Our roundup of the latest news from metro Detroit and Michigan businesses as well as announcements from government agencies, including updates about the COVID-19 pandemic. To share a business or nonprofit story, please send us a message.
Comcast Opens Second Xfinity Store in Detroit
Comcast announced the opening of its second Xfinity retail store in Detroit at 1367 Eight Mile Rd. The 4,100-square-foot store is located in the Gateway Marketplace Shopping Center next to the former Michigan State Fairgrounds.
The space features hands-on displays and seating areas where customers can learn from trained technology specialists and interact with all Xfinity products, including internet, video, connected home solutions, and Xfinity Mobile.
“This past year has reinforced just how critical fast, reliable internet is to our livelihood,” says Melissa Bahoora, vice president of sales in Michigan for Comcast. “We want our customers to understand and leverage all of the features and capabilities our products and services provide. Giving Detroiters a second location in the city to try out our products is the best way to educate them on how the technology they rely on every day can provide more convenience and added value.”
Comcast, which delivers speeds up to 1.2 gigabit-per-second to residential customers throughout the entire city, has served Detroit since 1994. In the last three years, the company has invested more than $850 million in technology and infrastructure in Michigan, including upgrades to its broadband network in the city of Detroit.
The new store, which replaced the now closed Lyndon Street customer service center, is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Volunteers of America Michigan Launches Online Thrift Store
Volunteers of America Michigan, a social services organization based in Westland, has launched an online thrift store, voathrift.com.
Site offerings include gently used women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing and accessories, jewelry, home goods, and hidden treasures. All of the proceeds will directly support Volunteers of America Michigan statewide critical social services offered to veterans, seniors, and families in need.
The new online shopping platform will serve as additional funding for the nonprofit, as well as allow supporters who are farther away to enjoy a Volunteers of America Michigan thrift experience.
“We are excited to be launching our new online thrift store. When you shop online, the items you purchase will be carefully packaged by hand and delivered directly to your doorstep,” says Alex Brodrick, president and CEO of Volunteers of America Michigan. “Everyone should feel good about visiting because when you are shopping at our stores or online, you’re serving those in need.”
The e-commerce site is a direct result of COVID-19. When the nonprofit was forced to temporarily shut its thrift stores doors in March 2020, it created an opportunity to move its thrift store business online.
Volunteers of America Michigan has five thrift stores located in Burton, Corunna, Lansing, and Westland. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, except for the Westland store which closes at 7 p.m. everyday. Donations of gently used clothing, home goods and furniture are accepted 10.a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
For more information, visit here.
Ann Arbor Art Fair Returns July 15-17
The Ann Arbor Art Fair, canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, returns to the streets of the university town July 15-17.
The event is the largest juried art fair in the nation spanning a 30-block radius in downtown Ann Arbor. It comprises three independently juried art fairs that run simultaneously over three days and include: The Original, the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair, and the Ann Arbor State Street Art Fair.
Together, these three fairs will feature between 600 and 700 independent artists from across the country in virtually every medium, including photography, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture, woodwork, and more.
Fair hours are: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. July 15; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. July 16; and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. July 17
This year’s art fair also will feature more space between booths to allow for social distancing, masks will be encouraged, and hand sanitizing stations will be located throughout the fair to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
For more information, visit here.
Andiamo Restaurant Group Sponsoring Motorcycle Race Team
The Warren-based Andiamo Restaurant Group will be the primary sponsor for the ClubMX motorcycle racing team when it runs this weekend in the RedBud National Motocross event in Buchanan, in the southwest Michigan.
The motorcycle race is the fourth stop in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship series, which hosts 12 races and runs from coast to coast. This annual Fourth of July weekend motocross event is expected to draw more than 40,000 spectators from Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio.
The Andiamo Restaurant Group and ClubMx sponsorship will reach new audience groups by hosting an on-site giveaway for attendees and by running an online interactive promotion where fans can enter to win one of 100 $25 Andiamo gift cards and a grand prize of $2,500 cash.
The sponsorship also includes a special All-American paint scheme on the team’s motorcycles, featuring the Andiamo logo.
“We are excited to be a part of this fun and lively sporting event,” says Dominic Vicari, operating partner for the Joe Vicari Restaurant Group. “It’s new territory for us, both geographically and in the sports realm, but we are hoping to spread the Andiamo name even further into the market,”
Tickets for the RedBud Motocross event can be purchased by visiting here.
DIA Acquires Stewart & Stewart Archive
The Detroit Institute of Arts has acquired the print archive of Stewart & Stewart, a Bloomfield Hills printer and publisher of fine art prints since 1980, for the museum’s permanent collection.
The Stewart & Stewart Archive represents more than 40 years of printmaking and publishing and brings 199 newly acquired prints together with 17 prints previously in the DIA’s collection for a total of more than 200 prints by 34 artists.
Established by master printer Norman Stewart and his partner and wife of 53 years, Susan Stewart, Stewart & Stewart produces primarily screen prints and more recently archival pigment prints, in collaboration with artists of national and international renown.
The work of Detroit area artists Judy Bowman, John Glick, Dennis Guastella, Clinton Kuopus, Ann Mikolowski, Jim Nawara, Lucille Procter Nawara, Mel Rosas, Norman Stewart, and Paul Stewart are included in the prints.
“Norm and Susan have together created more than 40 years of the most sophisticated printmaking,” says Clare Rogan, curator of prints and drawings at the DIA. “Starting in the 1980s, Norm expanded the technical range of screen printing by using transparent inks to create an incredible range of precise color choices, as many as 4,000 distinct permutations.”
The Stewart & Stewart Archive prints will be viewable online on the DIA website and by appointment in the Ina M. Clark Study Room at the DIA.
The Rugby Grille Earns Wine Spectator Excellence Honors Again
The Rugby Grille Restaurant in The Townsend Hotel in Birmingham has received a Best of Award of Excellence, a Two-Glass Rating, from Wine Spectator magazine for the sixth consecutive year.
According to the magazine, the award recognizes restaurants whose wine lists offer “interesting selections, are appropriate to their cuisine, and appeal to a wide range of wine lovers.” To qualify for this award, a restaurant wine list must present complete, accurate information, including vintages, and appellations for all selections.
The Rugby Grille has 425 selections and more than 3,000 bottles of wine in its inventory.
“I am very proud of the work and commitment our amazing Rugby Grille sommelier team has put into maintaining a world-class wine list,” says Steven Kalczynski, managing director at The Townsend Hotel. “They are always enhancing our selections and each time they continue to amaze our clientele and our visiting guests.”
Holocaust Memorial Center Presents Program on Mengele July 8
The Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus in Farmington Hills will present “Mengele: Unmasking the ‘Angel of Death’ with author David Marwell” on July 8.
The program at 7 p.m. will take place via Zoom. To register for the program, visit here.
Marwell is a former Justice Department official who will be discussing his 2020 book on Josef Mengele, regarded as one of the most notorious war criminals of all time, his education as a physician and anthropologist, his role as a racial scientist in the Nazi state, and his activity as a camp physician at Auschwitz. He will replace the frightening and familiar caricature of Mengele as a mad scientist with something perhaps more unsettling — the human being that he was.
“Josef Mengele has come to symbolize the failure of justice that allowed countless Nazi murderers and their accomplices to escape retribution,” says Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, CEO of the Holocaust Memorial Center. “We are honored to have David Marwell discuss his book about Mengele’s twisted career, his escape to South America and the forensic investigation that produced evidence that Mengele had died ― but still failed to convince many about his death.”
New Rivertown Market in Detroit Hosting July Hiring Events
Rivertown Market, scheduled to open later this year in downtown Detroit at 1475 E. Jefferson Ave., is hosting a series of hiring events to fill 70 full- and part-time positions.
Leadership and team member positions are available in all departments, including grocery, front-end, dairy/frozen, bakery/deli, meat/seafood, and produce.
Rivertown Market is a new neighborhood grocery store by Meijer and will feature a wide variety of locally sourced products. It’s the retailer’s second small format store in metro Detroit, similar to Woodward Corner Market in Royal Oak, and only the fourth in Michigan.
The hiring events will take place from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on July 20-21 and July 27-28, at Detroit PAL’s Headquarters, 1680 Michigan Ave. in Detroit.
All interested applicants must first complete an online application and advance pre-screening here. From there, candidates will receive a scheduled interview time for their confirmed event date. The online application should be completed by July 17.
Emagine Entertainment Raising Funds for Boys & Girls Clubs
Troy-based Emagine Entertainment Inc. will be supporting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan throughout the month of July by raising funds to help offset the cost of their yearly membership for local youth.
Emagine guests will be encouraged to make donations when visiting any of the Michigan Emagine Theatre locations, throughout the month. Each guest who donates will be recognized with signage at the box office.
The funds raised will go toward payment for a full-year club youth membership at the organization for deserving children age 6-18.
“We are glad to continue our support in giving back to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan and their mission. We are grateful to have such loyal and caring guests who continue to offer support to others in their surrounding communities,” said Anthony LaVerde, CEO of Emagine Entertainment.
“BGCSM continues to provide the youth of southeast Michigan with a safe, positive, and engaging environment with a variety of programs and opportunities that allow our young people to feel included, challenged and entertained all year long,” says Shawn H. Wilson, president and CEO of BGCSM. “Emagine Theatres has been a longtime champion of BGCSM youth, and the funds raised will help us care for and engage our youth to our fullest abilities.”
