Closed: Ann Arbor Pizza & Subs restaurant on Packard
Ann Arbor Pizza & Subs closed two years after opening on Packard Road.
Jessica Webster | AnnArbor.com
Paper covers the windows of the restaurant at 2111 Packard St., and the shopping center’s listing broker is now marketing the 1,700-square-foot space for lease.
“I have listed the space and we’re going to try and find another pizza business,” said Swisher Commercial’s Bart Wise. “The equipment and infrastructure is there.”
Brent Anderson opened Ann Arbor Pizza & Subs in May 2011, shortly after Marco’s Pizza closed. Although Marco’s struggled in that location, Anderson said there was potential in the shopping center for a non-corporate pizzeria.
Ann Arbor Pizza & Subs offered salads, submarine sandwiches and pizzas, including its specialty sourdough crust pizza. Anderson could not be reached to comment about the closure.
Wise said he believes a pizza restaurant can survive in the shopping center on Packard Street, but both Marco’s and Ann Arbor Pizza & Subs likely were affected by the economy.
He said the newly-vacated space is the only vacancy in the shopping center. BGreen replaced the former Hollywood Video space in 2010.
Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.
Comments
Kristina Birk
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 11:53 p.m.
That's too bad, we really liked their pizza and cheese bread.
DBH
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 10:04 p.m.
Their last Health Dept. inspection from 12/11/12 showed 13 violations (5 each of Priority and Priority Foundation, and 3 Core). http://www.swordsolutions.com/inspections/pgesearchresults.asp?County=28 I never got around to eating there, thankfully.
Ken
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 9:43 p.m.
Isn't Ann Arbor saturated with pizza parlors?
2WheelsGood
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 6:39 p.m.
I stopped going there after my first time. Walked up to the door, employee outside smoking, follows me in with lit cigarette, puts it down on the counter still burning while he takes my order. Even if you don't care about employees smoking around your food, it says something about the professionalism of the establishment. Maybe professionalism was the missing ingredient.
Jason Colman
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 6:32 p.m.
Will miss the pizza, but the place was always crowded with those scary Math addicts from next door...
Wystan Stevens
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 5:10 p.m.
I can see why kids would want to avoid this place. Go in the wrong door by mistake, and you pass through the firey portal of Math hell. . .
Matt Evett
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 5:04 p.m.
Drats! I liked their pizza, and they were very convenient. We ordered from them just about every week. Hopefully another pizza place will be there soon.
Jessica Webster
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 3:14 p.m.
I had this place programmed into my phone. My son was a big big fan of their cheesy garlic bread, the salads were good, and the staff was always friendly and quick. We were so disappointed to discover that they had closed.
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 3:13 p.m.
Sad to see that a business has closed, but I'm even more disheartened to see Mr. Wise saying that another pizza place will be sought to fill the spot. There's roughly a bajillion pizza places already in Ann Arbor. It'd be nice to see a little bit more variety in the delivery market beyond pizza and OK Chinese food.
Local Yocal
Fri, May 17, 2013 : 2:19 p.m.
A good place for Blimpy's is the empty store front one door east from the Blue Front on Packard.
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 9:59 p.m.
mady- I would certainly be open to that being the new Blimpy's. It's a little bit of a walk from where I'm moving in September, which means I won't feel so bad about pigging out after I walk off some of the caloric excess.
Lizzy Alfs
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 6:02 p.m.
@mady: Good suggestion. Not sure Rich would consider it, though. He seems adamant about staying in the downtown area..a Blimpy with good parking that's easy accessible might be awesome though!
mady
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 5:45 p.m.
Kyle, maybe this could be the new Blimpy's?
Brad
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 4:31 p.m.
But most of those bajillion places aren't in that area, so speaking for those of us who actually live around there, another pizza place would be fine. I ate there 3-4 times and it was never better than "just OK".
Billy
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 3:51 p.m.
HERE HERE!!! I've had this business plan drawn up for a while now...I just have to redraft it with a new location, but I just don't want to do pizza again. Even with all the different choices for food in this city, there's still stuff we don't have that I'd REALLY like to see around here. Sonic would work VERY well, possibly somewhere along Jackson. The closest carhops are all in Ypsi, or Dexter. Another franchise that would do well in this city.....Ed Debevics. There would be no shortage of quality staff for it with the college. There would probably be a long list for employment there.
Mike Nowak
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 3 p.m.
Our family loved this place -- the staff was great and knew us by name, the pizza was delicious and the meal deal (two mediums, bread and a 2 liter for $20) was a great deal.
Billy
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 3:46 p.m.
That's not really a good deal unless they were two medium specialty pizzas. If they were 1 toppings then you're basically paying normal price.
Outersounds
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 2:40 p.m.
Sorry to see this place go - it was easy to get to and the pizza was good for the price. Gonna have to find another place on that side of town that's convenient. Any suggestions?
Ann English
Fri, May 17, 2013 : 10:35 p.m.
I don't eat pizza, so I know the big name pizza companies' names better than these independent competitors. But there's a Little Caesar's Pizza at the southeast corner of Packard and Platt. It is farther away from MathNasium (in the photo above) than Stadium Market; if it weren't for MathNasium's radio advertising, nothing in that strip mall would have caught my attention.
mavfunn
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 3:18 p.m.
Stadium Market, although generally known as a liquor store, makes better pizza, and they're just up the road at the W. Stadium intersection.
treetowncartel
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 2:28 p.m.
For those of you in mourning, I suggest trying City's Pizza on Packard next door to Banfield's East side. Really good pie and really friendly people.
treetowncartel
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 5:57 p.m.
@ Craig, I feel your pain. Also, the Pepperoni Select and Atlantic City are good as well.
Craig Lounsbury
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 5:49 p.m.
I have them in my speed dial. The battle with my wife is the Cleveland versus the Atlanta.
RedSchwinn
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 4:37 p.m.
The full name is City's Subs and Pizza, and both are great.
Taylor Hulyk
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 1:55 p.m.
I absolutely loved this place. It was always my go-to choice for great pizza. The cheesy bread was something sent from heaven, and the staff was always so polite and friendly. I am seriously in mourning right now. I've got to find a new pizza home.
Bryan Ellinger
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 5:19 p.m.
The staff were great. Sorry to see that AAP&S didn't make it.
Billy
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 1:28 p.m.
"Wise said he believes a pizza restaurant can survive in the shopping center on Packard Street, but both Marco's and Ann Arbor Pizza & Subs likely were affected by the economy." Wrong. If that were the case you'd see other examples...and you don't. Pizza places usually go under because of bad management...I've personally witnessed this happen 4 separate times with 4 completely separate owners. Pizza is one of the highest profit margins in that industry....it's also one of THE easiest food service business to run...if not THE easiest one in it's field. Pizza will work there....but it has to be run properly.
drewk
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 12:59 p.m.
I had a cheese steak sub fromt here. I'm sure the meat came from the frozen section at Krogers . Even with the coupons I bought from them, I never went back.
craigjjs
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 12:22 p.m.
I tried hard to like this place, but just couldn't do it.
Giarc
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 8:53 p.m.
Yep, just no good.
brimble
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 10:11 a.m.
Pizza shops are one of those business models that must be very, very tough to make work. Still, kudos to Mr. Anderson for his work -- Ann Arbor Pizza was my own favorite pizza in town. We discovered the store closed last Saturday when we called, then drove by in dismay. Best of luck to Mr. Anderson in his next venture.
TinyArtist
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 1:51 p.m.
I agree with brimble on this one, and their sauce was one of the best. It's going to be a lot harder to stay overweight now.
Billy
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 1:33 p.m.
Nope. Pizza is VERY VERY VERY easy to do. I could write down EXACTLY what you need to know to run a pizza joint on about 2 piece of paper using big cartoon letters....there's a reason there are so many pizza joints around. Also, the profit margin is rather large when you run it right too so that's another way it's hard to fail. When a pizza joint fails....it's almost ALWAYS the management, and I say almost just because I have yet to come across a pizza joint failing because of some other reason, like location or economy. Trust me....pizza is the easiest food service business to start up, which is why so many people do it. If you want to make a LOT of money doing it...well that takes a bit of effort and work, but it takes hardly any effort at all for the business to break even and survive.
Lizzy Alfs
Thu, May 16, 2013 : 12:29 p.m.
Yes, there is so much competition in the pizza market. Anderson has worked with a number of pizza companies, including Domino's and Cottage Inn. He also ran the Marco's store before it closed. I'm sure he'll find a new venture!