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Susan Murphy's nomadic wandering is done.
The Northwest Detroit entrepreneur found a stable home on Grand River Avenue for Pages Bookshop after 18 months of searches and two moves.
Susan Murphy: "There is not one building available to lease along that stretch [of Livernois]. Hard to believe, I know."
Behind the belated success is a tale of "what many small businesses are facing," as the bookstore owner describes in a blog post headlined "My frustrating search for retail space in Detroit." Hurdles include elusive landlords, run-down storefronts that tenants have to upgrade for a city occupancy permit and "shockingly inaccurate" tax records, she says
Murphy, a Schoolcraft College instructor and former corporate executive, last month leased a newly renovated storefront at 19560 Grand River, between Evergreen and West Outer Drive, thanks to help from the nonprofit Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp. “I feel very fortunate," she says at My Grandmont Rosedale, a community news site.
A post by Tom Godderis, the development group's executive director, adds:
Pages Bookshop will open in April and it will specialize in fiction for readers of all ages. In her new space, Susan plans to expand her selection to include thrillers, science fiction and fantasy.
Susan has also always carried memoirs, biographies and Detroit-based books. Susan also is looking forward to having the space to host community events, author signings and talks, and even just a place for customers to sit and read.
For the next two months, a pop-up version of Pages remains down the avenue at 19180 Grand River, inside the Always Brewing Detroit coffee shop owned by Amanda Brewington. Murphy originally opened on Livernois Avenue in August 2013, but couldn't find a long-term space.
The plucky merchant vents about that saga this week on her shop's Facebook page:
I love the Livernois area. After months of looking, there is not one building available to lease along that stretch. Hard to believe, I know. . . .
I want the Livernois community to know that I did everything I could to stay there. I even considered buying a building, but the listing agent never called my agent back.
A further frustration, her recent blog post recounts, involved trying to learn who owns vacant storefronts -- "an amazingly difficult task. The tax records are available, but are shockingly inaccurate."
Murphy elaborates on other annoying hurdles during her long hunt for suitable space in Northwest Detroit:
Vacant buildings have been unmaintained for many, many years. For them to be viable retail space, they typically need renovation work including new roofs, new HVAC systems and in many cases new windows and doors.
Building owners are not willing or able to invest in their own buildings. New tenants are required to finance this renovation and all other work to get a Certificate of Occupancy from the City of Detroit. Business owners are not offered a reduced lease rate to offset these improvements. . . .
Building owners are unexplainably unresponsive. I’ve had too many unreturned phone calls to count. . . .
A quality building leased at realistic market rates will attract a quality business. However, there is a very stubborn pattern of building owners collecting rent payments from anyone who will pay for a substandard building.
The businesses who move in under these circumstances aren't interested in obtaining a Certificate of Occupancy, abiding by the approved use of the building, hiring licensed contractors, etc. These are the businesses that come and go and bring down the revival of neighborhood commercial districts. The community members assume a new business won’t last so they don't patronize them.
This vicious cycle will continue until, as a community, we can find a way to stop it.
Earlier coverage:
NW Detroit Needs 'A Gathering Space to Share Stories,' This Visionary Says, Jan. 15, 2015
