Tim 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.
Ajrouch originally opened a franchise of the Canadian coffee and restaurant behemoth in 2012, when he revamped what he termed Ann Arbor Gateway to add retail space and a drive-thru. It closed five years ago during the pandemic.
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He says he’s glad for Tim Hortons’ return and especially glad to not be running it himself. The new franchisee is New Haven, Michigan–based Bazco Oil Company, which operates the gas station and its Chillbox-branded stores.
Ali Fadel manages the entire plaza except for the separately owned Taystee’s. He says seventeen employees were added to staff Tim Hortons. It’s now openly accessible from the convenience store, a redesign made possible when alcohol sales were shifted into the Liquor Loft space in 2023.
Tim Hortons, with more than 6,000 locations worldwide, is named for the hockey Hall of Famer who founded it in 1964 as a donut shop in Hamilton, Ontario. (He was still an NHL player in 1974, when he died at age forty-four in a single-car, alcohol-related crash.) The apostrophe in the company name was later dropped to avoid running afoul of French language requirements in Québec.
Tim Hortons, 2679 Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. (734) 332–0906. Daily 6 a.m.–8 p.m. locations.timhortons.com/en/mi/ann-arbor/2679-ann-arbor-saline-rd
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