The opening of a new home furnishing store in downtown Birmingham brings to the city a mix of national and international retailers and local home decor veterans.
The latest arrival is Roche Bobois, a fixture at the Michigan Design Center that is relocating to 394 South Old Woodward. The store brings local shoppers home decor in the style of the Hagopian family, a prominent metro Detroit family that operates a major rug cleaning business and carpet showrooms that have made them experts in rugs and furnishings and connected them with the Detroit Institute of Arts, where they have worked on textile exhibits and collections.
Around the corner from Roche Bobois is West Elm, a national retailer that opened its first Michigan store at 215 W. Maple and had found a brisk business.
Boconcept, a European-based retailer contemporary home furnishings and design services, opened in 2013 and rounds out the three newest additions to downtown Birmingham. "[Roche Bobois] really enhances Birmingham as a home furnishing destination," says John Heiney, executive director of the Principal Shopping District in downtown Birmingham.
In total, downtown Birmingham has 14 home furnishings stores and more than a dozen shops and galleries specializing in accessories, gifts, and antiques for the home, he says.
Source: John Heiney, executive director, Birmingham Principal Shopping District
Writer: Kim North Shine
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