The Journal Register Co., owner of the Dearborn Press & Guide, and more than a dozen other papers in Michigan, including the Oakland Press and the Macomb Daily, filed Saturday for bankruptcy protection from its creditors — the third newspaper publisher to do so since December.

While the company blamed a slump in advertising for its financial woes, the Dearborn Press & Guide, part of the Heritage paper chain, appeared to be in slightly better shape in terms of overall advertising.

The Journal Register said it would cancel its stock, which has been trading as a penny stock now for sometime, and become a closely held company, owned by its lenders, under a proposed reorganization plan filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

The Journal Register listed debt of as much as $1 billion and assets of between $100 million and $500 million in Chapter 11 documents.

The bankruptcy filing is not expected to impact the Dearborn Press & Guide delivery, at least not in the foreseeable future. The paper recently closed its Dearborn offices and moved to Heritage headquarters in Southgate as part of a cost cutting effort.

The Journal Register follows the Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angles Times and Chicago Tribune newspapers, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune into bankruptcy.

Newspapers around the country are struggling because of slumping advertising sales and subscriptions, accelerated in part in trying to compete with online search engines, where these very newspapers give away their stories for free. Newspapers have been unable so far to find a way to make money on the Internet.

“With the increased competition from other forms of media and slumping advertising revenues, the downward pressure on newspaper earnings will likely remain intense in the near term,” James Hall, Journal Register CEO, in court papers.

Oakwood is encouraging its employees to spend their shopping dollars in the city they work.

It’s no secret Dearborn businesses are struggling. Hit any local restaurant or store at lunch hour and you can see it for yourself. But what if those who travel to Dearborn each day for work made a conscious decision to spend a portion of their shopping dollars in the very city they worked?

If you’re Oakwood Healthcare in Dearborn and your 6,000 employees and 1,300 physicians were encouraged to do just that we think the impact could be a positive one.

That’s exactly what Mary Zatina, senior vice president of government relations, corporate planning and communications at Oakwood Healthcare Inc., who works in Dearborn, is doing. She is encouraing Oakwood employees in Dearborn and at the company’s 37 other locations in metro Detroit to spend their lunch dollars or running errand dollars in the cities in which they work. That’s a total of 10,000 Oakwood employees, which is a lot of buying power.

“We want people to chose us (Oakwood) so we need to do the same,” Zatina said. “We need to spend our money where we earn our money. We need to give back to the community.”

We think it’s a great idea and one that many other companies with operations in Dearborn should adopt, too.

Oakwood employees are quietly telling areas businesses that they have their support by simply leaving behind their business cards in those glass bowls some restaurants keep near  the cash register that encourage patrons to drop their card off.

One of the labels on the back of an Oakwood business card.

On the backside of these Oakwood business cards are sticker labels that let the owner of the store or restaurant know Oakwood employees are trying to do their part to help during these trying economic times.

One label reads: “Times are tough, but we will survive this economic challenge together as a community — that’s why I chose to bring my business here.”

Another one reads:  “Consumers have choices, and I choose to spend my money in the community in which I make my money. We are stronger together.”

And still another reads: “I shop where I work! We’ll survive this economic crisis if we support our community together.”

The labels were the brainchild of Zatina who says they are now spreading like “wild fire” at Oakwood in just a month since it began.  “It is a little something to show the community that we care. We are in this together and we are going to make it together.”

Well said.

First the sad news:  after 54 years of serving Dearborn, Adray will close its store for good.

Now the good news:  Adray tells DeepSaidWhat.com it likely will reemerge but it just might not be in Dearborn, but more on that later.

Like everyone who has heard the news of Adray closing on all three television news stations Thursday night, we too are deeply saddened to see a Dearborn icon close its doors. Adray wasn’t just another store in Dearborn but one that sponsored little league baseball teams, hockey teams and provided scholarships to Henry Ford Community College. I played on dozens of Adray baseball teams as a kid and still have a few of my baseball hats with the famous “A” on them.

Adray was best known for its camera business.

Adray was and is probably best known for its camera selection and having the MOST knowledgeable and friendly staff anywhere. At one time, it also had one of the best stereo sound system selections, too, and a great staff to go with it.

But as the big box electronics stores moved in, Adray had to change and its offerings were pared down a bit, too. Part of that had to do with a fickle public, many who live in our city. 

Sure they will all say they want a local store and a friendly staff who remembers their name when they walk in the door, but these same people would toss that to the side to save $20 bucks on a purchase from Best Buy, Costco or Wal Mart.  Adray, who? they probably said as they slipped the Andrew Jackson into their pocket. That’s how some roll when it comes to supporting our own in this town. So sad.

The purchasing power of those big box stores was also something Adray couldn’t compete with any more. Where Adray might purchase 20 or 30 of the hotest new electronic gizmos or TVs or whatever, the big boxes were purchasing train car loads full of them. Now who do you think the manufacturer is going to give a better price to?

George Bednar, Adray vice president and general manager, tells DeepSaidWhat.com that it was a combination of those things along with “not being easy to find” and the high costs associated with keeping a 23,000 square foot building maintained.

“We gave it our best effort,” said Bednar, a 31-year employee of Adray. “The people have been wonderful. Many stopped in today just to tell us they would miss us. It has been very special.”

So in an e-mail blast to its e-mail customers Wednesday night, Adray let out the bad news. It would be “retiring” its Dearborn store, the note said.  All day Thursday, the store was packed full of people and right up until close, the camera counter was packed with customers. The same is expected over the weekend after full page advertisements in Friday’s Detroit News and Detroit Free Press announce the same, saying Adray is throwing a Retirement sale.

The “retirement” part is a key distinction here. This isn’t a going out of business sale. Saying that would make it legally more difficult to reopen again, which Adray will most likely do,  but with a smaller footprint.

“It’s a retirement sale. We are retiring the Dearborn store,” Bednar said. “You will probably see us reemerge but I can’t say when or where. We would like to continue in a smaller location. We may have an announcement before we close.”

Let’s hope so.

Nearly two years after closing its Dearborn store and putting its building up for sale, the owner of Lynch’s costume store is preparing to return for a summer reopening.

Unable to sell the building at 939 Howard,  just north of Michigan Avenue, the Lynch family could reopen its Dearborn location just in time to celebrate its 60th anniversary. The Lynch store was founded in 1949.

The Lynch family closed its Dearborn store in June 2007, citing paid parking as one of the reasons for departing, and put its building up for sale.  The family consolidated its Dearborn operations into its Livonia and Warren stores. But now, with the state’s economy in shambles, the family is said to be considering consolidating its operations in Warren into the Dearborn store. A sign in the window of the Dearborn store says it will reopen in May but employees say it will be a bit later into summer.

Whatever the reason for the change, we are happy to see the vacant Lynch building will soon be reopened and again selling a wide selection of Halloween costumes, along with the family’s trademark selections of dance attire, theatrical accessories, makeup and other supplies. Given that the Michaels Arts & Craft store on Michigan Avenue is now officially closed and its signs removed, having a store move back to Dearborn is most welcome.

After nearly six years of serving fresh Japanese food at their O’Sushi restaurant in Canton, Sophia Kang and her husband, Shawn, thought it was time to branch out and open a second restaurant. They chose Dearborn.

“We love Dearborn and we love Ford Motor Company,” said Shawn Kang. “We have been looking at coming here for a long time.”

Dearborn's new O'Sushi restaurant serves fresh food at attractive prices.

The couple’s Dearborn restaurant, 22431 Michigan Ave., opened Jan. 5 in the building owned by Norm Newman near Michigan and Military, just across the street from Sacred Heart Church.

With an American flag and colorful triangle banners flying outside the building along with two large window banners that proudly tell passersby that O’Sushi “Loves Dearborn” and “We love Ford Motor”, the restaurant stands out.  Those looking to drink saki with their food will have to wait a bit longer as the family works to obtain a liquor license.

Inside, the decor is authentic Japanese and nicely decorated. The Dearborn location is much more modern and fresh inside than the Korean couple’s Canton restaurant. But both locations serve excellent fresh food at an attractive price with all the hot green tea you can drink for free.

The most popular entrees — which include miso soup, house salad and rice — are the Bibimbab (beef and vegetables over rice) for $9.99, Shrimp Tempura (deep fried battered shrimp and vegetables) $15.99 and Salmon Teriyaki (grilled salmon with teriyaki sauce) $16.99.  

Of course, as the name on the building states, there are plenty of fresh sushi offerings and daily lunch specials, too. Regular sushi rolls are made fresh while you wait and are the least expensive on Michigan Avenue compared to the recently-opened Kabuki at Michigan and Howard and even Westborn Market. A six piece Spicy California roll costs $4.45 while a Spicy Tuna Roll Avocado costs just $4.75.  The restaurant also serves an assortment of fresh Nigiri sushi and sashimi pieces over rice.

The host/servers (Irene, Tiffany, Aaron and Rocky) are a friendly group who know the menu and overall do a nice job making guests feel welcome.

O’Sushi is open seven days a week. Hours are Mon.-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday 11 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.; Saturday noon – 10:30 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. – 9 p.m.  For more information call the restaurant at 313-562-4166.

So Circuit City, the second largest electronics retailer in the U.S., announced today it will begin liquidating its assets after failing to reach an agreement with its creditors and lenders.

This means Dearborn will be left with another vacant big box store. And given the economy, it will likely be a long while before we see the site at Ford Road and Mercury Drive occupied again. Nationally, the move will put 30,000 people out of work. At one point during its free fall, Circuit City fired thousands of veteran salespeople and replaced them with lower-paid and less-experienced workers, believing that sales wouldn’t suffer as a result. They did big time and the damage to the company’s reputation, let alone its revenue, was never undone.

The upside out of all of this is that perhaps with the demise of Circuit City, people might take some time to drive over and support one of Dearborn’s own, Adray Appliance, 20219 Carlysle. In our book, it remains the best photo and electronics store around. The staff is courteous and knowledgeable and many in the photo and electronics departments have been there for more than 20 years. That to us says a lot. Adray has also given a lot to Dearborn, supporting many of the little league baseball teams I played on when I was a kid, along with many hockey teams.

Trouble is Adray is off the main path and many Dearborn folks either don’t know about them or would rather go to a big box national chain to buy their products, saving maybe a few bucks in the process, if anything at all.

We can all complain about the lack of retail in our city and the lack of quaint shops locally owned but if we residents don’t even support our home grown stores – and there are many beyond Adray we can list here – what do you think the outcome will be here long term?

Macy’s is closing 11 stores, but Dearborn’s Fairlane location will remain, a good thing for the mall as it is one of the key anchors at the Fairlane Town Center.

Macy’s cancelled out its 10 new store openings in 2007 with this announcement that it is closing 11 stores that have been experiencing declining sales with little hope for future growth.

The 11 stores being closed will leave big holes in several malls where Macy’s has been a tenant for more than 20 years.

In a company statement, Macy’s said in 2009 it had modest store opening plans for six to eight stores. The company currently operates about 850 stores under the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s brands.

Stores to shut are in Los Angeles; Colorado Springs and Westminster, Colo.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; Hawaii; Indianapolis; Brooklyn Center, Minn.; St. Louis; Natrona Heights and West Mifflin, Pa.; and Nashville, Tenn.

There has been a lot of talk lately on DeepSaidWhat.com in our comments section about what type of businesses would or wouldn’t work in Dearborn. Given that, we thought it would be worth reposting a story we wrote on this topic May 28, 2007. The story centered around the results of a Dearborn Chamber of Commerce survey and the types of businesses Dearborn residents wanted. Kohl’s rated in the top three, for those wondering.  While not entirely scientific, we thought the survey was a good effort by the Chamber. The results likely would still hold up today.

Below is the repost:

Say what you will about the Fairlane Town Center but Dearborn residents rate the mall as their favorite place to shop, ahead of Southland and Twelve Oaks, according to an informal online survey conducted by the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce.

That answer was one of 17 gleamed from the online survey designed to pinpoint the type of businesses people want to see come to Dearborn. The Chamber administered the survey, while the questions were developed by Steve Guile, Dearborn’s deputy director of economic development and Chamber board member Sandy Boulton, who runs her own marketing company.

While I agree that this unscientific survey is about as accurate as licking your finger and holding it up in the air to determine wind direction, it does provide a glimpse of what people are thinking. Not just on the types of retail stores but whether Dearborn residents want boutique shops, large chain stores, malls or main street-style retail shops in our city. Interestingly, the majority of survey respondents were women (60 percent) and the majority of all of those who took part in the survey were in the 48124 zip code.

When local residents, workers and business owners were asked what shopping mall they most frequented the Fairlane Mall topped the list with 24.2 responding it was their top shopping spot. Rounding out the top three was Southland (15.4 percent) and Twelve Oaks (14.6 percent).

Dearbornites also want to see more outdoor concerts, festivals and art shows in their city, according to the survey results, which explains why our Dearborn Homecoming is such a hit each year. Overall, Dearborn residents are quite happy with their city, the survey revealed. What they are searching for, however, is something to do between the eating and drinking that takes place on any given day. What can be done, say, in a four hour block between the time dinner is over and the nightcap? Filling that four hour window could be a movie, a museum, a few boutique shops strung together that people can stop in to shop.

“People want something to do in Dearborn beyond restaurants and bars,” says Jennifer Giering, president of the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce. “They want something to do between dinner and drinks.”

For instance, survey results show that the three most important features in a downtown were that it had to be walkable (88.7 percent), have ample parking (74 percent) and outdoor/patio seating at restaurants and bars (71.6 percent).

So what were the top three national chain stores residents would like to see locate in Dearborn? Specialty grocery store Trader Joe’s (56 percent), followed by Crate and Barrel (54.8 percent) and then Kohls (49.9 percent). Any of these stores would do well in Dearborn but we our city is competing against many others seeking to attract the same.

The survey is a good first step for Dearborn, even if it merely validates what our city leaders and businesses already know. At a minimum, it might help get people talking and perhaps shed more light on the types of issues facing Dearborn and then generate ideas that could help improve our city.

The complete survey can be viewed by clicking here: Chamber Survey Results

Michaels Arts & Crafts store, a key anchor in a Dearborn strip mall just off of Michigan Avenue, is calling it quits, closing its doors and consolidating its operations into its newer Allen Park store.

Just when the store will officially close its doors isn’t known but all indications are that it will be soon since a good portion of the store is now packed in boxes. Even so, employees at the store say they haven’t been given an official date. “We are on a need-to-know basis,” said one cashier. “They haven’t told us when the store will close. Never mind it’s our jobs they are talking about.”

And so goes another tenant in a Norm Newman property to call it quits. For those of you wondering, the next-door, ACO Hardware store, one of our favorites to Duke’s Hardware, is not in a Newman-owned building. Same with the vacant store to the west of ACO that at one time housed Hancock Fabrics.

As an outside observer, the move by Michaels to Allen Park seems to be a pretty straightforward business decision, consolidating operations into the company’s newest location. Even the company’s Westland location is closing. However, moving to Allen Park is not without its challenges. Just ask Party City who left its Dearborn location at 22938 Michigan (near the then Farmer Jack grocery store) to move to the fancy new Allen Park site only to move back to Dearborn to its original location. Business just wasn’t good in Allen Park.

Michaels may be making a similar mistake. Both locations have free parking. So take that off the table. The Dearborn store may look tired and old but it’s easier for people to get to at lunch and easier for seniors who may not like trying to navigate the poorly designed entrance and exits into the Fairlane Green shopping center. While we wish them well, we are sad to see Michaels leave Dearborn.

Challenges at West Village Commons
The West Village Commons in Dearborn, the Burton-Katzman project that still sits more than half vacant, suffered another unfortunate casualty, this time the au bon pain Café & Bakery, which appears to have closed its doors for good. The inside of the café has been gutted and a sign on the door reads the following:

“We have moved locations. Thank you Dearborn for your patronage. Please visit our other locations at Campus Martius Park, Renaissance Center and DMC Hospital.”

The departure of au bon pain now leaves a gaping hole in a key section of the West Village Commons. To the left of the café is a closed Caribou Coffee and to the right a closed Super Cuts. Hardly good for other remaining businesses at the location but it really is a sign of the tough economic times we are living in right now.

New Sushi Restaurant Opening
Even so, just down the street is a new restaurant opening simply called Sushi. The Sushi restaurant is located in a high visibility corner of Norm Newman’s mostly vacant property, just west of Michigan and Military.

The new restaurant brings to three the number of businesses selling Japanese cuisine along Michigan. The others are the newly opened Kabuki, at the corner of Michigan and Howard, and the upscale Crave restaurant at Michigan and Mason.