Cyndi Lauper’s hit song “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” climbed the charts back in the eighties. David Perry would sing it a little differently. “Guys just wanna have fun,” he says with a smile, as he sits in his new downtown Saline store, Perry’s Tuxedo Plus, surrounded by tuxedos and contrasting vests in dozens of colors, including a bright pink paisley. “Guys want to dress up and have fun too,” says Perry, pointing to a hot pink satin vest. “We call that color azalea.”
Perry’s suppliers tell him that cummerbunds are making a comeback, so he’ll have those (as well as the latest vests, which he thinks work better for many men) in stock for the spring and summer seasons. Perry knows all the latest trends in formal wear. He’s been surrounded by it since high school, twenty-one years ago, when his dad opened the first Perry’s Tuxedo Plus, in Adrian. His mom owns a bridal boutique, All Together Bride, next door.
Perry started working in his dad’s store right from the start. “He’d have me wear a tuxedo to school in the spring to remind guys that prom was coming up, and I always worked in the shop during prom season.” Most recently, Perry worked in Livonia for his dad’s supplier, Steve Petix Formal Wear, and even then he scheduled vacation days around prom time so he could help out his dad in Adrian. Then, when Calico Cat closed its doors last summer, Perry jumped at the chance to open his own tuxedo shop in Saline, so that he and his wife, Jennifer, and their three young children could be closer to both their families. Jennifer grew up in Saline, and they moved here a couple of years ago.
Perry opened in January and is gearing up for a busy spring, with prom and wedding seasons on the near horizon. He plans to do just what his dad did. “I’ll get a couple Saline High School students to wear tuxedos to school and promote prom. If they do it, they get a free rental.” The high school’s prom fashion show is slated for March 15, and Perry will be there. Students may either rent or buy from Perry’s Tuxedo Plus. “It’s only $140 to rent everything the guy would need, including coat, vest, tie, pants, and shoes,” said Perry. (Socks and underwear are not part of the deal.) Students who see more formal events in their future may prefer to buy: tuxes start at $200.
Perry hopes students come to him for other school events as well: Winterfest events, homecoming, and band or orchestra concerts. “I also hope to connect with the Knights of Columbus and sell or rent tuxedos to the Masons,” he says.
Most of the tuxedo business, however, revolves around the wedding season. In addition to formal wear, Perry sells invitations and a variety of groomsmen gifts, from shot glasses (the most popular) to lighters, cigar cases, and even guitar picks, all of which may be ordered engraved with the names of the bride and groom and their wedding date.
The 1,600-square-foot space includes a showroom up front, with dressing rooms and ample storage space in the back. Perry hopes eventually to move the wall dividing the showroom from the back to allow an even bigger display area. “We’ll just see how it goes,” he says. “Right now, I’m gearing up for my first prom and wedding season.”
Perry’s Tuxedo Plus, 109 W. Michigan, 316–2620. Mon.– Fri. noon–6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Closed Sundays. www. perrystuxedos.com
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The Oaks shopping center is gradually filling its open leases. The latest spot, sandwiched between Jensen’s Pharmacy and Jet’s Pizza and set to open at the end of March, will be Gabriel’s Hoagies. The first Gabriel’s opened back in 1959 in Ypsilanti, quickly establishing itself as the hot spot for a reliably authentic cheese steak hoagie. The owners keep it simple, offering only four sandwiches: the cheese steak hoagie, the steak hoagie, the lunchmeat special, and ham and cheese. There’s a pair of salads (garden or ham and cheese), two kinds of Lay’s potato chips (plain and barbecue), and Pepsi products to drink. That’s it. “We do what we do simply, with great service and great food,” says co-owner Donnie Ballard. The main difference between the original Gabriel’s and its Saline offshoot, Ballard says, is that, at 1,413 square feet, the new one “is a lot bigger than the Ypsi place.”
Back in high school, Ballard worked as a carhop for Bill’s Drive-in in Ypsilanti. That’s when he met the owners of both Bill’s and Gabriel’s, the Menna family, including son Daniel. Ballard stayed loyal to the Mennas, and in 2007 he and Daniel opened a second Gabriel’s in Westland. Ballard, Daniel Menna, and a third partner, Kenny Dailey, own the Saline site, and they’re confident they’ll have plenty of customers. “We’ll have ten tables and enough room for twenty-eight diners. Or you can carry out,” says Ballard, now the father of three with another on the way. “We’re really a mom-and-pop kind of place: good and cheap.”
Gabriel’s Hoagies, 972 E. Michigan, phone TBA. Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–9 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.–9 p.m.
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The Winter 2011 Community Observer noted the August opening of the Downtown Diner by Pinckney builder Mark Marsh and his boyhood friend Terry Thompson. In a partnership that Marsh said fulfilled a dream of his late father’s, he put up the money while Thompson cooked and ran the restaurant.
Thompson told the Community Observer that opening early was easy because “I just live upstairs.” Strangely, though, the place was closed on the morning he was supposed to be photographed for the winter issue, and Thompson was nowhere to be found. He later said he’d misunderstood the date and had had an emergency plumbing repair. But in late December he disappeared for good, and the business closed for a month.
Dana Marsh, Mark’s wife, says that after Thompson left, they discovered that cash, supplies, and equipment were missing. Saline police detective Don Lupi says that no charges have been filed, but “the former working partner of Downtown Diner is being investigated for improprieties within the business.”
The Marshes reopened the diner at the end of January after hiring a new manager, Megan McCully. “She’s been wonderful,” says Dana Marsh. “Her boyfriend, Jeff Tritton, has been great too.” Tritton not only helps in the kitchen and waits tables, but he also designed and printed the new menu. They’ve also added a kids’ menu that includes puzzles and crayons for coloring.
The regular menu still offers an extensive array of hearty breakfasts and lunches, and now, for those seeking something on the lighter side, there’s a separate “Low Cal Menu.” The diner opens at 7 a.m. weekdays, one hour later than before, but otherwise the hours are the same.
The Downtown Diner, 131 E. Michigan. 316–2343. Mon.–Fri. 7 a.m.–3 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 8 a.m.–4 p.m.
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The Bling Thing closed its downtown retail space at the end of January. Owner Anne Brandon, reached by phone, says she decided not to renew her lease after realizing that running both the retail space and her online store left her no time for the fun stuff. “We’re going back to being an online business, and that’ll give me more time to sell at special events and trunk shows and fashion shows.”
Brandon will maintain her warehouse at 131 E. Michigan, next to the Downtown Diner. Local customers are welcome to pick up their online orders there to avoid shipping fees. Customers can still find all the bling they need at www.theblingthing.com or, for overstock items, at Brandon’s second website: www.brookeboutique.com. “This move frees me up to do more around town, and this is the town I live in, so that’s a positive thing,” says Brandon.
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The Blockbuster in the Country Market shopping center expected to close its doors by the end of February. A giant banner hanging across one side of the store read, “STORE CLOSING THIS LOCATION ONLY.” The same banner, however, hung outside the Blockbuster just eight miles away on S. Main Street in Ann Arbor.
The company, which is going through bankruptcy, won’t say how many stores it’s shutting nationwide. But in several cities where reporters did surveys early this year, roughly half of all Blockbusters were closing.
