Glen Arbor and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore area enjoyed an economic and tourism boom in the mid-1990s, and now the businesses borne of that boom are coming of age. Brad Anderson was a youthful 27 years old when he bought Steffens IGA in 1994 from Bill and Jan Heston and renamed it Anderson’s Market. Bit by bit he updated the interior and modernized the inventory, but not until this year did the grocery store in the heart of Glen Arbor get a complete facelift.
Anderson’s Market has just completed the full renovation of their corner market, and is celebrating this and their 20th anniversary with a four-day food-centric block of events. Festivities kick off on May 20 from 6-8 p.m., when owner Brad Anderson and his staff will host a casual cocktail party with wine tastings, Michigan-made product samplings and other tastes of fine foods from around the globe. “It’s a chance for us to give thanks to our community and customers for their support by treating them to a fun evening,” Anderson states.
Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation Trails, Inc. is pleased to announce the success of the Traverse City Track Club challenge match for the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. Thanks to more than 120 donors the $25,000 match was met by the Dec. 31, which secured an additional $5,000 bonus from the Club. The challenge match spurred the support needed to begin constructing the next four-mile segment from the Dune Climb to Empire this year.
Sometime this month, the 1,364,835th visitor to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in 2012 will arrive at the Dune Climb, hike to Pyramid Point, or perhaps bike the Heritage Trail and enjoy its stunning autumnal beauty. In doing so, that visitor will officially make this the busiest year ever for the Glen Arbor region, the most profitable for local businesses, and perhaps the most hectic one too.
We barely had a white Christmas, and now the white was gone. What was happening? The jet stream was still parked up over Canada, blocking the cold air and extending our mild autumn into what is usually deep winter. How was it affecting the town’s businesses?
Anderson’s offers a unique “Up North” shopping experience with helpful, friendly staff. The grocery store offer a wide assortment of products, including local items from; Stone House Bread, Grand Traverse Pie Co., Leelanau Coffee Roasting, Shetler’s Dairy, Moomer’s, The Red Heads, Brownwood Farms, Leelanau Cheese Company, Carlson’s and many more.