale Boutique, left Chelsea for Saline a few years ago, Vermilye continued to visit–even taking an occasional afternoon off work to indulge in her passion for...

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Packard Pub Reopens

The Packard Pub abruptly shut its doors last spring with a sign in the window announcing the place was closed for renovations.In September, the pub reopened–with a new owner, Joseph Goychay, and a new manager, Tom...

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Campus TV & Satellite

After forty-six years on West Stadium Boulevard, Campus TV & Satellite owner Joe Logelin closed his storefront in June, but will continue to serve customers from his home office in Livingston County. Logelin says...

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New in Town

Brent Anderson, forty-six, knows pizza. He started out in the business at age sixteen, putting in stints at Domino’s and Pizza Hut as well as owning three Cottage Inn franchises along the way.Marco’s Pizza may know...

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Harvest Kitchen Grows

Last October, USDA deputy secretary Kathleen Merrigan delivered a $28,000 check to the Community Farm Kitchen’s stall at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. One year later, the renamed Harvest Kitchen has a new commercial...

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16 Hands Moves to Kerrytown

Last year, when rumors swirled about 16 Hands Gallery not renewing its downtown lease, owner Jill Damon was quick to assuage fears that it might be closing after thirty-six years in business. “We’re just...

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From eyes to eBay

“Greyhound’s still delivering packages!” exclaimed a surprised Ann Arbor woman when told that a box was waiting for her at the downtown bus station. Like many people, she’d figured that FedEx had made bus...

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Red Brick Kitchen & Bar

Dexter-Ann Arbor Road still drops from 50 to 25 mph in the space of a couple stoplights at the eastern edge of the village, but Dexter’s sleepy feeling has been relegated to a time gone by. As of July, the first floor of...

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Rococo Italian

Though Paesano has been around for twenty-seven years, I haven’t eaten there very often. My husband hates strip malls, and although Paesano is a freestanding building, it sits on Washtenaw Avenue–for him, the very...

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A Creative Compact

In Ann Arbor’s own Toy Story, the toys have saved the day.When Rider’s Hobby Shop sales were not keeping up with the increasing rent on Carpenter Road, owner Brent Martin thought he’d be closing the store...

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Magic and Memorabilia

Ken Magee used to be a DEA agent tracking down drug cartels in Bogota. These days, he’s on the hunt for less dangerous prey. Magee is an avid collector of vintage Michigan sports memorabilia, with a special fondness for...

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White House Black Market

White House Black Market is Briarwood’s newest women’s clothing store. Its name derives from the store’s gradually expanding color palette. Originally two Baltimore chains of boutiques that had even more...

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Closings around town

Squares, also open for less than a year, announced a temporary closing at the beginning of summer. By July, Bluestone Realty was posting a For Lease sign in the window on E. Liberty. “I feel bad for them. They lost half a...

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Iorio’s opens

Iorio’s Gelateria, on the first floor of the Maynard House apartment building, is owned by brother and sister Nick and Mary Lemmer, twenty and twenty-three, respectively. If you think that sounds young, they’ve...

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Hello Zamaan Cafe

In early August the last traces of Naser Derneika’s Gyro Palace at the Colonnade were being cleared away to make room for Ali Hijazi’s latest Zamaan Cafe. (Hijazi has closed a location on Packard, but still has his...

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Restaurant Reset

“I thought the menu was just wrong,” says Jim Leonardo.”In Europe, there is a rich tradition of wine pairing,” says Leonardo, the new chef at Vinology. On Main Street in Ann Arbor, however, it’s...

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Biercamp’s Yooper Inspiration

Back in the 1980s, Da Yoopers had a backwoods hit with “Second Week of Deer Camp,” a song about the beer-drinking proclivities of Upper Peninsula hunters. It turns out the song didn’t inspire the name of Hannah...

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Avtomobile on East Liberty

Avtomobile, a tiny new shop on East Liberty underneath the Bead Gallery, is hard to characterize, but it’s not hard to say. It’s pronounced–pronovnced?–“automobile.” Maris Turner, one-half of...

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