Dearborn Music Moving to New Dearborn Location
We heard the rumors and now we can report it as fact.
After 60 years at the corner of Michigan and Monroe, Dearborn Music is moving into a Dearborn strip mall three blocks west of its current location.
Dearborn Music is moving to a new location after 56 years in business and 53 years at the corner of Michigan and Monroe.
That leaves another prime corner of real estate on Michigan Avenue vacant. The building directly across from Dearborn Music is also vacant. Both properties are owned by Hakim Fakhoury.
Dearborn Music will move next door to the upcoming Goodwill store in what formerly housed Pier 1. The property is owned by Norm Newman. The new location certainly won’t offer the charm of the old historic place they were in but it will offer free parking.
This is a big move for Dearborn Music and we wish them the best. Moving to a new location after 60 years in one spot wasn’t an easy decision and there is no guarantee they will have the success in a new space, particularly without the Michigan Avenue traffic.
We wish them all the best in the Norm Newman building.
June 6th, 2012 at 9:14 am
I am curious as to why after 60 years they feel the need to move? Anyone care to guess?
June 6th, 2012 at 9:51 am
Dearborn Music is surviving, and that’s what matters most. I wish them well. And I will visit the new location (no problem for me).
June 6th, 2012 at 10:49 am
Another great result from Dearborn’s preferred developer.
I would hope the City’s administration takes a bow and a victory lap over another “job well done.”
June 6th, 2012 at 11:01 am
Bill,
I think the simple answer is FREE AMPLE PARKING. The new location you pull up, get out, walk across Newman St., buy your music and leave. No hassle of paid parking.
June 6th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Bill the move is because of Hakim’s B.S. He keeps making promises he knows he can’t fulfill, and they continue to blow up in his face. Good move and I for one will go to the new location. Believe me the further you are from Hakim the better off you are.
June 6th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
Take your pick:
“both buildings are owned by Hakim Fakhoury” or “free parking”
(probably both)
They might also think that customers of Goodwill might consider buying used music discs from them as well.
June 6th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
@ Bill-Cheaper rent, what else could it be?
June 6th, 2012 at 4:04 pm
“I am curious as to why after 60 years they feel the need to move? Anyone care to guess?”
Cheaper rent and overhead in an era of half.com and amazon? It has to be brutal trying to make a buck selling CD’s and records in a brick and mortar family-owned place these days.
June 6th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
I can’t wait! I will go there more often now since the parking will be free.
June 7th, 2012 at 9:02 am
Hello All:
My question was to poke responses from folks. And yes, I asked the question knowing full well what the answers would be. All the businesses which have moved or otherwise vanished in recent memory keep complaining about the parking. If it isn’t the parking, it is the incredibly obnoxious rent a particular landlord charges tenants. I wish Dearborn Music the best with the move. And yes, I will keep going to them.
June 7th, 2012 at 11:23 am
wish them well but it’s the truth about the parking. I don’t mind paying it, it’s a pain to use it though. it’s impossible to get in and out of merchants fine wine at lunch time so I don’t go there and end up going to another dearborn store (but this time, in east dearborn) with free and unfetterred parking. Hakim knows the parking has to go – he was meeting with various restaurant owners about it a while ago. and I have not met one person from dearborn who voted for it, yet it passed the ballot!
June 7th, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Tdogg don’t blame poor HAKIM alone, Bluto has no forsight to help business owners, and thats why they are constantly looking for new answers on their own. Hakim and Bluto are like the blind leading the blind.
June 7th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
The whole story is odd. Why wouldn’t Dearborn Music own their building? Would you rent for 53 years? Also, Norm Newman has a past of not being a good landlord. Why would they want anything to do with him?
June 8th, 2012 at 11:58 am
New Guy:
I just moved here and am new to this blog site. I have a few questions-1)Who is McCheese? 2)Who is Bluto? 3)Who is Puddin’ Pants? Are Hakim and Neumann landlords? Do they pay taxes? Somers is a judge and cost the City $$ in law suits? And City Legal/Mayor OKed arest of the Florida Minster, in disregard of free spch.? The City pays a huge percentage of the budget for Police & Fire due to a previous vote, and will not place an amendment on the ballot and, possibly, make a compromise to free up some money for Pools & Libraries, etc.? And the City is broke but just bought a new City Hall and is building new Cabins at Camp Milford and had a plan in place to build a new Auatic Center near Ford Woods? And the City Dept. Heads are not required to live in the City? And Burton Katzman didn’t complete work agreed upon and got off the hook going B.K.? And Fatburger, really, isn’t coming soon – as advertised? Should I move back home? Is the dream over, or is this just a nightmare?
June 8th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
New Guy:
Although you have many good arguments against this city that I can agree with…….bashing the police & fire is not one of them. Our police & fire departments are the best thing this city has to offer. At least they show up when you need them and not two hours later.
In my opinion, all the pools and libraries in the world don’t mean “SQUAT” if you are not safe in your own home.
Please read: Homegrowns’ comment under “Dearborn Considers Removing Library Fountain.” This person seems to back up his comment with facts. Unlike your broad statements.
June 9th, 2012 at 10:20 am
Yes, it was paid parking. The area is without paid parking is thriving (where Dearborn Music is going to), while the areas with paid parking are dying.
When are city officials going to realize that paid parking isn’t working? They will lose money by scrapping it now, but they may lose a lot more money if they continue with this misguided venture.
June 9th, 2012 at 1:57 pm
It’s nice to know that they aren’t afraid of Goodwill store that will be right next door. I remember reading somewhere in Deeps site that no one else would ever want to move next to Goodwill or in that general area.
June 9th, 2012 at 5:51 pm
Business owners: “We don’t want to pay to maintain the parking lots that our customers use, make the customers pay.”
City: “OK”
Residents: “We don’t want to pay to maintain the parking lots that drivers use to patronize local businesses, make the customers pay.”
City: “OK”
Fast Forward: “Waaaaah, waaaaah, waaaaaah, you shouldn’t have listened to us! Making the customers pay is bad! We like to complain that you don’t listen to us and act unilaterally….until you listen to us and do what we think we want you to do…..waaaaaaaah…..”
Stop your whining already. Business owners and voters both got what they wanted.
June 10th, 2012 at 12:58 am
Whatever. Dearborn Music aside Goodwill = Detroit vs. Dearborn. Or Nancy Wilson standing next to Rick James. The Ford Historic District annual garage sale could put Goodwill out of business within a season.
June 10th, 2012 at 1:07 am
I took my Mother (who retired from the IRS) into LaShish for her first time. I always thought their food was superb. She turned her nose up at everything. I always wondered why, but years later I figured it out.
June 10th, 2012 at 1:51 am
Were it not for Dearborn Music (including the original smaller store whose Michigan Avenue location I can’t remember) and Cherry HIll Records (anybody remember them?) my long career as a musician would almost certainly not have developed the way it did or, possibly, at all.
Even as my loving and always supportive parents probably wondered just what it was I heard in all those raucous 45s and later, LPs, I bought with my allowance — and drove them and the neighbors to distraction with endless, loud replays — I know they recognized what both stores represented to me. Not only in terms of being foundational to my love of music but also as places where I had my first independent dealings with the world beyond my neighborhood. Places where, as young as I was, I was treated as a customer, where the staff grew familiar with my tastes and would make recommendations and where, most importantly, I found, and felt part of, a community.
Here’s a glass raised high — or more appropriately, my amp cranked to “9” — to a great store and continued decades of being an essential part of the fabric of Dearborn.
June 10th, 2012 at 6:44 am
Sorry this story isn’t as ‘sexy’ as you folks want. It’s pretty easy to surmise give the landlord’s involved.
A) More square footage at a lower cost per square foot.
B) More foot traffic. The restaurants and Goodwill have more foot-traffic than the current spot.
C) Expansion. Current store is cramped. You might even see some different things for sale in the new store.
Good move. Win-win. Too bad some real estate tycoons think they are Donald Trump.
Anthony
June 10th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Even if all of the business owners and residents wanted paid parking, does that take away from the fact that it is severely hurting businesses in the west end? Not really. Whoever wanted it, the fact is it is not working. Should you continue on the same course simply because you thought it was a good idea once in the distant past? Of course not. Last year paid parking left a hole in the budget of more than $650,000. I am not whining about it, I am only pointing it out here with the vain hope that city officials will read it and do something to change course.
I realize the city is caught between a rock and a hard place with paid parking. If they get rid of it, they will have to find another way to bring in money to pay off the debt of the parking structures, upkeep of the lots, etc. My point is, however, if they do not get rid of paid parking, the cost may end up being even greater to the city in lost businesses, customers, and residents.
Some council members feel this way too. I remember when Suzanne Sareini ran she claimed she would get rid of the mess that is paid parking. But when she got in she probably saw what a can of worms it is and decided to focus on other things.
June 11th, 2012 at 8:39 am
Are you talking about the Edison Street Sale?
June 11th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DWAaWgcga0
Read While Humming The Beverly Hillbillies Theme
The Ballad of Mayor McCheese
Come and listen to a story about a man named McCheese.
A poor City Mayor, barely kept city pool’s and libraries.
Then one day, while at Camp Milford, he was shootin at some food, and up through the ground came a bubblin crude.
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
Well the first thing you know ol McCheese thinks he’s a Billionaire, City Council said “buy a new City Hall and move away from here” – said – “Mich. Ave on the Westside, is the place you ought to be” So he loaded up the truck and moved Westerly. Across from Ford World Headquarters. Swimmin pools (Aquatic Center), movie stars.
Well now its time to say good by to McCheese and all his kin.
And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in.
You’re all invited back a gain to this locality
To have a heapin helpin of their hospitality
Hillbilly that is. Set a spell, Take your shoes off.
Y’all come back now, y’hear?.
June 12th, 2012 at 4:07 am
I am a young guy (just under 30) who really hasn’t grasped the whole digital thing of iPods and such. I am more of a physical media type person.
Dearborn Music and even Stormy Records on the East End have treated me very well and if I had an issue with finding something, they would have no issue with helping or even ordering something.
I love those two places and wish DM the best of luck in their location change. I bet business will pick up.
June 12th, 2012 at 4:18 am
First, while Police and Fire do show up (which took a while every time I have called…10 minutes to get to a car accident?), we do have something like the largest force or one of the largest in the Metro Detroit area. Why?
Second, Police/Fire get whatever they want when departments in the DPW get the shaft every time negotiations come around. Police/Fire have had fairly decent raises compared to other departments.
His statements aren’t all that broad…
June 12th, 2012 at 9:53 pm
Lifetime Resident: When we came back and discovered that someone had broken into my sister’s house, I made her go outside and called the police from the sidewalk. We had no idea if the burglar was in the house. It took about three minutes for cars to arrive, and those brave men searched the house with guns drawn. No burglar was still present, but we didn’t know that at the time. I want the current requirements for staffing the fire and police departments. I agree with ‘MyTwoSense’ in that regard. I still want the libraries and the pools, but they are less essential.
June 19th, 2012 at 11:35 am
Exactly, that’s why I seek out other places to shop where I DO NOT have to pay to spend my hard earned money. As for the officials they don’t know squat. I would take a Good Will in my city any day. Love the great deals I get there. More money in my pocket:)