Sanders Ice Cream Parlors, a Long-lost Detroit Tradition is Back!

When the city of Detroit, my hometown, went belly-up in the seventies, many longstanding businesses also went belly-up. Most notable was the J.L. Hudson department store, downtown Detroit's equivalent to Manhattan's Macy's, and all 58 Sanders ice cream stores.

Since 1875, Sanders' hot fudge sundaes, served fresh at the counter, were the ultimate treat for every Detroit kid. By the late seventies, all the stores were closed down. And in the late nineties, the company declared bankruptcy.

As a boy growing up in the sixties, the nearest Sanders fountain was a short walk up Nine Mile Road. My favorite treat was the bittersweet hot fudge sundae. Yes, back then, Sanders hot fudge came in two varieties, milk chocolate and bittersweet. After the fountains closed down, while you could still buy Sanders fudge toppings at Michigan supermarket chains, it just wasn't the same as ordering a sundae made fresh from an old-fashioned fountain while being seat on a swivel stool at a counter served by a real live soda jerk (who usually was anything but a jerk).

And the hot fudge sundaes weren't the only great treats available at Sanders stores. Founder Fred Sanders himself claimed to have invented the ice cream soda. According to Sanders himself, in 1875, one of the store specialties was the Sweet Cream Soda; but, one day his supply of sweet cream went sour, so he substituted ice cream for the sweet cream and history was made.

While the ice cream soda story is open for debate, since other soda fountains in other cities have also claimed the ice cream soda, there's no doubt that "Bumpy Cakes" were first sold at Sanders stores. The Bumpy Cake was a dangerously rich chocolate cake layered with fudgy frosting shot through-and-through with ribbons of buttercream. Actually, this other renowned Sanders specialty,was made at Awrey's Bakery. Sadly, 100-year-old Awrey's declared bankruptcy in 2005.

While longing dreams of these treats were only to be had by those Detroiters over forty years old, as of 2005, a new Sanders ice cream parlor opened in, of all places, tony and WASP-y Grosse Pointe Park, thanks to the Morley Candy Company, Sanders' new owners. And three more stores followed in Livonia, Birmingham, and Wyandotte.

Okay, the new Sanders isn't exactly as I remembered it as a boy, but what is? The bittersweet hot fudge sundae, however, is still a knockout.

And maybe the revival of Sanders could mean the revival of Detroit itself. When there's a ice cream store downtown again, I'll be convinced.

The store locations are as follows:

Grosse Pointe Sanders is at 16837 Kercheval

The Livonia Sanders is at the Laurel Place Mall at Six Mile Road and Newburgh

The Birmingham store is at 745 E. Maple Road

The Wyandotte store is at 3042 Biddle

SOURCES:

http://www.sanderscandy.com/about.htm

"Sanders Candy and Dessert Shop", Jane Slaughter, Metro Times, URL: (http://www.metrotimes.com/metropolis/restaurants/review.asp?id=9632)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_cooler

"Of Soda Fountains and Ice Cream Parlors", Kay Houston, Detroit News, URL: (http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=192&category=life)