Maple Village is a veritable beehive of activity lately. A month or two ago, businesses started moving out of the wing which used to house The Village Theatre.

• Radio Shack moved out into a satellite building in the parking lot, as did Sofia’s Tailoring.

• Panda House moved down into the crook of the L, into a space that used to have some kind of gaming store in it. We are more-frequent-than-we-should-be patrons (love that fried rice) and have been down to the new location a few times now. The new digs are nice, with the take-out and sit-down a little more integrated. There’s a nice fountain in the waiting area now, too.

• The big project is what’s going in to the vacated spaces. It’s a new Plum Market, run by the Jonna family who formerly ran Merchant of Vino on the north side (and elsewhere). They are doing massive reconstruction, tearing down internal and external walls, removing old facades and decorations - it’s pretty intense. The store is scheduled to open January 2008, and looks to be an upscale, organic-oriented place something like Whole Foods. The upscale thing is annoying to me personally, as I was hoping to make this new WALKABLE grocery store (woo hoo!) my regular store, but the frou-frou will be good for this side of town.

• No movement at the burned out Golden Chef building.

• The parking lot is torn up in many places and lights have been moved and removed. A recent planning proposal seems to indicate more buildings might be added. They also removed the bus shelter a while back, and moved the stop out to Maple Road, with no shelter. That seems cruel.

In other business notes,

• Work on the Milk Depot continues on its glacial pace. They are taking for-ev-er to finish it! We still don’t know what kind of business is going in there. Rumors swirl around a deli or an ice cream shop. You know which one the boys are pulling for. The parking lot is now paved and lines for spaces painted. It looks like a complete bear to try and park there, though, and a nightmare to get out once you do. Hope their business model relies on foot traffic.

• The Wolverine Party Shoppe and its neighbor Little Porky’s have gotten a huge facelift! They’ve painted the outside of the building - red & green for Little Porky’s, mustard and brown for Wolverine. The inside of Wolverine is really nice now too - much less of the homeless wino vibe that used to be there. Now there are nice wire shelves, an expanded wine selection, new cold cases and a new coat of paint. It’s stylin’.