Tree Town, a Truck Town?
“Most people explore the outdoors on four wheels,” says RealTruck’s chief growth officer Tony Ambroza.
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Business
Thinking Bigger
The Downtown Development Authority’s new development plan includes up to $21 million for improvements to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. This may come as a surprise, since in 2017, a $1.5 million plan to build a year-round pavilion on a vacant lot facing Fourth Ave. was shelved because of cost.
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Extreme Makeover: Broadway Edition
On March 16, 2020, Eunice Choi, Realtor and owner of the Broadway Party Store, confirmed a permanent closure of her business with a handwritten sign stating “We are closed … Covid 19.” Beyond the sign, sun-bleached bags of chips sat on shelves, and stocked display refrigerators stood dark.
Read MoreFor Sale: Lamp Post Plaza
Lamp Post Plaza owner Ron Marten has heard the rumors too. Although the sixty-three-year-old shopping center on E. Stadium is being sold, “it is not getting bulldozed,” he tells the Observer.
Read MoreMarketplace Closings | November 2025
Pinball Pete’s will close its South U. arcade in late November, as construction remains ongoing at its next home in the Carver-Gunn Building at 500 E. Liberty.
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Sports for Sale
After a landmark July court decision, the NCAA enabled schools to pay their athletes and removed limits on scholarships. Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel decided that every competing athlete would receive a full scholarship, and revenue sharing too, although the bulk of that money goes to men’s football, basketball and hockey.
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Newspaper Rescue
Ann Arbor businessman Nagabhushanam “Bobbi” Peddi has purchased the Sun Times News, a weekly paper covering Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, and Saline.
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The Observer’s Next Owner
Editor in chief John Hilton and publisher Patricia Garcia, who have owned the Ann Arbor Observer since 1986, were just beginning to think about a succession plan when the pandemic hit. They realized retirement would have to wait.
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Fee Parking
Burns Park homeowners stood on street corners holding placards beckoning football fans to their lawns and driveways. West of the stadium, churches directed visitors to spots, and a line of cars waited to park at the U-M golf course on State St. Just another game day in Ann Arbor.
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Hometown Clickbait
How far will newspapers go to earn online revenue? Pretty far, judging from the ads that follow articles on MLive.com.
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Follow the Oil
In the alleys behind Ann Arbor restaurants, workers dump the used oil into large metal containers. Most belong to three collection companies: Evergreen Grease, G.A. Wintzer & Son Co., and Buffalo Biodiesel. They sign restaurants to lengthy contracts that create a near-territorial system.
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The Meaning of the $3,100 Campus Studio
As move-in began this August, Vic Village South’s website advertised, “Leasing Now Open for 2025–26!” Social media ads announced, “We have 1, 2, 3, and 4-Bedroom apartments available!”
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The Rise of Busch’s
The company’s stores in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, Lenawee, and Washtenaw Counties employ 1,600 people. Busch’s is privately held and doesn’t disclose sales figures, but ZoomInfo.com lists them at $296 million annually.
Read MoreWhen Walking at Briarwood Cost $42,000
They allege their parents were coerced with high-pressure sales tactics to purchase wildly overpriced skin care products and devices. One man, who asked not to be identified, said his father, an Ann Arborite with dementia and sciatica, paid them more than $42,000 while walking in the mall for exercise between mid-December and mid-February.
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Taste of Confusion
If you were at Taste of Ann Arbor on June 1, then you might have noticed a little shift in participants. For the first half of the event, Tabe, the new Asian fusion eatery on S. Main, had a table out with the rest of the tents, displaying an array of sushi rolls. They weren’t officially part of the event, so they were taking cash payments for sushi sample boxes, instead of the official pink tickets. People lined up to try their beautifully crafted offerings.
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Ann Arborites Abroad
Zingerman’s is one of a growing list of local companies offering their own boutique tours. They range from global cuisine to literary explorations of Paris, up-close explorations of Ireland, and even some led by public media personalities.
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Wage War
The wage war began in 2018, when One Fair Wage, a national coalition of activists, workers and organizations fighting for a higher minimum wage for tipped employees, gathered 370,690 signatures to put the decision up to voters. If the measure had passed, the wage paid to tipped workers, then set at $3.84, would gradually be increased to match the statewide hourly minimum wage—which the same proposal would increase to $12 by 2022 and thereafter index to inflation.
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Constructive Eating
If Jackie Malcolm had told her construction-obsessed toddler to stop playing with his breakfast cereal on the living room floor with his toy bulldozer in 2005, children and parents might never have found mealtime peace through the forklift fork.
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A Scammer Operating in Plain Sight
I had thought it strange that the phone number for “BT Wings” was an (810) area code instead of Ann Arbor’s (734). That was the first clue, right there. Then I searched the internet for “BT Wings,” and nothing came up. Like, nothing.
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Eggflation
“I just happened to look back at an invoice from January of 2022, and we were selling eggs for $23 a case,” says Washtenaw Dairy owner Mary Jean Raab. “Yesterday I paid $83 a case.” Another supplier was asking $147.
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