Entering Eleanor’s Sweets & Sodas in downtown Saline, it’s hard to figure out where to look first—at the floor-to-ceiling shelves of rainbow-hued Jelly Bellys, the tidily assorted boxes and bags of candy, or the wall of...
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Jim Junga, sporting a cherry-red shirt embossed with the Ace logo, leans on the counter, chatting...
Read MoreThe Eve and Annie Boutique launched online in 2018 with “a blend of Australian and Michigan lifestyle” dresses, tops, skirts, and pants, almost all priced under $50. Australian-born owner Jenny Ryle opened her first store in...
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Michael Carosello, owner of Carosello Pasta, says that he signed his lease in March 2021 and...
Read MoreSerendipity Books swapped storefronts with Copper Crate Mercantile & Unique Rentals and moved from W. Middle to E. Middle St. at the beginning of this year. The move not only gives Serendipity owner Michelle Tuplin the large...
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“It’s been beautiful and painful,” Jason Povlich says. In October 2020, Povlich and his wife,...
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“It is a surprise even to folks who live in Chelsea,” Jennifer Kundak emails of the forty-five or...
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When Katherine Becker was a teenager, her family moved to a house off North Territorial Rd. It was...
Read MoreWashtenaw Ave. has bid farewell to two chain spots, one venerable and one relatively new. Denny’s closed in late March, a representative of the restaurant told MLive. The all-day diner, known for its Grand Slam breakfasts,...
Read MoreWhen Slurping Turtle closed last September for its first major renovation since opening in 2014, it estimated the overhaul would take six to seven weeks. (Observer, November 2021.) Instead, it took the Liberty St. restaurant...
Read MoreLast May, Marwan Al-Rabie opened the Alpha Diner on Jackson Rd. in Scio Township. It was his long-sought successor to the Alpha Koney Island in the Oak Valley Centre, which he’d operated for seventeen of the restaurant’s thirty...
Read More“Are you ready for Moldovite?” asks a sign at Enlightened Soul Center & Shop. Found in the Czech Republic and “thought to be the product of an ancient meteorite impact,” the stones are “said to have a transformative effect...
Read MoreAs the Observer went to press, a double billboard on I-94 still announced cryptically, “Cookies / Coming Soon.” By then, though, anyone hoping for a Mrs. Field’s competitor knew better: the previous weekend, Ann Arbor’s newest...
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Working as an engineer in his hometown of Troy, Steve Nardone was a frequent customer at its...
Read MoreStuart Marley sounds delighted that Redden is taking over the digs his Real Irish shop had occupied since 2018. The change gives Marley an opportunity to take a break from the retail operation to focus on his web business,...
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Christopher Redden’s Olympia Skate Shop in Ypsilanti has drawn customers from across the state and...
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Jim and Becky Cavnar built an “earth-sheltered” home on Miner St. in 1981, the same year that...
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For the first time ever, Veronica Brandon’s three teenagers each have their own rooms. As a...
Read MoreBy Ann Arbor standards, the opening night at Condado Tacos on Liberty brought out the VIPs. Creative Washtenaw CEO Deb Polich came with husband Russ Collins, executive director of the Michigan Theater. Don Knight, who runs his...
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Jordan Sparrow can probably give any Fitbit user a run for their money with the number of steps he...
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