An Expansion for Taq
Taq, the taco-based eatery, moved two doors down and more than quadrupled its seating capacity.
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A Taste of New York
Steven Kovanda makes authentic, New York–style bagels in Washtenaw County.
Read MoreMarketplace Closings, February 2026
Cinnaholic, Graham’s Upscale Liquidation Store, Gilbert Chocolates, Noodles & Co., GameStop, and Torrid all close.
Read MoreIn the Works, Marketplace Changes February 2026
A new brewery slated for the former Wolverine State Brewing Co., new concepts for Lo-Fi and Carson’s, and L.L. Bean at Briarwood.
Read MoreBoots and Beyond
Boot Barn—the nation’s largest retailer of Western-related footwear, apparel, and accessories—comes to Arborland.
Read MoreBold, Fluorescent Abstracts at Sareka Unique’s First Gallery
Sareka Unique has expanded from artwork in once-vacant Briarwood storefronts to a storefront of her own.
Read MoreBaoBao Asian Eatery
Bing Wu emigrated from China as a teen and recently moved from the San Francisco Bay area to launch a full-service restaurant in Chalmers Place on Washtenaw Ave.
Read MoreDecember 2025 Ann Arbor Home Sales
Located on the Old West Side, a classic 1920s workman’s cottage, which sold for $535,000, is part of a distinctive neighborhood project.
Read MorePapa’s Coming Home
It’s been more than six years since Papa Johns closed its last Ann Arbor store. It ranks fourth among pizza chains in U.S. locations, but stores on W. Stadium, E. Huron St., and Plymouth Rd. are all long gone.
Read MoreMarketplace Closings | December 2025
The aptly named Makeshift Gallery will punctuate its three-year run with an open house party on December 28, its last day at 407 E. Liberty.
Read MoreNovember 2025 Ann Arbor Home Sales
You build me up: This month saw an unusual number of sales—at least five—of homes that were either rebuilt or so substantially renovated as to qualify as new construction.
Read MoreMercedes Migrates
Luxury car dealership Mercedes-Benz of Ann Arbor has completed its short-distance move from Auto Mall Dr. to a newly redeveloped site on Jackson Rd. in Scio Township.
Read MoreThe Resurgence of Briarwood Mall Continues
J&S Jewelers offers gold, silver, diamonds, and other gemstones in all their fine forms, polyester is pervasive at Just Cozy, Sip Coffee Cafe is now in business, and Hollister Co. is back in Briarwood after a twelve-year absence.
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Squeezed Out
The Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation 2025 Washtenaw County Housing Study revealed what Ann Arbor’s working class has long known: if you make less than $50,000, you can’t afford to live here.
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Cluck Wild, Six Days a Week
Since her last job as a marketing executive a year ago, Joyce Mueller has been working as a part-time team member at Chick-fil-A in Taylor, she says, “because anything I ask my team to do—clean the bathrooms, fry the chicken, clean up, whatever—I want to say I’ve absolutely done that. I know how to do it. I’m not above doing it. I’m good with anything. I like to get my hands dirty.”
Read MoreTikTok-Famous Candy at Briarwood
Featuring candy, chips, cookies, drinks, and frozen treats from forty different countries, Exotic Snack Guys “became famous from TikTok,” according to Felisha Madison, manager of their Briarwood Mall outpost.
Read MoreKorean and Karaoke Come to Main Street
Bori Korean Kitchen & Bar General Manager Chyna Blu says the reimagined second-floor space above Jolly Pumpkin provides a “very casual, laid-back atmosphere, but the food that you get feels like it’s fine dining.”
It’s a partnership between Mission Restaurant Group and the family of Korean-born chef James Park of Ann Arbor. Blu, who manages both Bori and Jolly Pumpkin, says Park dreamed of featuring his traditional cuisine in his adopted hometown, and Mission’s Jon Carlson “was someone to help make that dream come true.”
Read MoreShawarma Shop Scales Up
The first tangible sign of the major Arbor South redevelopment is apparent with the recent closure of the Shell gas station at S. State and E. Eisenhower. Its neighboring business, the Mediterranean takeout joint Shawarma Shop, has been invited into a bigger space nearby, the lobby of the 777 Building.
Read MoreSpringin’ Up Like Mushrooms
Observant Marketplace Changes readers have surely detected the recent emergence of a few local trends: Yemeni coffeehouses, chicken chains, and mushroom shops.
Mush Love, which opened in October, is the fifth business we’ve noted this year offering dried mushrooms and various preparations for use cases ranging from psychedelic exploration to alternatives to Big Pharma. They’re also available from delivery services and at other stores that have added such product lines since the city essentially decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi in 2020.
Read MoreBriarwood Mall Shuffle
Native clothing and gift store NTVES and its adjacent INTY.M Gallery got bumped from Briarwood Mall in September, but the Muenala family says they’ll be back in time for holiday shopping.
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