Kriss Pullen is the matriarch of an arty family that has been running a fluid and funky retail business under one name or another in the old motorcycle garage behind the Fleetwood since 2007. First it was Geechi Bleu, owned by...
Read MoreBlink, and you’ll miss it. Sniff, and you won’t. Satchel’s BBQ opened on Valentine’s Day on Washtenaw next to Whole Foods. It’s hidden behind Verizon Wireless, but “we’ve got a big...
Read MoreMy family has never been of one mind about bd’s Mongolian Grill. It always rated pretty highly with my two sons, who like many teens consider it a premier place to eat lots of food, particularly meat and fish, for a modest...
Read MoreIn early March the Arborland Borders was festooned with black, yellow, and red block print signage bearing more exclamation points than any reputable English teacher would allow: Nothing Held Back!! Everything on Sale!! The...
Read MoreWhen Jolly’s restaurant owners were ready to sell their business after a brief go at serving sandwiches and salads at the Clocktower Commons, it was the right time for Judy Radant and her family to buy. Radant—a lifelong...
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The Lighthouse Café, on the west end of Dexter’s Main Street, quietly closed its doors at the end of February. “We’re gonna go out like we usually do,” Sandi Varney said a few days before the closing....
Read More“It was vacant, and they’d rather make money than not make money. I said, ‘I’m a student and I’d like to try this out,'” says twenty-year-old Samantha Elias, co-owner with her twin sister,...
Read MoreWhen the Washtenaw Mini Mart at Arborland closed last year, Jeff Lenard of the National Association of Convenience Stores explained why more gasoline stations are closing than opening (Marketplace Changes, March 2010). In short,...
Read MoreGenerally, I’m not fond of buffets. Food loses its freshness, and the choices are the kitchen’s rather than my own. But judging by the crowd at Temptations’ lunch buffet, mine is a minority opinion. Indians,...
Read MoreBrian Bondy bought Huron Scuba from Dave and Rachael Kaspar last July first. The first week of August, the United States government essentially told him, Not so fast, mister.Bondy and his wife, Marketa, discovered scuba diving...
Read MoreYou don’t go to Tractor Supply Co. to buy a tractor any more than you go to Home Depot to buy a home. That’s kind of a “duh” in the rural communities in forty-four states where the company’s 940...
Read MoreWhat are you writing about next?Brunch.Oooo, I love going out to brunch!What restaurants do you go to most?Hmmm, lemme think a minute … I guess actually I haven’t gone in a while. Um, we used to go to …After...
Read MoreThree guys own the local Five Guys, but “I’m the hands-on guy,” Mike Abrams says. Abrams, Brian Adelman, and David Pittaway opened Five Guys Burgers and Fries in the former Shaman Drum bookstore on State Street...
Read MoreThe Lighthouse Café, on the west of end of Dexter’s Main Street, quietly closed its doors at the end of February. “We’re gonna go out like we usually do,” Sandi Varney said a few days before the closing....
Read MoreWhen Jolly’s restaurant owners were ready to sell their business after a brief go at serving sandwiches and salads at the Clocktower Commons, it was the right time for Judy Radant and her family to buy. Radant—a lifelong...
Read MoreLovers of Slurpees have options available at the new 7-Eleven on South State: they can slurp out, or they can slurp in. That’s because unlike most 7-Elevens, which are single story and sell everything to go, this one is...
Read MoreRunning a restaurant is hard work. The product is perishable, the work force often uneven, the customers unpredictable. The owners can only hope that their chosen concept, menu, and decor fit the public’s current mood and...
Read MoreJust before Christmas, Fox Tent and Awning, a family business that opened in 1920 and spanned three generations, locked their doors, folded their tents (and awnings), and silently slipped away. “We retired,” Becky...
Read More“We had a big [hockey] stick rack here, and they took that away,” said Dale Camfield, pointing to an empty spot in the front of College Shoe Repair. “We started crying, because my dad bought it–and I...
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