Farmington Flower Shop Has 19th-Century Roots

Farmington Flower Shop Has 19th-Century Roots

In 1932, Imogene Ely Bicking was still living on her family’s 1800s farm at Power and Shiawassee roads in Farmington. At 40-something, she started making pottery and selling it at local markets, but she found it easier to sell with flowers in it. This was the birth of Springbrook Gardens Florist, located in an old barn that was once part of the Ely dairy farm.

Step inside the more than 150-year-old structure, whose rooms sit underneath Power Road, as owner Rick Hatfield points out, and it feels like not much has changed. Fieldstone walls hearken back to what Hatfield said is a circa 1832 foundation, with century-old greenhouses around back.

Nostalgia Draws Customers to Clawson’s Scoop Vintage

Nostalgia Draws Customers to Clawson’s Scoop Vintage

Here’s the scoop on downtown Clawson’s Scoop Vintage: It’s a nostalgic place where an array of items from bygone eras can easily hook customers.

In the case of Birmingham’s Kim Simon and her mom, Leslie Darga of Royal Oak, they were so impressed with what they saw in the 1,000 square-foot store on 14 Mile that they left with $100 worth of purchases and intended to tell friends and family members about it.

“It’s well organized. Everything’s laid out nicely,” Simon said. “It’s not too overpacked. Some (stores) are too big and overpacked.”

Specialty Paper Shop Provides Creative Spark

Specialty Paper Shop Provides Creative Spark

On a bustling corner in downtown Birmingham, Paper Source stands with hidden delights, gifts galore and elegant creative ideas.

One side of the store is floor-to-ceiling paper in all colors, patterns and textures. Some are elaborate, others are understated. Some are made of trees, other paper is made of stone (you read that right). All of them are gorgeous.

The opposite wall hosts cards for every occasion, the craft area and a demonstration corner.

In between is charming.

Grape Leaves Troy: New Construction, Same Delicious Cuisine

Grape Leaves Troy: New Construction, Same Delicious Cuisine

Shawn London, a long-time Troy resident and a devotee of Middle Eastern food, never complained during the many months that the Troy strip mall in which the Grape Leaves restaurant was under now-completed construction.
“My whole family loves the food at Grape Leaves. My husband, daughter and I often meet up for dinner there after work,” London said. “And, when my schedule changed and I started working several evenings until 7 p.m., picking up chicken ghallaba for my husband — and crushed lentil soup for me — was a guilt-free and economical way to have a quick, easy, delicious, healthy dinner. How can you beat that?”

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