Downtown Mount Clemens retailers take to trend of shared space

Retailers in downtown Mount Clemens are jumping on the national retailing trend of sharing space.

For at least the last decade corporate chains, especially restaurants, have shared space -- and costs and customers. Local independent retailers are seeing the wisdom in the trend of joint stores, AKA dual brands, nationally, says Arthur Mullen, the director of the Mount Clemens Downtown Development Authority.

He sees the Clem and its historic downtown as a "hotbed for joint stores," a business approach that not only saves start-up costs but also brings together businesses that complement one another.

Several businesses have gone into joint operations in the last year, and Mullen expects more to follow suit soon. There's the Bodhi Seed Yoga Studio and the MINDs Eye Bookstore and Wellness Center, which were the first joint stores to open in the summer of 2010. Mio Dio Boutique and TGM Skateboards followed in the fall of 2010.

This past summer the Used on New Bookstore opened with two joint stores -- Weirdsville and Redesigning Women -- all owned by family members.

Kathy & Co., an  established hair salon, brought in Big City Glam to sell accessories in the front of the salon.

"With two or three entrepreneurs pooling their resources, joint stores are inherently less risky to a pair or group of entrepreneurs versus a single owner," Mullen says. "Joint stores may also compliment each other, building and guaranteeing foot traffic for both retailers."

Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Arthur Mullen, director, Mount Clemens Downtown Development Authority