As a fan of Eve Aronoff’s elegant eponymous restaurant in Kerrytown, I kept an eager eye on her casual new place, Frita Batidos, during months of construction delays. Peering through gaps in the brown-papered windows on...
Read MoreSuburban Chevrolet Cadillac Saab Hummer saw some big changes in the past year. One of them was Hummer: it’s gone. General Motors deep-sixed the brand after a deal to sell it to a Chinese buyer fell through. That shrank the...
Read MoreAfter twenty-four years in computer sales, Mike Charles walked away six years ago. “My kids got good at sports,” he explains, “and I got tired of missing all their [games].” He cashed out a couple of...
Read MoreTeaHaus, the purveyor of bulk teas on Fourth Avenue, recently pushed through a wall to add a distinctive eatery. TeaHaus’s new parlor is pleasantly decorated with IKEA-esque furniture and antique accessories, but the big...
Read MoreThough Flat Top Grill doesn’t like to be compared with bd’s Mongolian Grill, that’s the short-cut explanation that’s going to resonate with Ann Arborites. What’s now bd’s has been around so...
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The recession’s been good for Melanie Diana and Such a Find Antiques–so much so that in December she was moving her shop from a house on Packard to a storefront in Colonial Lanes Plaza on South Industrial in the...
Read More“If you’re a cell phone company, why wouldn’t you want your product in a cell phone store?” asks John Jabero, who along with his brother James, owns the Wireless Toyz franchise on Fourth and Washington....
Read MoreOne of the shortest-lived restaurants ever to hit Ann Arbor was Yoshi’s, which lasted for less than six months last year in the Liberty Street spot Dinersty occupied for years. Yoshi’s didn’t close because of...
Read MoreOn Main Street, less than a block away from Frita Batidos, another casual sandwich spot has taken pretty much the opposite tack. Where Frita Batidos proudly uses lard even in the bread, Jazzy Veggie is equally proudly serving...
Read MoreEd GreenLeaf Jr. says he never imagined he would be selling antiques in the space adjacent to Chelsea Lanes bowling center–a community fixture GreenLeaf opened in 1962. But when Aberdeen Bike & Fitness moved to a new...
Read MoreAs if Ann Arbor had collectively cried, “We want cheap food, but enough with the burgers already,” three new downtown restaurants opened within a few weeks of each other. All are casual spots featuring sandwiches,...
Read MoreOlde Tyme Pizza opened at the end of August in the space formerly occupied by Jet’s Pizza in the Parkside Plaza strip mall on W. Michigan (Jet’s moved up the street earlier this year to the Oaks shopping mall). Olde...
Read MoreUgly Dog Distillery makes and sells vodka under the same roof. “The idea was conceived at hunting camp with my German wirehaired pointer on my lap,” says co-owner Jon Dyer.Dyer, forty-seven, a Stockbridge resident...
Read MoreWhile you’re waiting futilely for the next trolley at the old interurban railway station on Jackson Road, you can enjoy fresh peaches, admire blown glass artwork, or even buy some mulch. Wackenhut Gartens sells all...
Read MoreAfter thirty years in manufacturing, most recently as an executive for Molded Materials in Saline, Jim Junga was ready for a change but not ready to retire. After all, he and his wife, Diane, aren’t quite finished raising...
Read MoreIt started when Tim and Tracy Horvath parted ways with Chelsea-based Bearclaw Coffee Co. and changed the name of their downtown Dexter Bearclaw franchise to the Corner Cup Cafe in January. Tracy says it was “a mutual...
Read MoreWhen it comes to making pizza, Rich Runles is into precision and balance. You might even call him obsessive about it. Runles opened Rich’s CountrySide Pizza in early January, taking over the space formerly occupied by My...
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