Detroit Shoppe

[Detroit Signal]

Does anyone know if the Detroit Shoppe will be open this holiday shopping season? I would like to borrow them something for display in the store.

[Kathleen]

After a short hiatus following last year's successful holiday season, the Detroit Shoppe at The Somerset Collection reopened in the spring and have been going gangbusters since. No reason to think that they wouldn't be open for this year's holiday season.

[Detroit Signal]

Well that right there tells you how much I get out to Somerset, LOL. Thank you Kathleen.

[MidTownMs]

Why is it called the Detroit Shoppe if it's in the Somerset Collection....

[Bham1982]

Why is it called the Detroit Shoppe if it's in the Somerset Collection....

Maybe because the Somerset Collection is the premiere shopping destination in Metro Detroit?

You want them to call it the Cleveland Shoppe?

[downtownguy]

Or maybe it's because everything they sell has something to do with Detroit.

From the store:

MISSION STATEMENT:
To showcase the people, places and products that have shaped out great city.
To donate every penny of every dollar earned from the sale of our products to those people and places that will continue to keep our city moving.
We will live it, see it, be it...and Detroit will start to move you.

100% of The Detroit Shoppe proceeds will go to charity.

[MidTownMs]

Maybe because the Somerset Collection is the premiere shopping destination in Metro Detroit?

You want them to call it the Cleveland Shoppe?

I was just asking a question that's all....I am not familiar with what is at the Somerset Collection because I have never been there...I shop where I live...no need for sarcasm.

[DetroitPlanner]

Maybe the Somerset Collection should open up a Detroit Shop in Detroit for the Holidays? After all they opened up mini needless markups, gucci, saks.... Over the summer.

[DetroitPole]

Don't get me wrong: Overall, the Detroit Shoppe is a good thing, even a very good thing. The Store manager is a Detroiter, by the way [[and by that I mean she lives in the City of Detroit since that needs clarification around here). The $ does all go to the original retailers [[though Somerset is getting a hefty write off...)

However, if one can't see the twinge of irony of the Detroit Shoppe being at Somerset Mall in Troy, MI, well, you've got your head in the sand.

It seems strange to me that so many suburbanites flock to the Detroit Shoppe [[and again, money does flow into the city as a result, so cool) when a real Detroit experience is just another 20 minutes away. Then again, it isn't in the hermetically sealed environment so many of them are used to. Personally I'd rather hit up the actual stores in midtown and downtown and then get dinner and some drinks at a great Detroit restaurant rather than a food court, but hey, what do I know...

It would also do the city a lot more good if one were to actually go there and spend time there. Plenty of money already flows through the city. The city needs retail and foot traffic though - which suburban malls like Somerset for 50 years have drawn out of the city!!!

As an aside, I'm not sure what the allure of Somerset is, in the two times in my life I've been there. The place rather reminds me of an airport [[which I find highly unpleasant). The Champs Eysees it AIN'T, no matter how much Trojans like to pretend it is. Northland with window dressing! A mall is a mall.

[dtowncitylover]

Don't get me wrong: Overall, the Detroit Shoppe is a good thing, even a very good thing. The Store manager is a Detroiter, by the way [[and by that I mean she lives in the City of Detroit since that needs clarification around here). The $ does all go to the original retailers [[though Somerset is getting a hefty write off...)

However, if one can't see the twinge of irony of the Detroit Shoppe being at Somerset Mall in Troy, MI, well, you've got your head in the sand.

It seems strange to me that so many suburbanites flock to the Detroit Shoppe [[and again, money does flow into the city as a result, so cool) when a real Detroit experience is just another 20 minutes away. Then again, it isn't in the hermetically sealed environment so many of them are used to. Personally I'd rather hit up the actual stores in midtown and downtown and then get dinner and some drinks at a great Detroit restaurant rather than a food court, but hey, what do I know...

It would also do the city a lot more good if one were to actually go there and spend time there. Plenty of money already flows through the city. The city needs retail and foot traffic though - which suburban malls like Somerset for 50 years have drawn out of the city!!!

As an aside, I'm not sure what the allure of Somerset is, in the two times in my life I've been there. The place rather reminds me of an airport [[which I find highly unpleasant). The Champs Eysees it AIN'T, no matter how much Trojans like to pretend it is. Northland with window dressing! A mall is a mall.

What stores are downtown and midtown? I mean, I would love to shop and walk around downtown, but I can't. Somerset was built in the mid-90s and brought luxury retail to the region.

And downtown Detroit is much more about being 20 minutes away. It's parking, it's safety, it's "what's down there?", etc.

And I would love to know what airport has three story palm trees...

Also, [[as I felt it from your post), I really effing hate people who are so stuck up either about the city or about the suburbs. "Northland with window dressing"! Oh brother, it must have been awhile since you've been there too!

[Kathleen]

The beauty of The Detroit Shoppe is that it brings together in one spot a variety of Detroit gifts and food items representing such establishments as Pewabic Pottery, the Motown Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Henry Ford, Better Made, Sanders, Faygo, as well as items created by Detroit area artists...and more, while showing off historical memorabilia from the Detroit Historical Society and other institutions and individuals. And since folks going to The Somerset Collection are there to shop, why not provide the opportunity to buy Detroit gifts and food in a one-stop setting, especially when the proceeds go to area charities? Seems like a win-win situation to me!!

[Patrick]

Can they put Danny up for sale in the Shoppe?

[downtownguy]

What stores are downtown and midtown? I mean, I would love to shop and walk around downtown, but I can't. Somerset was built in the mid-90s and brought luxury retail to the region.

And downtown Detroit is much more about being 20 minutes away. It's parking, it's safety, it's "what's down there?", etc.

And I would love to know what airport has three story palm trees...

Also, [[as I felt it from your post), I really effing hate people who are so stuck up either about the city or about the suburbs. "Northland with window dressing"! Oh brother, it must have been awhile since you've been there too!

You don't have to walk too far to find stores downtown and in midtown. No, you won't find Tiffany's, Saks or Nordstrom, but you will find mostly independent retailers offering a variety of goods that you would never see at Somerset. Maybe you meant to say the stores in the city don't cater to your particular taste? Every hotel, museum and casino has a gift shop with unique items, and midtown has several unique stores on Canfield, Cass and in the Park Shelton. Downtown has shops around the Broadway Randolph intersection, the Ren Cen and you can find some cool gifts in Eastern Market. Even though it's not strictly downtown, one year I did all my Christmas shopping at Pewabic. So, forgive me if I'm also being effing stuck up, but I tend to agree with DetroitPole about malls. I've been to Northland more recently than I've been to Somerset. And I'm not the type to notice or care about window dressing. A mall is a mall is a mall to me.

[Kathleen]

Absolutely there are some great shops in the midtown and downtown areas, including those at the museums and art galleries. I encourage my fellow Detroit enthusiasts to patronize those establishments too! Love the Detroit Artists Market, Pewabic Pottery, Pure Detroit, and the gift shops at The Henry Ford, DIA, Detroit Historical Museum, and the Charles H. Wright. Also enjoy the shops in Eastern Market, Ferndale, Royal Oak, and Berkley. Plus the Art-Is-In Markets in Laurel Park Place and Twelve Oaks Mall. Among many other great places....

But given the price of gas and the number of hours in a day, if you can't make it out to all of these places, then maybe The Detroit Shoppe is the place to shop. [[And frankly, there are only a couple other stores in The Somerset Collection that will I shop at.)

[detroittrader]

I go there sometimes while my kids run around with their tween friends. I have a system, go to the Levi Store first for 31x34 Jeans which are hard to find elsewhere, only buy if they are almost giving them away, then rummage through other stores like Eddie Bauer lookking for a bargain. I bought a pair of cargo pants there for 8 bucks that will last a thousand years. On the other hand I always leave there with a bad case of "affluenza", nothing a few Miller High Life's won't cure

[stasu1213]

You don't have to walk too far to find stores downtown and in midtown. No, you won't find Tiffany's, Saks or Nordstrom, but you will find mostly independent retailers offering a variety of goods that you would never see at Somerset. Maybe you meant to say the stores in the city don't cater to your particular taste? Every hotel, museum and casino has a gift shop with unique items, and midtown has several unique stores on Canfield, Cass and in the Park Shelton. Downtown has shops around the Broadway Randolph intersection, the Ren Cen and you can find some cool gifts in Eastern Market. Even though it's not strictly downtown, one year I did all my Christmas shopping at Pewabic. So, forgive me if I'm also being effing stuck up, but I tend to agree with DetroitPole about malls. I've been to Northland more recently than I've been to Somerset. And I'm not the type to notice or care about window dressing. A mall is a mall is a mall to me.

I could not disagree with you more. The shops downtown are not suitable for anyone outside of the very trendy, funky, hip urban type of customer. There is not a shop downtown or midtown that a person coud buy a decent pair of non-trendy/funky/urban jeans. God forbid if a person whether local or tourist are in need for a decent pair of undergarments. Tell me where can I buy a decent camera downtown? Where is a place that sell bath, bed, or kitchen accessories downtown. Shopping downtown or midtown is a joke. Sure, we don't have Neiman Marcus or Macy's but Detroit doesn't have shops that would satisy the basic needs of shoppers. The politicians, whether Mayor or council, are so ass-backwards when it comes to attracting shops in shoppers to downtown/midtown Detroit. Invest in extra police to patrol downtown and midtown instead of using that money to pay meter maids overtime just to make chump change from the meters causing potential shoppers not to want to shop at the few shops that you have in the area

[dtowncitylover]

So I have to walk from Broadway/Randolph to the RenCen then to Eastern Market, then high-tail over to Midtown. Yup, that sounds like a real treat for shoppers!

While I pray for the day the mall is dead and we all can take the bus or tram or walk into downtown to do our shopping here in Detroit, those days are gone and not back [[yet) and for now, the mall is shopping king. Independent stores can definitely survive with the larger, corporate stores side by side.

[downtownguy]

^^Stasu, I was only responding to dtowncitylover when he/she said there were no stores downtown. I agree that we could also use some general department stores. But to say there are no stores downtown or in midtown is simply not true and does a disservice to the hard working retailers that have invested their lives to doing business in the city.

About 20 years ago, I had a non-retail business on Woodward near Grand Circus Park. At a party, I met a local news anchor and was telling him about my business. He lamented that since Hudson closed there was no retail downtown. I was amazed at his ignorance because every Saturday there were throngs of people --mostly African American -- walking up and down Woodward shopping at Marianne's, Winkelman's, Sibley Shoes, Meyer Jewelers, and yes, the occasional wig shop. The money these folks were spending was the same shade of green as the money that was being spent in the suburban malls. But perception is reality, and if a prominent news anchor didn't bother to see the difference, then the deck was stacked against these retailers.

Maybe it's not your thing to want a pair of "funky/urban jeans," but to deny that these aren't legitimate businesses contributing to the city is not fair.

[JBMcB]

Independent stores can definitely survive with the larger, corporate stores side by side.

That's why, for Christmas shopping, I power-shop in Ann Arbor. 16 hands, 1000 villages, vault of midnight, west side books, downtown garden, art co-op, bivouac - I can usually find something for everyone within a couple of hours, all walkable.

[DetroitPlanner]

What stores are downtown and midtown? I mean, I would love to shop and walk around downtown, but I can't. Somerset was built in the mid-90s and brought luxury retail to the region.

Somerset was built in the 1960's. The closing of Bonwit Teller allowed the expansion.

[DetroitPole]

Absolutely brilliant. Did you ever think that if you shopped in the city instead of at Somerset or elsewhere in the suburbs that retail options in the city would grow and expand? It's supply and demand. If there is a demand for retail in the city, it will be supplied.

Instead you wait for that magical day when you wake up and the city will be all you want it to be, complete with a Cheesecake Factory, House of Blues, and for the love of G-d I wish I understood the obsession with tourists buying underpants downtown here. In the meantime you'll gleefully spend your dollars at malls in the 'burbs. You want things to change? Money talks, b_llshit walks. You can do plenty of shopping in the city, you just have to be resourceful.

Your "praying" for the end of malls and for healthy Detroit retail doesn't do sh*t. Put your money where your mouth is. Yes, it requires more effort, in the meantime. I'm no optimist or idealist as all my posts indicate, but I'm not some lazy SOB who is just going to wish things were better without trying to affect some change myself.

You want to see better retail downtown? Support what we already have. If you really think it's a "joke" - I think it is pretty respectable - then in all seriousness then maybe Detroit isn't for you.

Seriously: I have been all over the world and never bought underpants outside of my native country. I don't know what kind of digestive issues you personally have going on but give the tourists underpants market a rest already.

[stromberg2]

LOL! Tourists buying underpants...that's fucking hilarious!

Stromberg2

[downtownguy]

So I have to walk from Broadway/Randolph to the RenCen then to Eastern Market, then high-tail over to Midtown. Yup, that sounds like a real treat for shoppers!

While I pray for the day the mall is dead and we all can take the bus or tram or walk into downtown to do our shopping here in Detroit, those days are gone and not back [[yet) and for now, the mall is shopping king. Independent stores can definitely survive with the larger, corporate stores side by side.

Yep, it's what we do in the big city...walk. Just trade your Manolo Blahniks in for a good pair of Rockports [[available at City Slicker Shoes) and enjoy the urban experience. I suppose when you go to New York, you expect to find Macy's and Bloomingdales side-by-side?

[stasu1213]

LOL! Tourists buying underpants...that's fucking hilarious!

Stromberg2

I wasn't talking about just tourist but people who live in or near downtown who can't find a store that serves the basics needs of most shoppers. I am sure that New Yorkers, Chicagoans, and Californians find it hillarious that Detroiters, especially those who live in or near downtown, will have to drive 8 to 10 miles just to purchase household necessities and yes even underpants. The busineeses in the suburbs are laughing their way to the bank as Detroiters have to bring a pot of money to them in exchange for the most basic needs. Now; who is laughing now.

[MikeM]

My entire underwear collection is from out of state.