Royal Oak

Four Metro Detroit cities make list of best places to find a job in Michigan

By Newsroom

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November 21, 2013

According to Nerdwallet.com, Livonia, Dearborn, Rochester Hills, Royal Oak, and Novi are cities with good job markets where your paycheck actually buys you something! That's not as common as you'd think. Excerpt: "...NerdWallet crunched the numbers to find the best places for job seekers in Michigan, and we did so by asking the following questions: 1. Is the city growing? We assessed growth in the working-age population, ages 16 and older, from 2009 to 2011 to ensure that the city was attracting workers and exhibiting a trend of upward population growth. 2. Can you afford to live in the city comfortably? We looked at a city’s median household income to see if workers made a good living. We also analyzed the monthly homeowner costs, including mortgage payments, to see if the city had a reasonable cost of living. 3. Are most people employed? We looked at the unemployment rate." More here.

Closed metro Detroit Caribou Coffees come back as Peet’s Coffee & Tea

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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November 14, 2013

Six closed metro Detroit Caribou coffee shops are re-opening this week and next week as Peet's Coffee & Tea. After months of renovations and employee training, Peet's Coffee & Teas opened Nov. 11 in Royal Oak, Novi, Shelby and Commerce townships and Rochester Hills. A shop in Grosse Pointe's Village business district is opening Nov. 18, as is a store in Ann Arbor. The new Peet's are retaining and retraining many Caribou employees and also hiring new ones as well as investing in upgrades and decor at the new shops. The Emeryville, Calif.-based company began selling the rarity of small-batch, high-quality roasted and brewed coffee from its first store in Berkeley, Calif. in 1966. The company is in the midst of an eastward expansion. It recently opened 18 stores in Ohio and four in the Pittsburgh area. Many of its new stores are just doors away from Starbucks, which opened in 1971, five years after Peet's first shop. Friends of Alfred Peet, the founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea, opened Starbucks after being taught by Peet, a Dutch immigrant who, as the story goes, was appalled by the coffee Americans drank. He wanted to enlighten them and teach them how to find the best beans and make a better cup. Starbucks initially sold only roasted beans, not brewed coffee, but has since far surpassed Peet's in size. Source: Peet's Coffee & Tea Writer: Kim North Shine

Estoreify aims to create comprehensive e-commerce platform

By Newsroom

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General

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November 14, 2013

Last year Michael Mikhjian launched My eStore App, an e-commerce platform focused on helping small businesses facilitate online sales. Now the Royal Oak-based startup is beefing up that platform and rebranding it as Estoreify. The e-commerce software works directly on client sites so customers aren't redirected to other support sites. Mikhjian wants to make it simple to install and maintain for small business owners who would rather spend their time focusing on their core business. Now Estoreify aims to offer a more comprehensive system that maintains its user-friendliness. "I feel like our systems are simpler and easier to use," Mikhjian says. "You can manage it from your mobile phone." The three-person team has gotten to the product to a public beta-testing stage with a few dozen shops using it. Mikhjian wants to expand that number to 100 shops within the next year and focus on giving each one a personal experience so they feel the software is tailored to their store’s needs. "Any industry should be able to use this," Mikhjian says. "It's open to multiple products." Source: Michael Mikhjian, founder of Estoreify Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Beaumont Hospital receives $5 million gift for natural birthing center

By Newsroom

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Healthy Communities

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November 7, 2013

Expecting mothers who'd like to go the natural childbirthing route at Beaumont will have a new support system once they reach the hospital. Excerpt: "Danialle and Peter Karmanos Jr. are giving $5 million to Beaumont Health System in suburban Detroit to expand natural birthing options for expectant mothers... The Karmanos Center for Natural Birth is expected to open in late 2014. It will combine the comfort of a home-like environment with the safety net of a hospital. The center will include birthing suites, a walking path for expectant mothers and a rooftop garden." More here.

Former NFL’ers son inspires sporty Kute Kids Boutique

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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October 31, 2013

Kute Kids Boutique, an online store that customizes sports-themed clothes and accessories for kids -- and even dogs -- is carving out an online niche of customers, from Detroit Lions and Detroit Pistons players to the everyday sports fan watching teams at home. "Lions' players' wives have ordered things," says co-owner and marketer Sherrie Handrinos, who is also the president of Boost One Marketing. "Pistons staff cleared out our gear in like 10 minutes." Michigan and Michigan State fans are plentiful, as are orders for teams from out-of-state. The mother-daughter-run online store went live several weeks ago and quickly got a following of people wanting to dress up their kids on game days -- or any day. Handrinos, a Royal Oak resident, and her mom, Mary Anne Pacheco, a seamstress from Plymouth, have worked together since Handrinos was 19 and "we work together so well," she says. They also collaborate on Boost One Marketing, a marketing and public relations business. "When I was little my mom would make my clothes…She's the one who knows how to do that stuff," says Handrinos. "I'm the creative one. I come up with the crazy ideas and make it happen…It's not really our main business, it's just something we love so much." Kute Kids was inspired by Handrinos's godson, Kingston Williams, son of Derrick Williams, a third-round draft pick from Penn State who played for the Detroit Lions before moving to the Pittsburgh Steelers. "Over the past two years I would call my mom and say could you make Kingston this…every time he'd change his jersey number…We'd make bibs, blankets, outfits to match." Kingston is now two and his dad has left football, but the clothes and other kids' stuff he inspired carry on. Kute Kids will add detail -- names, numbers, etc. -- to items made by Pacheco and to other products: blankets, diaper covers, onesies, bibs, etc. Social media, especially Instagram, has been a sales driver. After Handrinos posted a photo of her and Pacheco's Maltese dogs dressed as footballs, inquiries from pet owners wanting outfits for their animals "were coming in within five minutes," says Handrinos. "I can't say enough about the power of social media," she says. "We may some day want a store or to put our merchandise in a store, but for now with people being so comfortable with online shopping...the online store is working out great." Source: Sherrie Handrinos, co-owner Kute Kids Boutique and president Boost One Marketing Writer: Kim North Shine

Build your own pie at Royal Oak’s Blaze Pizza

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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October 31, 2013

A California pizza chain known for its quick-fired, watch your pizza being made concept opened its first Michigan location in Royal Oak last week. Blaze Pizza, a fast casual restaurant concept that's in heated expansion mode, franchised a 3,900-square-foot, 80-seat store with an outside patio at 112 Main Street. The eatery introduced locals to its concept of an assembly-line system that lets customers choose from more than 40 toppings -- many gourmet or unusual -- and watch as a ball of dough made from scratch and left to ferment and develop flavor for 24 hours is pressed and topped before going into a high-heat oven that bakes the thin-crust pizzas in 120 seconds. The franchise is owned by Blaze Midwest out of Houghton Lake, which plans to open 10 Blaze Pizzas in Michigan. Source: Blaze Pizza Writer: Kim North Shine

Retrofit Studio doubles business, looks for bigger space

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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October 24, 2013

To say Brad Goodstein is passionate about exercise might be an understatement. The personal trainer has been in the industry for 10 years and recently started his own workout business called Retrofit Studio. The downtown Royal Oak-based business specializes in personal training because it's what Goodstein believes is the best way to help people live healthy lives by making small, manageable changes. "I know it works," Goodstein says. "I have had clients who have lost 100 pounds. I had a guy lost 160 pounds." It's not all about weight loss. Retrodfit Studio's clients also include people who are overcoming injuries or looking to strengthen joints so they can do everyday things with ease, such as climb stairs or get out of bed. "It's not always about losing weight," Goodstein says. "It’s about feeling better and having more energy." Retrofit Studio has grown to a staff of five people. It has doubled its customer base over the last year, which has led Goodstein to look for a bigger space to accommodate its new clientele, expand its service offerings and add more staff. "I surround myself with really good people," Goodstein says. "People who are passionate about fitness." Source: Brad Goodstein, owner of Retrofit Studio Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Why They Sit on Their Local School Boards

By Amy Kuras

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General

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October 10, 2013

Let's face it, being a school board member can be a tough and thankless job, especially if you have kids enrolled in the very educational system you help to oversee. To get an insider's view, Metromode's Amy Kuras chats with parents of school-age kids who also serve as school board members in Dearborn, Northville and Royal Oak.

Unique Solutions of Advanced Technologies’ revenue jumps 30%

By Newsroom

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General

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October 3, 2013

Sreedhar Kaluva started his business, Unique Solutions of Advanced Technologies, because he wanted to destroy a myth or two about small businesses and the technology they can employ. "I want to help remove the myth that they need deep pockets to have help with IT technology," Kaluva says. Unique Solutions of Advanced Technologies has made a name for itself as an IT and software firm that services small businesses, creating customer software for them in a few cases, since its launch in 2006. Its business is up 30 percent, which has allowed the company to hire a new employee, a project coordinator. It now employs a staff of four people in Royal Oak. "There has been a wave of customers that came on board through word-of-mouth references from our customers," Kaluva says. Unique Solutions of Advanced Technologies is also working on a new IT process/software program called Grad Sourcing. The idea is to better organize the IT services paradigm so it can better serve companies while creating more jobs in the U.S. He hopes to launch the service later this year. "We're trying to bridge the gap between the supply and demand with an innovative new resource," Kaluva says. Source: Sreedhar Kaluva, founder & CEO of Unique Solutions of Advanced Technologies Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Engineer leaves cubicle to start Mercury Studio tech firm

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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September 26, 2013

Zachary Ball isn't the sort of person who works well in a cubicle for a big company. It's a big reason why he now runs his own software company, Mercury Studio. The mechanical engineer took a job at a major local automaker out of college in the late 1990s. After a few months he helped the company create some significant savings. The thanks he received was a piece of paper expressing the automaker's gratitude. It wasn’t a check. "The cubicle life wasn't for me," Ball says. "I wanted to create an environment for my employees that will reward them for going above and beyond." A few months later he started his own company. That evolved into the creation of Mercury Studio, a mobile app firm that recently moved to a bigger office in downtown Royal Oak. The 4-year-old firm has worked extensively in digital advertising and is now making custom apps for advertising agencies working in the automotive industry. That client list includes the likes of Jackson Dawson Communications in Dearborn. However, Ball would like to add some variety to his company’s client list. "We want to expand all of our relationships with more marketing agencies out there," Ball says. "We would like to focus on non-automotive to show Metro Detroit isn't all about automotive." Mercury Studio currently employs eight people and is looking for an intern. It has hired two people over the last year and is currently looking to hire a software developer. Source: Zachary Ball, president & owner of Mercury Studio Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.