OT: Village Corner Closing
I saw this in the Detroit News this morning:
http://detnews.com/article/20101108/BIZ/11080337/1001/Ann-Arbor-landmark-falls
That place brings back memories. The wall of shame was classic. I had a few friends who were up there but, sadly, I never tried.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:13 AM ^
How sad is this. I spent many many hours wandering the aisles drunk.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:13 AM ^
They snagged my buddy's fake there once. That was funny.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:19 AM ^
Walked there on many a frozen day to shore up on supplies when I lived in East Quad. Awesome place. It's really amazing how much South U has changed over the past 10+ years.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^
Geez, if I had known last weekend was the final weekend the VC would be open at that location I would've stopped in and grabbed a forty of Crazy Horse for old time's sake. Central Campus won't be the same without them.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^
Village Corner was the first liquor store I ever purchased alcohol from
November 9th, 2010 at 11:46 AM ^
VC was the first liqour store that I LEGALLY bought alcohol from...
November 9th, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^
Same here, the dude behind the counter even gave me some York peppermint patties for free, since it was my birthday.
I lived right near there for my Soph-Senior years, and I probably bought enough Powerade and malt liquor from that place to fill 10 olympic-sized swimming pools.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:52 AM ^
Me too! And I got shot in the arm with a BB gun on my way out whilst carrying the alcohol… Total drive-by… it was some brah's in a Jeep Wrangler heading down toward Washtenaw.
I was really pissed, but in retrospect... kinda funny.
November 9th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
who drove a jeep wrangler and lived on washtenaw....
It wasn't me. I apologize on behalf of all jeep owners for your experience
November 9th, 2010 at 1:58 PM ^
November 9th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
Mine got retired to "Toy" status this January when i bought a "Real" car but trading in the jeep wouldn't have really helped. Get a used one with a stick and the 4.0L, and don't plan on using it except as a convertible, as a 4WD beast, and for off-roading. As someone who owned 2 (still own the 2nd), they make a MUCH better toy than they do a daily driver
November 9th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^
November 11th, 2010 at 7:50 AM ^
VC was the first store I bought from. I remember walking down from my dorm (I lived up in Oxford over where South University ends) the night before my 21st and grabbing a 6 pack of Guinness. The guy looks at my ID and says, "I can't sell this to you for 5 more minutes," (it was 11:55) and actually made me wait, which was pretty funny.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^
Probably my favorite memory from Village Corner was when a friend of mine would go there repeatedly to buy Boone's Farm. At some point the cashier finally just looked at him and said, "uh, you know we sell better wine, right?"
That's a shame that it's closing.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:21 AM ^
Into the new development?
<br>
<br>Guess that changed?
November 9th, 2010 at 11:34 AM ^
All the columnists were beat to the punch by the wine reviewer:
http://detnews.com/article/20101104/OPINION03/11040310/Iconic-Village-C…
November 9th, 2010 at 12:47 PM ^
Actually, this was reported weeks ago at annarbor.com. See, for example, this article from October 14.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:25 AM ^
I had a terrible fake taken away there while trying to impress two girls from Markley. I paid $60 for it, and it never worked. What an idiot I was. Anyway, I was horrified and never went back to see if I'd made the wall of shame.
And the girls were not impressed.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:23 AM ^
Had I known, I would have stopped by after the game Saturday for one last beer run.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:26 AM ^
I'm pretty sure they are moving to a new location in Ann arbor. Won't be the same though....
November 9th, 2010 at 11:28 AM ^
oh, we wasted so much money on boone's and honey brown there (back when honey brown was still cheaper than other beers for some reason).
November 9th, 2010 at 11:30 AM ^
My memories of VC are jaded. They took my friend's ID because they thought it was fake (most definitely not) and refused to give it back. The police had to get involved.
November 9th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^
Same thing happened to me. I was so pissed and the police came.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^
The drinking age was 18 when I was on campus. The wall of shame had some very interesting (and young) photos up.
2 quarts of Colt 45 please! For old times sake.......
November 9th, 2010 at 12:51 PM ^
Stroh's before hoes!
November 9th, 2010 at 11:48 AM ^
Mmmm...Stroh's 30-packs - the breakfast of champions...
November 9th, 2010 at 11:49 AM ^
It's September of 1971, and I'm a callow and unsophisticated freshman from Grosse Pointe standing in line at the counter in VC with a couple of freshmen girls I had just met, and there's an older African American customer in the line ahead of me. The clerk asks him what he wants, and he says he wants a couple of packages of "snaps." The clerk looked befuddled for a moment, and asked what he meant. Without waiting, and eager to show my knowledge, I blurt out, "Snaps are a kind of candy."
The customer says, "yeah, candy, that's right" and starts laughing his ass off at me. I couldn't understand why until the clerk figures it out on his own and hands him two packages of condoms. Needless to say, the girls I was with realized what a nerd I was and pretty quickly ditched me.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^
I bought my first alcoholic beverage at VC...a 6-pack of Newcastle Brown Ale. It was the most delicious thing I ever purchased up to that point.
Surprisingly, I did this with a fake: it was a friend's real, clipped Michigan ID. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:51 AM ^
Many moons ago, my friend Rob saw a young fella reading something at the VC magazine rack, went up to him and said to him: "Hey, you're Desmond Howard. Dude, you're awesome." No. 21 was a virtually unknown freshman at the time but Rob, who followed recruiting well before Rivals, et al was the force that it is, knew who he was and glossed him appropriately. Fresh-faced Desmond responded: "That's right, but call me 'Magic.' That's my nickname."
November 9th, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
I hope it does come back at another location, but it won't be the same. It was scruffy, unpretentious, high quality, and always there when you needed it.
November 9th, 2010 at 12:10 PM ^
I was always amazed by how horrible all the workers were. Its like not only did they want to make your experience as poor as possible, but they wanted to make sure you knew they wanted that.
November 9th, 2010 at 12:31 PM ^
The Fragels, warm cinnamon sugar covered Bagels were fantastic. Frequently turned beer bottles into cash for food at VC in the lean years of the early 80's. Guess this is further proof that the Big Box retailers can kill a small local institution.
November 9th, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^
Fragels still exist. The place is up by North Campus, I think.
November 9th, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^
Sid's Bagel Fragel (Yelp)
November 9th, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^
Noooooooooooooo!!
November 9th, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^
I'm still pissed about those guys from 2001. I was 21 and they held my ID there until the cops came 30 min later to verify that it was real. No appology (probably because I threatened to kill them during the wait for the police). Too aggressive on the wall of shame, it's a freaking college liquor store after all. They should have been more like Joe at Campus Corner - that guy was a class act.
November 9th, 2010 at 7:47 PM ^
Had I know it would be for the last time, I would have bought something better...
<br>
<br>All you students...get ready for all the places you regularly go to close over the next number of years. There's so little that lasts.
November 9th, 2010 at 8:08 PM ^
Sad face. :-(
November 10th, 2010 at 2:43 PM ^
Got my first bong there. About a 3 foot red one. Ann Arbor loses another old landmark of sorts.
November 11th, 2010 at 9:03 AM ^
Alas, I bought enough Oberon and Melting Moments Ice Cream sandwiches there to earn my Senior 15. I wonder if the creepy abandoned Bagel place next door is also getting torn down for the development.