New retail shops brighten Downtown shopping scene

Excerpts from the article:

Just north of Compuware on Woodward Avenue is Detroit’s newest men’s and women’s clothing store called Mark England Demode. Driving past it at dusk will induce a double-take. Five flat-screen televisions flash runway fashion shows, as does a projection screen on the back wall of the museum-like shop. It’s very urban chic.

Mark England is a clothing designer and celebrity stylist who formerly worked as a personal shopper at Marshall Field’s Somerset. He and three business partners opened the store in November, and England is full of optimism for the city’s retail future. His dream is to see Woodward from the Fox Theatre to Compuware packed with modern boutiques and storefronts — all of them sporting plasma screens in a sort of Motown-meets-SoHo-meets-Times Square motif.

“I would like to see other retailers come and join this family, where retail is supposed to be, and give it a whole new look,” says England, who sells his own designs and other local labels in addition to merchandise from buying trips. “Now it’s time to bring it up to the next level, so we can look like the city we deserve in retail.”

There are other bright spots in the city’s shopping scene.

The Guardian building, at the corner of Griswold and Congress, is a somewhat hidden downtown gem. The Art Deco building now houses retail shops — including Pure Detroit and Becca Belle Gifts — and an elegant cafe on its eye-popping first floor.

The RenCen, just east of Woodward on Jefferson Avenue, has also stepped up its retail offerings in the last few years with shops such as the Pangborn Design Collection and Jos. A. Bank in its Wintergarden.

Even the Compuware Building, at Woodward and Gratiot, boasts a designer jewelry boutique called DonnaD and a gift shop featuring purses and souvenirs (Bonnie’s Gifts and Sundries) in addition to Hard Rock Cafe (with its own gift shop) and its Borders bookstore.

“When I talk to people in other cities, I encourage them to come back now,” England says. “It really has come a long way in the past four or five years.”

To read more click here