Illustration by Tabi Walters
Since 2008, Liberty St. has been home to what may be Ann Arbor’s ultimate “if you know, you know” secret: Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair.
The quirky store selling robot-themed tchotchkes was just a facade for the youth literacy nonprofit 826michigan, one of nine branches in a nationwide network. “In the 826 world, the stores are meant to be fronts for what’s happening behind the curtain,” explains executive director Megan Shuchman. A writing lab featured, among other teaching tools, audio appearances by a fictional editor, the crotchety, reclusive Dr. Blotch.
But on July 31, the shop closed and 826michigan moved to EMU’s College of Education.
“A lot of people have said, ‘Well, I’m sure it’ll be nice to avoid the Ann Arbor rent,’” says Shuchman. “Not going to deny it, but really, it’s a motivation about wanting to be in proximity to our students.” In 2023, its 323 volunteers served 4,273 K–12 students at low-income Title I schools. Most are in Detroit and Ypsilanti.
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“We wanted to reconcile and ask ourselves: Is Ann Arbor still the best space for our headquarters?” says Shuchman. “We wanted to make sure we were really staying true to that North Star of ours in terms of who those students that we are serving are, and where they live and go to school.”
A scaled-down version of the store survives online at onwardrobots.com, and 826michigan will continue to partner with the Ann Arbor District Library to host writing and teen leadership labs, as well as drop-in writing programs at its five branches. And Shuchman says they’ve set an “audacious” goal: to reach 25,000 new writers across Southeast Michigan by 2030.