SHOPS

Sri Lankan health authorities have begun vaccinating children aged 12 to 15, as the island nation’s top medical specialists warned of a wave of COVID-19 infections in the coming weeks driven by the omicron variant

Trick-or-Treating returns to downtown Ann Arbor this year.

Celebrate Halloween at Briarwood Mall on Oct. 28.

Everything you need to know about the 2021 Ann Arbor Art Fair.

Small business owners in Ann Arbor are asking: What's up with the benches around town?

The Ann Arbor State Street Art Fair is back on the calendar for 2021.

Watch out for closures just blocks from each other in the downtown area.

The department store will disappear from high streets on 15 May after more than two centuries.

Doctors in India's capital are forced to turn patients away and plead for vital supplies of oxygen.

ANN ARBOR – Downtown area associations have joined an annual campaign to encourage visitors to continue shopping and dining in the city throughout the month of January. Typically a slow time of year for business, the pandemic has only exacerbated the lack of customers at local establishments. The Main Street Area Association, State Street District, Kerrytown District Association, and South University Area Association have partnered with the getDowntown Program for “Conquer the Cold - Pandemic Edition.”The annual challenge by getDowntown -- in partnership with the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (TheRide), the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority and the City of Ann Arbor -- is designed to encourage and educate commuters to use alternative modes of transportation during the cold winter months. Many restaurants will be participating in the Comfort Food Challenge, and users can get prizes for dining outdoors, ordering curbside and shopping downtown. “The Downtown Districts are excited to be partnering with GetDowntown for Conquer the Cold this year,” Sandra Andrade, executive director of the Main Street Area Association said in a statement.

This makes Black Friday 2020 the second-largest online spending day in history in the United States, behind Cyber Monday last year, Adobe said. People who did venture out were greeted with fewer lines and emptier parking lots than holiday sales events of the past. On Black Friday, Adobe found consumers spent $6.3 million per minute online, or $27.50 per person, on average. Online grocery shopping on Black Friday surged 397% compared with October daily averages, Adobe said. Sales of personal care products skyrocketed 556%, and online spending on pet products rose 254%.

NORTHVILLE, Mich. – A Detroit suburb has partnered with a business owner to build heated stands and pods to help restaurants and shops get through the winter amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Northville Downtown Development Authority and Manfred Schon, owner of data company Up2Go, has unveiled its “Heat in the Street” experience, MLive.com reported. Schon, who is from Germany, said he wanted to help Northville businesses during winter months with outdoor dining and shopping like he had back home. Restaurants will use food stands to serve their dishes, and customers will use the heated dining pods. The stands and pods will be in addition to outdoor areas many downtown restaurants are already planning outside of their businesses for the winter, Ward said.