Jamie Westcott grew up in a poor family in Chelsea. She remembers the day in high school that she discovered thrift shops. “My friends and I drove to Value World in Ypsi looking for stuff for Halloween,” says Westcott. She immediately found out “that it didn’t have to be Halloween for me to have an affordable way to buy clothes and look chic.” She opened her own consignment shop, Fabulous Finds, above the Chelsea Market in June 2005.
The upstairs store cultivated a faithful following but suffered from a lack of foot traffic. On a recent vacation out west, Westcott talked to the longtime owner of a resale shop in Portland, Oregon, who “gave me all kinds of helpful hints.”
After she got back, Westcott went looking for an affordable street-level space and found a vacant spot in downtown Saline. As part of the move, she renamed her business the Resale Boutique. The new store is a little bigger than her Chelsea space but has fewer items on display. “Less is more,” she explains. “You don’t have to cram everything in.” The inventory, sold on consignment, includes clothing for women and teenage girls, jeans, shoes, boots, purses, jewelry, and small household items.
Resale Boutique, 107 E. Michigan, Saline. 295–3030. Mon.–Fri. 11 a.m.–
6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Closed Sun.
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Like many mothers trying to balance work and family, sisters Denise Galarowic and Debbie Osborne were attracted to the meal-prep shops that have sprung up in the last decade. In 2006, the sisters opened their own, My Supper Shop, in South Lyon.
Then they read an article about meal prep shops locating inside grocery stores. “We wanted to be the first of that kind in Michigan,” says Galarowic. And Saline’s Country Market offered just what they needed: ample room for twelve assembly stations nestled between the produce and deli departments. So they closed their South Lyon store and moved to Saline.
They offer a rotating monthly menu of easily prepared, kid-friendly meals that customers can either assemble themselves in large quantities to freeze and serve at a later date, or pick up pre-assembled. “The best part,” points out Galarowic, “is that you don’t have to do any cleanup.”
My Supper Shop (inside Country Market), 1335 E. Michigan, Saline. 944–2200. www.mysuppershop.com. Mon.–Fri. 1-6:30 p.m., meal assembly times by appointment.
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Goodwill Industries has opened its first Washtenaw County store in the old Front Row Video in the Saline Shopping Center near Busch’s. The 4,500-square-foot store sells used clothes, household items, small appliances, books, toys, linens, and sports equipment. Donations are accepted at the rear of the building during store hours (they don’t accept mattresses, TVs, major appliances, or paint and other hazardous materials). All proceeds go toward Goodwill’s job training programs.
Goodwill Industries, 557 E. Michigan (Saline Shopping Center), Saline. 429–2789. Mon.–Sat. 9 a.m.–8 p.m., Sun. noon–5 p.m.
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Brothers Sal and Zee Bashi recently opened the Saline Market in the former Pharma-Sav on East Bennett next to the Medicine Shoppe. They are doing business while renovating and updating the 2,000-square-foot space. “We carry a large selection of fine wines, spirits, beers from all over the world, and fine cigars,” says Sal Bashi. The Saline Market will also carry some groceries and kitchen staples, and the owners welcome special orders.
Saline Market, 75 E. Bennett, Unit A, Saline. 429–7516. Mon.–Sat. 9 a.m.–
10 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Longer hours planned once remodeling is complete.
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“We lasted eleven months to the day,” says April Scarlett, former owner of Beanstalks Play Café. Sadly, her fairy-tale kids’ play land filed for bankruptcy and shut its doors in mid-January.
