{"id":5670,"date":"2026-06-30T18:49:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T18:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/30\/new-sweetwaters-location-to-open-in-pierpont-commons-this-fall\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T18:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T18:49:09","slug":"new-sweetwaters-location-to-open-in-pierpont-commons-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/30\/new-sweetwaters-location-to-open-in-pierpont-commons-this-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"New Sweetwaters location to open in Pierpont Commons this fall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwaterscafe.com\">Sweetwaters Coffee &amp; Tea<\/a> is adding an eighth location in Ann Arbor at <a href=\"https:\/\/uunions.umich.edu\/pierpont\/\">Pierpont Commons<\/a>, the University of Michigan\u2019s North Campus <a href=\"https:\/\/uunions.umich.edu\/\">student union<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While an exact opening date is yet to be announced, the company plans to open its doors before the beginning of the fall semester in late August. Sweetwaters will take the place of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yelp.com\/biz\/hibachi-san-ann-arbor-2\"> Hibachi-San<\/a> in Pierpont\u2019s lower level, which closed during the 2025-26 academic year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U-M alumni Lisa and Wei Bee founded the first Sweetwaters in 1993 on Washington Street, and the cafe has since become a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/special\/orientation-edition\/a-comprehensive-guide-to-ann-arbor-coffee-shops\/\"> staple<\/a> for both Ann Arbor locals and U-M students. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Sweetwaters brand manager Dan Fairbanks said Lisa and Wei\u2019s University roots made choosing the company\u2019s next campus location a no-brainer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAny way that we can deepen our relationship with U-M and Ann Arbor, we were going to hop at that opportunity,\u201d Fairbanks said. \u201cWhen (Lisa) was a freshman, one of her favorite places to go was North Campus, so as soon as an opportunity came up to open in North Campus, she was super pumped about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fairbanks said regardless of location, creating a unique sense of community is crucial to Sweetwaters\u2019 mission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe foster a sense of community at each of our locations, whether it is one within U-M, or one that is even out of the state,\u201d Fairbanks said. \u201cWithin U-M specifically, I think Sweetwaters is great for students because we have ample space, a ton of different things to choose from on the menu, so anybody can come in and find something that feels specific to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">North Campus is home to the College of Engineering, Stamps School of Art &amp; Design, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and the School of Music, Theatre &amp; Dance. Fairbanks said catering to students across diverse disciplines is an exciting opportunity for the cafe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWithin North Campus, because there\u2019s such a variety of students studying, and even some who go up there that prefer the gym, we are excited to see students who go in between campuses,\u201d Fairbanks said. \u201cWe are catering to that North Campus market, which is Engineering students, musical theatre and artists, so I\u2019m excited to see what that type of community will bring to our location.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Engineering rising sophomore Ashleigh Montle, all of her classes will be located on North Campus in the upcoming semester. Montle told The Daily she is looking forward to a new dining option at Pierpont Commons.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI do see a new Sweetwaters in Pierpont being popular,\u201d Montle said. \u201cA friend in all of my chemical engineering classes (and I) are already thinking of where we are going to study after class. We always do coffee shops, but most are a twenty minute walk off of North Campus, so if there\u2019s a Sweetwaters in Pierpont, I feel like we would go to it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an interview with The Daily, LSA rising sophomore Aniela Palmer, who worked as a Sweetwaters barista at the Michigan Union during the winter semester, said she loves the atmosphere of the cafe.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy favorite part of working there was all the staff, because we were all students and we were all really cool with each other,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cThe cafe is usually pretty quiet, even though it\u2019s in the center of the Union, so it is a really good study spot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the constant influx of customers at on-campus locations, Palmer said Sweetwaters employees always prioritize student patrons with discounts and efficient service.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think Sweetwaters is really good at appealing to the student population,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cEspecially on our mobile app, there\u2019s a lot of discounts like where you can get a sandwich and a drink for a relatively low price, and we try to go as fast as we can in the mornings so people can just get out to class.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fairbanks said that Sweetwaters is continuously growing \u2014 opening new locations in various states \u2014 it still remains deeply rooted in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSweetwaters is constantly expanding and we are catering as many different customers and demographics and markets as we can,\u201d Fairbanks said. \u201cWe do have some new locations opening this year, our drive-through-only location, which will be in Texas, but with Sweetwaters itself being founded in Ann Arbor, we are always looking for different ways we can open within our home market, then expanding that to different places all over the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Summer News Editor Reese Kizy can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/campus-life\/new-sweetwaters-location-to-open-in-pierpont-commons-this-fall\/mailto:reesekiz@umich.edu\"><em>reesekiz@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sweetwaters Coffee &amp; Tea is adding an eighth location in Ann Arbor at Pierpont Commons, the University of Michigan\u2019s North Campus student union.\u00a0 While an exact opening date is yet to be announced, the company plans to open its doors before the beginning of the fall semester in late August. Sweetwaters will take the place [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[5037,956,262,2136,5036,5035],"class_list":["post-5670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-commons","tag-fall","tag-location","tag-open","tag-pierpont","tag-sweetwaters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5672,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5670\/revisions\/5672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}