SHE Boutique to Open This Week in Village

Employees of the new SHE boutique will be merchandising and preparing the store this week located in the Village for a soft opening scheduled for Thursday May 9. 

Owner Sharon Eisenshtadt is excited not only about opening the second location of SHE but also thrilled by the welcoming attitude of neighboring businesses and the community in general. 

"Everyone is so friendly," Eisenshtadt said. "There has not been an uncomfortable moment."

The original location, located in Bloomfield Hills near Maple and Telegraph, has been open for five years, she said. Opening multiple locations was always part of the business plan, she said.

That part of the plan is coming to life this week as Eisenshtadt and her new team prepare for opening the newest location at 16888 Kercheval Place in the Village. The store will be located in a portion of the building that previously housed the Grosse Pointe Art Center. The building was divided so that City Kitchen could expand its bar area. 

An entrance facing Kercheval Place rather than Kercheval Avenue is similar to what exists in Bloomfield Hills, Eisenshtadt said. It offers clients a more private shopping experience, she said. It also maintains the destination store feel she's strived for and achieved in Bloomfield Hills, she said.

The 800 square-feet of selling space devoted to SHE was gutted and renovated after she took possession of the building in March. The final touches have been on-going in the last week. 

Offering the same merchandise in both locations, the boutique features classic-contemporary styles along with updated trends. According to a press release prepared for SHE's Grosse Pointe opening, the store will offer merchandise from fashion designers such as Yigal Azrouel, Catherine Malandrino, Genetic Denim, Autumn Cashmere and Velvet.

The renovations were done in a manner that allows the clothing and merchandise to be the highlight of the space, Eisenshtadt said. 

Both stores have the same feel and essentially the same design. The hope long-term is to open additional locations possibly even outside of Michigan, she said.

In her career within the retail industry, which has been in excess of 20 years, Eisenshtadt most enjoyed being a personal shopper for women. It was a position with an employer that she felt gave not only her the most satisfaction but also really helped the client.

The same detail to attention and client needs is in place with SHE, she said, explaining the boutique is more about being a personal shopping experience than simply selling merchandise to sell it.

Clients may swing by to pick up a gift or a single piece, she said, or they may schedule wardrobing appointments where they work one on one with a stylist to build a wardrobe. In addition to helping women build their wardrobe Eisenshtadt aims to keep clients up-to-date related to fashion.

What drew her to Grosse Pointe versus any other community for the second location, she said, is all of the other business development including Tallulah's in Grosse Pointe Park. The restaurant is one of her favorite places to eat in Birmingham and when she found out Mindy Lopus was opening a location here, it spurred her to consider Grosse Pointe.

SHE already has some Grosse Pointe clientele at the Bloomfield Hills location, which Eisenshtadt hopes will mean the new location is more convenient. They had been asking for an eastside version, she said.

Encouraged by the amount of development and activism by residents within their own community, Eisenshtadt said she believes having another local option for women's clothes will encourage Grosse Pointers to stay in the area to do their shopping. 

The business is co-owned by Eisenshtadt and her husband, Howard. The name of the boutiques is a combination of their initials.

While they live in Bloomfield Hills with their children, Cole, 16, and Julia, 14, Eisenshtadt intends to spend the majority of her summer in Grosse Pointe--a community with overwhelming beauty, she said. 

In addition to opening this week, the Grosse Pointe location of SHE will have its first show featuring Letarte Swimwear

 The merchandise will range in price from $50 to the thousands, she said. 

"There is something for everybody."

The store hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Evening and Sundays are availble by appointment only. 

Eisenshtadt said she will evaluate the hours after opening and getting a feel for the traffic patterns in the Village.