BIRMINGHAM, Mich. (WXYZ) — A popular Birmingham clothing store is temporarily closed after suffering extensive water damage, but the owner is determined to continue serving customers while repairs are underway.
Watch Carli Petrus's video report:
If you've been to downtown Birmingham recently, you've probably seen the closed sign at Caruso Caruso on Maple Road. The clothing store has been shuttered for about a month following a major water leak from the business above.
"It was a bit surreal. I knew a couple minutes into it that this was much, that this was going to be much worse than we thought it was," said Lennon Lalonde, owner of Caruso Caruso.
Lalonde has been running the business since 2005 and says they've weathered many challenges, including COVID and road construction, but nothing like this catastrophic water damage.
Web Extra: See video of the damage inside the business
"This entire wall is coming out, so that means everything connected to the ceiling, the entire ceiling is coming out, all the lighting is coming down, the camera system's coming down, the floor that we're standing on," Lalonde said.
The store has taken a significant financial hit with approximately $140,000 worth of damaged merchandise.
"What's behind me here is about $140,000 at retail worth or damaged product or product that was in the damage range, so we've taken every precaution, so anything that was even in the area of the major leak we removed and are salvaging that out," Lalonde said.
Extended interview: Store owner talks more about the damage from the leak
The flooding originated from a plumbing issue in the business located upstairs. The owner confirmed they were also impacted by the incident. Both business owners are working together to support each other through this difficult time.
When we reached out to the landlord of both businesses, they declined to comment on the water damage and the root cause of it.
"No one did anything maliciously, but we were the victims so, fortunately, we were very well insured for an event like this and insurance has kicked in and helped us out but the most important thing is that, insurance can do everything for us except for they can't connect us with our customer," Lalonde said.
Rather than simply waiting for repairs to be completed, Lalonde is actively searching for a temporary solution.
"I'm looking for a large space to do a Caruso Caruso summer 2025 warehouse style sale," Lalonde said.
Finding a suitable temporary location has proven challenging, but loyal customers like sisters Mia and Vienna Petretta are enthusiastic about the idea.
"I love this store. I only heard about all this stuff from my sister, so I wasn't expecting it to be closed today. We kind of came here to see it," said Mia.
"That would be really cool because they have good stuff," Vienna added.
When asked why he's pursuing a temporary location instead of simply waiting for repairs, Lalonde explained his commitment to both customers and staff.
"We have a, hopefully, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something where the customer is going to win, I mean they're going to see brands like Citizen, Agolde, Mother, at prices they've never seen from us before on very current merchandise. They can buy this stuff, they can tell their friends about it, they can spread the word that Caruso Caruso's got the good stuff at an amazing price. And, just most of all, keep our core staff in front of our customer and continue to serve the Birmingham community," Lalonde said.
Updates on the cleanup progress and information about a potential temporary location will be posted on Caruso Caruso's social media accounts.
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