Southeast Michigan Retail: Motor City Retail History

  This post will look at retail in Taylor, Wayne County, MI. Target #280 needs no introduction, as we've already written an entire blog post on this store back in 2019. However, yesterday, I had to go there to pick up something...in the middle of a major wind storm warning that was producing wind gusts up to at least 64 MPH at nearby Detroit Metro Airport, and originated from the same storm complex that just the night before had not only spawned a series of destructive tornadoes between Illinois and Arkansas, but had also spawned a large snowstorm in Minnesota. Naturally, the winds triggered numerous power outages across Michigan and Ontario, and among the areas that were affected by blackouts was the area surrounding Southland Center, including the mall itself (though some stores remained with power anyway), forcing it to close. The blackout extended to the Target #280 store behind Southland, and that is the subject of today's post. At the time of my visit, the store was oper

    This post will look at retail in Wyandotte, Wayne County, MI.    A&P / Lucky Strike Market / Pinch Penny Market / Arbor Drugs #118 / CVS #8118 131 Elm Street, Wyandotte, MI Driving distance and time from downtown Detroit: 11.6 miles, approx. 27 minutes   After covering CVS store #8029 , it seemed natural that this blog would get around to doing a post on Wyandotte's other active CVS store, and very much like #8029, this location also has a grocery store past. The 131 Elm Street A&P store in the 1960s, following its last exterior remodel. The former Wyandotte Post Office building (background) would soon be demolished for additional parking for 131 Elm's tenants. (credit: All Things Wyandotte ) Located on a side street within downtown Wyandotte, the building that houses CVS #8118 was first built in 1938 to house an A&P grocery store, and like most A&P stores of the period, was built in the chain's then-typical stepped-facade design (seen above). Despite co

The following is a SMR:MCRH Contributor Post.   This post will look at retail in Adrian, Lenawee County, MI.   Kmart #9535 / Seaway Food Town #36/#6036 / Country Market #11 1535 West Maumee Street, Adrian, MI Driving distance and time from downtown Detroit: 73.7 miles, approx. 1 hour 23 minutes   Today's post is brought to you by yet another new contributor: James Kirslis, aka Decor Package, aka The Seaway Project on Discord. James brings us down to this Country Market store in the heart of Lenawee County, a remote, rural county southwest of Ann Arbor, to give us a look at another defunct supermarket chain -- one called Seaway Food Town. For those of you unfamiliar with the company, Seaway Food Town was a supermarket chain based out of the Toledo, Ohio suburb of Maumee, Ohio that started out as a co-operative operation before transitioning into a traditional chain as the company began branching out into various side ventures from drug stores to restaurants. It wasn't until 1965