The displacement of stores by restaurants downtown is not a one-way street: on S. Main, a gift boutique has replaced a coffee shop.
Noteworthy Wants and Wonders is “a little bit more traditional and kind of a mid-to-high price point product range,” says co-owner Kristina Scobie. It’s the second shop for her and partner Jason Klein. Their first, in the small town of Richland, near Kalamazoo, is an outgrowth of their business offering custom invitations and stationery, which will be available here as well.
“We’re here now because we wanted to find another town that felt very hometown like ours, but it has a lot more walk-in traffic,” Scobie says. “We waited quite a while for a space to open up that we were happy with.” The closure of Bitty & Beau’s Coffee created that opening, and “we jumped right on it.”
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The remodeled space features deep blue fixtures and brass accents. “We wanted it to feel kind of moody,” she says. “A lot of businesses now are doing whites and brights, but we wanted it to have kind of a library vibe.”
They aim to carry lines not necessarily found on Amazon or in the big-box stores, particularly those with an interesting backstory or a social purpose. In the children’s area, she singles out Cuddle + Kind knit dolls, whose maker partners with agencies that fight child hunger worldwide.
“We really like our employees to be able to talk about each of the products,” Scobie says. “If somebody’s looking at something, we can tell them where it was made. We can tell them if it’s custom or not, and if it has a unique aspect to it.”
And “things come and go pretty quickly. We try not to have the same things all the time. We love looking for small businesses that are up-and-coming.”
Those shopping for women might be drawn to the Vendula purses, a London brand featuring colorful shop-front designs in vegan leather. The men’s section has designer fire extinguishers and a set of fifteen votive candles resembling billiard balls in their triangular rack.
Several coffee table books include custom-decorated covers, while in the four-figure price range, giant Assouline volumes on wine, cigars, and such come in wooden boxes and feature hand-tipped images.
But the best-sellers, Scobie reports, are the Geometry kitchen tea towels made from post-consumer recycled plastics: “They’re really absorbent, they’re colorful, they’re fun.”
Noteworthy Wants and Wonders, 305 S. Main. (734) 929–0812. Mon.–Wed. 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Thurs.–Sat. 10 a.m.–9 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.–6 p.m. wantsandwonders.com
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