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4B Wednesday, September 21, 2011 // The Statement
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How Ann Arbor balances old with new
By Stephen Ostrowski
t could be called Ann Arbor's odd
couple.
On the 200 block of South
Main Street, two unlikely retailers rub
shoulders: eclectic gift shop The Peaceable
Kingdom and a Wireless Zone, retailer of the
cellular phone titan Verizon Wireless. The
former boasts Sarah Palin action figures,
Juvenile Delinquent Mints ("Wild depraved
youth with minty fresh breath!") and other
culturally aware tchotchkes. The latter sells
cell phone paraphernalia. According to its
website, there are 34 Wireless Zone stores
in the state of Michigan. There is only one
The Peaceable Kingdom.
In premise, the idea that such cultur-
ally different brands share a wall is starkly
incongruent. But observe Main Street on
a crisp September evening when it bursts
with night crawlers kissed by the ambient
,,low of shop lights, and the seemingly oil-
and-water union of chain-and-local shops
appears to coexist harmoniously.
In a town known for its eclectic charac-
ter, this blend is to be expected.
"What makes Ann Arbor great is that it
combines the character of a college town,
a place you come to when you go out to
school and fall in love with, with the access
... that perhaps a bigger city has," said Andy
LaBarre, vice president of government rela-
tions for the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional
Chamber. "It's a perfect mix."
Navigating economic waters while pre-
serving a city's identity is a difficult bal-
ance to strike - a feat that, according to
Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje, requires
dedicated maintenance and a well-reasoned
approach.
"It's always a challenge to keep moving
forward economically while maintaining
the culture and character of the city," Hief-
tje said.
Susan Pollay, executive director of
the Ann Arbor Downtown Development
Authority, believes the city's presence of
chain and local businesses has long been
well-balanced - labeling this mix one of
Ann Arbor's "great strengths."
"It's valuable to think of downtown like
a forest or an ecosystem," Pollay said. "You
need old buildings and new buildings. You
need big things and small things. You need
national tenants who have the big advertis-
ing budgets, and you need the small inde-
pendents to give you an identity. In a forest
... it supports itself better by having a vari-
ety."
According to Maura Thomson, the execu-
tive director of non-profit merchant orga-
nization Main Street Area Association, this
identity is integral for attracting traffic
downtown.
"Throughout this region I think Ann
Arbor has the distinction as being known as
the place where you're going to see and do
something different ... I don't think you can
overstate the importance of keeping Ann
Arbor different," Thomson said.
A 6 F Face .
Brick streets, neatly tucked low-rises
and a bustling farmer's market coalesce for
a pleasant dose of small town charm. The
Kerrytown aura is inescapable.
So to hear Fourth Avenue, home to
the neighborhood's People's Food Co-op,
described as once akin to a "red-light dis-
trict" is nothing short of surprising.
"In the '70s when malls became the rage,
downtown became a shell ... You didn't want
to walk down here," said Ingrid Ault, the
executive director Of independent business
advocate Think Local First.
Hieftje echoes Ault's sentiments, explain-
ing that major retailers left en masse follow-
ing the construction of Briarwood Mall in
1973 - rendering the Ann Arbor of the'70s
and '80s a "pretty dead place."
But according to local real estate devel-
oper Ed Shaffran, who helms The Shaffran
Companies, a firm specializing in historic
units, locally-owned businesses were able to
take advantage of the void.
"When Briarwood came that's when all
the big boys left," Shaffran said. "That gave
an opportunity for small mom-and-pops
and local businesses to establish themselves
and nurture and grow." Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of August the
Ault credits the formation of the Down- state of Michigan -had the third-highest
town Development Authority with helping unemployment rate in the nation at 11.2 per-
to injectvitalityinto the city. Createdin 1982 cent.
by the state of Michigan, the organization is
described on its 2011 Annual Report as striv- An of Scales
ing to "undertake public improvements that -
have the greatest impact in strengthening
the downtown area and attracting new pri- "In 1971, I sold used blue jeans, for prob-
vate investments." ably $5 to $10 - they had companies who
Main Street has evolved into a stretch of would go to all the Goodwill stores and col-
polished dining - spurred by the addition of lect Levis, and then you'd buy them. Now
The Real Seafood Company in 1975, one of I'm selling jeans that the manufacturers
a bevy of restaurants under the Main Street make to look used for over $100."
Ventures conglomerate - populating what Ed Davidson isthe owner of popular State
Thomson describes as a previously retail- Street outfitter Bivouac. Next month, his
heavy block. store will celebrate its 40th year of business.
"Downtown if anything has shrunk from In his time serving the community, David-
the perspective of retail ... Less retail, more son's key to longevity is simple.
restaurants and more arts and entertain- "We've been here 40 years because we've
ment," Shaffran said. changed with the time," Davidson said.
Similarly, South University Avenue has Change is integral to an industry that he
experienced a significant facelift. perceives as cloudy.
"When I first came here, South U really "(Nationally) there are not many inde-
felt like a village," Pollay said. "There was pendents left," Davidson said. "This street
a gas station on South U, there was a movie is the same."
theater on South U, I could buy all my An even older bastion of retail shares
clothes on South U, bookstores ... anything the block with Bivouac - Nickels Arcade
you needed was there." staple Van Boven, established in 1921. Like
The DDA's State of Downtown Ann Arbor Bivouac, not only has the men's retailer sur-
Report - sampling hundreds of businesses vived through expanding its repertoire of
from the Polk Directory -published last offerings, but it also benefits from a loyal
July, highlights an upswing in downtown customer base.
dining: In 1982, "restaurants, cafes & tav- "They walk through here and just look at
erns" accounted for just 7.11 percent of the the walls," said Hank Schoch, a Van Boven
city's commercial sectors. Now, in 2011, it is salesman of 13 years. "I don't know if they
18.07 percent. breathe the air to see if it still smells like an
But just as it is crucial to temper chain old attic or whatever we smell like to people.
with local, so too is it to provide variety in It's part of who they are."
developments. Even if well-established, long-time Ann
"We fortunately have some really great Arbor stores are cognizant ofthe tepid econ-
landlords in our community who believe omy. According to Carol Lopez, the owner
strongly in retail and won't lease out their of The Peaceable Kingdom, established in
space to coffee shops and restaurants," Ault 1973, scuttling economic times are a source
said. "If you don't have the mix we're not of apprehension.
interesting anymore, and we become a food "They aren't a bit more tough - they're
court and nobody wants to be a food court." off badly," Lopez said. "I don't know how it's
Staying within that mix, regardless of going to shake out."
scale (as underscored by the recent liqui- Still, even though the state of Michigan
dation of longtime Ann Arbor-based book might have encountered a sputtering econ-
chain Borders Inc.) is hardly an easy feat. omy since the economic crisis in 2008, Hief-
And in a down economy - according to the tje dates the state's decline back to the early
2000s. Comparative to the state, though,
Ann Arbor seems to "be keeping our head
above water," Hieftje said.
Pollay points to a handful of trends
explaining tight times for retailers. Chiefly,
the advent of e-commerce no longer neces-
sitates a brick-and-mortar business for the
consumer. Furthermore, Pollay suggests
that consumers, being more "targeted" in
their purchases, are.not spending as much
as decades past.
"It's valuable to
think of downtown
like a forest or an
ecosystem."
-Susan Pollay,
DDA executive director
The same State of Downtown Ann Arbor
Report highlights the declining presence
of retail downtown: as of 2011, it accounted
for 20.4 percent of Ann Arbor's commercial
sectors - compared to 21.99 percent in 1999
and 30.29 percent in 1982.
Not only are retailers at the mercy of
consumer spending habits, but landlords,
as well - according to Thomson, mom-and-
pop shops lack the "corporate money and
deeper pockets" boasted by bigger competi-
tors.
But what local ventures lack in backing,
they can make up in branding - a compo-
nent essential to the makeup of downtown.
"We've branded ourselves as an interest-
ing, fun, socially open place to be," Ault said.
"And that is because of the identity we've
developed because of the small businesses."
As per its website, Think Local First
strives "to support and cultivate local-
ly-owned, independent businesses in
Washtenaw County, Michigan." As the
organization's executive director, Ault is
quick to extoll the virtues of independents.
According to Ault, not only does support-
ing independents better incubate money
within the local economy, but it forges a
stronger community-retailer connection -
to purchase local is to experience a labor of
love.
"When you go into a small business,
you're walking into someone's passion,"
Ault said. "They care very deeply about what
they do."
Nevertheless, Ault openly champions the
value of competition in a business commu-
nity, and cites Grand Rapids-based super-
market chain Meijer as an example of a large
company that has bettered its community
through philanthropic efforts.
"We're not 'think local always,' we're
Think Local First," Ault said. "All we're say-
ing is it's a big pie, and we deserve a slice of
it."
Despite the arrival of a CVS Pharmacy to
State Street last March and a pair of 7-Elev-
en stores on State and Main Streets last Jan-
uary and September, respectively, coupled
with the addition of the Sterling 411 Lofts
on Washington Street in 2009 and Zaragon
Place on East University Avenue in 2008
(and with Zaragon West currently under
construction), Hieftje does not think the
city has strayed from traditionalist roots.
"There are folks in Ann Arbor that, so to
speak, would like to see the city kind of fro-
zen in amber," Hieftje said. "Like, 'Wow, I
want it like the way it was in 1966 or some-
thing.' I've been here a long time, and it
never was that way. It's always changed, and
it's going to continue to change. We can't
keep it from changing."
And while a leviathan chain might lack
the typical Ann Arbor imprint, this factor
See ANN ARBOR, Page 8B