After 44 Years, Family Buggy Will Bid Farewell to Farmington Hills
Owners Don and Peggy Payne say the Farmington Hills restaurant will close Sunday, Jan. 8.
On Oct. 31, Family Buggy owner Don Payne did something he had been putting off for a year: He told employees the 44-year-old restaurant will close on Jan. 8, 2012. "I knew it was coming. I hoped I could find a way to not tell the employees they didn't have a job," said Payne, who celebrated his 70th birthday and the company's anniversary with a party at Longacre House on Oct. 10. With his wife, Peggy, Don Payne has owned the family restaurant on Orchard Lake in Farmington Hills since 1976. Family Buggy first opened in Detroit in 1967; that restaurant closed in 1986. The Paynes also had locations in Rochester Hills, which opened in 1983 and closed in 2006, and Livonia, which opened in 1987 and closed in 2005. Some customers who started with…
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Debbie Roberts
1:01 am on Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Payne, for all you did for our town at the Buggy! When I was in elementary school, we always looked forward to coming to the ice cream parlor after my brother's baseball games (win or lose). You gave me my first real job-- scooping ice cream! For my friends and me, the Buggy was the best place to meet for lunch (salad and cheese bread) while we were in high school, in … more ›