Wishing you a joyful holiday season! Experience all Ann Arbor has to offer throughout the month of December—from local performances to holiday concerts, dining, religious services, and of course, shopping. It’s the perfect time...
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James Mark Manheim was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to Martha and Michael Manheim. From age three, he grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where his father taught at the University of Toledo and his mother, later, at Siena Heights College, in Adrian, Michigan. He graduated from Ottawa Hills High School, where in addition to his academic excellence, he was captain of the chess team and lighting manager for theatrical performances.
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Featuring candy, chips, cookies, drinks, and frozen treats from forty different countries, Exotic Snack Guys “became famous from TikTok,” according to Felisha Madison, manager of their Briarwood Mall outpost.
Read MoreBori Korean Kitchen & Bar General Manager Chyna Blu says the reimagined second-floor space above Jolly Pumpkin provides a “very casual, laid-back atmosphere, but the food that you get feels like it’s fine dining.”
It’s a partnership between Mission Restaurant Group and the family of Korean-born chef James Park of Ann Arbor. Blu, who manages both Bori and Jolly Pumpkin, says Park dreamed of featuring his traditional cuisine in his adopted hometown, and Mission’s Jon Carlson “was someone to help make that dream come true.”
Read MoreThe first tangible sign of the major Arbor South redevelopment is apparent with the recent closure of the Shell gas station at S. State and E. Eisenhower. Its neighboring business, the Mediterranean takeout joint Shawarma Shop, has been invited into a bigger space nearby, the lobby of the 777 Building.
Read MoreObservant Marketplace Changes readers have surely detected the recent emergence of a few local trends: Yemeni coffeehouses, chicken chains, and mushroom shops.
Mush Love, which opened in October, is the fifth business we’ve noted this year offering dried mushrooms and various preparations for use cases ranging from psychedelic exploration to alternatives to Big Pharma. They’re also available from delivery services and at other stores that have added such product lines since the city essentially decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi in 2020.
Read MoreNative clothing and gift store NTVES and its adjacent INTY.M Gallery got bumped from Briarwood Mall in September, but the Muenala family says they’ll be back in time for holiday shopping.
Read MoreTim Hortons is back at Abraham Ajrouch’s property at the corner of Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. and W. Eisenhower that also hosts a Shell gas station, Chillbox convenience and liquor store, and a Taystee’s Burgers outlet.
Read More“There’s a lot of really great staples on Packard in Ann Arbor,” Hailey Polidori Caragay says. “I’m excited to be a part of that.”
She and her husband, Bryan Caragay, both twenty-nine, have bootstrapped Hazel Coffee Co from a pandemic-era espresso machine into a full-fledged coffee shop fronting the new Packard Row Apartments building.
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Twelve years ago, Vietnam native Sonca Luu was a single mother with only $18,000 on hand when she navigated the paperwork for an SBA-backed loan to start BeeQ Salon & Spa on W. Stadium. She now owns three Ann Arbor beauty-related establishments, two restaurants, and a café. The latest additions are Saigon Social House and Block & Brew Cafe, formerly operating as Taste Kitchen and Red Lotus in the Michigan Theater building (Marketplace Changes, August).
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“It’s been a pretty open secret that we wanted to be here,” says Terry Perrone of Slows Bar BQ, a Detroit destination for two decades. For years they’ve catered local events, hosted food truck tailgates, and served lunch weekly at University and Mott Children’s hospitals. Now they have a permanent presence in downtown Ann Arbor.
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“I’m so glad you asked about HERD,” Ann Arbor’s Home Energy Rating Disclosure Ordinance, says Julie Roth, energy manager for the city’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations. “It’s safe to say that Ann Arbor has one of the most robust residential consumer protection programs in the country.”
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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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On November 4, Ann Arbor voters approved the Washtenaw Intermediate School District’s (WISD) proposed millage, levying 1 mill annually for student career-technical education (CTE). The measure passed at just over 54 percent—about 36,000 ballots cast in favor.
Read MoreAfter twenty years, Question Corner is retiring. Since the segment debuted in July 2005, author Tim Athan answered hundreds of questions from readers across Ann Arbor. Although there are a handful that remained unanswered, there’s one that Tim considers his white whale.
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In 2023, Michigan men’s basketball set an unenviable record: most losses in program history. In the spring of 2024, athletic director Warde Manuel gave coach Juwan Howard his walking papers, and found himself mired in a different sort of athletic contest: national post-NCAA grabathon for the hottest available coach. Michigan won when Dusty May—who had turned a moribund Florida Atlantic University program into a national powerhouse—inked a five-year deal with the Wolverines.
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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.
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In June 2021, city council adopted its Moving Together Toward Vision Zero comprehensive transportation plan, which called for the elimination of traffic fatalities and serious injuries by the end of 2025. Three months earlier, city staff announced a slightly less ambitious target: the number of fatalities and serious injuries caused by car crashes would fall below five per year. The two goals share one important commonality: failure.
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It’s been in the works for more than two years, and controversial since the first draft was released last spring.
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