Shopping in Detroit: Simply Casual and Shoehouse Blvd.

It's Tuesday, and time for our weekly shopping trip in The "D"! If you're looking for a beautiful specialty store on the Westside, travel over to the former "Avenue of Fashion"--now called "University Commons" on Livernois between 6 Mile and 8 Mile. There, on the corner of Livernois and Outer Drive, entrepreneur Rufus Bartell has re-located his store: Simply Casual. Just down the street Bartell has also opened the companion store: Shoehouse Blvd.

 

Photo Courtesy of ModelDMedia

Simply Casual has been open since 1997, first located at 7 Mile and Wyoming, in the "Rite-Aid" lot. In 2006, Bartell moved the store to its present location, the former site of a popular cleaners. In fact, the cleaners' conveyor belt has been incorporated into the new loft-style design of the store which rises two levels and can display up to eighteen hundred garments.

There are three merchandise categories at Simply Casual, allowing for clothing and accessories at all price points. Believing in the fashion-forward marketplace of Detroit, Bartell is working hard to help overcome the negative "rap" of Detroit and to let people know about the positive opportunities in the City. He works with the Independent Retailers Association of Detroit to help entrepreneurs find and develop vacant retail space.

 

Photo Courtesy of ModelDMedia 

Simply Casual is located at 19400 North Livernois, Detroit MI 48221. Rufus Bartell envisions his stores and the others in University Commons helping to make the University Commons District a "walkable neighborhood of shops" harking back to the "glory days" of the "Avenue of Fashion". Simply Casual is open seven days a week; for more details, call 313.864.7979

Shameless Plug: please read my husband's blog The "D" Spot... 

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