1. City Bird
460 W. Canfield | www.ilovecitybird.com
City Bird offers hand-made, trendy Detroit-themed housewares, jewelry, and gifts. The brand started online with their signature decorative soaps featuring Detroit’s street grid and has grown from there. The brick-and-mortar store, offering work from more than 75 designers, opened in November 2009.
2. Hugh
2233 Park Avenue | www.lovehughlongtime.com (best website URL of all time)
Hugh isn’t just a store. It’s also a life-lesson: Quality barware is essential. Buxom ski bunnies in delightfully tight sweaters will keep you warm at night, so long as you don’t serve cocktails in red plastic cups. The idea is to invite customers to live their very own version of Mad Men by purchasing household items that, as owner Joe Posch describes it, are inspired by “classic bachelor pad style.” Customers can buy items like vintage champagne buckets, stainless steel cocktail shakers, and shaving brushes and razors.
3. Nora
4240 Cass | www.noramodern.com
Nora sells an array of things like Scandinavian housewares, Japanese pottery, Detroit jewelry and more. They have a variety of contemporary designed housewares, gift items and trinkets. Next time you are looking for a cool gift or housewares item you should check them out.
4. Detroit Mercantile Co.
3434 Russell St. | www.detroitmercantile.com
Located in Detroit’s historic Eastern Market, The Detroit Mercantile Co. offers a curated collection of “Made in the USA” new and vintage items from our hometown of Detroit, the Great State of Michigan, and across America.
5. Bob’s Classic Kicks
4717 Woodward | www.bobsclassickicks.com
Bob’s Classic Kicks is a study in contrast and combination’s. It’s a sneaker boutique that could only have been conceived without the obstruction of a corporate formula. The pairing of the old school and the new; the splashes of paint alongside the rows of kicks; and the national line of products competing with the local designer, are all brought together seamlessly in one room. We are a sneaker head store that carries various Nike, Adidas and Reebok. Set under lofty ceilings on the corner of Woodward and Forest, Bob’s Classic Kicks is the culmination of Detroit’s long-time desire for a sneaker shop for the real ‘sneaker heads’. Open for nearly four years now, Bob’s Classic Kicks is a unique shop that is a direct reflection of our great city, bright, vibrant, and full of life there is a mural that reflects, abstractly, the spirit and body of Detroit
6. Frida
15 E. Kirby | www.facebook.com/fridadetroit
Frida is about the color and texture of life. An eclectic collection of women’s apparel and accessories. Curate your everyday wardrobe with modern, bohemian, and world influences. Your favorite pair of denim, your softest sweater, your adornments for everyday.
7. Michigan Artisans
1400 E. Fisher | www.michigan-artisans.org
Michigan Artisans is a collective of artists, designers and musicians all from the Great Lakes state. These artisans create unique, high quality products by hand, and original musical works. They offer you the peace of mind knowing where your products are coming from, and the quality of products used within them. Michigan Artisans supports local and small businesses and encourages you to do the same.
8. Savvy Chic
2712 Riopelle | www.savvychictrends.com
There’s a shop in Eastern Market that bills itself as “the Paris of Detroit.” To get to it, you’ve got to walk past meat trucks, crates of fruits and vegetables, and lots of other vendors that seem better-suited to this famous open-air destination. And yet, Savvy Chic, the longtime Eastern Market boutique with a sophisticated style all its own, is flourishing after years in the same graffiti-covered building. Filled with a little bit of everything, the boutique sells clothing, specialty foods, unique kitchenware, detailed artwork, and other home décor items. The sound of French waltzes and accordions fills the air.
9. John K. King Used & Rare Books
901 W. Layafette | www.kingbooksdetroit.com
The store has an estimated 1 million books in stock, with a large collection of rare and used titles. In a 2011 article from the online magazine Salon, the store was described as “one of the largest and strangest collections in North America.” The store has four above-ground floors open to customers. An adjacent building has a collection of rarer and notable items available for viewing by appointment only. The rare book holdings are the only cataloged part of the inventory and can be viewed and order by visiting rarebooklink.com.
10. Pure Detroit
500 Griswold / Suite 250, 3011 W. Grand Blvd / Suite 101 | www.puredetroit.com
Pure Detroit is more than just a clothing store. It’s a lifestyle brand that has come to represent the city itself. Since 1998, Pure Detroit has continually reinvested in street level brick-&-mortar businesses in the city of Detroit via retail, coffee shops and more. Additionally, Pure Detroit has enhanced the cultural cache of the city through one-of-a-kind cultural programming, events, projects and initiatives. Opened on Thanksgiving Day over 15 years ago, Pure Detroit has grown their retail presence to a trio of brick-&-mortar shops in three of the most architecturally significant landmarks in Detroit including the Guardian Building, Fisher Building and GM Renaissance Center.