Business News in Brighton

The old Brighton Donuts has undergone extensive remodeling and is likely to host a Potbelly Sandwich Shop and perhaps a T-Mobile cellular store, too.  Potbelly began in Chicago in 1977 and there are some stores in the west Detroit suburbs, as well as Ann Arbor.  The new building looks fantastic.

If you remember the florist shop in the newer building with Tim Horton’s and the BP Gas Station at Grand River and St. Paul Street, look for a Domino’s Pizza outlet there soon.

In case you missed it, the Leaf, Barley & Vine building on Grand River and North St (next to Stout Pub) has been taken over by a new mortgage lender, Treadstone Funding.  I got to see the building while work was in process and it is going to be a great addition to downtown. It's wonderful that the building is no longer sitting vacant.

The Grand River Crossing mall (near VG’s, across from the Brighton Bowl) will soon have an old Brighton favorite returning – Big Apple Bagels.

Davis Office Site – at Grand River and Best Buy Drive, the old buildings that held many small medical offices is almost done.  One of the tenants is going to be Panda Express, a “fast, casual Chinese restaurant”.  Current locations include Okemos, Jackson, Ann Arbor, Great Lakes Crossing, Allen Park and the Rochester area.

And if you’ve seen the construction on Challis Rd just west of the newly remodeled and reopened Big Boy, that’s going to be a Hampton Inn.

The City of Brighton continues to try to add more parking to meet demand. The Dairy Mart on Grand River and North Street has been demolished and will be another ‘Transitional Parking Lot’. Walking distance to downtown shops and restaurants, it will be another option for you, but it will be right turn only when exiting because it is so close to the traffic signal at North and Grand River and because of traffic volumes on Grand River.

Information above is believed to be correct, but things can happen! Negotiations fail, problems arise, that’s development.

More Local Business Good News

It looks like after many consecutive years of warmer weather and patchy snowfall that the local ski resort, Mt. Brighton, will have a great year! They opened earlier than ever before and are making snow like crazy. A week ago today they had a 16” base on the intermediate hill. Today is the first day that all hills will be open.

Skiers and snow boarders eat at local restaurants, buy gasoline, and often shop at area stores while in town for the slopes. And Brighton has a very strong retail segment between the newer developments at Grand River and Challis and the downtown area.

Many years ago (way before Brighton had ‘grown up’ development-wise), I came out for a day of skiing. I decided to take Grand River all-l-l-l the way back to Detroit. I discovered a small store just east of Brighton called Marv’s Meats. I bought a couple of items and was amazed at the quality compared to my local grocery stores.

After that, I always made sure that I could stop at Marv’s either before or after skiing to pick up some food. I imagine that there are many other winter sports enthusiasts that come to the area and make their own discoveries.

I would have never guessed that one day I’d be living in this area. Between hunting and fishing in Livingston County with my dad and uncle, and visiting Mt. Brighton in the winter with friends, I guess I got hooked!

Some Local Businesses Doing Well

After the daily assault of bad news, it was
really great to see recent reports of good news
for local businesses.

First, Lowry Computer Products Inc., of
Brighton (Green Oak Twp) is one of three
suppliers that won part of a $75 million multi-
year contract from the U.S. Army. Lowry has
been a bar code leader for many years and has
moved into the passive radio frequency
identification (RFID) field, too.

The contract deals with ways to track military
equipment through RFID, and Lowry is the prime
contractor. Motorola and Zebra Technologies,
Inc., of Illinois are the other two companies
listed in the agreement.

A Crain's Detroit Business article stated that
the effect of this contract for new hires,
expansion or other area impacts are uncertain at
this time - but it sure can't hurt!

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Liquid Manufacturing of Brighton (Green Oak Twp)
had a site plan approved that will let the
company modify its existing building and add
additional work shifts, but will not create many
new on-site jobs.

Liquid Manufacturing is a brewing and distilling
company on Whitmore Lake Rd and is planning to
add 30 new product lines that include energy
beverages and water brands. They are at the old
Thermofil site.