Tag Archives: national chains

Culture jamming goes venti… The launch of Dumb Starbucks

Something for the “Nothing This Cool Ever Happens Here” file: On Friday, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, a new Starbucks opened its doors. This, in and of itself, may not be that noteworthy. This one, however, was a little different. It wasn’t just your standard, everyday, run of the mill Starbucks, but […]

Posted in Art and Culture, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interview: Newcombe Clark

A week or so ago, in front of an audience at Conor O’Neills, I had the pleasure of conducting a live exit interview with Ann Arbor-born commercial real estate broker turned University of Michigan MBA Newcombe Clark, who will soon be leaving Michigan for Chicago. As there was still a great deal that we didn’t […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, History, Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Special Projects | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 50 Comments

Making way for the further mallification of Ann Arbor, this month Eastern Accents, Herb David, and Mahek all cease operations

Cities are living things. They grow older, like all of us, and they change. They evolve, or they die. I get that. I’ve grudgingly come to accept that the best things in life are transient. That realization doesn’t make it any easier, however, to accept it when good things, that genuinely make me happy, go […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, History, Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 49 Comments

The possibility of a farmers market on Ypsilanti’s Water Street

Over the course of the past week or so, I’ve posted twice about the 38-acre vacant lot at the heart of downtown Ypsilanti commonly referred to as Water Street. In the first post, which was written in response to news that Family Dollar had expressed interest in building on the site, I outlined my objection […]

Posted in Ideas, Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 30 Comments

Grand Rapids shows us how economic development is done right… home-grown food entrepreneurship over dollar stores

A few months ago, when I was in Grand Rapids, attending the annual BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) conference, I had the occasion to hear a speech given by the city’s Mayor, George Heartwell. I can’t find my notes at the moment, but I seem to recall that, buried somewhere in the long […]

Posted in Economics, entrepreneurism, Environment, Michigan, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 42 Comments

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