Westborn Market Opens in Downtown Plymouth

We are super excited for the grand opening of Westborn Market in downtown Plymouth! The store opens TODAY, Thursday, July 14, 2016 at noon.

They converted the former post office into this grocery and dining space, and it looks amazing from the outside (and through the windows – yes, we’ve looked many times!).

Come down and check it out. It’s clearly a major asset for the community, and we believe may end up becoming THE primary draw in one of metro Detroit’s finest suburban downtown areas.

Here’s how Crain’s Detroit Business reported the news:

Westborn Market Group is set to open its fourth location in the heart of Plymouth, making it the city’s only full-service market downtown.

The roughly 11,000-square-foot building was purchased in late 2014 by Mark Malcolm, CEO of Tower International Inc., when the post office at 860 Penniman Ave. moved to a smaller location across the street.

Bryan Bandyk, brand director for Dearborn-based Westborn, said the purchaser is a customer and fan of the grocery chain and reached out to Bandyk to bring the company to Plymouth. Renovating the 1935 building began in 2015 and was a two-year process because Malcolm and the company wanted to retain certain aspects of the post office. Westborn is leasing the space from Malcolm.

Plymouth City Manager Paul Sincock said it is nice to have Westborn coming to the city because there is no full-service grocery store downtown.

“It’s a walking community, it’s pedestrian driven,” Bandyk said.

The new grocery, while smaller than other Westborn Market stores in Berkley, Dearborn and Livonia, which typically are approximately 22,000 square feet, will offer many of the same products, including a butcher shop, seafood, beer, cheese and wine. Exclusive to the Plymouth store will be a fresh juicing area and a 60-70 person outdoor patio where customers can order a “made to order” sandwich, flatbread and from a small plate and side dish menu.

Westborn aims to keep it local, sourcing much of its stock with locally grown food as well from the Detroit Produce Terminal, where its product buyers select what will be sold in stores that day by 11 a.m.

The Plymouth store will employ 80-90 people in various part- and full-time positions. Bandyk said a majority of the workers hired so far are from the Plymouth area and are excited to be able to walk or bike to work.

The Plymouth Westborn Market store is scheduled to open at noon July 14.