The empty Caribou coffee shop
For a place that has been so hip and happening, downtown Royal Oak looks a bit sickly.
Walk up and down Main Street and you'll see the empty storefronts that once housed places like Caribou coffee, a charming upscale wine shop, Gemayze, which was one of the better Middle Eastern restaurants around, Incognito and Footprints.
Janet Williamson of the Metro Times writes that Royal Oak Mayor Jim Ellison posted a Facebook status update on May 21 admonishing residents to stop fearmongering by predicting the “death” of downtown Royal Oak. Some fear that the store closures and the emergence of chains is making the place a little too homogenized.
Williamson goes on to write:
Responding to these fears, Mayor Ellison took to social media, posting on his personal account the plans for several empty spots, many of which will become independent eateries. La Dulce, a Spanish coffee and pastry shop, leased the former Footprints storefront. The empty Caribou Coffee will become an independent coffee shop, serving a light menu, and the former Chrome store will become either a yoga store or a desserts shop.
Perhaps most exciting is Michael Symon’s recent announcement that the now-closed Gemayze restaurant on Main Street will become the next location for his B Spot Burgers.
-- Allan Lengel
