A new restaurant opening in downtown - on Main St. no less - is hardly a surprise. Vellum will, no doubt, be a welcome addition to Ann Arbor's "Restaurant Row." What makes Peter Roumanis' entrepreneurial approach a little different is that he has chosen to make the vintage space at 209 South Main his home as well.
When shopping in your favorite downtown store, ever wonder what's upstairs? For decades, the answer has been "not much" for many Michigan cities. Take a look at how that trend is changing across the state, in communities like Manistee, Portland and Detroit's Eastern Market, where local property owners are redefining downtowns by reviving upper floor residences.
With the current debate over whether Ann Arbor should fund a new downtown library, Concentrate's Natalie Burg takes a look at communities around the country that have decided to invest in updating their libraries, not only to meet the changing demands of today but to ready themselves for tomorrow.
Long seen as a Bermuda Triangle for businesses, Mani Osteria has transformed the downtown corner of Liberty and Division into an Ann Arbor hotspot. Now, owner Adam Baru is adding another eatery right next door. Concentrate's Natalie Burg gets the lowdown on the restaurateur who has worked with not one, but two iron chefs.
The University of Michigan's TechArb and Center for Entrepreneurship are fostering a new class of student entrepreneurs, from a food truck operation to a note-taking app developer to a maker of unmanned aerial vehicles. As such, these young founders are deciding between business, books -- or both.
Basements aren't just for stock and storage anymore. Venture below street level in downtown and you may be surprised by what you find. From magic tricks to vintage clothes to digital gaming to entrepreneurial innovation to hip night spots, Ann Arbor's subterranean scene is worth exploring.
The Internet has started to shift the music industry's top-down corporate record label control toward indie artists who can deliver their own music to the masses. But what about t-shirts, posters, and other fan-demanded merchandise? Enter local start-up Whiplash, which provides shipping, fulfillment and logistics for small sellers of every stripe.
It's who you know. Or rather, who knows you. Ann Arbor companies have a wide variety of tools for finding the talent they need. And while social media and professional networks play a part in filling their professional ranks, for senior level positions it's a word-of-mouth world.
Executives need jobs too. In today's fractured economy it may be hard to muster sympathy for displaced bosses but the truth is building a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem requires plenty of top talent management. So, how do you retain and recruit the execs you need?
Wesley Taylor says he lives in Ann Arbor but does in Detroit. As an artist-musician-entrepreneur he has found places where the two communities connect ...and others where the barriers need to come down. Given the incredible scope of his work and ambition, Taylor may be just the guy to make that happen.
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