The Emory to close in Ferndale after 17 years

FERNDALE — A long-running restaurant in downtown Ferndale will be closing down at the end of the month.

The Emory announced on social media that it will be shutting down after 17 years of operation. Its final day will be on Sunday, Dec. 29.

The decision to close The Emory — which has been open since 2007 — was a big one, according to owner Chris Johnston, and a choice that wasn’t easy.

“Every restaurant, unless you’re an iconic restaurant, has a lifespan, and I would say 17 years is well beyond that normal lifespan,” he said. “After a certain point, you probably have to reinvent yourself drastically just to keep things fresh, and I felt that we did what we did there for a long time, and I didn’t want to have to reinvent it myself.

“It’s a hard business, first of all, but I enjoy it and I’ve always enjoyed it, and it’s challenging and I don’t mind the challenges, but it just felt like it was just time to move on, I guess,” Johnston continued. “There was nothing necessarily wrong with it, but the location is ready and needs something else, and that’s something that someone else would do better than I would.”

The Emory’s location, 22700 Woodward Ave., is owned by Johnston. He will continue to own the space and lease it out to a tenant.

“Even just since announcing it, we’ve had a lot of people inquire about it,” he said. “It’s a great space and I’m sure that something will happen with it. I’m just not sure exactly what that’s going to be.”

Johnston said the east side of Woodward, where the Emory is located, has been a bit slower to develop in comparison to the west side, as that part of Ferndale has more downtown, though that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything happening on the east side.

Johnston loved having The Emory on Woodward. He recounted that when he was looking to open Woodward Avenue Brewers more than 20 years ago, they were looking at locations everywhere but couldn’t find the right spot until stumbling upon its Woodward location.

“There was a time that I thought where I’d rather be nestled in some downtown somewhere, as opposed to right here on Woodward,” he said. “But quickly my eyes opened up to what it was like being on Woodward, and what that vitality is and what it feels like. And it’s something that you can’t duplicate. … The view of all the cars and the hustle and bustle of everyday life and feeling like you’re a part of the community and a part of what’s going on, there’s nothing that compares to that.”

In one of The Emory’s final weekends, Samantha Mertins and Jessie Harper came with a group of six friends to have one last brunch.

Mertins, a Ferndale resident, walked into The Emory when it first opened and at one point had a brunch club with friends where The Emory was a regular stopping point for them.

“We were here once a month for probably two years. We would come here a lot,” she said. “It’ll be sad that you don’t have an easy place to grab a table and chat, and you can kind of sit as long as you want and catch up and then go your different, separate ways. I think there’s so many places that are very much, ‘Oh, this reservation is an hour and a half. You have to leave from this place. It might be difficult to get to.’ It’s central, and you can just hang for a long time.”

Harper, of Detroit, used to work at the nearby Social Connection and would regularly come to The Emory for happy hour.

“It became kind of a tradition. We were here every Thursday getting those half-off bottles of wine and chicken fingers with ranch,” she said. “This always has been, like, a go-to-spot. We’ve had many brunches, lunches, dinners here. It’s sad to see it go. It’s always been a reliable stop in the Ferndale tour.”

The Emory was named after Johnston’s great-grandfather, and the wood inside came from family farmland in Ohio. So, it’s always been a family business for him.

“It was great years of my life that I was a part of it and met so many amazing people, employees and customers, and grew and developed so much,” he said. “The great thing about running a restaurant in a social place like that, you see friendships made and you see people mourn their friends, you see everything. It’s right there for you and it’s a great story and it’s nice to be a part of people’s lives in whatever way is appropriate or respectable or whatever they’re looking for. … I’ve been a part of a lot of people’s lives and I’m grateful for that and it’s been fun. and still is fun. I’m still doing it and I enjoy it.”