Plymouth post office to become Westborn Market

A new chapter will open for the historic post office building on Penniman in downtown Plymouth next year when it reopens as a specialty grocery chain's fourth location.

Dearborn-based Westborn Market recently signed a long-term lease with Mark and Patty Malcolm of Plymouth, owners of the former Pursell Station post office, to use the nearly 11,000-square-foot building for a new market. The building, dating from 1935, closed last spring when the U.S. Postal Service moved the Pursell Station to a long-vacant convenience store nearby.

Mark Malcolm and Westborn president Mark Anusbigian say the building's exterior will be restored and many of its historical features preserved, and that a new Westborn will add to Plymouth's thriving downtown. A fall opening is planned, Mark Anusbigian said.

"I think you're going to see that building looking more historic than it has in decades," Mark Malcolm said.

"The building is just so cool – I can't say it enough. It's just a great venue for a specialty market," Anusbigian said.

'Feels right'

Westborn is a family owned grocery with stores in Dearborn, Berkley and Livonia and has been in business for more than 50 years. The stores specialize in fresh produce, meats and baked goods, and carry many gourmet products and grocery items that can't readily be found in supermarkets.

Anusbigian said he sees a Plymouth location as a logical next step for Westborn. "We just really love the community. It just feels right," he said.

Some preliminary work has already been done, and Westborn is working with state and local officials, including Plymouth's Historic District Commission, to make sure renovations are in keeping with the building's original character. Mark Malcolm said there are plans to apply for the building to be listed with the National Register of Historic places.

He said he's impressed with how Westborn has embraced the building's history. "I think it's going to be a pretty good marriage," he said.

Mural preserved



The building's lobby includes a four-panel mural, "Plymouth Trail," that was commissioned by the Department of Treasury during the Great Depression. Painted by the Cuban-born Carlos Lopes, who taught at the University of Michigan, it depicts aspects of Plymouth's past.

The mural was restored in June by a Chicago art restoration company; the postal service retains ownership of it, and paid for the restoration, but as the building owners, the Malcolms are responsible for preserving it.

The U.S.P.S. put the post office on the market in 2010 in a cost-cutting and downsizing move. The new Pursell Station at Penniman and Harvey, which the postal service is leasing, is much smaller. The Pursell Station is named for the late Carl Pursell, a longtime Republican member of the U.S. Congress who represented the Plymouth area.

The Malcolms had the older building under contract for over a year, closing the purchase in August for a price of $760,000. They also bought the empty lot just west of the former post office, where a parking lot and a main entrance for the new Westborn are planned.

Matt Jachman is a reporter for HometownLife.com. Contact him at mjachman@hometownlife.com, 734-678-8432 or on Twitter: @mattjachman.