God’s Business: Bookstores like Baker’s Bible and Bookstore support Detroit entrepreneurship

God’s Business: Bookstores like Baker’s Bible and Bookstore support Detroit entrepreneurship

A spiritual calling led Carla Banks-Markham and her family to form what she regards as a ministry to the community. Baker’s Bible & Bookstore, located at 10200 Grand River Ave., is a staple neighborhood business near Livernois Ave. and I-96. One of dozens of bookstores that help form a landscape of thousands of Detroit small […]

River Breeze is an east side staple

River Breeze is an east side staple

There might be only one location in the city that offers a variety of ice cream and sells fried okra inside a former (renovated) gas station. River Breeze Dairy Freeze opened as a seasonal business on Good Friday in 1980 at 10800 E. Jefferson Ave. Owner Clausel Maxwell, though originally from Alabama, moved in with […]

Dream Factory: Brothers prepare youth for business ownership

Dream Factory:  Brothers prepare youth for business ownership

For brothers Aaron and Eric McCloud, owning businesses became a common goal as they entered adulthood. Years later, they see the tools they developed while traveling the road to entrepreneurship as some of the same lessons they’ve begun using to help Detroit youth excel. The McClouds co-founded the Dream Deferred Project, a company created to […]

Detroit-based Public Lumber & Millwork’s custom services are propelling its growth

Detroit-based Public Lumber & Millwork’s custom services are propelling its growth

Craig Sarafa says the intersection between Seven Mile Road and I-75 is known for its busy traffic. The passing vehicles often pull into nearby gas stations and fast food restaurants. Many drivers pay little attention to Sarafa’s property, although it’s been there for decades. Public Lumber & Millwork focuses on selling manufacturing wood products such […]

Avenue of Fashion shop owners open hearts and doors

Avenue of Fashion shop owners open hearts and doors

Finding the right gift for anyone can be a challenge. For young women who’ve faced hardship in their lives it can be even harder to know what gesture will have the greatest impact. Fifty youths will receive a gesture from a Detroit businesswoman who can relate to some of their experiences Aug. 17 when Alternatives […]

Southwest Detroiters greet bridge agreement with guarded optimism

Southwest Detroiters greet bridge agreement with guarded optimism

Many local neighborhoods are experiencing the sounds and sights of new construction, but only one in particular will soon become a gateway for international travel. As the city prepares to add another bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor into Southwest Detroit, the community will experience significant changes. Some say it’s the start of beneficial transformation. Others […]

Arrow makes its mark on Detroit

Arrow makes its mark on Detroit

Stiletto heels, diapers and sawdust have one thing in common – and it’s not a woman with babies who works in a sawmill. The common factor is the Detroit-based Arrow Office Supply, which sells more than 60,000 business-related products to nearly 700 wholesale customers in Southeast Michigan. From tape and Post-it dispensers in the shape […]

Grand River WorkPlace helps startups stay up

Grand River WorkPlace helps startups stay up

To Larissa Carr, Detroiters have a different kind of hustle and grind no other city possesses. Carr said local neighborhoods have found ways to revitalize themselves through beautification or foreclosure prevention, butCarr thinks residents can also see that hustle through entrepreneurship especially in the Grandmont Rosedale community. Carr is manager of Grand River WorkPlace,19120 Grand […]