BLUE FRONT IS CLOSING FOR GOOD!
That place was like a second home, and sometimes a third, my junior and senior years......This one is going to take a little time to fully set in.
Bummer. Anybody else go there as an underclassman because they wouldn't card you?
uh... everyone.
high school*
I grew up in Dexter, and we would make the trek every friday after school as the first kid in our friend group turned 16.
Then the fake ID's from the deep web became popular. Good times.
Looking back on it now, we probably weren't really fooling anybody
I grew up in a suburb bordering Detroit. We could drive 5 blocks and find a plethora of liquor stores that would literally sell anything in stock to a pre-teen. I once saw a 5 year old buy a liter of Absolut and a pack of Lucky Strikes...
did the last sentence end with '....because my helmet cam allowed me to replay what i was doing'?
In truth, there were a few places that would truly sell to anyone, but that depended on who was working. But there was ALWAYS someone standing outside who would buy what we wanted if promised a $20. We learned quickly to put someone out back to prevent the "fleeing with our money out the back door without buying alcohol" scenario...
FauxMo I had this experience as a teenager on 8 mile a few miles give or take of Woodward. We had a 16 yo and the rest of us were 14-15 and spent hundreds (there were a lot of us) on beer and liquor every Friday on 8 mile.
is this where you are talking about as well?
Somewhat close. This was near E. Jefferson and Chalmers on the east side of the D
L & G's?
You expect me to remember the names? Are you not following the above story and that I was drinking heavily in my teens, which was 30 years ago??? ?? One place I do remember was called the East Jefferson Market. It had a yellow sign out front that lit up bright at night. We’d buy there then drive down to Angel Park and drink ?
Frankways at Woodward/State Fairgrounds
We used to call this the "hey dude." As in, "Hey dude, will you buy us some booze?" Successfully pulling one off was almost as fun as drinking the reward.
I went there to buy cases of Cinci stubby bottles for $8.99. Labatts was too dear at $9.99/case.
circa ‘86-91
Dated a gal the next block over too, many late nights I’d grab a snack and beers. Loved Blue Front.
That's too bad. The original blue front was our spot during college to get all of our liquid needs. Sonny (I think was the guy's name) was the man.
I really enjoyed the new orientation as a more mature drinker to get some quality beers for tailgates.
My friend tells the story of his freshman year of having someone buy him a case of Goebel while he waited outside. On his way back to West Quad, he was stopped by the authorities who asked him to produce an ID. Unable to, they made him open every bottle and pour it into the street, with every passerby offering comments and condolences.
That place has some stories to tell that connect so many generations of Michigan students. Ninety years is a hell of a long time in a college town.
If your friend had lived in South Quad, the local constabulary probably would have let him pass unmolested.
Not that fine French beer! What a tragic loss!
similar thing happened in hs. we parked at a cul de sac that ended at I-69 in my little farm town. I was able to score the holy grail of hs beer, a case of Miller Genuine Draft long necks.
Four of us parked there to booze a bit on a Friday night. Right after we cracked our first beers a sheriff car pulled up, we had nowhere to go. He gave us two choices: 1. We could keep the beer and get arrested, or 2. Pour all the beer out and not get arrested.
Getting arrested was painful.....
Ralph's Market was next door (or two doors down) in the early 1980s and yes, everybody was 21 at Ralph's Market.
I worked at Ralph's in like 85/86 when I was still in HS at Pioneer. My cousin got me the job stocking the beer coolers when he left.
Crazy times and great memories. Thanks for sharing!
You are most welcome. Do you remember any stories of vandalism to the store from the the early 80s maybe told to you when you were there?
or simian robberies. a rash of those that were unsolved. nobody identified the picture. look familiar....?
I know nothing of any simian robberies. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Didn't hear any stories about vandalism, that said I was like 14 when I worked at Ralph's in the mid 80's so anything before that was before my time. The place was run by a fairly dysfunctional family and the regulars in the store were a veritable freak show of A2 townies. There was always some drama, a homeless dude stealing, local nut case posing as a doctor running up an unpaid tab and the parents constantly screaming at their kids. This was when Lower Burns Park was still a healthy mix of students and lower middle class families, some of which were pretty nuts. Lots of 70's era divorcees, Vietnam vets all mixed in with students, lower middle class families and a couple streets that were still traditionally ethnically dominated. It was a beautiful place to grow up...
Thanks. I'll save my vandalism story for an OT post sometime.
The owner focused on Craft beer in THAT location? Man...
Sad to see any place close, but it always seems like businesses in that area are always on thin ice.
Probably should have stocked Buckhorn beer for the destitute college kids.
Oh my goodness, Buckhorn was so bad!
I've never understood why that location is so bad... Far from South U so shouldn't have direct competition, near student housing, on the way to Hockey/Basketball/Football games for most people.
The Rub BBQ Pub/Cottage Inn/Packard Pub, I don't know how many other times it's been sold and re-branded, should be a good location. Lots of space and far from other bars, they should be able to make a killing on trivia, happy hours, gamedays, etc.
When students go out to a bar, they want to be able to bar hop a bit. That area is kinda the house party zone. As an adult, I like a bar around the corner I can go to. As a student, why pay more for the bar around the corner when we can just have a bunch of guys over at our house for cheaper. Now if you put a Raisin Canes there, that would be a $10M business.
Sure, for Friday and Saturday nights, you wanna be around South U. They should try to become a pregame spot. Food and drink deals. They have a ton of space and nobody in there, they could have indoor cornhole or something setup.
But for weekdays, most students aren't bar hopping for happy hours or watching Hockey/Basketball games.
So during a time when bars were closed, but in person alcohol sales were allowed and the entire country bought more booze than ever before, this business fails?
He was either overleveraged, didn't understand the market, or both.
Do college kids drink craft beer now? I was always a liquor guy, but the beer that was around was the cheapest shit possible.
We used to buy a 6 pack of Miller, Michelob or Labatt Blue along with a case of Buckhorn ($3.50 for the case on sale). We'd drink the 6 pack first, get a buzz then drink the Buckhorn as it no longer mattered (after the 6 pack) how bad the Buckhorn tasted.
I remember walking home from the Village Corners with a case of Buckhorn (with my friend carrying a 6 pack of the above) one evening and somebody walking the opposite direction said, "you must be on a budget".
They mention in the article a bit but they relied heavily on college students buying alcohol during the winter semester. Sadly, there weren't any students during most of that period, so it's not surprising that a place which apparently struggled financially already to hang on.
I don't really understand how landlords don't help businesses out and try to stay in business through this. Seems like getting partial rent is better than have no rent and trying to find a new lessee in this climate.
Most people that were buying from Blue Front weren't of age... most students not of age live in dorms and were sent home.
Students that stuck around in houses/apartments are more likely to have gotten their booze while getting groceries, and probably stocked up while doing so to avoid the quick run down the street to get 1 thing.
It states in the article that liquor stores were allowed to be open but he was forced to be closed. Was that accurate back in March and April? If so... just another example of a totally nonsense rule government has enforced. You can buy liquor but you can't buy beer... at a local store anyway.
Damn. Loved that place. I remember buying "mixed Canadian" six packs of Molson and Labatts, on the way to various parties.
RIP BF...
The owner would let you go down the basement to bring up your own keg. A little scam was change the plastic cap from a cheap keg to an expensive keg and throw it on the conveyor belt.
That's diabolical.
Well he is satansnutsack after all.
:-) yes, that was the implication.
:-) yes, that was the implication.
Most expensive kegs are 1/4 barrels though... 1/2 barrels are almost always shit beer. So you could maybe get Bud Light for the price of Natty?
Did Blue Front even sell nice kegs of beer? Who the hell is buying a nice keg for a college party?
Sad day. One of my buddies worked there but I didn't really need to call on him often, it was easier to just go to Kroger for our underage north campus beer needs.
This one is difficult to stomach. Lived across it on State Street and bought more than a few cheap cases of beer there (is Rainier still available?!). My daughter currently lives very near it. I have to admit is was unrecognizable in its most recent upscale format. But Blue Front was a legendary campus presence regardless of its aura and product selection.
Oh man, bummer. I lived directly above it my senior year. I was psyched when I went back a few years ago and it was still there. End of an era. I wonder what happened to Primo (we were of course his best customers but he kind of treated us like dirt).
Question: is Blue Front where Dreisbach got caught trying to buy booze when he was underage? It even has a place in Michigan football history.
To me, Blue Front was the place you could get the out-of-town Sunday newspapers and just about every magazine known to man.
In my undergraduate days (1971-1975) the guys from my fraternity would go to Sunday breakfast at the restaurant on the SW corner of State and Packard - I think it was a greek diner. We always stopped at Blue Front on the way so all the guys could get there hometown Sunday newspaper.
This was my memory of it too, though I’m younger than you. My parents and I would go back to visit AA when I was a kid in the 80’s. We’d hit all my parents’ favorite spots from when they were grad students. Chez Crepe, some shoe store on Main St that stocked shoes my dad couldn’t get at home, Quality Bakery, MDen or one of the other bookstores for gear, and Bluefront to check out the out-of-town newspapers. I was only in the place 5-6 times, but I have fond memories of visiting with my father.