For more than a decade, you’ve driven past this place on Ann Arbor-Saline Road when headed out to Briarwood Mall or The Big House; maybe to parts further west down Wagner. A skosh past the Washtenaw Farm Council grounds and just across from Animal Kingdom, it feels equally a good fit between the gateway to Travis Pointe and the rural community that Irwin Frederick was dedicated to preserving. [1,2,3,4,5]
Last week and into this, the third annual LPGA Volvik Championship has both stretched the definition of Tippens Specialty Wine & Foods service and reaffirmed it. [6]
Two of the owners, Dominic Aprea and Rocky Jarbo, invited Saline Journal to sit down to discuss their formula for success. Overall, it begins with an appreciation of the common interests of the seemingly disparate make up of Lodi Township. What you make of Tippins market depends on who you are.
“We may be best known for our speciality items,” Mr Jarbo began. “You see our wine department, butcher, pizza. Fridays and weekends are busiest here. A lot of people come in to stock up then.”
On any given weekday, Mr Aprea added, “Business professionals and families come in in the morning for a coffee stop. We serve a lot of tradesmen mid-day. Quick in-and-out lunch business, they want hot and fresh, fifteen minutes in and out. After school we see another rush, for snacks, ice cream, pizza. In the evening, that’s when you see our beverage customers and our grill customers.
“We just had a customer call and ask for a specific filet mignon cut fresh within an hour. It’s whatever people need. We have an in-house butcher, which is not typical without a huge draw; it has to be moving daily.”
Setup for the tournament is handled by Global Golf Management and overseen onsite by Aaron Flickinger. Those operations ran 7:00am to 7:00pm daily and involved four separate contractors with anywhere from 15 to 24 locally-hired workers at any one time. Last Tuesday, Mr Flickinger told Saline Journal that he would have liked to be “two days ahead of schedule” by that point. Instead, the rain had reduced his safety margin to one-half day. [7]
In addition to all else, then, the proximety of Tippens added value.
“We’ve seen a lot of those crews,” Mr Jarbo added. “After setup and grounds, we’ll deliver pizzas to M-Den. We are prepared to do two to three meals every day this week to feed the Golf Channel and media and support and golfers.” [8]
They also pride themselves on being a day-in, day-out partner with the greater Washtenaw County community of which they are a part. “When Saline had the water main break last week, we made sure to have plenty of water here in stock,” Rocky Jarbo said. “Then we sold it at a discount to anyone who needed it.” [9,10]
Regardless of who you are, it shouldn’t be very difficult at all to charactize Tippins Specialty Wine & Foods. Just think of it as part of the growing definition of Saline, a 3.5-mile northerly extension of the commitment, taste, and experience of our fine downtown area.
References
- Tippins Market (Facebook Page).
- Washtenaw Farm Council (Facebook Page).
- Animal Kingdom Veterinary Hospital (home page).
- Travis Pointe Country Club (home page).
- “The ‘New’ Lodi Township Hall Formally Celebrated Its Opening Twenty Years Ago Today” Dell Deaton (July 27, 2006) Saline Journal.
- Volvik Championship (home page).
- Global Golf Management (home page).
- Golf Channel (home page).
- “Boil water advisory in Saline water after water main break” (May 16, 2018) Detroit Free Press.
- “Water main break in Saline repaired, some businesses in area to remain under boil water advisory” (May 16, 2018) WXYZ.
