Retail : Development News

Birmingham's business development officials have been studying shoppers and retail trends for many months now, trying to figure out how to improve on downtown Birmingham as a shopping and free-time destination.

One question asked: When do you want to shop? The answer: evenings, after work or school.

That's when many downtown shops are closed. So in the interest of finding out if nighttime shopping will actually generate traffic, about 45 downtown stores will stay open until 9 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month, says John Heiney, director of Birmingham's Principal Shopping District.

The response will show if a mostly daytime downtown -- other than restaurants and movies -- will fly.

First Thursdays will run through September during the summer months, when strolling store to store at night is more likely. There will be a theme each month along with sales and special events and activities in stores and around downtown to promote First Thursdays.

Birmingham's Principal Shopping District, which is made up of downtown businesses and employs a retail consultant to keep downtown thriving, is hosting the event and "wants to get shoppers thinking about shopping in the evening," Heiney says.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: John Heiney, director, Birmingham Principal Shopping District

The Bozeman Watch Company's speciality, limited edition watches and accessories will soon fill a downtown Birmingham store, importing a Michigan native's high-end goods from the Montana and Wyoming showrooms where they're now sold.

Its handmade time pieces are known for their rugged styling -- the B1 Hellcat, Smokejumper GMT and Sidewinder are a few styles that convey manly man adventure. The company is also known for its hand-tooled leather luggage and handbags.

Christopher Wardle, a former Michigan resident started the company in Montana and is expanding from three stores in Bozeman and Whitefish, Montana and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

The Birmingham store opens May 1 on Pierce Street in the spot formerly occupied by Stacy Leuliette home accessories, says Ed Nakfoor, spokesman for the Birmingham Principal Shopping District.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Ed Nakfoor, spokesman, Birmingham Principal Shopping District

The owner of the new Stefana Boutique in downtown Northville is basing her business on offering something different than mall-based stores, selling at prices that won't induce buyers' remorse and in stocking styles that are age-appropriate but still with it.

Stephanie Fermanis Stojanovski opened the boutique at 122 W. Main Street this week and is excited to be selling clothing, jewelry and other accessories she picked up at Fashion Week in Las Vegas.

"I have clothes from New York, California, sunglasses from Texas," she says. "There things that you won't find in just any store."

She chose Northville, where she moved to 13 years ago, simply because she loves the city.

"This is a really beautiful location on Main Street. There's a lot of traffic and and the historic downtown is very beautiful, very quaint," she says.

She also says Northville's events such as First Fridays, where galleries and shops stay open later and bring more visitors downtown, are expected to be good for business and good for getting to know customers, something she's already seeing as the best part of being a business owner.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Stephanie Fermanis Stojanovski, owner, Stefana Boutique

After spending its infancy as an online business, moving into toddlerhood as a brick and mortar store in Ferndale and then another store, Modern Natural Baby is moving again, this time to a larger space and with bigger plans.

Emily Murray, who started Modern Natural Baby with her husband, John Murray, in August 2009, says the move from Modern Natural Baby's store at 224 W. 9 Mile Road -- it once was on Woodward Avenue -- will let the new store at 200 W. 9 Mile offer more products and bigger ones such as strollers and car seats and high chairs. There wasn't enough room to display such items in the prior location.

At about double the size, the new Modern Natural Baby will not only sell more products but also seek out and sell those that keep with its organic, earth-friendly, socially-responsible business model.

"It'll be nice because we have a ton of gift registries, but before they had to register at other places for the strollers and car seats and larger items. Now they can register for everything here," Murray says.

The new 5,300 sq. ft. store is replacing Dollar Castle and will be the anchor of the 12,000-plus sq. ft. space that will soon be occupied by three tenants. The owner is renovating the building inside and out.

"The owner is putting a ton of money into it," Murray says. "Three businesses will be there instead of one. It's going to be one of the nicest buildings in Ferndale. This is really good for the city."

She expects to move into the new spot a few doors down from the current shop in August and be open later that month or in early September.

Though customers come from across metro Detroit and even from Canada, Murray attributes the success that started with an online business run from a home basement to a retail store to busting at the seams to Ferndale's way with attracting families and fostering progressive attitudes.

"Ferndale is definitely a place where there's a lot of nightlife…We've come from a time where families did kind of leave Ferndale…they're coming back…a lot of my customers are Ferndale customers. It's a great place for us because there are so many families, and it's a green area, it's such a hip area. It's perfect for our business."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Emily Murray, co-owner, Modern Natural Baby

A Bloomfield Hills/Birmingham boutique owner is opting for the east side, bringing her specialty clothing and personal styling services to the Village business district in Grosse Pointe.

It's another sign, says James V. Bellanca Jr., that development in the Grosse Pointes is at a tipping point.

"She wants to be a part of the changes happening here. It's an exciting time," says Bellanca, an attorney who oversees a family trust that owns property in The Village.

The boutique will open in a space behind City Kitchen and a bath shop on Kercheval Avenue.Opening day will be sometime in May, Bellanca says.

It opens as the City Kitchen restaurant and bar expands in response to demand for barside dining. Down the street David Gilbert, an award-winning chef who's worked around the world and was executive chef at prestigious Forest Grill in Birmingham, is opening a French bistro with his wife, Monica Gilbert. She was general manager at Forest Grill. Marais is expected to open in August, Bellanca says.

Across from Marais in a neighboring block on Kerchveval will be a new hardware store, a still-to-be-disclosed national retailer and a combined medical and retail development in the spot where Borders was once located.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: James V. Bellanca Jr., attorney and property manager

Since Borders bookstore closed in 2011, leaving one of the largest buildings in Grosse Pointe's Village business district empty, the big question has been what would replace it and when.

And when the equally large Ace Hardware located in the same building relocated to Detroit in January, leaving the whole block on Kercheval Avenue empty, the conversation turned more worrisome.

Now the tone is changing as three tenants are making plans to take over the 50,000 square feet of space.

James V. Bellanca Jr., who manages the property for the family trust that owns it, says David DeRonne will open a DeRonne True Value Hardware in part of the space previously occupied by Ace Hardware. A smaller part of that space, about 11,000 square feet, is in negotiations between two retailers, who can't yet be named, Bellanca says.

The third part of the building, about 22,000 square feet where Borders was located, will become a Beaumont Hospital office and retail development. The back portion of the building will be used for medical, the front for retail, he says. It's a fit with the new Neighborhood Club Beaumont Hospital community and wellness center located just behind the Village and within walking distance of the new building.

Bellanca says True Value, which will be run by a family with a 50-year-plus history in the hardware business, could open by late spring or early summer. Beaumont's facility could be open by August. And the tenant in between could be open for business mid-summer.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: James V. Bellanca Jr., attorney and property manager

An experienced retailer and marketer is marrying her skills with an interior designer to form a new business partnership in Birmingham's flourishing rail district.

Added Oomph opened earlier this month and combines furniture and home accessory merchandise with the services of an interior designer.

Owners Pam Dennis, the interior designer in the partnership, and Janet Genn, the retailer, see the rail district and its eclectic feel as the perfect place to do bring a business that focuses on individuality. The store is at 2121 Cole.

"We believe our twist is having the store operated by an experienced interior designer that will complement the customer
experience," says Genn in an announcement of the store opening.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Birmingham-Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce

After five years in the making as a favorite gift shop and little girls' party spot in west Dearborn, Sophia's Giftique has opened a second location, this one in Detroit.

The New Center store inside the office building on West Grand Boulevard and Woodward will offer a similar mix of personal and home accessories, gifts and holiday items as well as its speciality products, Simply Victoria, a handmade greeting card line designed by the mother of one owner, and B3 (Bath, Body, Beauty) which was created by the sister of that store owner.

The store offers free gift wrapping and host private princess parties, tea parties and is frequently the site of charity events.

Sophia's owners see the shop becoming a stop in a series of retail and eating establishments that line the walkways through the New Center that's connected to The Fisher, Cadillac Place and St. Regis Hotel.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Sophia's Giftique and West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority

A Parson's School of Design grad is trading in New York for a return to his hometown of Birmingham, opening a business that will use his experience in fashion to offer designers and brands not often seen in Michigan.

Zachary Kay and his mother Lori will run Found Objects, a boutique with clothing and accessories at 241 E. Merrill St. in downtown Birmingham.

Kay, a Cranbrook schools graduate, predicts the location, in a walkable part of the city that attracts serious shoppers who want a city experience and not the mall, will find its niche.

The store is scheduled to open March 1.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: John Heiney, director, Birmingham Principal Shopping District

You could say that Denise Kulak and her new Birmingham business were raised in a barn.

And it wouldn't be an insult.

FUN STUFF, a small, eclectic boutique that sells affordable jewelry, art, locally-made treats and more, was started, funnily enough, on a lark Up North one recent summer as her husband, sculptor Gary Kulak, set up his business for the summer.

"He was doing his sign for Gary Kulak Sculpture, I said, 'What about me?'  He said, 'What do you want to be?' I said, 'I want to be …and other fun stuff.' Thats how it all started…

The business, if it could be called that at the time, was set up "in my pole barn up north, just to do if for the summer,"

"I literally just threw out a sandwich board sign that said FUN STUFF. I still use it here at the store in Birmingham."

She used her connections from a 25-plus year career in retail to buy the goods she would sell.

"It just worked," she says.

She decided to try it closer to their year-round home in Birmingham. FUN STUFF, which keeps prices low but sells "quality things that I would be proud to give as a gift," opened Oct. 11 in the Adams Square Shopping Center. It's a short walk from the Kulak's home, the sort of commute Kulak has dreamed of for years.

"It's going really well. I've got a lot of traffic. I've seen a lot of people from the neighborhood. I wanted to be community-based and be near my home. I wanted to re-create the whole experience from Up North and do it in my neighborhood" says Kulak, who also sells her husband's signature chair sculptures. His work can be seen throughout Michigan and in other states.

Oddly enough the 200-square-foot store in the Adams Square Shopping Center is even smaller than the 500-square foot pole barn where FUN STUFF was born.

Kulak, who's been laid off from high-level retail jobs three times in 10 years and is a fourth generation retailer, is excited about getting back to what she loves - selling goods - but she's more driven to make the shop a place for socializing and getting to know locals.

Kulak is a master's degree candidate from Walsh College and is also a beneficiary of a business start-up program offered by the Walsh College Wayne State University Blackstone Launchpad, which is funded by the Blackstone Charitable Trust Foundation and is a partnership with the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan, Automation Alley and the University of Miami.

Launchpad gave Kulak - and other entrepreneurs enrolled at Walsh and Wayne State - advice and assistance in starting the business, including feasibility studies, business plans and more.

Kulak is grateful, but again, this is a business she wants based on relationships, friendships with some salesemanship thrown in.

"I want this to be a place where every product has a story and every customer shares one…It's not just about selling stuff….It's about the woman who comes in here 2,3 times a week, tells a joke, a story or shares something important to her."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Denise Kulak, owner, FUN STUFF

The Hill business district in Grosse Pointe Farms, a stretch of stately architecture dominated in recent years by financial firms, is taking a step in a new direction with the opening of an upscale shoe and accessories store.

Capricious, located at 74 Kercheval Avenue, may help to liven up the strip of Kercheval Avenue that has lost retail shopping options in the last several years. In their place have come secure, but quiet offices, primarily for financial companies.

Behind the business - as well as others that have brought life and variety to The Hill, is Gretchen Valade, an heir to the Carhartt clothing fortune and founder of Jazz music label, Mack Avenue Records. Valade has been called the savior of Detroit's free jazz music festival since she bailed it out with a big donation. Her philanthropy is generous and widespread. And more and more she is making her name as a Pointer who gives back to her community by investing in new, quality businesses.

They include the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, a supper club and jazz venue on The Hill that attracts top names and puts out an award-winning menu.

A few doors down is Morning Glory, a bakery and coffee house and after-dinner drink spot, that has built a solid customer base since opening in the summer of 2011.

Just across the street is Capricious, the new shoe store that will sell high-end brands as well as jewelry, scarves, belts and other accessories from a store decorated to convey posh. Capricious gives Pointers a destination that may keep them in the Pointes rather than heading to Somerset Collection in Troy for a shopping fix.


The grand opening of Capricious, which is creating at least three full-time jobs, is Nov. 15.

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Dawn Mitchell, assistant store manager

A mother of four turned entrepreneur is getting her dress-up-the-kids fix through her new store, Spoil 'Em Rotten in downtown Royal Oak.

Shay Van opened the children's clothing boutique at 630 E. 11 Mile on Oct. 1, and the traffic has been great, she says.

Her business model is to offer every day clothing that can't be found just anywhere and to sell dressier clothing "that won't break your pocketbook."

"I have the the things you wouldn't always see at the mall, things for special occasions that aren't the usual … And I believe it should be affordable."

The opening of the 2,200-square-foot shop, which was previously a jewelry store, brings business back to a spot that's been empty for five years.

It's also one mom's new full-time career.

"I was a stay-at-home mom of four children," Van says. "That's what made me really get into this. It's really fun. It's like shopping for everyone's kids."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Shay Van, owner, Spoil 'Em Rotten boutique, Royal Oak

The owners of Burn Rubber, a unique Royal Oak sneaker boutique known for unique styles that can fetch top dollar, have taken their concept for originality into men's clothing.

two/eighteen By Burn Rubber opened nearly two weeks ago at 108 E. Fourth Street. Burn Rubber sells its sneakers down the street at 202 W. Fourth.

"Two/eighteen is similar to the philosophy of Burn Rubber where you wouldn't find what we sell anywhere else in Michigan," says co-owner and co-founder Rick Williams.

One of the lines being promoted currently is out of Atlanta, Strivers Row.

The name two/eighteen is the numerical-alphabetical equivalent of B and R - for Burn Rubber. The new store, a total of 2,500 square feet front and back, is owned and run by Rick Williams and his partners Ro Coit, Fred Walker and Tawny Thieu, who are celebrating "a next tier of the business."

Williams says downtown Royal Oak has been the launching point for a solid business and customer base that are growing along with the company.

"Royal Oak is where we've made our home," he says. "This is basically a step up from Burn Rubber, something for the more mature customers."

Source: Rick Williams, co-owner and co-founder two/eighteen By Burn Rubber
Writer: Kim North Shine

The owner of Lola Ryan, a new home, accessories and women's clothing boutique in downtown Plymouth, is offering what she calls "pure fashion" to her customers.

Rachel Kus, a pharmaceutical rep who's long dreamed of dipping her to in the pond of retail fashion , wants to run a business that sells American products by American designers. Her husband Ryan Kus is part owner.

Rachel Kus' mother, the store manager, says it can be challenging to keep the All-American promise when American designers sell some things that are American made and others that are not, for example, but  they are working hard to stick to the philosophy, which also includes selling "affordable fashion" and offering personal shoppers and private showings for the "precocious teen to groovy matriarch" Lola Ryan seeks.

Lola Ryan opened about a month ago at 550 Forest Avenue. On its racks are designers such as Rachel Pally. Lola Ryan is the only place in Michigan to buy Pally's things. Hudson Jeans, typically found at Nordstrom, are on the racks too. James Pearse is another popular brand found at Lola Ryan.

Rachel Kus brought her fashion knowledge and dream of opening a boutique back from the East Coast after living there several years. A friend ran a boutique, and Kus learned how to get the skinny on fashion lines and retail by attending fashion shows in places such as New York. She chose Plymouth, her hometown, to start the business "because we just love it here, and there is a lot of support here," her mother says.

Source: Manager, Lola Ryan boutique, Plymouth
Writer: Kim North Shine

The store that Max & Ollie's Vintage Boutique has inhabited over the last six years could be described as quaint or cramped, depending on perspective. But what's clear is that Max & Ollie's new store and its mix of furniture, clothing, tchotchkes is nothing but spacious.

Owner Diane Kubik, who sees herself and her store as part of a revival brought on by an eclectic mix of businesses and creative entrepreneurs, moved her boutique from a mere 300-square-foot space on the edge of downtown to a 1,350 square foot store in a central part of downtown, known as a gathering spot  for concerts and public events.

"We are loving the new place. The expansion turned out to be fabulous for us. There is a lot more foot traffic, not to mention we can offer more treasures and host events. Life in the bigger shop is great," says Kubik, who scouts metro Detroit for standout merchandise. She lives and works in downtown and has built a base of vintage afficianados who buy from her online through her website or Etsy as well as at the store.

The move to 65 Macomb Place is being celebrated with a grand opening today and the expansion is leading to the hiring of employees and a partnership with Detroit Fashion Vault, which will stock its accesories at the store from its own space at 56 Macomb Place.

According to the Mount Clements Downtown Development Authority, "Max & Ollie’s Vintage Boutique has built a following of regular, loyal customers who rave about the store. Here you will often find a collector of fine antiques perusing fine china and glass next to a young hipster searching for unusual vintage scarves and jewelry. There’s something for everyone in this fun shop, and it’s always a treasure hunt."

Source: Diane Kubik, owner, Max & Ollie's Vintage Boutique and Michelle Weiss, Mount Clemens DDA
Writer: Kim North Shine