By Lynn Turner
Funky furniture, fun fabrics and one-of-a-kind pieces to gussy up a home are among the gems to be mined in downtown Kalamazoo.
Locally owned shops offer art made by folks living in the area, not mass-produced pieces. Dig the ’60s? Try faux fur, be it on a couch or a vest.
There’s vintage and variety, antique and oh-so-cool new stuff to be found when wandering through downtown shops.
No disrespect is intended for the iconic shops that have anchored the downtown district for decades. For instance:
• Family-owned
,
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• The shabby-chic empress of antique furniture,
Emporium,
•
,
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The newcomers have planted their shops with dreams of trading their vision for cash. They have something they hope buyers like.
“We hear this so many times, ‘We didn’t know you were here,’” says Vicky Kettner, community relations director of Downtown Kalamazoo Inc., the “mother hen” organization charged with nurturing and promoting the downtown business community.
Here, in no particular order, are some of the new shops to explore:
RETRO
240 S. Kalamazoo Mall • (269) 276-0899
Retro moved onto the Kalamazoo Mall on May 1, but the shop has been around for 10 years, offering buyers unique items from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.
“It has to be unusual and it has to be in good condition,” says co-owner Thom Clark. “We’re so picky.
“If I wouldn’t put it in my home, I won’t have it,” he says. “It can’t be a ‘project’” that needs refurbishing.
Clark searches out couches, side tables, fun lamps, little art pieces, clocks and chairs from estate sales, garage sales, wherever he can find items to fit the collections found in the 1,200-square-foot two-level space.
Within the first week of opening at the downtown location, Clark said he had to change the window display four times as items were carted out the door by happy buyers.
“If they’re redecorating a home or just need a special piece, there’s a lot of unusual stuff to look at,” Clark says. “It’s old, but it’s in great shape.”
STICKS & STONES
124 S. Kalamazoo Mall • (269) 343-2520
Susan Difsenderfer moved out of the Mall Plaza building, where her eclectic Sticks & Stones shop had been located for two years, onto the mall itself on Nov. 12 and the
response has been “fabulous,” she says.
“This is a far better location,” Difsenderfer says. “I’m still amazed by people who come
in and say, ‘You were where?’ ”
Difsenderfer says the interior of the space, formerly Frank’s Shoe Parlor, which has moved into the Comerica Building at 151 S. Rose Street, was entirely gutted and renovated to show off its wares.
“You’ll find things you love at reasonable prices for your home or that hard-to-find gift,” she says.
Kitchen gadgets, gourmet food items, accessories and candles are among the mix of items.
“I price things the way I would buy,” Difsenderfer says. “There are things from $2.50 to $575. A little bit of everything for everybody.”
Difsenderfer finds a lot of items during trips to Atlanta.
“I shop really, really hard, and I think it shows here,” she says.
VERTEGRES
244 E. Michigan Ave. • (269) 343-4438
Vertegres is “the strange spelling of an obscure word,” according to owner Christine Willson, but it works for a shop that offers an artistic bent to home décor. (It comes from Middle English and refers to patina on metal.)
There are lots of candles and textiles, lamps and vases.
“I have things from all over,” Willson says. “The focus is on being handmade.”
Some, like handpainted silks, provide a little pop of color that can be used as a decorating piece. Candles, such as Archipelago Botanicals made from soy, give rooms a glow.
“People need a little treat … a little mood lifter,” Willson says.
HARRELL & MARVIN INTERIORS
116 W. South St. • (269) 385-8235
Veteran interior designers Michael Harrell and Becky Marvin opened their full-service design studio in April 2009, working with residential and commercial clients.
“We really tailor-make our work,” says Marvin. She’s been a designer for 23 years; Harrell has been at it for 30. “We don’t want to be known for a certain design so when people walk into a space they say, ‘Oh, that’s Michael Harrell and Becky Marvin’s work.’ We want to design to reflect them and their style.”
Interior design involves working closely with the clients and space, Marvin says. It’s much more than plopping down some accent pillows or matching a painting to a couch.
“Good design is not about filling up space,” Marvin says. “It’s about choosing things you’ll love forever and ever.”