When you think shopping local you may envision arts and crafts, or items made in someone’s woodshed.
It’s true, for some shopping local means knick-knacks and trinkets often found at yard sales a year later; but the feel of ‘shopping local’ changes when you hit the right stores.
“Regional craft isn’t pot holders and hats made out of straw cans,” said Robert Stanzler. “It’s mechanized fans with Edison lightbulbs that turn, or hand laminated eyewear that’s prescription-ready, or beautiful small leather goods.”
Stanzler runs the Detroit Mercantile Company. His store, located in the Eastern Market, has been featured in GQ magazine and a number of fashion websites.
Inside you can find anything from antiques like Vernor’s crates, original Lionel train sets or enamel Faygo signs that hung in the streets of Detroit several decades ago. You’ll also find new items that tell the area’s history from Pewabic tiles, to Michigan maps printed on Michigan milled paper and outlined in local lumber.
“That fits very neatly into what we do, and what the ideas are that we’re promoting,” said Stanzler. “We’re giving (shoppers) a deeper sense of what it is to be from Michigan or Detroit. If we can do that we’re doing more than just selling stuff.”
Local goods don’t just tell a story, they keep money in the community too. According to Civic Economics, a research firm, for every $100 you spend locally $68 stays in your community.
Here’s a few spots where you can find local goods in the metro Detroit Area:
Detroit Mercantile is a store that sells both original products that are antiques and new products that are American-made, most of them Michigan-made.
The store is run by Robert Stanzler. He calls his store a representation of Detroit’s golden age.
“We’re a little beyond the t-shirt and potato chip store that represented Ddetroit in the past,” said Stanzler. “We’re trying to go a little deeper and make products that are a little more involved and detailed and obviously are high-quality.”
The Yellow Door Art market, located in Berkeley, is in a sense 70 small businesses combined into one.
Dozens of artisans have booths setup inside the store that consistently rotate product. You can find anything from records shaped as guitars and turned into clocks, to locally crafted pillows and buttons that represent different historic Michigan spots.
You can even find historic black and white photography from Jan Collins, a man who’s been capturing the beauty of downtown Detroit for years.
“Buying local adds a little more story to it, a little more meaning to it when you want to give a gift,” said McCrumb.
Whether it’s handmade pottery, screened t-shirts, or even Christmas decorations you’re looking for – chances are you’ll find something for everyone on your list at Yellow Door Art Market.
In Ferndale you can find both vintage and new products on weekends at the Rust Belt Market.
It’s been voted the best place to buy original art and local craft in Metro Detroit by ‘Hour Detroit.’
Inside the market you’ll find more than three-dozen businesses including: Detroit Surf, Retroit, and Motor City Brick.
