Not much was left of Linens ‘n Things the first week of November. The bankrupt chain was down to selling the crown moldings ‘n things. Tom Goldberg, of landlord ATMF, says he hasn’t yet signed a new tenant for the Waters Place space between Best Buy and Borders. Wilsons Leather in Briarwood also closed because of corporate bankruptcy.
There is no clear consensus on what happened to Sarah’s Campus Dollar Store on South University. Sarah Perry closed up shop in October hardly a year after opening, and the space has been leased to someone else. Mike Moeller at Motivation Boutique thought she also had a cleaning business on the side and might have expanded that: “She said she was going to come by and say good-bye, and she never did.” Another neighbor “heard she got a job in her field” (she has a kinesiology degree from the U-M). Moeller says South U hasn’t been particularly affected by the economy. The same number of students are walking around, and his store “had our best month ever last month.”
Ana Banana left South University for Nickels Arcade a little over a year ago, and in October the Pinheiro twins from Brazil, Ana and Claudia, dissolved their store. Ana Banana was a mix of new and vintage clothing, jewelry, and accessories and had played host to everything from enthusiastic samba dancing to Brazilian waxing by Ana. Next door, Tiffany Royal, who owns Arcade Barbers, says, “They were always doing something”—but adds, “I would assume the rent was way more here than on South U” (their space there was upstairs).
Chris and Cathy Misener will take Deda’s Bakery with them when they move to Washington State the first week of December. The couple bought Say Cheese Cheesecakes in 2006, added other baked goods, and changed the name to Deda’s. Last summer they bought the former Fuji restaurant in Braun Court, where they planned to open a bakery and cafe. Then plans changed—they decided instead to move to Vancouver, Washington, where they will be living in Chris’s late father’s house while they settle his estate; they’ll operate Deda’s Bakery across the river in Portland, Oregon. Chris says he hoped to sell the Say Cheese name and recipes in Ann Arbor but found no takers; he plans to start selling cheesecakes by mail order in a few months. The Braun Court building is up for sale.
