Troy’s I Love Juice Bar:
Renew Energy and Health Deliciously with Fresh-Made Food and Drinks
05
SEPTEMBER 2018
BY HONEY MURRAY
LBN Community Series
Troy
When Maggie Morgan’s babysitter began raving about I Love Juice Bar on Crooks Road near Big Beaver in Troy, Morgan began to have new hope for her family’s health and wellbeing.
“My husband is in medical school,” Morgan shares, “and, since I work full-time and have two pre-school children, sometimes it’s hard to make sure everyone eats right all the time.”
“But my babysitter recently brought me a bottle of I Love Juice Bar’s ‘Sweet Green Juice,’ an order of the most amazing spring rolls – in gluten-free rice paper! — and some of their vegan Pad Thai, and now I am hooked on their combo special: an entrée item and a sixteen-ounce bottle of juice for $9.95, packed with nutrition and so delicious! And my husband can drink all of their great juices instead of the horrible Mountain Dew he’d been living on….”
HILLARY & GREGG WARNER
OWNERS OF I LOVE JUICE BAR
“The best thing,” Morgan adds, “is that after I first had some of the juice, my post-work brain fog and my mood lifted, and I had a wonderful feeling of energy. I happily started some laundry and then took the kids to the park for the evening. We even walked there instead of driving!”
“So many of our customers tell us about the almost-instant feeling of wellness they experience after having our all-natural juices, smoothies and ‘shots,’” says Gregg Warner who, with wife Hillary Warner (who is a nurse anesthetist), opened I Love Juice Bar in April.
“It’s amazing,” adds Hillary, whose favorite juice is We Got the Beet (beet, carrot, apple, ginger, and lemon). “My hair and nails are growing like crazy since we’ve been here – and I have the energy to maintain our wonderful, busy life of raising three young children, working at the hospital, and having the Juice Bar.”
Gregg and Hillary have always enjoyed a lifestyle of health and fitness maintenance.
“The company motto is ‘Have fun and be amazing,’” says Gregg. “We love what we do. We’re very glad to be here, catering to businesses, families and individuals, in this fun and amazing city of Troy.”
“After workouts, I’d visit a local smoothie place,” says Gregg. “One day, the customer in line ahead of me ordered his smoothie without sugar. I asked him, ‘You mean, they actually add sugar to their smoothies?’ That’s how I learned that many places’ smoothies and juices are not actually as healthy as we might think.”
That experience prompted Gregg and Hillary to research area juice and smoothie restaurants and, when they discovered the I Love Juice Bar franchise, the passion and product of that business resonated so strongly with them that they decided to open one in Troy.
The first I Love Juice Bar was opened in 2013 in Brentwood, Tennessee, by John and Vui Hunt.
On their company’s website, John describes a time when his corporate job was creating such stress in his life that he was eating poorly and had gained 50 pounds.
“One night around 11 p.m., I found myself on the couch, eating cookies and ice cream, looking for relief,” John relates.
“I stumbled on the documentary Fat, Sick and nearly Dead (about an overweight, unhealthy man who regains his health after going on a two-month juice cleanse), and it really inspired me.”
He found a juicer in his garage that belonged to his wife, Vui, a vegetarian chef who had owned an Atlanta restaurant called Veggieland. After a two-week cleanse and with renewed health and vigor, the Hunts decided to purchase a Brentwood sandwich shop that was for sale and to sell healthy drinks – without sugar, ice or artificial ingredients of any kind — and vegetarian soups, salads, sandwiches and entrees.
[metaslider id=”43529″]
According to Barron’s investment insight magazine, the juicing industry is $5 billion annually, with a growth rate of 4-5%. There are now more than 50 franchise I Love Juice Bar locations throughout the United States and Canada.
“We help people by providing a great product – quickly – that is tasty and good for them. Just because many people are in a hurry these days does not mean that we should still not be able to eat well,” John says. “People bring us thank-you cards, telling us how much weight they lost or how they were able to stop taking as many medications…That’s really what we want to do for our customers. That, and offer a great experience daily.”
And at Troy’s location, many customers are enjoying a great experience daily.
“We really love seeing the high school students and other kids who come in after hockey practice or on their way home to get their favorite drink,” says Gregg.
“And,” Hillary adds, “Many of the kids get a ‘smoothie bowl,’ which is like a healthy version of an ice cream sundae. The Dragon Fruit Bowl, with frozen mango, banana, strawberries, and dragon fruit; apple juice and local honey, topped with granola, is very popular.”
“So is the PBJ smoothie, which tastes just like a cool-and-creamy, peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich,” Gregg smiles. “It happens to be my favorite!”
Local retiree, Patricia Caverly, comes in once a week.
“There is nothing better than stopping by I Love Juice Bar while I’m running errands,” Caverly says. “Yes, I could make a green smoothie at home. But I live alone, and would have to buy so many different greens and vegetables to make one this good. So, I treat myself here.”
“Our Super Greens Juice is one of our most popular,” says Hillary. “And the ounce of wheatgrass juice in it is equivalent to two pounds of greens! We’re very lucky to have our assistant manager, Jeremy Curry, to prepare everything and to prep the produce.”
“Jeremy has a great palate and a special knack for tweaking the juices with just the right amount of lemon, or mint, or ginger.”
“The Warners are great to work for,” says Jeremy, as he creates a glass of Orange You Glad, a favorite of Gregg’s, with carrot, apple, pineapple, mint, ginger and lemon. “Gregg and Hillary care about you personally. It’s also fantastic to work where everything is so fresh.”
“I love how good it smells when you walk in,” Jeremy says. “We put a lot of love in these juices and into the care of all the produce, all the vegetables.”
“The company motto is ‘Have fun and be amazing,’” says Gregg. “We love what we do. We’re very glad to be here, catering to businesses, families and individuals, in this fun and amazing city of Troy.”
Troy resident Susan Hendrie is knitting a sweater for a new baby in her family. A soft, cozy rainbow of muted reds, blues, and yellows, the project is almost completed.
“I needed a little help finishing it,” Hendrie says, “so I came here to a daily “Help Me” session at The Yarn Stop in Clawson, where I can have time, one-on-one, with a yarn project instructor.”
And as teacher Kelly Sprague and Hendrie work together at the large oak table in the front of the store in the picture-window’s pleasant, natural light, they chat, laugh and banter with owner Sam Gill, who is putting away a new shipment of fall yarns.
“This is a wonderful store!” Hendrie exclaims. “You feel very comfortable. Some yarn stores can be stuffy, with an air. It’s open and welcoming. You learn a lot from other knitters, too.”
“The instructors here are fabulous. So is the owner,” teases Hendrie, nodding in Gill’s direction. “These teachers can get you out of anything! You don’t need to be afraid. I come to The Yarn Stop so often that my phone created an icon, telling me how many minutes it will take me to get here,” she laughs.
“Drop-in ‘Help Me’ sessions are available every afternoon from 3-5 p.m. No appointment is necessary. The cost is six dollars for one hour, and we don’t care if your yarn was purchased here or not,” says Gill, who learned how to knit as a teen.
“I’d traveled to Belgium as part of ‘Up with People,’” Gill shares, “and my ‘host mom’ taught me to knit. I set it aside during college, but I picked it back up again about eighteen years ago – and now I’m here, running the most fun business I could imagine.”
A longtime, former administrative assistant with a large accounting firm, Gill wanted a change of career.
“I was fed up with the corporate world,” he says. “I heard about this store (formerly PK Yarnover) coming up for sale and came and talked to them about it. Six weeks later, my partner — Mike Brunck – and I owned it.”
“We took a very big leap off a very tall cliff,” Gill chuckles, “and after two years, we are doing remarkably well. In fact, we will now be open on Mondays, starting September 10. We hadn’t projected that for another year!”
He adds, “I’m very happy that we saved this store from closing. It would’ve been the fourth or fifth area yarn store to close within eighteen months.”
The Yarn Stop will be celebrating their two-year anniversary on Saturday, September 8, with contests, charity events, sales – and more.
“During the day,” says Gill, “We will have knitting and crocheting for charity on the sidewalk. We are having a sale, with double points on our loyalty program, and door prizes galore.”
There will also be ten-minute demonstrations including: how to wear a shawl, crafting for charity, and knitting German short rows (used for shaping sweater shoulders, for example).
“We will also have our famous dance breaks,” Gill smiles, “including ‘chair dancing.’”
“The business is serious to me, but the yarn is not,” says Gill. “Who can come into this store and not smile when they see all the colors and textures of yarn everywhere?”
“We laugh a lot and have community within the store. And, we’re actually helping our customers ward off dementia and Alzheimer’s by sharing an activity with a ‘hand-to-brain’ connection.”
There is plenty of published information about the health benefits of yarn crafts. In an article in Neurology, NYU professor Dr. James Galvin reported that cognitive impairment may be modifiable with activities that are sociable and…involve learning new tasks and skills – “like those we happily engage in here, every day,” exclaims Gill.
“We welcome people to enjoy our store and the yarn,” Gill says. “We have 100 percent wools and so many sumptuous blends: cashmere, llama, silk, linen, hemp, cotton. You can’t help but touch them, though we do request that you keep them away from your face.”
Though many of the yarns are blended with acrylic, The Yarn Stop does not carry yarns that are purely acrylic, and yarns are not sold on their website.
“The true colors and marvelous textures would never come through online,” explains Gill.
Their website does list the many classes for knitting and crocheting as well as daily activities that range from open, social knit or crochet and the “Help Me!” sessions to details about ongoing, in-store charity gatherings including Mittens for Detroit’s “Smitten with Mittens” design contest (ending September 22, 2018) and Knit Michigan (knitmichigan.org), which provides chemo caps, blankets for hospitalized children, knitted octopus animals for neonatal-care babies (the babies pull on the tentacles instead of their intravenous tubing), and cotton “knitted knockers” for women who’ve had mastectomies.
“I’m proud of the charity that our customers engage in and that we are a shop that keeps our class size small: only six people,” says Gill, who especially enjoys knitting socks, shawls, and hats. “And it was quite an honor for us to win Clawson’s highest award, ‘Putting Clawson on the Map,’ as well as WDIV’s ‘Best of Craft Stores,’ which we also just won.”
“But mostly,” Gill concludes, “we’re very glad to be able to provide a place for community – and fun.”
The Yarn Stop
25 S. Main Street
Clawson, MI 48017
248-808-6630 theyarnstop.com
Troy resident Susan Hendrie is knitting a sweater for a new baby in her family. A soft, cozy rainbow of muted reds, blues, and yellows, the project is almost completed.
“I needed a little help finishing it,” Hendrie says, “so I came here to a daily “Help Me” session at The Yarn Stop in Clawson, where I can have time, one-on-one, with a yarn project instructor.”
And as teacher Kelly Sprague and Hendrie work together at the large oak table in the front of the store in the picture-window’s pleasant, natural light, they chat, laugh and banter with owner Sam Gill, who is putting away a new shipment of fall yarns.
“This is a wonderful store!” Hendrie exclaims. “You feel very comfortable. Some yarn stores can be stuffy, with an air. It’s open and welcoming. You learn a lot from other knitters, too.”
“The instructors here are fabulous. So is the owner,” teases Hendrie, nodding in Gill’s direction. “These teachers can get you out of anything! You don’t need to be afraid. I come to The Yarn Stop so often that my phone created an icon, telling me how many minutes it will take me to get here,” she laughs.
“Drop-in ‘Help Me’ sessions are available every afternoon from 3-5 p.m. No appointment is necessary. The cost is six dollars for one hour, and we don’t care if your yarn was purchased here or not,” says Gill, who learned how to knit as a teen.
“I’d traveled to Belgium as part of ‘Up with People,’” Gill shares, “and my ‘host mom’ taught me to knit. I set it aside during college, but I picked it back up again about eighteen years ago – and now I’m here, running the most fun business I could imagine.”
A longtime, former administrative assistant with a large accounting firm, Gill wanted a change of career.
“I was fed up with the corporate world,” he says. “I heard about this store (formerly PK Yarnover) coming up for sale and came and talked to them about it. Six weeks later, my partner — Mike Brunck – and I owned it.”
“We took a very big leap off a very tall cliff,” Gill chuckles, “and after two years, we are doing remarkably well. In fact, we will now be open on Mondays, starting September 10. We hadn’t projected that for another year!”
He adds, “I’m very happy that we saved this store from closing. It would’ve been the fourth or fifth area yarn store to close within eighteen months.”
The Yarn Stop will be celebrating their two-year anniversary on Saturday, September 8, with contests, charity events, sales – and more.
“During the day,” says Gill, “We will have knitting and crocheting for charity on the sidewalk. We are having a sale, with double points on our loyalty program, and door prizes galore.”
There will also be ten-minute demonstrations including: how to wear a shawl, crafting for charity, and knitting German short rows (used for shaping sweater shoulders, for example).
“We will also have our famous dance breaks,” Gill smiles, “including ‘chair dancing.’”
“The business is serious to me, but the yarn is not,” says Gill. “Who can come into this store and not smile when they see all the colors and textures of yarn everywhere?”
“We laugh a lot and have community within the store. And, we’re actually helping our customers ward off dementia and Alzheimer’s by sharing an activity with a ‘hand-to-brain’ connection.”
There is plenty of published information about the health benefits of yarn crafts. In an article in Neurology, NYU professor Dr. James Galvin reported that cognitive impairment may be modifiable with activities that are sociable and…involve learning new tasks and skills – “like those we happily engage in here, every day,” exclaims Gill.
“We welcome people to enjoy our store and the yarn,” Gill says. “We have 100 percent wools and so many sumptuous blends: cashmere, llama, silk, linen, hemp, cotton. You can’t help but touch them, though we do request that you keep them away from your face.”
Though many of the yarns are blended with acrylic, The Yarn Stop does not carry yarns that are purely acrylic, and yarns are not sold on their website.
“The true colors and marvelous textures would never come through online,” explains Gill.
Their website does list the many classes for knitting and crocheting as well as daily activities that range from open, social knit or crochet and the “Help Me!” sessions to details about ongoing, in-store charity gatherings including Mittens for Detroit’s “Smitten with Mittens” design contest (ending September 22, 2018) and Knit Michigan (knitmichigan.org), which provides chemo caps, blankets for hospitalized children, knitted octopus animals for neonatal-care babies (the babies pull on the tentacles instead of their intravenous tubing), and cotton “knitted knockers” for women who’ve had mastectomies.
“I’m proud of the charity that our customers engage in and that we are a shop that keeps our class size small: only six people,” says Gill, who especially enjoys knitting socks, shawls, and hats. “And it was quite an honor for us to win Clawson’s highest award, ‘Putting Clawson on the Map,’ as well as WDIV’s ‘Best of Craft Stores,’ which we also just won.”
“But mostly,” Gill concludes, “we’re very glad to be able to provide a place for community – and fun.”
The Yarn Stop
25 S. Main Street
Clawson, MI 48017
248-808-6630 theyarnstop.com
The interior designer spent the morning at her client’s house in Clarkston, overseeing a demo of the kitchen, and now they’re back at O’Brien’s office and showroom in Troy’s Michigan Design Center, selecting pieces that will go in the room. Later on, O’Brien will board a bus with a bunch of her designer pals to check out the Junior League of Detroit’s Designer Showcase at the Fisher Mansion in Detroit’s Boston-Edison neighborhood.
RITA O'BRIEN
OWNER OF RITA O’BRIEN DESIGN GROUP
Then it’s back to work on the kitchen renovation the next day with her client, Karrie DeLuca, who sings nothing but praises for O’Brien, from her ever-sunny disposition to her insightful ideas for transforming spaces.
“She did our pool house,” says DeLuca. “”We had lived in Asia and wanted a Balinese look. I met with Rita, and she was able to take what was in my head and make it happen. It was exactly as I hoped it would be.”
DeLuca loved O’Brien’s work so much that she asked O’Brien to do her kitchen. That project should be completed by Christmas.
As head of O’Brien Design Group, the designer has racked up a slew of awards, numerous magazine articles, and has earned a reputation as “The Color Whisperer” for her expertise at choosing perfect shades.
O’Brien has always had a flair for design—she recalls helping her mother rearrange things as a young girl—but she hasn’t always been an interior designer. Her first job in her hometown of Cleveland was a reservationist for United Airlines, moving up as a gate agent at the Cleveland Airport, then a manager of the airline’s Red Carpet Club, then training and development of the travel-agency industry for UA’s Chicago office, and after that, she opened her own travel-incentive company, Target Travel.
Her design philosophy: “To help the client get the look they’re after but educating them through the process so they can understand scale and color, and if they like a certain style, what can mix with it. I make suggestions and generally people follow them.”
Her transition into interior design began while she was living in Chicago. Her first client there wanted an entire home redone. “It was trial by fire,” she recalls, but luckily she had the massive Merchandise Mart at her disposal, and she availed herself of many sales reps who helped her learn the business.
Ten years ago, after moving to Michigan, she started her design business in her basement in Birmingham, then moved to a studio at Cole and Hazel in the same city. Two and a half years ago, she moved to the design center, a vast complex of showrooms for high-end home furnishings, lighting, flooring and all things interior.
“This is heaven,” she smiles. “The design center is open to the public and there is no other resource like this in the state. Everything is here for the client as well, so when the client meets me here, we tour the design center.”
O’Brien is one of five interior designers with studios at the MDC. “I don’t have any one style — it depends on my clients’ needs and their tastes. I would say I’m a chameleon. I can do contemporary, eclectic, traditional, over the top, just whatever genre my client wants, that’s what we do.” To stay on top of trends and styles, she goes to High Point, NC, twice a year to see what’s new.
Her design philosophy: “To help the client get the look they’re after but educating them through the process so they can understand scale and color, and if they like a certain style, what can mix with it. I make suggestions and generally people follow them.”
That gives O’Brien, who does loads of renovations from the studs up, a lot of joy. “It’s so rewarding to take a room and transform it completely.”
Some of her suggestions include where to place electrical outlets, where to put light bulbs, what drywall to use, where not to enlarge a space. Scale—too big or too small—is a big issue when people buy something like a sectional, coffee table or dining room set, get it home, and it looks terrible in the room.
[metaslider id=”43469″]
“So many times people will say after they hire me: ‘If only I’d met you before I bought this piece,’ because it’s not to scale,” says O’Brien, who either has to work around the piece or it has to go. Her clients have told her “I’m saving money by using you.”
For new clients, she offers a complimentary 30-minute in-studio consultation, and her fees are by the hour or by the project. If you want to change colors in your home, she can schedule a two-hour visit. She also acts as the point person between the client and tradespeople for complete renovations, and has developed a fine network of people she recommends. “I work with many trades that I know are topnotch. You gravitate toward people you can trust—who have your back and you have theirs.”
It’s clear O’Brien has found her perfect niche. She not only loves her challenging work, she loves the people. “It’s a very personal job, because most of my projects are five to six months, and then you do the next room and the next one, and you get to know these people well. They develop a trust with you, and once you’ve done one room, it’s “Oh, I know you get me, you understand what I want.”
O’Brien works on eight to 12 projects at a time for a plethora of clients. Her white board in the rear of her studio reflects a busy but organized schedule. She carries unique items such as customized leather “quote” books, home furnishings and private furniture lines. Her company also represents many Detroit artists, whose lively, mostly abstract works punctuate her showroom walls. Her husband, Tom O’Brien, reps the artists, who include Tony Roko, Darcel Deneau, Claudia Hershman, Laurel Pitynski, Mark Wolak, Michael O’Reilly, Sue Zinger and others.
So does Rita O’Brien, the designer with the unflappable spirit, ever get frustrated? Not really.
“Sometimes you know if they only removed the one piece, it would be better. But you have to honor the fact that that one piece is special to them. What I find exciting is that there’s this one piece that I have to use and surround it and make it look beautiful.”
Rita O’Brien Design Group
Michigan Design Center
1700 Stutz Dr., Suite 115
Troy, MI 48084
248-326-5353 www.ritaobrien.com
Wilma Andrews has never missed an Andrews family reunion. Even after moving from Berkley to Denver, her entire year’s schedule is arranged so that she is free to travel and to spend a week socializing with kids, grandkids, siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews and friends and attend a huge reunion picnic at Lake St. Clair Metropark.
But to Andrews, just as important during her yearly visit as that picnic, is at least one visit to Ray’s Ice Cream on Coolidge in Royal Oak.
“Ray’s has been part of my life for as long as I can remember,” Andrews says. “When my four children were young and we’d be going somewhere as a family, if we drove anywhere near Ray’s, the kids would laugh and chant, ‘Ray’s ICE cream! Ray’s ICE cream!’ And we usually did end up stopping there for cones, sodas and sundaes.”
“My grandfather, Raymond Stevens, opened Ray’s Ice Cream in 1958,” says third-generation owner, Tom Stevens, “and ran it with my dad, Dale Stevens, and my grandmother, Bernice.”
“My grandfather had worked at Mints Dairy and loved the business. When the dairy closed, my grandfather decided to open a facility to manufacture ice cream. He found some affordable property on Coolidge and built the building where we continue to operate.”
“My grandfather was only planning to be a wholesaler,” explains Tom, “but my grandmother wanted to also have an ice cream parlor. Ray found a diner closing in Detroit and bought the countertops for our soda fountain area, and the fountain became half of the business! I wish my Grandma was here to see it!”
“I fell in love with the place,” he says.
And now a fourth generation is being trained to take over and continue the business.
Tom’s nephew Tommy Shimshock, with a civil engineering degree from Purdue University, has worked at Ray’s since 2004 and is the production manager though, he says, smiling, “My title depends on the day.”
Nephew and production manager Tom Shimshock with co-worker Liam O’Brien
On this day, he and co-worker Liam O’Brien and Tom’s nephew, Stephen Shimshock (who has a double-business degree), will be making their vanilla ice cream.
“It happens to be my favorite flavor,” Tom says.
“Nowadays,’’ explains Tom, “the vanilla is like liquid gold. The supplier won’t even ship it anymore. We have to pick it up.”
Each ten-gallon batch uses two-to-three ounces of the precious, pure vanilla, and all of the ice creams are slow-churned to make.
“The equipment is new,” Tommy says. “But the ice cream is made the old-school way. It’s a slow process.”
In spite of the time-consuming production, Ray’s Ice Cream can create 2000 gallons of ice cream per week.
Half gallons of the ice cream can be bought at many area grocery stores, including: Hollywood Market, Holiday Market, Nino Salvaggio’s, Papa Joe’s, and Westborn Market on Woodward. The ice cream at Ray’s Ice Cream can also be hand-packed for take-out sale, and many popular flavors are available freshly packaged.
Ray’s Ice Cream also makes special orders of novelty, molded cordial and ice cream designs for parties, showers and other celebrations and holidays, with many photos of these creations on their website.
Tom’s daughter, Jenna Stevens, who has an art degree – and a love for her father’s business – schedules the many counter helpers who keep the lines of customers moving on hot, summer nights.
Bryce Everly, a pre-med student at the University of Michigan, has worked at Ray’s Ice Cream for three summers, and he enjoys the regular customers and making their orders just the way they like them.
“We get all sorts of great regulars every day,” Bryce says. “One gets a chocolate shake, light on the chocolate; another gets a vanilla shake; another gets a hot fudge sundae but with different types of ice cream each time.”
“And the weird thing is,” he adds, “most of our regulars are normal weight, even coming here daily!”
“All of our customers, and staff, are amazing,” Tom Stevens says. “I’m very excited to be continuing such a great business with another generation of its founding family.”
Ray’s Ice Cream
4233 Coolidge Highway
Royal Oak, MI 48073
888-549-5256 www.raysicecream.com
For Joan Grohar of Clarkston, driving 25 minutes to get her hair done at Bellagio Hair Studio is well worth it.
“It gives you the feeling of space, even though the square footage is not that large. Even when it’s crowded, you still feel like you’re getting personal attention and you get your spa moment,” Grohar stated. “We lived in Bloomfield for years, so I’m adjusting to driving long distances. This is worth it. That receptionist, when she greats you with that smile, it just makes your day.”
Owner Alissa Johnson
It’s what owner Alissa Johnson strives for in her business: calm, relaxing, welcoming.
“I originally opened the salon with a business partner, but now I’m the sole owner,” she recalled. “There’s a lot in a name, so we’d come up with something and look it up. ‘Bellagio,’ came up and I looked it up right away. It’s a place in Italy that represents ease and relaxation. It was like, ‘Oh! That’s exactly what we want.’”
Now, she’s celebrating the five-year anniversary of opening Bellagio.
The salon offers most hair care services including cuts, hair coloring, keratin and smoothing treatments as well as lash and brow tinting and facial waxing. Customers can also make an appointment for Lash Lift, which is a perm for your lashes.
“Clients sit reclined in a chair with their eyes closed,” explained Johnson. “A collagen patch is placed under the eye. Then, a silicone form goes on the lid and the stylist individually combs your lashes over the form. She puts a solution on and wipes it off. Another solution is put on the lashes, and she wipes it off again. Then she tints them. It’s much better than mascara.”
Another specialized service Bellagio offers is threading. “Threading is more of a technique passed down from generation to generation in Middle Eastern cultures. It removes the brow hair with the follicle intact, so it’s less damaging to your skin,” said Johnson. “Threading is a little more uncomfortable, but it’s a smoother finish and it’s definitely an art form. But it’s a personal preference. Threading takes about 15 to 20 minutes for both brows.”
But Bellagio is more than a place to get beautified. “We really wanted to create a space where people feel connected,” shared Johnson.
After working and managing several salons, Johnson and her business partner tired of the chaos and drama that seemed to be part of the business. That’s why the name “Bellagio” was so important to get right. “Even when it’s very busy, it’s not chaotic. Our demeanors are very calm. We all help each other. It can be busy, but it stays fluid,” she said.
Grohar isn’t the only client who notices the warm, soothing difference at Bellagio.
Annemarie Eichberger of Rochester has been Johnson’s client for more than 20 years. She even brings her daughters to Bellagio to have their hair done. “I’ve known Alissa since she was an assistant in another salon and I’ve followed her. I just like how she does her cuts, colors and her demeanor,” explained Eichberger. “It’s a nice atmosphere. Some of the other salons are really loud and there’s a lot of chaos. This is just calm. Everyone’s very friendly. They greet you at the door.”
In addition to traditional salon services, one item not on the menu is client education, but everyone receives it. Stylist Katie Terranova explained, “We educate ourselves on the brands we carry and the techniques and trends in the industry. We were finding with big, brand name products, they started as smaller companies and were bought out. All these brand names have fallen under these big corporate names and they’ve been reformulated. In our recent education, we were reminded of the importance of good, quality ingredients and a good PH balance that comes with them.”
Terranova said now Bellagio carries products sourced within the United States, such as the Detroit Style Company and even Great Lakes Coffee Company.
With 13 stylists, a manager and two receptionists, the team at Bellagio Hair Studio knows Johnson’s mission and vision. “My main goal for everything I was doing behind the chair was servicing my clients,” Johnson said. “We really wanted to go back to what would be considered an old school style. Where people come in, we know their names, we build relationships with clients. It’s more than just hair that we do. It really is cultivating relationships with people.”
Bellagio Hair Studio
1945 W Maple Rd, Troy, MI 48084
248.288.6700 bellagiohairstudio.com
Often when someone takes over an established business, the first thing he or she does is add their own signature. But not Patty Weir. She wants everyone to know that her new store in Clawson is the same rare emporium of style, substance and diaphanous decor as they loved in Royal Oak: Haberman’s.
Look around and it’s all familiar — the signage, the fixtures, the bins, the walls decked in fancy buttons, the wedding and prom areas, the sophisticated mannequins draped in the latest fabrics, the multihued bolts of silk, satin, wool and cotton that line the aisles. In the rear, the home decorating department beckons with picked-for-you-designer special-order and quick-order fabrics.
All around the store, for your comfort, are chairs and benches covered in sumptuous, fabulous fabrics, all from Haberman’s, of course.
Even if you don’t sew — as many customers don’t — the shop has a long list of pros who will do the sewing for you. If you want to learn how, Haberman’s offers classes. For those who want ready-made draperies and blinds, there’s a department for that, too.
Perhaps the most beautiful thing about the new store is its personnel: You’ll be greeted and assisted by the same loyal, talented staffers who gave metro Detroit’s only independent fabric store such a fine edge over the years. Even the phone number and web address are the same. About the only difference is the new location and building, a little smaller than the previous one, but with tons of adjacent parking.
“People like it, so why change it?” says Weir. “They just want to come in and shop.”
Willie Mae Greenwood of Shelby Township is here today, holding several of her mom’s vintage outfits that she’s hoping to update with new trim. For one of the jackets, a 1960s-era cream-colored satin, she’s found some ostrich feather banding that looks fantastic on the collar and cuffs. She holds another band of gun-metal trim against another outfit that could add a subtle but chic pop to its muted pattern of aqua, gray and cream.
“I have no idea where I’m going to put it, but I’m going to put it on, some way,” says Greenwood, a Haberman’s shopper for the past 20-some years. This is her third visit to the new store since it opened in March, and she thinks “it kind of feels the same — just in another area.”
Across the store, Huntington Woods’ Joy Reade and her daughter Frances, visiting from Berkley, CA, are oohing and ahhing the designer fabrics. They have spotted a bolt by the hip fashion label Opening Ceremony, a “designer clothing brand extra,” as they call it, and are snapping up several yards.
“Frances makes all of her clothes — everything,” says her mom. They’ve been Haberman devotees for the last quarter-century. “We bought a sewing machine at the old store for Frances in ’99. They have such unique fabrics here — always something special, and they always have good help,” Joy says, adding: “It doesn’t feel like they’ve lost much with the move.”
It was fortunate after Toby and Sam Haberman decided to retire from the store that Sam’s parents opened back in 1958, that their long-time employee, Patty Weir, wanted to take it over. Patty knew and loved the store, had worked her way up the rungs for 30 years and felt the timing was right.
With lots of advice from the Habermans, and all those store fixtures from Royal Oak, Patty and her husband, Mark Weir, found the perfect site in Clawson and bought the building. Mark and his brother, John Weir, are real estate rehabbers and built out the store’s interior, including a full upper level that is ready for suitable tenants — say, a quilt shop, knit shop, dance studio or another creative pursuit. In all, the building is 14,000 square feet, 7,000 on each level.
“I couldn’t be happier for her,” says Toby, who felt a huge responsibility to the community to find someone to carry on. “There are only a handful of places in the United States with fabrics for high-end apparel and home decorating with an enormous price range and lots of styles.”
Patty Weir doesn’t take this responsibility lightly, nor does her staff, all of whom sew themselves, and all of whom stayed with the store during the transition between mid-November, when the Royal Oak store closed, through March, when the Clawson store opened. They even helped her set up the new shop.
“It’s a very dedicated staff,” says Toby. “They love what they do — and they love Patty.”
Haberman Fabrics
1060 W 14 Mile Rd.
Clawson, MI 48017
248-541-0010 habermanfabrics.com
A lot of crazy things can happen in a car wash. Just ask Bruce Milen or his son Jason Milen, second- and third-generation owners of Jax Kar Wash.
Jason & Bruce Milen, Owners of Jax Kar Wash
While they haven’t witnessed anything like the classic “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episode — in which Larry David and Cheryl Hines get stuck in the malfunctioning car wash after she has just downed a dose of colon cleanser — the Milens have their own hilarious stories to laugh about.
Bruce recalls one woman who came in for full service.
“Our final guy put her in the car. She drove off and, unbeknownst to her, one of our guys was still in the back seat.”
Jason remembers one inebriated man who went through with his convertible top down.
They’ve also encountered bags of marijuana left in cars, interiors reeking of pot odor, the guy who laid a gun down on the counter when he was paying for his service (“the cashier freaked out,” he says), and another who left a loaded gun on the seat of the car (“we had to call the customer to get it out—we won’t touch them,” Jason says).
And then, says Bruce, there was the pet owner whose dog had just pooped on the floor, and she left the pile there for the attendants to deal with.
Just another day at Jax.
Effervescent cashier Rose Thompkins greets customers in Jax’s bustling waiting area in Birmingham with the big windows and the long racks that hold everything from candy bars to car mats. Air fresheners are big sellers. The most popular scent among the 25 or so types Jax sells, according to Thompkins, is Little Tree’s Black Ice.
“Definitely Black Ice,” a customer at the register agrees. “It’s good and neutral.”
Here you can also find cell phone accessories, auto wax, towels and cold drinks. Jason says the front stuff isn’t a big part of the business, it’s just for customer convenience.
Marty Weissman watches the steam and suds through the window, waiting for his Mercedes SUV to emerge from the conveyor blower.
“I’ve been coming here for 10 years,” Weissman says, “and this place ranks better than most for the service and the way you can get in and out quickly.”
Weissman, who lives a few blocks from the car wash, is a member of Jax’s Unlimited Club Plan, for which he pays $35 a month. That gives him up to twice-daily full-service (inside and out) washings and discounts on special services, detailing and merchandise. Today, a radio frequency identification reader (RFID) scanned the FastPass sticker at the bottom of his rear windshield after he entered the car wash, without having to hand someone cash — moving things along even more swiftly.
Somewhere, Jack Milen, who founded Jax in 1953 at the corner of Six Mile and Meyers in Detroit, is smiling at the innovations his son Bruce, 70, and grandson Jason, 48, have implemented since his passing in 2003: The RFID scanner; the super-suds, eco-friendly detergents; the ability to use credit cards for monthly payments (Jax had a Club Plan starting in 1956, but because credit cards had not been invented, customers had to pay a yearly fee up front); and the addition of the exterior-only option, so customers can stay in their cars.
“It’s less expensive and appeals to a whole different market,” says Jason.
Over 65 years, the Jax motto, “always put the customer first,” has served the company well, although there was a short, regrettable period when that wasn’t the case: In 1998, the family sold the business to a national chain, which ignored the customer and tried but failed to take the company public. Bruce bought Jax back in 2001, and it has stayed on track ever since. Bruce and Jason both run it together. Bruce does day-to-day operations. Jason does marketing and is in charge of social media.
Jason remembers working for Bruce every Sunday when he was 8 or 9 years old.
“I’d have to clean all the shelves in the lobby — I got a dollar,” he recalls. Starting at age 14, he learned every aspect of the business and watched it grow. Jax currently boasts eight locations in Oakland County and another, the newest, in Macomb County. Bruce says further expansions are planned.
“I love the business,” Jason says. “I love our great customers and our great team members—some have been here 20 years.” In all, there are 300 full-time team members and 200 more part-timers.
The biggest challenge the Milens face are the bottlenecks: The days when nobody comes in, and then all of a sudden six cars are there at the same time for full service. Jax tries to make the experience 25 minutes or less, but when people have to wait, they get mad and post nasty reviews on social media.
“We’re not perfect, but we try to be,” says Jason. “We have a quality guarantee, so we ask that if somebody didn’t have a perfect experience to tell us about it and let us fix it instead of going away mad and posting a bad review on the Internet.”
He and his staff monitor all of the social media comments, good and bad, and he responds to any complaints within one working day. His attendants provide a checklist to every car to review after service, and he hopes people take a look before they leave.
“We’re in the people business,” he says. “We just happen to wash cars.”
Some Fun Jax Facts
Since 1953, Jax has washed millions of cars. At least.
All that water and dirt that rolls off your car is separated by a system that sends the water to a sewage treatment plant to be neutralized, while the dirt falls into a pit that gets carted away.
The soaps are eco-friendly, designed to break down before the blower hits the car at the end of the cycle.
Despite summer being a big season for car washing, winter is by far Jax’s busiest time because of all the road salt.
A full-service wash takes seven team members: two to vacuum, two to drive, and three to towel dry. When it’s busy, Jax employs up to 20 team members at a time.
The worst cleaning mess is vomit; biohazard suits and goggles have to be worn. That goes for blood, often present when cop cars are brought in.
BIRMINGHAM
34745 Woodward Ave.
Birmingham, MI 48009
248-646-5533
ROYAL OAK
27054 Woodward Ave.
Royal Oak, MI 48067
Phone: (248) 547-3450
TROY
2835 W. Maple Rd.
Troy, MI 48084
248-280-0490
Other locations:
Rochester Hills, Southfield (Telegraph Rd., Southfield Rd.), West Bloomfield, Auburn Hills and Clinton Township
For Joan Grohar of Clarkston, driving 25 minutes to get her hair done at Bellagio Hair Studio is well worth it.
Effervescent cashier Rose Thompkins greets customers in Jax’s bustling waiting area in Birmingham with the big windows and the long racks that hold everything from candy bars to car mats. Air fresheners are big sellers. The most popular scent among the 25 or so types Jax sells, according to Thompkins, is Little Tree’s Black Ice.
Recent Comments