A former ballet studio on N. Main is ready for a star turn in a new artistic direction. Cluster Museum, a new collaborative of local artists, hosts a small commercial gallery with art supplies for sale in the front section. Behind the wide viewing window is an ample floor for contemporary thematic exhibits, workshops, and author readings.
Read MoreIt’s not just residents of the new Verve luxury student apartments who take advantage of its lounge-like lobby and coffee stand, Misfit Society Coffee Club.
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Amy Ramsey watches the sun rise over her neighbor’s field every morning. She’s up before dawn, a strong cup of coffee in hand, ready to open her barns and feed her animals. Wild Apple Farms is named for the centuries-old apple trees scattered across the property, and Ramsey strives to live in harmony with the land, respecting the rhythm of the year. “There’s a feeling of peace and contentment that doesn’t exist anywhere else,” she says. “If you pause to pay attention, you can smell the seasons changing.”
Read MoreEnchanted Oven has returned to Saline, offering sourdough breads and lunch options in addition to à la carte and custom cakes, cookies, and other sweets.
Read MoreJust east of Dexter, in a bucolic setting known for hosting increasingly popular Fourth of July fireworks shows, Lori and Brian Herron’s vision for Social Vines is bearing fruit.
Read MoreIn September, hockey dad and entrepreneur Matthew Kavanaugh opened CD Top Shelf bar and grill in Arctic Breakaway’s former space upstairs in Chelsea’s ice arena. Kavanaugh says the restaurant will “focus on fresh,” and include pizzas, plus chopped sandwiches and salads.
Read More“It was completely bonkers!” recalls Michelle Tuplin, owner of Serendipity Books, about how her store’s April move from Middle St. to Main went viral.
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On a September weekday at lunchtime, husband-and-wife chefs Phil and Vanessa Coulson work side-by-side near the front windows of Main Street Provisions. Open since February, the shop offers artisan cheeses, meats, and gourmet food items in the Sylvan Building, next door to Agricole Farm Stop.
Read More“Every kid should be able to try a sport, right?” says Jen Karcher. “The price of playing a sport right now is just astronomical.”
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On a September morning, Susan Kizer opens the door to the cheerfully cluttered brick carriage house behind her Main St. home. There’s a light layer of sawdust on her work tables, and wood of all varieties—from South American purpleheart to a maple burl she discovered in an antique shop—surrounds her. Anchoring the space is “Tinkerbell”—her nickname for the 750-pound lathe she uses to create her one-of-a-kind wood pieces.
Read MoreA longtime breakfast and lunch destination is in new hands this year, and “we’ve been super busy since the day we opened,” says Nela Shahinllari. She manages the front of house, while her husband Enzo is the main chef at Dexter Brunch House. Nela, twenty-five, emigrated at age eighteen and soon met fellow Albanian native Enzo, whose family moved here when he was five.
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Otto’s Arcade & Club, headquarters for Mitch Rohde’s curation of vintage video games, serves several purposes: museum, social club, event space, and public gaming venue.
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Stomping, clapping, and chanting—“Kona, Kona, Kona!”—thundered from the two front rows of the bleachers. The family, friends, and students of fifth-grade teacher Kaylee Harmon’s eight-year-old Shepherd mix cheered on the winner out of five canine contenders in Saline Community Fair’s Fifth Annual Dog of the Year Contest. Kona took home a first-place blue ribbon, plaque, and $150 gift card from Saline’s Tractor Supply Co.
Read MoreSalinians Tara and Hardik Joshi are combining their respective skills in pottery and robotics for Clay + Code, their new learning center and retail store.
Read MoreIt’s more than just her own lifelong love of literature and language that led Jen Stevenson to launch Courageous Books.
Read MoreKing’s Keyboard House, the city’s last remaining piano store, has closed after sixty-four years. Second-generation owner Jim King had hoped the business would continue in new hands, but he has retired and sold the building at 2363 E. Stadium, its home since 2008.
The displacement of stores by restaurants downtown is not a one-way street: on S. Main, a gift boutique has replaced a coffee shop.
Read MoreStores offering various mushroom-based products continue to sprout up around town, finding fertile soil in the city’s relative tolerance of entheogenic plants and fungi.
The collaborative enterprise of the local Tsogyelgar Buddhist community is expanding into a new multifaceted storefront on Zeeb Rd., White Lotus Farms Café.
Read MoreUniversity Commons’ first $1 million sale: Praxis Properties CEO Bill Kinley sold his 3,500-square-foot, three-bed, three-bath unit for $1,040,000, a record for the complex of ninety-two condos built in 2000.
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