Dec 15, 2013 | Marketplace |
A year ago, Susan Thomas and Khaled Houamed said they would shortly be opening their El Harissa Market Cafe in Maple-Miller Plaza. Finally, they’ve achieved liftoff: the gelato counter opened in October, followed a few...
Read MoreDec 13, 2013 | Marketplace |
Briarwood’s message to Arbor Hills Crossing is a loud and clear “Bring it!” Its new leases in the last year seem to be a point-by-point rebuttal to the fancy new shopping complex. Arbor Hills has lululemon?...
Read MoreDec 13, 2013 | Marketplace |
“Thank you for coming out today. We need all the help we can get,” said one cashier fervently, shortly after GFS Marketplace opened. She had clearly been instructed to thank customers for their support and left to...
Read MoreDec 10, 2013 | Dine, Marketplace, Restaurant Reviews |
In less than a year since Juicy Kitchen Cafe opened in the small strip mall at Maple and Miller, a variety of regulars have made it their own. Skyline High students and M-14 commuters dash in at sunrise for coffee, banana bread...
Read MoreDec 9, 2013 | Marketplace |
Arbor Hills Crossing at Washtenaw and Platt shuns the big-mall paradigm of anchor stores flanked by smaller, more transient shops. But Zola Bistro, if not the anchor, is the nerve center for the complex. Smack in the center and...
Read MoreDec 8, 2013 | Marketplace |
Elaine Selo says the offer on the three-story building on the corner of Main and Liberty that she and partner Cynthia Shevel own came as a surprise. She had ordered plenty of Christmas stock for her first-floor Selo/Shevel...
Read MoreDec 8, 2013 | Marketplace |
“All we have now are frozen clams,” says Oliver Vallier to a customer asking about brine shrimp in the closing days of University Aquarium, the Westgate pet shop specializing in fish. It opened forty-five years ago....
Read MoreDec 4, 2013 | Marketplace |
We received 148 entries correctly identifying the Fake Ad for Combat Zone Paintball on page 78 of the November Observer. We loved each and every one, but we had one favorite.The ad’s quote about keeping your friends close...
Read MoreDec 1, 2013 | Marketplace |
A recent Forbes article details a Secret Service sting operation against iBuy Express, a Taylor outfit that allegedly used “credit mules” to obtain thousands of cell phones for sale on the gray market. A former...
Read MoreNov 30, 2013 | Featured, Marketplace |
When businesses look for space in Ann Arbor, chances are good they’ll end up talking to former beer deliveryman Jim Chaconas and his young sidekick, Brendan Cavender. Gone are the shelves of books and magazines from the...
Read MoreNov 28, 2013 | Featured, Marketplace |
Thirty years ago, Nub Turner led the long-shot leveraged buyout that saved downtown’s last factory. Now his son Matt is backing bubble tea and tech start-ups.—Matt Turner says his business relationship with his...
Read MoreNov 27, 2013 | Marketplace |
“It’s going to be a surprise,” says Don Knight about the look and feel of his new restaurant, a steak house that will occupy part of the former Borders (the Maynard/Liberty corner). Another restaurant, the...
Read MoreNov 27, 2013 | Marketplace |
Roger Feeny says he’ll move his Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase, currently underneath Seva (itself moving to Westgate), in December or January.The new space will be in the basement of the Fourth Ave. mini-mall that also houses...
Read MoreNov 26, 2013 | Marketplace |
General manager Andrew Heningburg says the name of BurgerFi, on the ground floor of University Towers, is short for “burgerfication of the nation.” You may have thought the nation burgerfied years ago–there was...
Read MoreNov 23, 2013 | Marketplace |
“Does anyone know a good upholsterer? Rendel’s isn’t answering their phone,” went a cry for help on A2B3, a widely read email group. Several other upholsterers were immediately suggested, but no one at...
Read MoreNov 22, 2013 | Marketplace |
A one-block stretch on the far west side of Ann Arbor boasts a Latino grocery, two restaurants serving inexpensive Mexican (Taco King, Chela’s), and a small cafe selling organic Salvadoran tamales and horchata lattes...
Read MoreNov 20, 2013 | Marketplace |
Nick and Amy Wallen, owners of Benitos Pizza, are moving their restaurant from East Michigan Avenue to downtown Saline, into the space most recently occupied by Little Caesars. The Wallens have spent months renovating the...
Read MoreNov 18, 2013 | Dine, Marketplace, Restaurant Reviews |
Burgers aren’t just for buns anymore–but grilled cheese is. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar can split before-and-after duty on crisp French fries. And house-made veggie burgers peacefully coexist on a menu with a...
Read MoreNov 17, 2013 | Marketplace |
Two “social painting” businesses opened in the last year. But what’s social painting?The Paint Station and Paint and Pour produce events that fall about halfway between a class and a party. A group of people,...
Read MoreNov 15, 2013 | Marketplace |
Stores continue to open at Arbor Hills Crossing.V2V is the second Ann Arbor location of Tes Haas’s clothing and “lifestyle” store that originated at Kerrytown in the 1980s. Haas’s store was originally...
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