2F - Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

2F - Tuesday, September 4, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Insomnia Cookies
leases space on
South University

I KKMOLENutF/Daily

Borders Bookstore on East Liberty Street sees its final day on September 9, 2011. The company was founded in Ann Arbor in 1971.
A2 landmark, Liberty St.
Borders to close today

After more than a
year missing from
campus, the late
night treat returns
ByK.C.WASSMAN
Daily Staff Reporter '
APRIL 2, 2012 The cookie
crumbs of Insomnia cookies
will soon increase in Ann Arbor
as the company is returning
to Ann Arbor after a hiatus of
more than a year.
Popular cookie vendor
Insomnia Cookies signed a
lease last month to move into
the space formerly occupied by
Yogo Bliss on South University
Avenue.
Since Insomnia Cookies
ceased all Ann Arbor opera-
tions in January 2011, students
have had to rely on Stucchi's
on South University Avenue as
the sole location to satiate an
Insomnia Cookie craving. The
company previously operated
its business out of a food truck
until a change in Ann Arbor's
Solicitors and Peddlers ordi-
nance forbade food trucks from
parking and selling food "on a
street or other public property
.. for longer than 5 minutes
within a 2 hour period unless
issued a street use permit for
that location."
Seth Berkowitz, CEO and
founder of Insomnia Cookies,
said he believes the store will be
as successful as the truck was.
"We know from our experi-
ence that the store willbe a wel-
come place," Berkowitz said.

"There'sgoingtobe alotofseats
for people to hang out. It will be
warm; it will be indoors and
will have all the things that our
other stores do, so we expect it
to be very successful."
Berkowitz said Insomnia 0
Cookies is renovating the inside
of the space in order to fit the
company look. However, the city
posted a "Stop Work Order" on
the front of the company's new
location on Sunday, noting that
it lacked the proper permits for
any construction work in the
space.
In a statement to the Daily
yesterday, Lisha Turner-Tolbert,
general permit manager for the
city ofAnn Arbor, said Insomnia
Cookies has since applied for the
appropriate permits and had the
space inspected.
Mike Giraud, vice presi-
dent of Swisher Commercial,
the realty company that owns
the property, said he expects
Insomnia Cookies to be suc-
cessful at the South University
location.
"I think they'll do phenom-
enally," Giraud said. "It's a
tested product. They've got ,a
good'location. They know their
demographic and they've got a
great business plan."
Giraud could not be reached
for an additional interview to
provide comment on the "Stop
Work Order" notice.
Engineering senior Divya
Kondapalli. said she's glad that
Insomnia Cookies will soon
have its own store.
"I love Insomnia Cookies,"
Kondapalli said. "They're good
for a late night snack. They're
just warm and gooey."

Future of company
still unknown
By ANDREW SCHULMAN
Daily StaffReporter
SEPT. 9, 2011 - Ann Arbor-
based Borders Group Inc. said
it will close its flagship location
at 612 East Liberty St. today, six
weeks after announcing it would
liquidate its 399 stores and all of
its assets.
But even as the chain liquidates
stores nationwide and clears
stock at discount rates as high
as 90 percent, Borders's future
remains uncertain. An auction
of the group's intellectual prop-
erty - incltsOing its brand name,
website and customer loyalty
program -is set for Sept. 14. This
leaves t ssibilitythat Borders
could cue as an online book-
seller, the now online-only
electron s retailer Circuit City.
It is &1ear if Borders, which
announe its liquidation on
July 1 Nsreceived any bids

for its intellectual property. The
bids were due Sept. 8, according
to Borders spokeswoman Mary
Davis. However, she wrote in an
e-mail interviewto The Michigan
Daily that she would not com-
ment further until the informa-
tion is ready to be made to the
public.
As it nears the end of its liq-
uidation process, Borders is also
entangled in a pair of legal battles
with former employees and busi-
ness partners. Davis declined
to comment on the status of the
ongoing lawsuits.
Business seemed as usual at
the East Liberty Street Borders
location on Friday. Discounts
rose to as high as 90 percent,
and signs announced that even
the store furniture is for sale.
Employees hung posters broad-
casting the deals and fielded
questions from customers who
were confused that the business
section had been reduced to a
single bookshelf with no system
of organization.
Customers and passersby had

mixed reactions to the store's
closing. Dozens of pedestrians
along East Liberty, taking notice
of the signs advertising the
markdowns, wandered into the
store hopingto find a steal-
Matt Newman, a Rackham
student studying classics, said he
came into the store looking for
two children's books he had read
when he was younger, but after
browsing through a children's
section in disarray and dismiss-
ing the "strange-looking young
adult fiction" that was on display
throughout the store, he left a few
minutes later.
"I don't think there was any
real rhyme or reason to the way
things were going in there now,"
Newman said.
While Newman and others
streaming into the store returned
empty-handed, sometimes
after only a few minutes, oth-
ers emerged carrying as many as
three or four plastic bags filled
with books, music and movies.
Bill Auernhamer, a long-time
Ann Arbor resident, purchased

two hardcover books from the
store for a total of $1.70 in what
he said was his fourth ,or fifth
visit to the store since Borders
announced its liquidation. Had
discounts not been so steep, he
said, he might not have purchased
anything from a selection of
books that had been "pretty well-
picked over by now."
"You wouldn't want to go in
there looking for a specific book
- you probably wouldn't find it,"
Auernhamer said. "But if you're
looking for something that might
be interesting, at a good price, you
might still go in there and find
something."
Borders was founded in Ann
Arbor in 1971 by Tom and Louis
Borders.
Auernhamer, an avid reader
since he retired, said he is "sad"
to see Borders close.
"I've been coming in and out
of this store forI don't know how
long. I remember when this store
was on State Street," he said. "I
can never remember feeling so
sad over a'store closing."

Latest closure highlights
struggle of East Liberty
Street stores

0


Area sees decreased
sales since Borders
closed last fall
ByDANIELLESTOPPELMAN
Daily StaffReporter
JAN. 25, 2012 - Sole Sisters, a
boutique on East Liberty Street,
will be closing its doors at the
end of the month - joining the
growinglistof businesses in the
area that have ceased operating
in the past few months, includ-
ing Poshh, This and That, @
Burger and Borders.
According -to local business
owners and Tim Faley, manag-
ing director of the Institute for
Entrepreneurial Studies in the
Ross School of Business, the
rise in store closures in the area
could be related to a variety of
factors, including the closure
of Borders in September and
increased competition from
upscale restaurants that have
began to flourish in the area.
Tamar Fowler, owner of Sole
Sisters, said the company expe-
rienced a decrease in sales over
the course of the past six to eight
months that has made continu-
ing business operations diffi-
cult. Though she moved to East
Liberty from Fourth Avenue in
2010 in hopes of increased foot
traffic, ultimately she said the
rent on East Liberty was too
high.
"It's heartbreaking, of
course," Fowler said. "You put
so much time and effort into it...
it does hurt a little, but it's still
good because I've tried ... we
made it three and a half years. I
met some really great people; I
love my customers, I really got
to know each and every one of
them."
Sole Sisters, which opened
in March 2010, will hopefully
be revived in the future as she
explores methods of reviving
her business and new ways to
sell her shoes, handbags and
jewelry, Fowler said.
Faley wrote, in an e-mail
interview that in order for busi-
nesses to remain open, they
must accrue greater revenue
than the costs paid to operate
the store, noting that many df
the businesses that have been

successful in the area are high-
er-end restaurants that serve
liquor to supplement food prof-
its.
"While restaurants and retail
shops all operate on thin mar-
gins, the bottom line is that a
higher-end restaurant with a
liquor license - if it they can
attract a, consistent stream of
customers - are advantaged
and can support a higher rent
than small retail shop or fast-
food restaurant," Faley said.
Faley added that downtown
Ann Arbor development asso-
ciates prefer a wide variety of
storefronts, mixing retail, res-
taurants and other specialty
shops. However, he said main-
taining this diversity has been
challenging as niche stores
close due to low profits and high
rent.
"It will be interesting to see
how far the mix along the Lib-
erty Street corridor will ulti-
mately swing," Faley said.
In order to decrease the
expense of maintaining a store-
front, Fowler plans to display
her merchandise at private
parties and events, as well as
develop a website for online
shopping.
"I feel good about it... closing
these doors is just going to open
up more," Fowler said.
However, other storeown-
ers on East Liberty said they
don't feel as optimistic about
the future of their businesses.
Angela'Eddins, owner of Rocky
Mountain Chocolate Factory,
said she is concerned about the
high rent and low foot traffic,
attributing decreased sales to
a number of factors, includ-
ing the closing of Borders - a
major draw for customers to
the area.
"Borders's closing has killed
all of us," Eddins said. "We've
been open for years and we can
see our sales from when Bor-
ders was open to when it closes,
and it's downhill."
Eddins said many customers
may also vieW the East Liberty
strip as unappealing due to the
high number of panhandlers,
adding that very few customers
visit her store.
"It's dead oow ... It's like a
ghost town od there," Eddins
said.

"Runners cross the maize 'M' on their way to.the finish line at the Big House, Big Heart Event at the Big House on October 9, 2011
,q
;Bi House Big Heart aims to raise $1 million
15D runners iscovery, C.S. Mott Children's Significantly, the race was Toronto in 2015. He added that
Hospital and Von Voigtlander extended across the globe, with he was excited to participate in
raise money for Women's Hospital and the Car- 500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan the event.
diovascular Center. participating in the 5k and 10k "Running for a cause is what it
cancer research Big House Big Heart started in races via avirtual feed. is all about," Bethke said before
2007 with more than 5,000 par- Sgt. Christopher Wright, a vol- he shuffled off to take pictures

ByA ARON GUGENHEIM
Daily StaffReporter
OCT. 9, 2011 - While sweat-
ing, smiling and listening to the
pump ofreggae,asilentstampede
W runners raced down South
University Avenue yesterday on
their way to the Big House.
The runners participated in
Big House Big Heart, a series of
races devoted to raising money
for local eharities and the Uni-
versity of Michigan Health Sys-
tem. Proaeeds from the event,
which featured a 5K, 10K and
two one-mile races, support
three UMHS programs:he Pro-
gram for Neuroogy Research &

ticipants and a $150,000 contri-
bution to charities. Since then, it
has grown in runners and dona-
tions each year.
This year, the event had
approximately 15,000 partici-
pants and 775 volunteers, of
whom 200 are student-athletes
at the University.
Colleen Greene, the logistics
chair for Champions for Charity
- the organization hosting the
event - expressed enthusiasm
about the growth of the event.
The organization now- raises
money for 147 non-profits while
also supporting UMHS, Greene
said. She added that this year the
organization hopes to top 1 mil-
lion.

unteer for last year's race, helped
organize the run this year in
Afghanistan.
At the race in Ann Arbor, run-
ners finished on the 50-yard
line in the Big House. Brandon
Bethke was first to finish in the
10K with a time of 30:38.
Bethke is a post-collegiate
runner based in Ann Arbor hop-
ing to make the Olympics in
2012. He qualified for the 5K in
the Olympic trials with a time of
13:25 at the Payton Jordan Invi-
tational in Palo Alto, Calif.
Bethke said he ran in the race
to check his training progress,
since he's preparing for the Pan-
American Games, with the next
Games scheduled to take place in

with eager fans.
LSA junior Thomas Yeh,
another participant, was sup-
porting a charity called My
Team Triumph. The organiza-
tion, which has chapters in eight
states, pairs people in wheel
chairs with runners to push them
through the race.
"It is about being able to reach
out and help out," Yeh said.
Yeh added that the races pro-
vide a forum for disabled people
to experience something they
otherwise couldn't.
This year, 45 runners from
MRun, a University running
club, helped push three wheel
chair users in the race. MRun
See BIG HOUSE, Page 7A