Downtown Ypsilanti's LookInTheAttic is finding profits and jobs in some interesting places.
The store specializes in selling antique reproduction hardware and housewares both at its storefront and online. And it's making a good business of it, achieving 40 to 50 percent growth since last year and expanding its workforce by four to seven people with plans to hire another one or two within the next year.
Although the store is based out of a historic storefront in downtown, most of its sales (about 85 percent) are from online purchases. That percentage of business inspired the owners to start Silver & Gold, an online jewelry store.
However, the business hopes to expand its local sales in Ypsilanti and Michigan as a whole. It's banking on downtown's growing vibrancy to help push its retail sales closer to its online sales.
"We hope that as the city grows we'll see more sales as a local store," says Irwan Salim, marketing director for LookInTheAttic.
That could turn out to be quite the find.
Source: Irwan Salim, marketing director for LookInTheAttic
Writer: Jon Zemke
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