Westborn Mall Tells Hot Dog Stand to Relocate
Jane Ford serves up a hot dog in the parking lot of ACO Hardware in Dearborn. The family had to pack up its second hot dog stand down the road at Westborn Mall at the request of the mall's owner.
After nearly two and a half years of selling hot dogs from her cart outside the Dearborn post office in the Westborn Mall, Anna Ford has been told by the mall’s owner to push on out.
Most Dearborn residents know Anna Ford from her more than 25 years of selling hot dogs from her cart outside of ACO on Michigan Avenue, just west of Military Street. Her Binky’s Hot Dog and Sausage stand has been selling Dearborn Sausage brand hot dogs and Detroit’s Better Made chips in the parking lot of the hardware store for seven days a week without incident.
But that apparently wasn’t the case in Westborn Mall. Anna Ford tells DeepsaidWhat.com that the owners of the recently opened Red Olive restaurant in the mall, who offer coney dogs on their menu, apparently viewed the hot dog stand as competition. Although Binky’s does not sell coney toppings for its hot dogs, the owner of Westborn Mall told them they had to leave, she said.
“I do wish the Red Olive well,” Anna Ford said. “It is tough to starting a new business. I have no animosity toward Westborn Mall or the Red Olive. I just think that some of the workers in the mall don’t have time to go out to a sit-down restaurant. Running to my stand is just easier for some of those people with limited time. I just wish it could have worked out for all of us. I don’t think our businesses compete.”
While Binky’s Hot Dog stand didn’t pay rent for sitting in Westborn Mall’s parking lot, it is hard to view the hot dog cart as competition for the restaurant, which offers a full menu that goes beyond hot dogs and chips.
April 9th, 2012 at 6:24 am
Red Olive will no longer have my business. The ‘little guy’ no longer stands a chance especially in this city.
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April 9th, 2012 at 10:08 am
If this is true, Red Olive should have know that Binky’s had been operating in that parking lot when it decided to open up shop there and therefore they have no one to blame for themselves for the “competition.”
April 9th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
It seems totally reasonable. Red Olive is a paying tenant. And there’s a hot dog stand (same owner) just down the block at ACO. I will be happy support the hot dog lady at ACO and also the paying tenant who filled an empty store in West Dearborn.
April 10th, 2012 at 9:12 am
Relax people you can get the same walk-up Hot Dog 500yds east of that spot.. you wanted foot traffic Dearborn!! Walk your butt down and get a dog!! Jeeze!..
April 11th, 2012 at 5:11 pm
maybe a little more east in front of city hall, maybe mayor mccheese will switch to hotdogs, she would clean up with him as a customer.
April 11th, 2012 at 7:01 pm
I agree Donna, I will never step foot into Red Olive. How could they find competition in a hot dog cart? Is the food they serve so bad and such low quality that they have to resort to such bullying tactics? This is America. We are a free enterprise country. The hot dog cart has every right to be there with out big business driving them away. This is pure greed On the part of Red Olive. Congrats, you may make a buck or two more now, but not from me.
April 12th, 2012 at 10:20 am
this same issue came up twenty years ago in east dearborn with Top Dog, and 5050 Coney Island on Schaefer, only difference city owned lot. Both Coney’s complaianed to then Mayor Guido and the hot dog cart vending ordinance was changed. Both paid taxes and an assessment for the parking lot and right outside was a cart selling hot dogs. the restaurants won and ther cart was virually eliminated from the area.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
I don’t think Red Olive has that good a business model. It’s enclosed inside an outdated strip mall. Red Olive would have to be an absolutely fantastic establishment for which consumers would seek it out. Other than that, shoppers at Kroger and those on the opposite side would have to be in the mood. Perhaps this move has more to do with the lack of success than the threat of competition.
April 17th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
What happened to getting both sides of the story? Get your facts straight people! It is not Red Olive that requested from the mall owner for her to leave, its the mall owner who no longer wanted her there. NOTHING against the coney cart, but it is an injustice as well to the red olive establishment that has invested in our city to be barraged with frivilous negativity because a coney vendor who happens to NOT be a tenant is now somehow a victim of something. Please people, business is business! Stop taking advantage of a good thing. Now that the 15 minutes of free advertising for the coney cart are up, can we have real news that effects our city to read about?!
April 19th, 2012 at 9:12 am
Who goes out to eat and orders a hot dog anyway? Unless it’s a chili dog. And the cart doesn’t even sell chili dogs. I have yet to go to a restaurant and order a hot dog like they sell at the cart. If I was in a hurry, I would grab one on my way out of the post office. Totally different thing from sitting down to a meal at the Red Olive. People in charge here are totally out of touch with who is living in our city today and what we want.
April 21st, 2012 at 3:33 pm
I’ve been to Red Olive once and most likely won’t go back. It’s just another Middle Eastern/American restaurant that has the same thing most everyone else has – just at a higher price – and not that great, either; not bad, but no reason for me to return. As for the hot dog cart, I’ve been a patron for years and will continue to visit down at Aco. Love those dogs! They’re the ones who started me eating jalapenos on my dog. Yumm!
April 23rd, 2012 at 11:10 pm
I have been to the Red Olive twice, not impressed with the food or service. The food is the same bland watered down that all the other coney places serve. I’m not sure what this building owner is thinking, kicking out an established business or a band new business that will fail with this kind of treatment. Dearborn leaders think this city is like AnnArbor or Royal Oak, far from it guys. There are very few places in Dearborn that I frequent none of which require me to pay for parking.
June 12th, 2012 at 11:54 pm
This story has come to a positive outcome for all.
http://www.pressandguide.com/articles/2012/06/12/news/doc4fd771f4c0539536671318.txt
I’m giving Red Olive another chance, and I hope others will too.