Say goodbye to another Dearborn landmark. After 26 years of serving Dearborn, Dee’s Hallmark on Michigan Avenue will close its doors sometime after the holiday season.

Dee's Hallmark is closing after 26 years serving Dearborn.

The owners, Don and Dee Belcher, are closing the store so they can retire. Clerks in the store say paid parking, which has hurt business, helped expedite the couple’s retirement plans.

The store plans to have a liquidation sale sometime in January 2012. The building has been for sale for more than two years, listing at that time for $640,000.

When we wrote about the building being put on the sales block two years ago, Mr. Belcher said in a note he would do all he could to remain open even if it meant moving to a new location.

“My commitment to survival has always been strong but after closing (3) other stores and using the money to keep Dee’s going there was not enough left to (purchase the building Dee’s is currently located),” Mr. Belcher wrote in 2009. “It is common knowledge that this is not the best time to sell commercial property as evidenced by the many vacancies in our area. However should it sell I will make every effort to negotiate a favorable lease agreement with the new owner. If that is not possible I will look to relocate as close to my current location as I can. A smarter man would have given up long ago I think I’m just to dumb to know when it’s time to quit!!!!”

Dee’s hung on for as long as they could.  Like any business, costs go up each year.  That can be offset with additional sales but with nothing around Dee’s to help draw new customers, remaining open was no longer a good business equation.

We will miss what was easily the best card shop in Dearborn.

If you were walking through Westborn Mall in Dearborn Sunday morning and were wondering what all of the camera and sound crews were doing we can tell you they weren’t shopping.

Instead, the more than half dozen trucks in the parking lot of the mall, along with security personnel, sound and catering crews were all there to support the filming of an upcoming commercial for H&R Block, the income tax people.

The filming for the national ad was taking place in the H&R Block office in the mall. So when you see the commercial air in the coming weeks and listen to the testimonials from people in the ad you’ll know it was shot here in the company’s Dearborn office . . .

A new, never opened hotel on Michigan Avenue that has sat vacant for months for lack of financing could soon get thrown a lifeline.

The property, just west of Telegraph on Michigan Avenue adjacent to Toys R Us,  is currently in the hands of a bank. The bank took possession of the property when the original developer simply ran out of money and couldn’t finish the project.

Now a second developer is in talks with the bank to purchase the property at a “bargain” price. The deal could close as soon as this month, a person familiar with the ongoing negotiations tells Deepsaidwhat.com.

The out-state potential buyer intends to open the building as a hotel. But it isn’t clear whether the hotel would open as a Holiday Inn Express, as was originally intended, or fly the flag of a different chain.

We’re hopeful a deal will be finalized soon.

For the third consecutive year, Dearborn’s Steven Bernard Jewelers is ramping up for its annual collection of warm coats for the needy in and around our community.

Last year through Bernard’s “Coupons for Coats” campaign, more than 400 coats, along with gloves and scarves, were distributed to the needy, Steven tells DeepsaidWhat.com. The number of donations was nearly double Steven’s first year of donations.

“Naturally, my goal this year is to again increase those numbers,” said Steven, whose jewelry store has been serving Dearborn with many one-of-a-kind items for more than three decades.

The third annual Coupons for Coats campaign is an incentive promotion to help encourage participation. Coat donations given will receive a 20 percent discount coupon from Steven Bernard Jewelers.

This year’s Coupons for Coats begins today, Nov. 14, and continues through Dec. 31.

Steven Bernard Jewelers will be collecting new and clean, gently used coats along with hats, gloves, and scarves. These items will be distributed by the First United Methodist Church of Dearborn. Donations will be accepted during holiday business hours at Steven Bernard Jewelers, located at 22266 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn in the 222 Shops.

For more information, call 313-562-8484.

Two more businesses this week have left the unfinished Burton-Katzman development in Dearborn known as West Village Commons.

New Hookah Bar Coming

Two more tenants in Dearborn’s West Village Commons -– the Burton-Katzman development on Michigan Avenue that has failed to live up to all it promised since opening  in 2005 -– are packing their bags and leaving.

Another “business” is coming to the development but more on that shortly.

The UPS Store and Cold Stone Creamery, two of the first stores to move into the once-promising development, closed their doors this week.

The UPS Store is moving to 23636 Michigan Ave.

The good news is that the UPS Store is moving a few blocks west on Michigan Avenue, adjacent to Miller’s Bar. The UPS Store moved because the owner apparently was unable to renegotiate a lower monthly lease rate. The current rate is about $20 per sq.-ft., a far cry from the $33 per sq.-ft. West Village Commons was charging when it first opened six years ago. But it still is uncompetitive when you compare it to Ford Land properties, which have a lease rate as low as $10 per sq.-ft. in some buildings.

Cold Stone closed because it simply wasn’t doing enough business. This is the second time this Cold Stone has closed. Longtime readers of this site will recall that the original owner of Cold Stone, a Ford retiree, closed this same Dearborn location and Allen Park store for lack of business several years ago. The two stores were repurchased by another entrepreneur and reopened. A sign on the Dearborn store directs customers to the still-open Allen Park location.

The West Village Commons development, sans Tom Clark’s little gem, the Village Picture Framing and Art Gallery, is now turning into a bar and food destination, rather than the retail our elected officials hoped for when it entered into this development. The portion of the building facing Michigan Avenue houses Sattva Yoga and the Kabuki restaurant. Those businesses, thankfully, seem to be holding on.

Other former tenants include, the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Caribou Coffee, Supercuts, Au Bon Pain Bakery and American Home Fitness. All closed their doors for good several years ago.

As for the new business coming to the West Village Commons, it isn’t retail. The owner of Le Cigar, one of the first tenants of the development, is opening a new hookah bar called La Hookah.

Let us count the ways we miss the former Jacobson’s and Price’s . . .

Goodwill Industries of Detroit is close to inking a deal with Norm Newman to move into the former Inca building in West Dearborn.

Nearly three years after posting signs promising a “Redevelopment”, the long vacant building that once housed the Inca computer store in West Dearborn could soon have Goodwill Industries as its new tenant.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting Goodwill officials announced they are close to inking a final deal with Norm Newman to lease the vacant building, which is adjacent to another Norm Newman vacant property that once was home to Pier 1. The Pier 1 store relocated to Allen Park.

The Dearborn location, just like the one Goodwill operates in Canton, would be a retail store as well as a drop-off point for just about everything.

At Monday’s council meeting Newman’s daughter, Randee Freedman, represented Newman Building.

We spoke to Norm Newman back in March of 2009 and he hinted that a large retail store would be coming to this location. Many believed it might be a large chain grocery store, such as Aldi.

In between that time the white paper went up covering the glass windows in February 2009 and today, Newman rejected at least one other request to lease the space now headed to Goodwill Industries. That earlier request was for a family gaming business that was to be modeled after a popular Canadian chain.

Dearborn Chamber president Jennifer Knott Giering wrote in the Dearborn Press & Guide in August that Goodwill was looking at Dearborn as a location for another retail store. Giering toured the Canton store for her article and wrote that  “we (Dearborn) should consider them as a creator of local employment opportunities, and support these businesses.” You can read her full column HERE.

The downtown West Dearborn business deck is being shuffled again due to the closing of one longtime hair salon and a restaurant deal that is no longer going to happen.

A sign to patrons hangs in the door of Salon West.

The bad news begins with the closing of Salon West, a hair salon and spa that after 18 years in Dearborn was forced to close.

Blame the closing on the tough economy. Patrons of the salon will recall that the owner several years ago poured thousands of dollars into a major remodeling of the facility and added a spa to go along with haircuts.

Trouble is Salon West reopened when the economic slide was just beginning. Combine that with the opening of Om Spa directly across the street and you had the perfect storm. The closing is unfortunate.

Just across the street from Salon West, a vacant building that earlier in the year had signs proclaiming La Shish was reopening in it is now dead. The vacant building once housed a blues bar called George and Harry’s. The restaurant owner – the same person who owns the recently reopened La Shish at Michigan and Oakman in East Dearborn – ran into several obstacles trying to open the restaurant, including with DTE Energy and the current placement of some of its power equipment, the adjacent business owner and the city of Dearborn. In the end, he simply was unable to reach a deal with building’s owner.

Back in August, we wrote about a new grocery store moving into the building that once was home to a Kroger store in East Dearborn.

On Monday, the new store at 13661 Colson St. near the corner of Schaefer Rd. and Michigan, celebrated its grand opening.

Called Dearborn Fresh Supermarket, the new 50,000 sq.-ft facility features a wide range of traditional & international groceries, fresh produce, fresh meats & poultry. It is much more than your average grocery store.

The Dearborn Fresh Supermarket also features an Oasis Cafe for lunch on the spot, bulk food section, Tim Horton’s, Sweet Dreams Cakes & Pastries, a sushi bar, Hashem’s Nuts & Coffee Gallery, a flower shop, a pharmacy with a cell phone shop and a fashion accessory store.

“As our country plunges into deeper debt and higher rates of unemployment, we believe that a personal business initiative and an entrepreneurial spirit may well maximize the strength of our falling economy,” said Fuad and Kamal Turfah, the co-owners of the store, in a press release.

We wish the store the best of luck. Dearborn Fresh is open 7 days a week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Oakwood is moving its headquarters into this building at 15500 Lundy Parkway in Dearborn.

Oakwood Healthcare Inc. in Dearborn has signed a long-term lease with Ford Land for a new headquarters building in Dearborn at 15500 Lundy Parkway, Crain’s Detroit Business is reporting.

According to Crain’s, the health system will move 650 employees to the 135,000-square-foot, two-building facility in the coming days.

The move will save Oakwood 20 percent per square foot and provide an additional 25,000 square feet of building space for its nonclinical corporate staff. Oakwood is currently at 18101 Oakwood Blvd., Crain’s reports.

Oakwood is home to more than 9,000 employees and 1,300 physicians and is the second-largest employer in suburban Wayne County.

For more information about Oakwood Healthcare, visit oakwood.org

If you enjoy blues music then here’s an interesting event to check out in Dearborn Wednesday evenings.

Joe’s Top Dog Coney Island & Bar, 13342 Michigan Ave., (just down from City Hall), hosts a new jam blues session each Wednesday night from about 8:30 p.m. until 2 a.m.

What’s cool about how Top Dog owner Joe Bojovic has put this together is that this blues night is an open mic jam session. So if you have an instrument and want to play with the band, you can. Bojovic has been hosting the Wednesday night blues sessions for just over a month now and interest has really started to pick up, he said. There is no cover charge either, which is also nice.

“We wanted to try and peak some interest in East Dearborn with these sessions,” said Bojovic, who for 29 years has been serving some of the best coney dogs in Dearborn. “It’s a nice way to kick back and enjoy some good music and food with friends in the middle of the week.”

Dearborn blues band Jack Rabbit Slim kicks things off each Wednesday at about 8:30 p.m.

Drafts are just a $1, well drinks $2 and Long Island Ice Tea $4 until 10 p.m. each Wednesday. The grill is open until midnight so you can get Top Dog’s coney, burgers, chicken sandwiches and salads.