In 1975, Mark Hodesh went to look at Hertler Brothers, a farm store and horse livery at the corner of S. Ashley and Liberty that had been open since 1906. Emma Hertler was running it. She already knew him. Hodesh had opened the Fleetwood Diner across Liberty three years earlier, and Emma had watched him cooking through its windows on her way to work. She ordered tomato soup to go on Wednesdays. While he waited, he heard her tell her nephew, "Sell it to him, Georgie. He's a good boy. He gets up early." According to his daughter Jeanne Hodesh, writing in the Ann Arbor Observer, that was the entire deal, "not even a handshake."
Fifty years later the same building has changed hands the same way. So has Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger, a block south. In both cases the people letting go picked a successor because that successor would keep the place going, even when a quicker or more profitable deal was available.
There is one exception. Across the street from Blimpy's is a city-owned surface lot that is being sold by the housing unit. In the next few years, that lot will change S. Ashley far more than any storefront has.
The building that was promised "not condos"
Downtown Home & Garden at 210 S. Ashley closed in late December 2025. MLive reported that Tuesday, Dec. 23 was its final full day and that it planned a short last shift on Christmas Eve. Hodesh sold the business to an employee in 2015 but kept the property. That made the next tenant his decision.
The Observer essay says developers and real estate agents called him as soon as the closing was announced. People suggested a grocery store, a music venue, a gallery, and a model train display. Hodesh's answer, as his daughter reported it: "Not condos. Not a bar. Not a restaurant." At one point it looked like he might go the other way. In December 2025, MLive reported that he was weighing three proposals and expected a bar or bar-restaurant.
He leased it to a bookstore instead. Hilary and Mike Gustafson of Literati have signed a lease for 210 S. Ashley and plan to move there from 124 E. Washington in 2027. Speaking to MLive, Mike Gustafson estimated the new store will be almost three times the size of the current one and might need more staff. He called the building a chance at a "truly long-term home for the literary community and beyond." He also said the Washington Street shop is expected to stay open "into next year at least."
The near-term news for anyone shopping downtown is the holiday pop-up Literati is planning in the new space. The Observer says it will sell the bookstore's titles along with amaryllis bulbs that Hodesh picked himself. After the holidays, the Gustafsons will build the space out.
The essay draws the line from one owner to the next. The old store held a jam competition and public tasting every fall and a petting zoo at Midnight Madness. Literati runs an annual literary costume contest. "I'm proud to pass it off to Mike and Hilary," Hodesh told his daughter. "Emma Hertler would be too."
Blimpy's got the same treatment, with a few fixes
Jim Schafer founded Blimpy Burger in 1953. Richard Magner, a longtime employee, ran it from 1992 until 2025. Noah and Ethan Kaplan of Leon Speakers and Mothfire Brewing Co. and Pete Levin of Joe's Pizza then bought the business from the Magner family. Doug Botsford, co-owner of the Juicy Oistre food truck, is the operating partner who runs it day to day. He first ate at Blimpy's when he was four, back when it was on S. Division. He told the Ann Arbor Observer, "I'm just truly grateful to be one of the next stewards of this business."
Blimpy's closed in March and reopened at 304 S. Ashley in October after more than six months of renovations. Botsford estimates the cleaning, new equipment and other work cost about $450,000. Current Magazine reports it is using the original recipes. Here is how a visit compares with the version most people remember, based on the Ann Arbor Observer's account:
| Before the renovation | Now | |
|---|---|---|
| Ordering | Strict sequence: deep fryer, then patties, then toppings | Order up front, then walk the grill line to pick it up |
| At the grill | Impatient taunts from the cooks | "Tactful banter," per Botsford |
| Double cheeseburger | $5.50 | $7 |
| Drinks | No beer | Mothfire beer in 12-ounce pours, last call at midnight |
| New on the menu | n/a | Soft serve and draft root beer |
| Ordering ahead | n/a | App ordering, delivery, and a separate to-go prep line |
Burgers are still ordered by the number of patties, and fries, onion rings and soup are still on the menu. The Grilled Chicken Tarragon and Classic Fish sandwiches will come back as specials. Botsford says the friendlier ordering came from what people told him: "Yeah, I liked Blimpy, but I only went there once a year when a friend was in town because of my anxiety." He says the 12-ounce limit and the midnight cutoff are there to keep the focus on the food.
Blimpy's is open Sunday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. On football game days it opens at 10 a.m. The Observer reports that tables at the Grotto, across the street at 303 S. Ashley, will have a QR code for ordering Blimpy's food. That means you can sit in one place and eat from the other.
The rest of the corner
The smaller storefronts around these two have followed the same pattern. New uses moved into old buildings, and the buildings stayed.
- Recess Cafe, 208 S. Ashley. A work-and-play cafe in the storefront next to the old Downtown Home & Garden. It opened in summer 2025. Its posted hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
- Bill's Beer Garden, 218 S. Ashley. It sits on the corner lot Hodesh bought in the 1970s to give the store's drive-through barn a second exit. Its website says hours vary with the season and the weather.
- Fleetwood Diner, 300 S. Ashley. Hodesh opened it in 1972. Its contact page lists walk-in service 24 hours a day.
- Aperitivo, 200 S. Ashley at W. Washington. A cocktail and wine lounge that the Observer covered in May 2026. The site was once planned for the eight-story Tierra on Ashley. That building was never built, and a lounge opened there instead.
Kline's Lot is the one place being sold by the unit
At 309 S. Ashley, between Liberty and William, is the city-owned parking lot known as Kline's Lot. The two storefront deals were made between people who knew each other. This one is structured the opposite way. Per the City of Ann Arbor, developer Hines will pay $31,500 for each residential unit the city approves, with a minimum price of $14.175 million. Hines must build at least 450 market-rate, all-electric apartments and at least 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, in two phases. Its first concept called for about 554 units, and the city expects up to $17.4 million in proceeds.
Compare the two corners. At Ashley and Liberty, Hodesh turned down condos and leased one building to one bookstore. One block south, the city's sale price goes up with every apartment it approves. If Hines builds 450 or more apartments, more people will live on that half-block than in any other stretch of S. Ashley, and they will be the walk-in customers for Blimpy's, the Grotto and, eventually, Literati.
The deal is not finished. City Council approved the purchase agreement on Sept. 8, 2026, and on Sept. 22 set priorities for spending the proceeds. The sale closes only after Hines completes due diligence and gets the development approvals it needs. Until then, Kline's Lot stays a surface lot.
Getting there before Midnight Madness
One block east, the Downtown Development Authority's Fourth Avenue project lists 4th Avenue between Liberty and William as closed from Nov. 9 through the end of December. The project schedule runs through December 2026 and includes temporary work at the Fourth & William parking structure. Check that page before you plan to park on that side of downtown.
The big night for this block is Friday, Dec. 4:
- Midnight Madness, downtown Ann Arbor's holiday kickoff from Main Street Ann Arbor, with late store hours, specials and a Social District Cocktail Crawl. Destination Ann Arbor lists it from 5 p.m. to midnight.
- KindleFest in Kerrytown on the same night, 5 to 10 p.m., with an outdoor market, vendors, food and kids' activities, per the Kerrytown District.
- Blimpy's stays open until 3 a.m. on Fridays, well after both events end.
I've spent a lot of years looking at buildings with a contractor's eye. A $450,000 renovation that keeps a 1953 burger counter running, and a 1906 farm store leased to a bookstore three times the size of its current shop, are both owners betting on old buildings. If you're wondering what Kline's Lot and the next round of S. Ashley changes could mean for a downtown Ann Arbor home you own or are thinking about, I'm glad to go through it with you. Craig Hickey works across Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan. Let's Connect.
