Business & Development

Published June 5, 2020

Business resumes as owners, employees adapt to changes in Warren, Center Line

WARREN/CENTER LINE — They’re the places where you gather with family for meals or where you stop to grab a pizza. You go there to buy a six pack or a box of doughnuts. You call on them when you need something for the house or car.

Published June 5, 2020

Warren Weekly

First medical marijuana dispensary in Center Line opens

CENTER LINE — Being the first at anything often comes with a special responsibility, and that’s not lost on attorney Nick Hannawa, co-founder of Clinic Cannabis Co., Center Line’s first medical marijuana dispensary.

Work continued June 4 to repair damage at Big Boy on 12 Mile Road at Hoover Road after a May 15 fire. The restaurant’s sign promises a return soon.

Published June 5, 2020

Warren Weekly

Crews working to repair fire-damaged Big Boy in Warren

WARREN — The cause of the fire that damaged Warren’s Big Boy last month remains unknown, but the company is apparently committed to reopening the restaurant at 12 Mile and Hoover roads.

Published June 5, 2020

Sterling Heights Sentry

State restrictions lift, businesses react

STERLING HEIGHTS — Like many businesses, Nothing Bundt Cakes in Sterling Heights couldn’t simply react to the COVID-19 pandemic by doing nothing.

Terri Hayosh, the owner of Sidecar Slider Bar in Commerce Township, said she’s been excited to reopen to diners following the pandemic shutdown.

Published June 4, 2020

West Bloomfield Beacon

West Bloomfield-area businesses raring to reopen

WEST BLOOMFIELD — In every community around Michigan, even three months after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the state, most commerce was at a standstill, school desks sat empty, barstools grew cold, store shelves lay bare.

Published June 4, 2020

C&G Newspapers

Local small business owners reflect on effects of shutdown

MACOMB COUNTY — On June 1, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced moving Michigan into the fourth phase of the Michigan Safe Start Plan, permitting retailers to reopen June 4 and bars and restaurants June 8, but with social distancing guidelines and capacity limits.

Published June 4, 2020

C&G Newspapers

Oakland County builds ‘reopen kits’ for small businesses

OAKLAND COUNTY — On the west side of South Telegraph Road in Bloomfield Township, two unmarked buildings — one dark brown, the other white — sat seemingly vacant even prior to the COVID-19 crisis.

Published June 4, 2020

Madison - Park News

Site of contaminated groundwater to be demolished

MADISON HEIGHTS — Before COVID-19 took the world by storm, the city of Madison Heights was sorting another health concern — the contaminants leaking out of Electro-Plating Services.

Published June 4, 2020

Madison - Park News

Local businesses navigate out of shutdown as cities campaign to help

MADISON HEIGHTS/HAZEL PARK — If local business forms the backbone of a community, that backbone was strained during a shutdown that was necessary for public health but costly to the companies that saw their sales disrupted.

Published June 1, 2020

Grosse Pointe Times

New Village website offers more interactive features

GROSSE POINTE CITY — As retailers begin to reopen their doors to customers in Michigan, Village businesses in Grosse Pointe City hope to get a boost from a revamped website for the popular business and shopping district.

Published May 26, 2020

Birmingham - Bloomfield Eagle

Birmingham retailers eager to reopen

BIRMINGHAM — In every community around Michigan, even three months after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the state, most commerce is at a standstill, school desks sit empty, barstools grow cold, store shelves lie bare.

Coronavirus changes life for local businesses

Published May 26, 2020

St. Clair Shores Sentinel

Coronavirus changes life for local businesses

ST. CLAIR SHORES — As a city with more small businesses than big-box stores, St. Clair Shores seems to be a microcosm of Mainstreet, USA.

The YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit announced that it would be permanently closing the Lakeshore Family YMCA, 23401 E. Jefferson Ave., as of May 15.

Published May 26, 2020

St. Clair Shores Sentinel

COVID-19 leads to closure of Lakeshore Family YMCA

ST. CLAIR SHORES — As of mid-May, the YMCA announced that it would be permanently closing the Lakeshore Family YMCA, 23401 E. Jefferson Ave., as well as the Livonia Family YMCA.

Published April 29, 2020

Sterling Heights Sentry

Lakeside Circle, Sterling businesses adapt to coronavirus age

STERLING HEIGHTS — Whether retail or restaurant, businesses in Sterling Heights have taken drastic measures to stay ahead of the economic destruction caused by the novel coronavirus, the fear of catching it and the related government-ordered shutdowns.

Published April 21, 2020

St. Clair Shores Sentinel

Local company adapts production to help frontline workers, employees

ST. CLAIR SHORES — In business since 1959, Rob Kotowski said that the Lake Shore Boat Top Company had never had to lay off an employee until March 23, 2020.

Troop 96 Scoutmaster Adam Prokop, left, and troop leader Paul Spiteri deliver lunch to hospital employees at Beaumont Hospital Grosse Pointe April 10.

Published April 14, 2020

C&G Newspapers

Local restaurant, Boy Scouts team up to feed hospital employees

ST. CLAIR SHORES/GROSSE POINTE FARMS/HARPER WOODS — Saying that they feel “blessed and honored to be able to feed these people who are on the front lines,” a St. Clair Shores restaurant helped the 50 members of Boy Scout Troop 96, of Grosse Pointe Farms, provide lunch for hospital workers at Beaumont Hospital in Grosse Pointe.

Published April 11, 2020

St. Clair Shores Sentinel

St. Clair Shores to work with companies affected by shutdown

As Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended the stay at home order for Michigan through April 30, the St. Clair Shores City Council authorized city staff to work with companies that lease land or property from the city to provide them relief while their businesses are shut down.

Published April 8, 2020

Sterling Heights Sentry

Sterling apparel maker switches to mask production

STERLING HEIGHTS — Mathew Hunt, 28, said the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic gave him a new mission, adding facial masks to the list of items his company produces — at least for now. He wants his business to “help out as much as we can” to protect frontline workers against the virus.

Published April 7, 2020

Troy Times

Troy restaurant joins community to provide food to hospital workers, families in need

TROY — The Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse restaurant on Big Beaver Road in Troy has donated hot and cold meals to hospital workers and a Troy School District community initiative in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gilbert's Lodge provides lunch to employees at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit March 30.

Published March 31, 2020

St. Clair Shores Sentinel

St. Clair Shores restaurant provides meals for hospital employees

DETROIT/ST. CLAIR SHORES — “The support of the community is really what’s keeping the staff going right now,” said Lisa Caradonna, an executive assistant at Ascension St. John Hospital.